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Author Archives: ddabrowska
Posts: 4 (archived below)
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Othello
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.
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Gilgamesh
The prologue of Gilgamesh is an interesting part of the story. In it, the author discusses Gilgamesh’s awesome strength, and his relations to gods. The gods acknowledge Gilgamesh’s power and discuss that creating an equal for him will help to keep Gilgamesh levelheaded; so Enkidu is made to be his friend. Enkidu is made by gods, and is sent to Earth to become civilized and associated with humans. Once Enkidu finds his strength, and is pushed on by the harlot he slept with, he feels confident enough to battle Gilgamesh. Once the men fight, Gilgamesh wins and the men decide to become friends. Together the men fight monsters like Humbaba, and rule the city peacefully. Enkidu is made in order to soften Gilgamesh and his evil ways as ruler, and Enkidu succeeds in softening Gilgamesh. When Enkidu begins to go into a frail state and pass away, Gilgamesh learns how important love for those around you is. He even stays by Enkidu’s side long after he is dead. Gilgamesh is an old writing, but still teaches a current moral about friendship and love.
Posted in Gilgamesh
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Medea
The story of Medea is seen as the classic woman “gone mad” story. Medea is angered by her husband, Jason, cheating on her, and goes on to kill their offspring. The general idea of the story may seem brutal, but it shows how disrespect to women centuries ago led to a revolt in women’s behavior that sometimes boiled over. Before and after Medea was written, women were disrespected, and still are today. Such abuse and neglect can lead to consequences, as Jason faced, because that kind of treatment is unfair. I think the story of Medea is similar in a way to the film “Misery.” In the movie, Cathy Bates plays a psychopath who is a fan of an author she has helped after a car accident. She becomes crazy and begins to treat the author like a prisoner, tying him to his bed and eventually hacking off his ankles, which is like the image of Medea killing her children. Eventually, the author kills his captor and escapes, which sadly was not the case for Medea’s children.
Beowulf
Beowulf is a true warrior story. It is all about muscles, gore, killing, and bragging. The epic is very mythical in nature and includes scenes of Beowulf battling monsters and being a general idea of a hero. Unlike Marie de France’s stories, there is not a smidge of femininity in the story. The movie does a good job of putting a face to the villains and heroes of Beowulf. The movie adds an interesting angle by including Grendel’s mother as a powerful force in the story. I really liked how Beowulf is portrayed as a man’s man: he can do any task put before him. Not many stories nowadays have characters like this, except for Harry Potter, but he is a teenager. Beowulf truly stresses the Scandinavian and Danish traditions and ideas of what a hero is. Man power outweighs any other human traits in these stories.
Posted in Beowulf
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