Brooke Verlinden

I thought this play was so petty, it was hard for me to read it as a tragedy, I kept thinking it would have made a good comedy. It was so easy for Iago to get Othello to worry about his wife's faithfulness that I thought it was humorous. The handkerchief thing was so dramatic, I get that it was supposed to be a symbol of love and everything, but it was ridiculous how Othello was totally convinced Desdemona was sleeping with Cassio because he "found" the handkerchief. Iago twisted everything so much none of his stories were very believable. Didn't Othello think it was weird that Iago knew Cassio had Desdemona's handkerchief? How would Iago have known what it looked like and known it was important? Othello was so gullible, he was a disappointing character.

I like how you discussed Iago’s disrespect for women-I noticed the same. I think he is extremely insecure himself and does not want any woman making that any worse for him. I think he uses his wife to boost his ego since she allows him to pretty much say anything to her and will do anything for him. I thought it was really interesting also at the end when she is the one who rats on him. This totally throws off Iago’s character and shows how he is not as invincible as he makes himself appear to be.

I agree that Iago seemed to be very insecure. He was the one who suspected his own wife of cheating, and he pushed his insecurities onto Othello. Iago was a bully, he did not want anyone to be happy if he was not happy and it was only fitting that the person he bullied the most, Emilia, was the one to tell what he had done. Iago's fault is that he believes his wife would never disobey him out of fear, I'm suspecting. I really liked Emilia's character, she didn't let Iago's harsh remarks bother her, and she was willing to give up her life in order to make sure that the truth was known. 

Throughout the play, it really seemed like Richard loved himself when he spoke of how successful he was in manipulating people to believe his lies. In the beginning, he seemed more self-conscious about his appearance and inability to woo women, which I think was his motivation for doing all that he did. I think as his plans were successful, he became more confident and then began to really love himself until he realized what he had done and felt guilty for about one second.

Richard was such a good manipulator, his speeches were flawless and extremely convincing. I didn't really like Buckingham either, but I was happy for him when he fled and realized how crazy Richard was. I also thought that Richard was going to catch Stanley for sure, I was rooting for him and was happy that Richard did not get the chance to reprimand him for not coming to battle. I loved the dreams at the end where everyone came and cursed Richard, he got what he deserved and all of the people he killed got their revenge. Didn't the princes know not to go to The Tower? I was so surprised that they didn't put up more of a fight! It wasn't like they didn't have anywhere to stay, they could have insisted on staying with their mother, though Richard probably would not have allowed it.

Portia really seemed to love Bassanio, but it was hard to tell if he felt the same toward her. She was willing to do anything to help Antonio just because he was Bassaino's friend. Bassanio was talked into giving up her ring and also said that he would do anything to save Antonio, even if that were to give up Portia. I think it is possible that Bassanio could have loved Portia, especially after he had seen what she was willing to do for him.

I thought that if it were not for Portia's character, this play would have been a lot more difficult to get through. I thought the most entertaining part of this play was how her suitors had to choose from the three chests, but I agree that the choice was obvious. Shylock was also an interesting character, and when I was reading, I felt bad for how he was treated, but I couldn't feel bad for him after he refused to show any mercy toward Antonio. Antonio's character was the biggest disappointment, I thought he would play a bigger role in the plot. He didn't fight whatever was happening to him and just went along with everything.