Monthly Archives: December 2010

Lanval by Marie De France is a love story between Lanval and a Fairy Lover. Lanval, who was a knight that served in the court of King Arthur, did not receive any riches and land that the king was giving out. By not being the first born he would not be able to inherit any land neither. When feeling upset about about his social status as a “poor man” he meets a fairy and they fall in love and she gives him all the riches he desired. Later in the story Lanval denies the attempted seduction by the Queen Guinevere and she accuses him of having no desire for women. Lanval breaks his promise to his fairy lover when he is questioned by King Arthur about who his mistress is. He later reveals it is a fairy. Saddened by the fact he will never be with his love again Lanval becomes depressed. Two damsels tempted Lanval and he ultimately rejects them as well. This proves his loyalty and was also a test by his lover and she appears and she takes him to Avalon. Avalon, according to legend, was an island paradise which played a major part in the legend of king Arthur.

Both Medea and the Ramayana have different and similar views on feminism. Medea and Sita are strong willed women who both represent feminism. Although they might seem like polar opposites they share a lot of personality traits. Sita is a woman that is very much in love with her husband Rama, so much that when he is banished to the forrest for fourteen years she comes along. On the other hand there is Medea. It doesn’t look as if Medea loves Jason on the level of Sita and Rama but in reality she does. Why else would Medea be so hurt and filled with anger if she wasn’t madly in love?

Both stories always have themes of distrust. In the Ramayana, Rama is unsure if Sita stayed true to him when she was kidnapped and held captive by Ravana. If Rama would just realize how much Sita cared and loved him, he wouldhave no doubt that she did not do anything to damage their relationship. In the play Medea, of coarse the distrust occurs when Medea learns of Jason leaving her for the Princess. Medea had no reason to trust Jason after she finds out and truly takes revenge in the worst way possible. Both stories have similar themes of feminism and distrust even though they were written centuries and worlds apart.

Othello is one of William Shakespeare’s famous epic plays.  Othello is a general who is in love with Desdemona who is the daughter of Brabanzio.  Iago and Roderigo cries out to Brabanzio, telling him that Othello has stolen Desdemona away from Brabanzio and has married her secretly.  Brabanzio is enraged and seeks to find Othello and tell him off.  Othello soon caught, admits that him and Desdemona are madly in love together and that he has not stolen Desdemona away with witchcraft and the marriage was not one sided.  Othello also brings up that Brabanzio treated Othello like a son before he knew about Othello’s relationship with Desdemona but once Brabanzio found out about their relationship, he has treated Othello with utter disrespect just because Othello was black.  I found watching Othello a lot easier to understand than reading the text because the text itself is very complicated and watching the scenes as the characters talk are a lot easier to understand.  I am able to see their emotions and watching their actions helps me comprehend the scene more clearly and vividly.  Watching the scene where Brabanzio tries to accuse Othello for witchcraft stood out to me because Brabanzio did not treat Othello with disrespect before he found out Othello was married to his daughter.  Brabanzio’s actions were only done because of Othello’s skin color.  Brabanzio does not accept that fact that his daughter has married a black man which was very significant to me. 

The story of Othello shows a change in literature. Before we read Othello in class all of the epic poems, stories, and plays were about kings and royalty as they were the only subject allowed to be used. During Shakespeare’s time writers started using real, common folk as the subjects and main characters of their writings. Writers now could have characters be the “bad guy” and the evils did bot just have to be a monster as in Beowulf. The main character in Othello is of coarse, Othello. He is not royalty but actually the complete opposite. Othello is different and an outsider in Venice. He is referred to as the Moor rather than his name in many different occasions. Yet, Othello has still been able to become a respectable General in the army and proves useful to the Duke on the island of Cyprus. Hundreds of years before Othello, it was unheard for a writer to have the protagonist not be a king, prince or god. Looking back upon all the materials prior to Othello we can see that no other work featured normal people as the main characters. Othello signifies a changing of style and expansion into what would writers would do for the next couple hundred years.

The story of Othello shows the powerful effect of trusted advisors. Throughout the story, Iago was the the puppeteer over all the characters. He would pull the strings to defeat those that he set his mind against. Much like life there is always someone who is pulling the strings or using their cunning wits to gain what they most desire. Iago was a clever advisor who helped Cassio to seek revenge for his loss of his war rank, a lieutenant, and Cassio was blinded by his anger to think of Iago’s true motive. Iago, began to kindle Othello’s fire of jealousy when he sees Cassio walk away from his wife Desdemona. When Othello sees Cassio part away from Desdemona, Iago tells him,“No, sure, I cannot think it,  That he would steal away so guilty-like,  Seeing your coming” He planted the seeds to see his reaction and unfortunately it wasn’t pleasant. Othello loved his wife and was heart broken to think that she would be with another man. Little did he know Iago was behind this conspiracy and not just Cassio. Iago’s greatest part to his revenge for Cassio was the handkerchief of Desdemona being planted in Cassio’s room to prove her guilty of all suspicions and see Othello fall.

William Shakespeare’s Othello is seen as a vicious story of love and revenge on the surface. Iago, the story’s villain, spurs on the characters to hate each other. His hatred stems from a rumor that circulates about Othello, the Moor, or outsider, sleeping with his wife. Iago pushes the story to explode with tension and confusion in the end. Surprisingly, some modern day issues overshadow this drama. Othello shows how word of mouth can be dangerous and have unpredictable outcomes. A modern day example can be texting or Facebook. Oftentimes, what we mean to say in a text message does not come across correctly to the reader. It can happen that we mean to say something nice, and the reader can interpret it with some hostility. Another modern day issue covered in Othello is racism, and the issue of being an outsider. Othello is a man from a different country and he is treated like an outsider throughout the story because Iago creates an air of mistrust around him. Being the new kid is never easy, so Othello asserts himself in the court and fights to prove his worth.