Great Works I: Remixing Memory

“Her father loved me; oft invited me;/ Still questioned me the story of my life/ From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes/ That I have passed./ I ran it through, even from my boyish days/ To th’ very moment that he bade me tell it:/ Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances,”. (Othello, Act I, Scene iii, Line 128-134).

In the film version of Othello from 1995, when the actor playing Othello recites this speech to the Duke, the film shows flashbacks. This is a choice that is different from the written play. During the speech, the film shows Brabantio and Othello spending a lot of time together at Brabantio’s house, showing that the two were close. Then the film shows when Othello first sees and meets Desdemona. The flashback then shows when Othello and Desdemona start spending time together and eventually falling in love. The most prominent part of this flashback that stuck out to me was the film showed Othello giving Desdemona the infamous handkerchief that becomes very important later on in the play, somewhat showing some foreshadowing. This is important because the written play never mentions a handkerchief until Iago’s wife, Emilia, steals the handkerchief from Desdemona for her husband to frame an affair between Desdemona and Cassio. I believe this choice tries to show the audience that this handkerchief is important in a subtle way. I think this worked when I watched the film but only because I knew the significance of the handkerchief in Othello. If I was watching the film without having read the play beforehand, I do not believe I would have even noticed the handkerchief in the beginning of the film because it was introduced in such a subtle way during the flashbacks which contained no speaking because it was during the time Othello was speaking to the Duke.

I went to see the performance of Othello at Queens Theatre on Friday, May 1^st. A major decision they made for this production of Othello was that female actors did all of the acting. They also changed the play to make the male characters into females. For instance, instead of Othello being Desdemona’s husband, the female playing him was instead her wife. At first this was a little odd to me because it was hard to keep track of who was a male character in the book, and who was a female. Once I got used to it, it was as if I did not even notice. I thought this was a strong decision because it was different from the norm of Shakespeare’s time. Back then, all acting would be done by male actors, even female characters. The fact that all women played the characters at this performance of Othello shows how much females have come and how much they have been able to evolve. Along with this, the actors did a great job performing the male roles. They were very strong, confident, and loud. Even though there was no background set, I was able to picture it in my head because of the acting done. In my opinion, this was an accurate and good performance of how I believe the play would have looked. The fact that all of the characters were females did not take away from the performance at all because they played such strong roles. It shows now that women can do anything, which was less heard of in Shakespeare’s time period. I believe this performance of Othello has proven that women have come a long way since then and a gender should not be such an important aspect of a human being. The women actors did just as great a job as I feel men would be able to do. I believe the performance at Queens Theatre was a great performance of Othello and very similar to how I would imagine it while reading the play.

My favorite piece from the Islamic art collection was the Elephant-shaped Kendi Drinking Vessel. I liked this piece because it was an ordinary item with such meaning because elephants often symbolize strength and wisdom. I also liked the colors of the piece, which seemed to be a pattern in the collection. I noticed a lot of blue and red colored pieces. Along with this, the Islamic art collection seemed to favor floral patterns on everything from pottery to carpets. There were many pieces that showed strength and masculinity I believe. These pieces ranged from weapons to armor. Another major pattern I noticed throughout many pieces was the importance of animals. There were animal shaped pieces, along with pictures of animals on other pieces.

A pattern I see in the book that can be related to the pieces in the museum was the importance of animals. For instance, there is an entire short story about an ox and a donkey in the beginning of the book. This story also includes animals such as a dog, rooster, and hens. Although only one man was able to understand the animals, they were still given dialogue which shows they are important, maybe even as important as humans. Another pattern I see in the book so far is the importance of masculinity, if a woman cheats on her husband, she is killed and all women are looked down on from that point on. This can be related to the weapons and armor that are in the collection because it shows that men are strong and cannot be seen as weak.

One main difference I noticed throughout all of the translations, is that in the beginning of each one the translator mentions hair being across a forehead except in the translation by W.J.B. Fletcher. In this person’s translation, the first line states, “When first o’er maiden brows my hair I tied”. This is the only translation of the poem that doesn’t mention the character’s hair being covered over their forehead.

The same translator, W.J.B. Fletcher, states in the third line, “You riding came on hobbyhorse astride,”. All of the other translated poems mention this certain person coming in riding on a bamboo horse.

Amy Lowell and Wai-Lim Yip’s translations of the poem are the only ones who translate the ending as this person meeting someone even as far as “Long Wind Sand”, while the other translations mention other places. For instance, Witter Bynner states that the person would travel “All the way to Chang-feng Sha.”.

My favorite version of this poem is Ch’ang-an Memories translated by Wai-Lim Yip. I believe this is my favorite version because I feel it is the most simple translation. The other poems were a little more confusing than this one but I like how this translation explained the feelings this woman had for her husband. It also explained how far she would go to see him after he had left her.

In lines 110-135 of book eleven, Odysseus recalls what Tiresias tells him during their encounter in The Kingdom of The Dead. Tiresias explains to him that because he blinded Poseidon’s son, Cyclops, the god will not make it easy for Odysseus to get home, although it is possible for him to return to Ithaca. Tiresias then tells Odysseus “if you only have the power to curb their wild desire, and curb your own, what’s more, from the day your good trim vessel first puts in at Thrinacia Island, flees the cruel blue sea. There you will find them grazing, herds and fat flocks, the cattle of Helios, god of the sun who sees all, hears all things. Leave the beasts unharmed, your mind set on home, and you may all reach Ithaca-bent with hardship, true-but harm them in any way, and I can see it now: your ship destroyed, your men destroyed as well.” Since we know that Odysseus lost his ship and his crew and ended up in Calypso’s castle, this leads me to ask, what did he and his crew do to deserve this? Tiresias explains to Odysseus that if they are good and don’t give into their desires, they will make it back to Ithaca.

This makes me believe that when the ship got to Thrinacia Island, the men saw the cattle and took it upon themselves to steal and/or feast, therefore giving into their desires. I believe this because it seems that Odysseus’ crew have always given in to their deepest desires. This is shown when the ship is so close to their homeland of Ithaca, but is blown back off course because of the men’s jealousy of Odysseus. Instead of having self-control, the crew had to open the sack that Odysseus had gotten from Aeolus because they thought it contained some sort of expensive treasures. Instead, it let out all of the winds and sent them the wrong way, away from home. The men had to pay for giving into their desires rather than having self-control. This is why I believe it happened again later on, on their journey. It seems Odysseus and his men have to pay the price whenever they give in to their desires, instead of being good. Tiresias even warned Odysseus of this happening beforehand, and let him know it would delay his trip indefinitely.

Demodocus sings to Odysseus, King Alcinous, and other people in the king’s home. He sings about Troy and the situation revolving around the Trojan Horse. He goes on to sing about the great Odysseus and compares him to a “god of war on attack”. This makes Odysseus cry, which seems to me happens quite often. It was said that he would sob every day when he was trapped by the goddess, Calypso. The book even describes his weeping as that of a woman’s, one who has lost her husband and has experienced heartbreak. This makes me think Odysseus is somewhat over sensitive to things. But it may only be because he misses his home and family so much that he is much more emotional than usual and is going through heartbreak himself. He may also be more emotional being reminded of the war because he had lost so many men and it was a tragic experience leading to his capturing by Calypso.

No one noticed Odysseus’ crying but Alcinous. This leads me to believe Alcinous is a very kind, generous man. But I also question the king because if he was truly very kind, why has he not sent Odysseus on his way home yet? It seems that Odysseus has been begging Alcinous and Arete since the minute he has entered their home to be sent home. Alcinous promised Odysseus that he would get a crew to bring him back to his own home and family. But before that happens, it seems Odysseus has to spend time talking to everyone, feasting, watching them run and play sports, and later on be interrogated with many questions about himself. It makes me question why Alcinous did not just prepare a sea crew and send Odysseus home the morning after he showed up at his doorstep. It also confuses me because Alcinous makes Demodocus stop singing because it is making Odysseus emotional, which shows he seems to care about this poor, heartbroken man, yet he takes his time in sending him home. Maybe this is because he doesn’t want Odysseus to leave because he thinks he’d be a good husband to his daughter, Nausicca. But he does promise to eventually send Odysseus on a ship home.

In my personal experience, Socrates’ argument that writing makes people not remember things is untrue. When I study or prepare essays, I find that writing the material or my ideas down beforehand makes it easier for me to remember and is helpful in gathering my thoughts. Socrates also contradicts himself while speaking to Phaedrus. He first states, “for this invention of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves.” (Phaedrus, 96). He later on says to Phaedrus, “or he will write them down as memorials against the forgetfulness of old age” (Phaedrus, 98). At first Socrates argues that writing things down creates forgetfulness because people would not be using their memories, but then goes on to say that in old age it prevents forgetfulness to write these memories down.

I believe Plato writes about a different view on writing to show there can always be positives and negatives to new inventions, even as simple as the alphabet, even if he himself is a writer. Even though writing has helped develop the human race in endless ways, Plato may have wanted to show that there could be a downside to even the greatest of invention such as the alphabet. I believe he also contradicted himself in writing, “Phaedrus”, to have people question and think about the reasons of why he would do such a thing.

I both agree and disagree with Nicholas Carr’s argument about the Internet. I see the reasons to be worrisome that the Internet is changing how we think. He states how he becomes easily distracted and unable to concentrate as well as he could before (Is Google Making Us Stupid, 1) and I can relate to this concern of his. I used to read books when I was younger and get sucked in, but now I can hardly read an article without being distracted at least once. I also notice myself skimming more so than carefully reading. On the other hand, the Internet growing has many positives such as medical advances or helping scientific discoveries. If anything, we learn and absorb more knowledge because we have all information at our fingertips. With this information, we have the ability to make our own conclusions about what we have read. Even if the Internet has changed the way we think, I don’t believe it’s for the worst. I believe it’s our brains adapting to this new technology. Going back to the creation of the alphabet having pros and cons, the growing Internet does as well.