Monthly Archives: May 2015

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Othello Can Make You LAUGH

I believe that one of the most important things  in life is to laugh and have fun with everything you do.

This short video made by BBsman22 and posted in Youtube, I think it is one of the most short and hilarious adaptations I saw about Shakespeare’s play, Othello. It is true that is not a movie therefore is missing a lot of facts that Shakespeare wanted to show us but the whole point of this video it is to emphasize the key points of the story and convert a tragedy into a comedy.

 

 

  • ” The dude/fellow Othello” (Video) “The Moor, Othello” (1.1.42)
  • “She and Othello were really busy tupping”(Video) “You have your daughter covered with a Barbary Horse” (1.1.125)
  • “Dezzy’s dad”(Video) ” Brabantio”
  • “Iago thought that Othello was as dum as a turk”(Video) “Turbanned Turk” (5.2.414) The racism shown for his skin color.
  • “Iago convinced othello that Dezzy was cheating”(Video) “Wear your eyes thus, not jealous nor secure” (3.3.229)
  • “So Othello made a plan to kill them both “(Video) “Within three days let me hear thee say that Cassio’s not alive.Damn her”(3.4.537/5543)
  • “Iago agreed with an honest oath” (Video) “I am your own forever” (3.4.545)
  • “Othello called Dezzy a slut” (Video) ” Devil) (4.1.268)
  • “Othello told Emilia that was Iagos plan” (Video) “Thy husband knew it all” (5.2. 170)
  • “Othello stab him in the ribs with a crack” (Video) “He stabs himself” “Killing myself to die upon a kiss” (5.2.421)

 

I believe he does a great job in creating a comic tragedy. This play is full of deaths, jealousy, manipulation, evilness.. etc; therefore why we do not give it a bit of light and laugh. One of the most effective ways that he uses to create this comedy are the simple and elementary school drawings, it gives us a sense of surrealistic story where none tragedy or death can be found. Another key point to create a comedy from it is the rap that accompanied this video, he creates a whole narrative that rhythm and with a comic and slang language far from the seriousness and depressing tragedy.

       

 

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Jealousy, Insecurity and Evil Manipulation 

 

This is the cover page that shows  the driven topic of the story, the jealousy and the insecurity of Othello. Also we can notice the pretty Desdemona secure about herself and the evil Iago on the right bottom corner celebrating his victory after achieving what he wanted, get rid of Cassio and drive Othello to the point of madness to get rid of him as well.

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Othello Syndrome

Othello’s syndrome it is a delusional disorder in which the person is suffering jealousy to the state that he/she is strongly  convinced that his/her partner is cheating on him/her. It is a delusional delirium where the person waste his time irrationally to try to find “evidence” to confirm his suspicions. David Enouch in the Uncommon Psychiatric Syndromes talks abOthello-Syndrome-Drayton-Theatre(210x295)out deeply about this syndrome. (David Enouch, Uncommon Psychiatric Syndromes)

The origin of this term comes from the play written by Shakespeare, Othello. Where the jealousy of Othello it is well shown at the end of the play. This jealousy it is put by Iago in Othellos mind. Iago, a great manipulator, achieves what he wants, drive Othello to his maximum madness to the point of killing her “D: let me live tonight” (5.2.100) “O: It is too late. He smothers her.” (5.2.105-106) He does not give her any chance to let her live. His jealousy drove him crazy to the point of get rid of the problem instead of trying to fix it.

This Syndrome comes from that story. And it is more common in men in his forty’s, as the case of Othello. The patient with this syndrome is looking continuously for proves to find out the infidelity to the extreme to count the other person underwear to know how many times he change in one day, as well as the changes in the position of furniture or clothes that do not suppose to be moved during the day and for this patients it is a reason of infidelity.

 

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Are Othello and Odysseus Real Leaders?

Odysseus and Othello could look like leaders in the first stage of the books but by the end of story both of them do not show enough strength and skills to be considered good leaders.

 

 

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Odysseus seems to be a very good leader, for the population, wife and even for his son Telemachus. He can be described as a leader with courage fighting for his motherland. As the story goes through Odysseus failed being a leader in many cases. One of the most popular ones are in the Odyssey 10, when Odysseus receives the West wind bag from Aeolus, and he does not tell his cheeky crew what is inside. The decision that he made when later on he goes to sleep when you could almost see the horizon of Ithaca leaving the bag away from his hands it is not the most smarter idea and therefore not the best idea for a leader. What leader would go to sleep before finishing his task and knowing that the bag could blow them against Ithaca.

 

 

In the same way Othello is a noble figure with great authority. He is admire by the duke and senate of Venice as well as by Cassiojoffrey-othello, Montano and Lodovico. The only one that depict Othello since the beginning is Iago. Othello, as Odysseus seems to be a good leader and someone loyal that will fight for the motherland and killed the unfaithful Venetians along the way. But a good leader to follow is that one that do not let himself get corrupt by other manipulators’ characters as the case of Iago when he let himself be manipulated by Iago. He was trying to get him corrupted by the thought that Desdemona was cheating on him with Cassio, “ Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects,yet strongly love!” (3.3.200) and he knew that Othello will get out of his mind and murder whoever was in his way, therefore he will not be seen as a good leader anymore. Othello felt in his tramp and in an outbreak of anger he killed her love, Desdemona.

 

As Odysseus, Othello did not act in the most smarter way and therefore it is not a good example to follow and be considered a leader. Both of them are courageous but not smart and strong enough in extreme situations.

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The Painful Jealousy

Desdemona is the Antonio Muñoz’s work, oil on canvas from 1887. This picture it is expose in The Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. I think it is one of the best pictures that reflects this play as a tragedy.

First of all, this tragedy takes place in Venetia, the colors shown in the picture are what we called venetian colors, reddish tones combine with dark yellows. The opposite colors black and white as reflect the double face of the tragedy, love and death.

This is play involve people from the upper classes of Venetia. We can notice the luxury of the clothing wear by Desdemona as the princess that Othello thought he had and as the daughter of Brabantio, the Senator. This high class it is as well shown in the velvet material of the red pillows and the complex wood furniture that are around Desdemona.

8desd_mona_1887_207_x_275_cm_museo_del_prado_Desdemona gesture shows her pain caused by the unjustified jealousy in Othello, that caused her death followed by Othello’s suicide. This jealousy was put in Othello’s head by Iago as the great manipulator of the play. “O, beware , my lord , of jealousy!” (3.3.195) “Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio” (3.3228). Othello that felt in Iago’s tramp, start entering in a fury state that does not end until his suicide. He will persecute her with questions and wrong manners causing in her a pain because she does from where Othello’s anger come from. “I am most unhappy in the loss of it” (3.4.119) As we can see in the picture, Desdemona’s depression and confusion for what Othello made her go through. As well we see her confusion and thoughts in her blank stare and her apathetic attitude.

 

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Othello’s Farewell Speech

Soft you, a word or two before you go.

I have done the state some service, and they know’t.

No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,

When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,

Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate,

Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak

Of one that loved not wisely, but too well;

Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought,

Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand,

Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away

Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,

Albeit unused to the melting mood,

Drops tears as fast as the Arabian trees

Their med’cinable gum. Set you down this.

And say besides that in Aleppo once,

Where a malignant and a turbaned Turk

Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,

I took by th’ throat the circumcised dog

And smote him–thus. [He stabs himself.](5.2.397-417)

 

While saying this words, Othello is stabbing himself. How intense is this speech when you know that the person is saying his last words while killing himself. He tries to summarize his live in a few words, but not as a biography where we can see all kind of events through someone’s life. This farewell speech it is done for leave a good reference about himself. He tries to gain the respect and the recognition that he thinks he deserves.

He starts making a reference to his serving life. We can notice that he was not as important and relevant as he would like to, when he said “I have done the state some service, and they know’t.” He fight and serve the city while he did not get any recognition from that because they did not even realize about his effort.

3686134_origThen he continues leaving some remarkable words about his love with Desdemona. He remains clean by saying “Of one that loved not wisely, but too well;Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought, Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand, Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away”. Interesting words, we can see that even though Othello just killed his love, Desdemona, he only wants to leave a good reference of him saying that he love her but not wisely, meaning that he was not wise enough to know that Desdemona did not cheat on him.

Because he does not want to end up as the jealous person of the story, he said, “of one not easily jealous”, meaning that if he get jealous it has to be a big deal where everyone easily gets jealous and not only himself. By saying this he tries to get rid of the guiltiness and putting himself as a normal person that everyone in this case would have killed Desdemona.

Also he realize that he had lost his love, his most precious thing in his life, adding the comparison Desdemona and the pearl by saying “Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away”

He ends up with his life talking about how he killed a non truly,fair venetian “a malignant and a turbaned Turk’ for the party and the glory of Venetia. To be remembered in people’s mind as a courage person to be respected and admired.

Intense reproduction of Othello’s Last Speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWt5df28pdQ

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Shakespeare’s Writing

Shakespeare-ComputerReading this play, Othello, we can find so many difficulties reading his unfamiliar and twist words. Especially in today’s world where everyone is so used to blogs, webpages where almost all the information is update to today’s language plus it is summarize to find the key point as soon as you enter in the page. We are so used to just take a quick look into the page to find the information that we find difficulties when we have to focus in long and ancient text. This is the reason why many books came with some notes attached to the page we are reading to  give us a better understanding of those twist and unfamiliar words.

In the case of Othello’s play we find many unfamiliar words because of the time period, the beautification of the language, or meanings that simply had changed. Also we can find some twist in the syntax of the phrases.

Some of this words are obvious while reading the text even though we do not use them nowadays. A good example it is “certes”(1.1.17), meaning certainly. On the contrary some of them are completely unfamiliar because of the time period that we have to take a look to the notes to understand their meaning as “Sblood” (1.1.4), the christ blood , or “Forsooth” (1.1.20), as in truth.

Then we have the ones that are unfamiliar because of the beautification of the language, we still using them but with another meaning. It is well shown in the case of “circumstance” (1.1.14) that does not have the meaning of a condition related with and event, in this case means ceremonious talk. This one it is the most problematic one because it can lead you to a wrong conclusion or a wrong thought, and you might get lost along the way.

Another confused change that Shakespeare made it is in the syntax of the sentences. He alters the position of the subject and the verb as in the case of  “says he”(1.1.17)  Since I am from Spain, with a romance language, I can well notice this twists and understand right away what he is trying to say; because in the romance poetic language it is a resource widely used to beautify the sound and the story telling.  For those who ignore this languages it is a hard and confused task that they have to make while reading that might get them confused of who was the subject making the action.

 

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– The Before and After of the Commonplace Book –

 

erasmus-by-holbein-226x300                                                                    “BEFORE”            

 

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                                                                 “NOWADAYS”

 

 

My question is: WHERE SHAKESPEARE WILL BE IN THE FUTURE ?

 

 

 

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Oliver Parker’s adaptation speaks louder than words.

 Oliver Parker has done such an amazing job by adapting the original play to a movie. He follows the same plot, and I think it is an excellent idea to keep the original and try to illustrate the play as it is. It is true that is similar to the original but the dialogues do not match in all cases, some of them are drop as well as some of them are add. This is because Oliver Parker wants to keep the play as realistic as possible.

2-300x170However there is a big difference from reading a play and watching a play; both of them use the sense of the sight but just the movie use the sense of hearing. This is why so important for Oliver Parker to change some of the dialogues plus add some pauses to give a different environment and feeling to the play. Sometimes a fact speak louder than words, meaning that watching the movie sometimes we do not need the dialogues just by looking what the characters are doing or what they are not we can tell their feelings or what they want to transmit us.

A good example it is when Brabantio come up to Othello to groan about her stolen daughter by saying, ‘‘O, thou foul thief, where hast thou stowed my daughter?, Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her! Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy, So opposite to marriage… Lay upon on him. If he do resist, subdue him at his peril’’ (2.2.80-100) By reading the w22hole quotation in the book and comparing it with the movies dialogue ‘‘Barbantio: O, thou foul thief, where hast thou stowed my daughter?, Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her! Lay upon on him.’’ (09:30) we can notice that the movie use silences to emphasize the power and the anger of the Senator, Desdemona’s father. As well we notice that the book use so many adjectives or verbs that bring up the concept of power. Those are to fear, to resist, to stole, abuser of the world, thief, peril…etc It is obvious that all those words by Barbantio have something in common, and he was trying to show his superiority and anger to Othello and how he does not deserve his daughter. On the other hand the movie just keeps a quiet and intense background with powerful but brief words. Those words or silences are helped by the visual images where the characters use an intense look to show their power.

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Who is The Moor, The Barbary Horse, or The He?

The name of Shakespeare´s book it is Othello, therefore my question is why the first act they do not even mention the word Othello and they use ‘Moor’ or another adjectives to called him?

The first characters that appear are the lieutenant, Iago, and Roderigo. Both of them highly intervene in the play but none of them mention Othello´s name. As the paly it is called ‘‘Othello’’ you might think that the name that will be the most pronounced it will that one, but it is actually the less called or the one that no one says. And my question is why?

 

  •  He is referred as ‘‘he’’ or ‘‘him1-239x300’’ throughout the entire Act. This both pronouns are commonly and well use and above all they do not have a classist background or a racist layer behind it.
  •  However in other cases he is referred as ‘‘The thick lips’’ ( 1.1.72 ) making a reference to the typical protruding lips that a black person has. Not only he is discriminate it by this name.
  •  They also called him ‘‘Barbary Horse’’ (1.1.125) making from him an brown big animal far from the domestic area. How racist and intense is this nickname but at the same time how descriptive it is. Iago describe Othello to his girlfriend’s father, the Senator, as this bestial animal that has sexual appetite.
  •  The last nickname, and the most important one that Othello has is ‘‘The Moor’’(1.2.72), including in the main cover of the book as a complement of the title. It is the most important one because it does not only give us an idea of a black person it also gives as a religious and geographic idea of a Muslim African Black from Mauritania.


This names that he was given all are given with malice and they signify that he is dark skinned and African Black also we know that he is a men for the pronoun that they referred when they talk to him plus the title of the book. This is a way of keeping anonymous the name of the Othello and by analyzing the first act it gives a sense of mystery and how you can picture him in your mind just with reading the racist but in a sense comic names that Shakespeare use to refer to him.