ENGLISH 2200

I liked Othello, but then again, I didn’t. I liked it in the sense that Othello had a really nice love with Desdemona and they were happy and trusting of each other. I also liked Othello’s character in the beginning, and when I say character, I mean his personality and who he was. I really hated Iago because he was just so jealous and annoying during the entire play and I really hated his motives for doing what he did. The worst part is that he basically just dropped a bomb and walked away and let everything take it’s course. All he did was plant the handkerchief, and then everything just fell apart. I liked Emilia’s character because she was trying to be as good a person as she good, but she was unaware of the truth until the end. I hated that Othello believed Iago without even consulting Desdemona, and that he killed her in the end just because of a lie. It’s really cruel, and that really made me dislike Othello so much by the end. I still hated Iago more though. Iago really reminded me of Aaron from Titus Andronicus, because he really manipulated situations to suit his favor. This play is okay to me, I don’t feel strongly about it one way or another, but one thing that separates this play from the rest is the fact that Othello was Black, and I liked that Shakespeare made him the main character with power and control.

Aaron, Iago, and Richard III all seem to go hand in hand for being manipulative people who are causing misery to others in order to do themselves favors. They all also seemed to love to cause trouble. What sets Iago apart though is that we never get a clear reason why he hates people so much. Aaron just wanted to cause chaos. Richard III wanted the crown. However, Iago just seemed to hate Othello and all the others. It sort of makes him stand out, but it also makes him kind of hard to understand.

Iago is an interesting character because even as the villain, the play really focuses on him.  It makes sense that Shakespeare lets Iago dominate the play because he is actually really scary and I can see why the audience would be so fascinated by how mysterious he is. Shakespeare never really reveals why Iago is the villain or what he has against Othello, making him a mystery beginning to end.  Although it is unclear what motivates Iago, he is obviously mentally unstable and paranoid.  Why do you think Shakespeare never fully explains Iago’s intentions?  Also, why is he the only character that speaks directly to the audience?

Iago speaks to the audience because he's at the center of all the plots and as the audience, we are also the only people who know fully what is going on. Iago doing this in his soliloquies seems kinda appropriate.

I liked this quote because it was ironic, especially because Iago’s entire motive for doing everything he did was that he was jealous of Othello getting Desdemona and having power instead of him.

But really, the young princes… You want to stay in the Tower of London?! Really?

This play was exciting and suspenseful, but most of the time I was so confused with how everyone was related. I think if I had read the plays that lead up to this one it would make a lot more sense. I liked that the audience was able to see both sides of Richard, he was so good at knowing what people want to hear and convincing them he was so innocent and good when he was completely opposite. Even his character mused at how good he was at manipulating people. Queen Margaret is made to seem like a villain but if what happened to her happened to me, I would probably act just as she did. I liked the foreshadowing in the play, every curse that a character spoke came true. It was frustrating though, all of the characters walked right into Richard’s traps, and there was nothing they could do. The only think I wasn’t sure about was if Queen Elizabeth was really convinced to talk her daughter into marrying Richard, or if she was just saying what he wanted to hear to get away from him?

Queen Margaret does draw a lot of sympathy, but she's primarily used as a plot device to foreshadow the fates of all the other characters in the play and as a result, the play begins to fall into this category where fate and maybe magic also exists so this also made the play interesting.

Richard, Richard III (4.4:291)

I sort of agree about the title, although I wouldn't say Antonio was the main character, which made it all the more misleading I guess. I definitely agree with your thoughts about Portia and Shylock. The antisemitism as very inappropriate but he had a great monologue about how he bleeds as Christians do, how he feels and looks the same as they do, and that was a really great moment. So I wasn't really sure what Shakespeare's thoughts were on the whole thing because of that monologue. As for Portia, she was a super cool chick and I really enjoyed her character, she was a badass!

Does anyone else feel like this is the lesson of every romantic play Shakespeare has written? People being so in love that they don't see all the hurt and pain they're causing. I mean from The Merchant of Venice we have Jessica who's so in love that she's willing to run away from home and cause grief to her father. We have Portia who's willing to follow her husband to make sure he stays faithful and later we had Bassanio who loved his wife, but loved Antonio just as much because he was willing to give up his life with his wife for him. Before this, in A Middsummer Night's Dream people being love and causing other's grief was basically the entire play. Shakespeare seems to love making fun of people who are in love.

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (via observando)

How strange it must be for Miranda to see other people for the first time! I couldn’t believe that she and Ferdinand fell in love at first sight, even though she had never seen what other men looked like before.