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
But if you know not this, my manners tell me
ReplyDeleteWe have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe
That from the sense of all civility
I thus would play and Trifle with your reverence.
(Act 1, lines 144-147)
The first 2 lines are Roderigo telling Brabantio that he really believes Brabantio is wrong and doesn't understand the situation that is happening with her daughter. The following 3 lines are Roderigo exclaiming and trying to convince Brabantio that he wouldn't lie to him or make a big deal for nothing. Basically, these lines are saying "I think you don't know what's really happening Brabantio. Trust me I wouldn't make a big deal for nothing."
I think it is written the way it was written in order to convey thought and deeper interest in the dialogue. It intensifies the whole scene and shows just how much Roderigo wanted Brabantio to listen to him.
Yes, great response...note how Iago changes his language in this scene, since he initially sounded really crass and spoke in prose about his daughter making "the beast with two backs" with Othello (having sex). Brabantio was shocked that someone would talk to him like this. So Iago has to retreat and speak more "mannerly," and use better language to convince him he's not some madman, but actually has important information for him. He knows that language, and not character, is what really moves the world.
DeleteI absolutely love Shakespeare, sometimes he is a little harder to truly understand, but great nonetheless. I think writing in poetic syntax makes you stop and think about what you are reading, instead of just going through it and only getting half of the value.
ReplyDeleteTw lines that really caught my attention are in the first couple of lines, they really captured the emotion behind the words.
Lago: Splud. But you will not hear me ever I dream of such a matter apore me.
Roderigo: Thou toldest me thou hold him in thy hate.
I do not know much about the storyline yet, but just from listening, it seems as though they are planning to hurt someone. They both seem to dislike this person, but Lago does not want any actual conflict.
Yes, the point of poetry is to make you see and hear something differently, rather than just the way we speak (or they way they spoke). As I said in the video, to be an audience is to be concerned with "audio," listening...theater is about how characters sound, not what they do. So we have to pay attention to the language to appreciate who the characters are. And in this scene, Iago is trying to convince Roderigo that he hasn't deceived him...that he hates Othello as much as he does. So how does he do this? What language manages to convince him at last?
DeleteThe first line that I thought was beautiful are lines 70 to 71. Iago doesn't want any conflict. He's not that type of person. The second line is 171 to 172. Once again, Iago doesn't want to fight or have any part of the conflict that is going on. I think the reason why it simply just doesn't say what it means is because it wants the readers to stop and think about the words and what they mean in order for us to understand a little better. They don't want us to basically read it like it's nothing because we may have no clue what is going on. I think the audience gains ideas and a better understanding of what's happening and it sounds more beautiful to add languages we don't understand very well. I don't quite understand it as much, but since I looked at the notes on the left side of the page, it gives me a little bit of an understanding than it did before.
ReplyDelete- Brittney Taylor
DeleteYes, great response...and remember, Iago is tricky. He uses language and acting to hide his motives. So whenever he says, "hey, listen to me..." he's trying to deceive you. He does this all the time with Roderigo. Also, note how he speaks in different ways to different people. When he speaks to Desdemona's father, he speaks in prose (no rhyme) and he uses really raunchy sex metaphors which even shock Brabantio. To Othello he always speaks in a deferential, almost fearful manner (as if he's scared to say the wrong thing). Yet to Roderigo he's always talking down to him, showing what a fool he thinks he is. The trick is to figure out which one is the 'real' Iago. Or are any of them real?
DeleteThe lines I loved the most from Othello are the lines when he is stating his case to the Duke about how Desdemona has fallen in love with him. He is trying to get the duke to understand the story of how it is not witchcraft that brought them together, but her love of hearing his great stories. The closing statement in 190-195 was so beautiful to me because it truly exemplifies the love they have for each other. It says:
ReplyDeleteAnd bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,
I should but teach him how to tell my story,
And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake.
She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
And I loved her that she did pity them.
This is the only witchcraft I have used.
You can hear the truth in his voice throughout the lines. I think it is beautiful how he speaks of her and how they came to be. This was the line that really spoke to me, if I was the Duke, I would believe him too.
Yes, these are amazing lines, because they show something profound about race in the play: Desdemona is probably the only person that has ever looked on Othello (in Europe, anyway), as a man, and not a "moor." She pitied him and worried about him and loved him because he survived so much, and it taught her to see him as someone she could love--and not just a strange and exotic man. His stories forced her to see him as a human being, and she was human enough to respond; I bet a lot of other people still couldn't see him as that in this culture. Her father certainly can't, neither can Iago, who should know better. So if being 'human' is witchcraft, then so be it, he used witchcraft!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis response is a little too close to M'Kayla's above...maybe just because you chose the exact same two lines. Maybe choose different ones? Or say a bit more about them...you're saying the same thing she is, which worries me, since she posted first. I'll assume it's a mistake, so just try to choose another passage or elaborate.
DeleteI think some lines that are really cool in Act 1 is lines is 76-79
DeleteKeep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust
them.
Good signior, you shall more command with years
Than with your weapons.
I really like these lines because Othello totally calms the entire situation. He brings logic into the heated argument and relaxes everybody by saying their age and status being more respect than weapons. He goes on later to say basically, "no one tell me when to fight," and I also thought that was really cool how he connected those two together. Basically saying, "your status brings more respect than fighting, but if you want to fight, we fight when I want to." Othello seems like a total stud.
Yolanda Helm
ReplyDeleteAct 1 sc 3: lines 171-174:
"But still the house affairs would draw her (thence)/which ever as she could with hasty dispatch/She'd come again, and with a greedy ear/Devour up my discourse." I loved the idea of a "greedy" ear impatient for more to "devour" In my mind I imagine Desdemona following Othello around to hear his stories. The word choice of Shakespeare gives these lines more intensity. It implies that Desdemona has a crush on Othello without spelling it out for the audience.
William Carter
ReplyDeleteQuick confession: I have pretty much little knowledge of much of Shakespeare's works. But his work has been inspiring and thought-provoking, like Sapphro or Tao te Ching. His syntax and weird, odd language might be off-putting, but it does show intensity and drive home certain plot points. The first example of this intensity is when Iago says to Brabantio from lines 129-131, "I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs." This mean Brabantio has a cheating daughter, and Brabantio says he's not pleased. The second is from lines 180-189 when Brabantio says, "Now, Roderigo, Where didst thou see her? O, unhappy girl! With the Moor, sayst thou? Who would be a father? How didst thou know ’twas she? O, she deceives me Past thought! What said she to you? Get more tapers. Raise all my kindred. Are they married, think you?" Not only does this sound so cool in Olde English, the audience wonders if Brabantio's daughter is actually marrying the Moor. The audience gains knowledge they didn't know and it drives intensity and drama with the syntax.
Monica Guajardo:
ReplyDeleteAct 1, scene 1 lines 75-80
Call up her father.
Rouse him. Make after him, poison his delight, Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen, And, though he in a fertile climate dwell,
Plague him with flies. Though that his joy be joy, Yet throw such chances of vexation on ’t
As it may lose some color.
I read this passage and thought of a man just kind of messing around with someone of Power because he can. I feel like the plague of flies kind of plays to saying things about him?I thought this passage was cool because if it was translated to now I think it would be funny to imagine and watch. Or I could be completely wrong on this passage and how it reads.
"TO MOURN A MISCHIEF THAT IS PAST AND GONE IS THE NEXT WAY TO DRAW NEW MISCHIEF ON.”-The Duke
ReplyDeleteThis quote is part of the advice given by the Duke to Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, after his daughter has openly defied him and declared that she ran away with Othello because she loves him so much. This quote is basically saying that to worry about a mischief that has already been done can and will only lead to more mischief. Moreover, if you hold on to a resentment over behavior you consider not ethically right and then it would only lead you to perform an act that will cause more trouble. I think this is good advice to take when you are mad at some one because it is tell you to not rebel because it will cause a bigger problem than before.
Quote Found in Act I, Scene III, lines 204-205 ^^^
DeleteAct 1. Scene.3 page 35, lines 113-116
ReplyDeleteOf spirit so still and quiet that her motion
Blushed at herself. And she, in spite of nature,
Of years, of crountry, credit, everything,
To fall in love with what she feared to look on!
I choice these lines since Brabantio thinks his daughter has be posioned with magic, he belives that she would never marry the man initutaly. Brabantio is just trying to do what he thinks is best for his daughter and her future. I think these lines are telling us to understand each other and respect each others decisions.
Act 1. sc. 3 Lines 194-196
ReplyDeleteShe loved me for the dangers I had passed,
And loved her for she did pity them.
This is the only witchcraft I have used.
These lines in the first Act of Othello were the lines that had the most emotion behind them. I felt as though I could almost hear him saying this words. In all the previous lines before these, I had never felt any string emotion from the characters. Yes, they all displayed emotion but I never felt anything by the words they spoke. But when Othello spoke these words I felt as though I could feel his pain that he had been accused of a crime he did not commit and I could feel the true love he had for her. I could almost hear him speak these beautiful words out loud. I have read Shakespeare before and he has an incredible way of doing this, he makes the reader/audience actually feel something within themselves, it is truly incredible.
Act 1. Sc 3 lines 355-358
ReplyDeleteI never found man that knew how to love himself. Ere I would say I would drown myself for the love of a guinea hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon.
I thought that these lines in the first act stuck out to me because I have that type of love. I know that the way Shakespeare wrote this sounds extremely strange, yet I can see the context of the lines. I have this type of love in myself. I would do just about anything for anyone. Although I have rarely found others that have this same passion for kindness that I have.
Act 1 Scene 2 Line 31
ReplyDeleteNot I, I must be found.
My parts, my title, and my perfect soul
Shall manifest me rightly. Is it they?
I like this one because Othello is talking about how he wants them to find him because of what is title is and what he's done for them. I think he doesn't want to run from the situation because he isn't ashamed and because of his title he knows he's better then that.
Act 1 Scene 3 Line 305
What should I do? I confess it is my shame to be so
fond, but it is not in my virtue to amend it.
Roderigo talks about how love he is in and that he can't help it. He doesn't know what he should do and he knows it's foolish. I think he's just scared of what will happen with him being so in love and doesn't know what to do with his feelings.
Matthew Throneberry
ReplyDelete“O, sir, content you. I follow him to serve my turn upon him. We cannot all be masters, nor all masters cannot be truly followed.”
I re read this line 3 times due to how much it caught my attention. I thought this was cool because from how I interpreted it, it explains how life is in the world. Everyone wants to be a leader in today’s world. The truth is that we all can’t be at once. So what do we do? We start at the bottom and try to work our way to the top. There’s never a true followers no matter the profession. If you manage to become one, you’ll have people who were once you and their goal was just as your past self. I believe Shakespeare wrote it in a more complex way to help describe what’s going on. A master has more power then a mere leader. Also I think he wrote it this way due to how the language was back then.
The most important line to me was when Iago said, "I am not what I am." In my opinion he is saying he is not what he appears to be, be that maybe he is not truly a servant of Othello. I think this is how Iago explains the point of his character, being an antagonist.
ReplyDeletemicah mitchell
ReplyDeletemy favorite part is when othello had to go on trial for "stealing" desdemona because he explained how they feel in love and why she decided to be with him and i just think its really sweet but my favorite lines have to be 87-89 when hes states that desdemona wished she had been such a man. because having someone hear your life story and the wish they could be as strong or as brave as you is only something most people will never hear.
My favorite line is when Othello said
ReplyDelete"she loved me for the dangers I had passed
and I loved her that she did pity them"
I think these words mean that Desdemona loved Othello because of the dangers and things he had passed and overcame and Othello in return loved her because of that. I think why they don't simply say what they mean is because they are trying to find some other way to show that they love each other.