Lecture Video #10: Blaming Othello

The last video! Watch this 18-minute video on Othello and respond with a comment below. This will serve as an introduction to your Final Paper (in the post beneath this one). 

Final Paper (Paper #3): What a Tragedy…

 

NOTE: Be sure to watch the video in the post below and respond with a comment before writing this paper! 

In Poole’s Tragedy, A Very Short Introduction, he writes, “But tragedy also asks us to observe the ways in which people reach judgments about who is to blame: the pressures they are under, the motives that impel them, the satisfactions they seek. It offers up for inspection and analysis, not so much the objects themselves, the scapegoats, as the process of scapegoating.”

Q: For this paper, which is really just a longer essay, I want you to answer the question: what makes Shakespeare’s Othello a tragedy? If tragedies are man-made, and the result of flaws or errors made by the protagonists of the play, what is the greatest flaw or error of this play? Who makes it? Is it their fault alone, or a series of errors or faults? Does Shakespeare seem to blame a specific person, or type of person? Or does he lay the blame at society itself? What causes things to go so terribly wrong for Othello and Desdemona in the play? If it was just the ‘evil’ nature of Iago, would it be a tragedy? Or just a play of bad luck? What makes a play tragic, rather than just unfortunate?

REQUIREMENTS

• No length requirement, but do more than one page!
• You MUST quote from the play and use examples from the play to illustrate your ideas. For example, if you think Othello is mostly to blame, show us how and where.
• Use at least ONE other work in class as a source. It can be anything from Sappho to Hafiz. But try to use another book to help us see or understand what makes this work tragic or meaningful.
• Due NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11^th by 5pm! You can turn it in earlier than this, but no late papers will be accepted.

Reading & Questions for Shakespeare, Othello, Acts 2-3

 

NOTE: Read Acts 2 & 3 for next week and answer the following questions anytime by or before next Friday. I'll be posting another video (your last one) soon, and will give you information about the Final Exam in the same video. Stay tuned! 

Chose 2 of the following: 

Q1: How does Iago use language and insinuation to create doubt in Scene 2? How can we see an ulterior motive—and a double meaning—in every conversation he has with another character (and even, perhaps, the audience)? Discuss on example of this in Act 2.

Q2: After Cassio is disgraced, Iago convinces him to ask Desdemona to intercede on his behalf. When Cassio exits, Iago turns to the audience, and in mock-offense, says, “And what’s he then that says I play the villain” (49). Read this speech closely and explain his ‘defense’ to the audience. How is he trying to defend his own character/reputation here, while at the same time laying out his secret plan against Othello?

Q3: What information do you feel ultimately ‘turns’ Othello from trusting husband to jealous cuckold? He tells Iago at one point, “No, Iago/I’ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove;/And on the proof there is no more but this:/Away at once with love or jealousy!” (59). Since he never sees proof, what makes him choose jealousy over love?

Q4: What kind of woman is Emilia, and who’s side do you feel she’s ultimately on: Desdemona/Othello’s, or her husband’s? How much does she actually understand of the plot? You might also consider her lines to Desdemona: “[Men] are all but stomachs, and we all but food;/They eat us hungerly, and when they are full/They belch us” (72). 

Reading & Questions: Shakespeare, Othello, Act One

NOTE: Read Act One slowly and don't worry about getting every word or passage.

Use the scene summaries to help you understand the gist of the story as you go, and read the notes for any difficult words or phrases. Also, watch Act One, Scene 

1 in the post below to help you get on your feet with the play. I'm not worried 

about you understanding everything, but experiencing the play and challenging 

yourself to find meaning in a play that is hundreds of years old, and written for a 

very different audience than 21st century America! 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: As you might expect in a play written in the early 17th century about a Moor (an African—probably from Morocco), the issue of race dominates the play.  How do we know this is a very racially divided society, and that despite Othello’s accomplishments, he is still seen as a “moor” rather than (solely) a great hero?

Q2: Examine the famous ‘trial’ scene in Scene 3, where Brabantio claims that Othello has seduced his daughter through witchcraft.  How does Othello defend himself from these claims, and how does this scene illustrate his ‘heroic’ character and values?  Related to this, why might it make us sympathetic to him instead of Brabantio? 

Q3: In Scene 1, Iago tells Roderigo that “I am not what I am.”  Throughout the play, he tells various people different stories explaining his motivations, hatreds, and values.  Can we trust anything he says?  Do we ever hear him speaking the ‘truth,’ or something that sounds more plausible to our ears?  In other words, when do we hear the ‘real’ Iago—and can we assume that his comment to Roderigo is even authentic? 

Q4: Choose a passage (a few lines, an entire speech) that you find very difficult to understand.  In writing, try to decipher/translate what is going on here.  Look at the images or metaphors the character uses, and consider what the character is responding to (what has just happened).  Try to ‘think out loud’ in your writing and see if you can shed any light on this passage (hopefully we can discuss a few of these in class).  

Lecture Video #9: The Language of Othello

 The intro to Shakespeare (and Othello) video is below. This will give you a little insight into Shakespeare's language and why it's okay to find it difficult. Sometimes, it's supposed to be! Make sure to respond to the video after you watch/read Act One of Othello. 

Also, here's a link to Act 1, Scene 1 of Othello to help you get into the play. It's not the best version, but I can't find any full versions on-line, though I have some in my own collection (which I might show excerpts of in class). So you might want to watch this first before reading the play, or after the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T20J9xVagFM

Reading & Questions for Hafiz: Chapters 13,14,15 & 23

There's a lot more poems to read in The Gift, but we only have one more week to read them before we move on to Shakespeare. So read the poems from each of the following chapters (but feel free to read more, too, if so moved!):

* Chapter Thirteen: Reverence 

* Chapter Fourteen: A Cushion for Your Head

* Chapter Sixteen: Spiced Manna

* Chapter Twenty-Three: A Clever Piece of Mutton

Answer 2 of the following questions, which are a little different from the questions I usually ask...

Q1: Which poem would you give to someone has recently fallen in love? What would you want them to see in this poem? To appreciate? To learn?

Q2: Which poem would you give to someone who is a know-it-all? Who always seems to have all the answers, and doesn't want to learn from anyone else? How might this poem teach them a little humility? 

Q3: Which poem would you give to someone who is lost and doesn't know what to do with their life? How could this poem help them find their way and give new meaning to their life--or simply a ray of hope? 

Q4: Which poem would you give to someone who has had a great tragedy in their life? How might this poem help them heal themselves? 

Revised Last Five Weeks & Paper #2!

NOTE: The questions and video for this week are in the posts below this one! 

Below is the revised schedule for all General Humanities classes (I'm no longer worrying about individual days anymore).  

NOVEMBER

M 2 – F 6:        The Gift, Part 1: video and questions (assign Paper #2)

M 9 – F 13:      The Gift, Part II: video and questions 

M 16 – F 20:    Othello, Act 1: video and questions (Paper #2 due Friday by 5pm)

M 23 – F 27:    Othello, Act 2-3: only questions / Thanksgiving Break

DECEMBER 

M 30 – F 4:      Othello, Acts 4-5: video and questions

Paper #3 (Final) due TBA 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paper #2: Sage Advice 

Only when your sickness becomes sick/will your sickness disappear (Tao te Ching, Verse 71)

For your second paper, I want you to write a letter of advice to someone close to you: it could be a parent, a sibling, a friend, a significant other, or even yourself (the past or future you—or even the present you). In this letter, you should offer help/advice/insight to someone who is going through a tough time, or has some sort of conflict or pain that you feel you could help with. The trick is that you’re going to give them advice by connecting 3-4 poems from both the The Gift and the Tao te Ching as your ‘message.’

The poems you choose should hover around the same kind of advice about living, healing, accepting, understanding, etc. Your paper should introduce each poem to the reader and explain what these poems mean, and how they can collectively offer wisdom to help the person either heal, or move forward, or keep something important in mind. You SHOULD NOT quote the entire poem in your paper. Rather, quote a few lines from each one that represents the most important part of the message/advice. I want most of your paper to be your writing, and your analysis of the poems—what they say, how they connect, and why you think they offer a valuable lesson to this person.

In general, use the poems to give a message of hope, perseverance, consolation, or simply, love. Though you can say anything (you can even criticize the person in question!), I’ll be grading it on the following factors:

• Connection of the poems (if the poems seem logically to build on one another, and aren’t chosen at random)
• Understanding of the poems (you can explain what each one means and why you chose them)
• Unified theme or message (that your paper seems to offer a general message using the poems and doesn’t go all over the place)
• Proper citation (introducing the poems and cite the page #’s of each quote)

Paper #2 is due in two weeks—Friday, November 20^th by 5pm (for all classes) by e-mail. Good luck and please e-mail me with any questions or concerns!