Othello reads like a suspense thriller! 
Othello starts out very diplomatic, sincere, in control:
(I.2)
Othello: "Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it
Without a prompter."
Until Iago manipulates him (as he does everyone). He is one of the worst villains ever created. Yet, he is disturbingly attractive, in a girl-loves-a-bad-boy kinda way.
(I.3) After Roderigo threatens to drown himself after seeing Othello and Desdemona together
Iago: "Come, be a man. Drown thyself? Drown cats and
blind puppies."
(III.3) To Othello as he begins his manipulations.
Iago: "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on."
Though Othello wishes Iago had not told him (falsely) about his wife's behaviors
(III.3)
Othello: "What sense had I in her stol'n hours of lust?
I saw't not, thought it not, it harm'd not me
I slept the next night well, fed well, was free and merry;...
He that is robb'd , not wanting what is stol'n
Let him not know't , and he's not robb'd at all."
Iago also manipulates poor Cassio into getting drunk and getting into a fight:
(II.3)
Cassio: "O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast
no name to be known by, let us call thee devil!"
Iago: "Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature if
it be well us'd; exclaim no more against it."
The Duke has some good advice for us all
(I.3)
Duke: "When remedies are past, the griefs are ended
By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on."
Emilia is probably my favorite character:
(III.4)
Emilia: "Tis not a year or two shows us a man.
They are all but stomachs, and we all but food;
They eat us hungerly, and when they are full,
They belch us."
(V.1)
Emilia:"Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know
Their wives have sense like them; they see and smell,
And have their palates both for sweet and sour
As husbands have. What is it that they do
When they change us for others?...
And have not we affections,...as men have?
Then let them use us well; else let them know
The ills we do their ills instructs us so."
Even though you can foresee the ending, you keep hoping it will somehow end differently, but alas, it IS a Shakespeare tragedy so, basically everybody dies.
No comments:
Post a Comment