FIGHTING SCENES/ EMILIA

yesss. stab. stab. stab. I cannot help but laugh when I read these fight scenes. It's sad because people are dying but it's funny because they say things like Roderigo, "Oh, I am slain!" (V.i.28.) It's funny because he's yelling oh no im dead! Not very realistic. I am really interested to find out how the Othello movie portrays this fighting scene. It was pretty hard to follow because so many people were stabbing each other. The triangle of Iago, Roderigo, and Cassio was severely confusing.

I am really proud of Emilia. She stood up against Iago. FINALLY. After him telling her to shut up and go home every time she talked was getting really old. He was a jerk to literally everyone in this story. At the end, she dies a hero. Emilia reveals the truth to Othello to let him know how innocent his wife really was. Because of this, her husband stabs her. His rage causes such a mess at the end of this play.

TRAGEDY

Did everyone die? Typical. When I was reading the end, I was getting really sad. It's so unfair that Desdemona has to die for no reason. "in her be, even the bed she hath contaminated" (IV.i.190). And the villain lives. Shakespeare always does that to me. Anyway, this was definitely a tragedy. Hence the death. Tragic. They all happen at like the very last second of the play. At the end of Act IV, nobody had died yet. I was getting super nervous when I started reading Act V because I knew it wasn't going to be happy. The worst part of the play is when Othello learns the truth. The man he thought was his honest friend turns out to be plotting against him and causes him to kill his wife. Othello is so shaken by this that he takes his own life. It is interesting to me because they say that Othello took his life because he was "great of heart". Nowadays, suicide is not looked at as a noble or brave act.

SUSPENSE

One of the questions is to answer how suspense was created. There is so much unknown information flying around in this movie. At this point, Iago is controlling a good majority of the characters. Othello has been lied to and is lacking crucial information (i.e. his wife is innocent!). He is in the dark about almost everything. Othello has no idea who his real friends are. Iago has this huge master plan that he is constantly telling the audience through the play. Once all the characters exit, he turns to the audience and unravels his next steps in the grand plan. Therefore, the audience has all of the information when the main characters are left in the dark. This lack of information leads to the death of Othello, Roderigo, Desdemona, Emilia, and probably other people that we don't even know about. Moral of the story, Iago and the audience are the only people who know the truth.

SMART GUY...

Iago is so evil. It seems like he has ridiculous anger building up inside of him. He does all of these things to break down Cassio, Othello, and Desdemona. He suspects Othello of sleeping with his wife Emilia. Big deal? He treats his wife like crap. If I were her I would get away, too. I think there is a deeper motivation for everything Iago is doing. Nobody would go that far to tear happy people apart. His master plan is very impressive, though. I keep waiting for someone to call Iago out but everything he plans works out perfectly...so far! I really like Othello. I think he is a hard working, honest person. He won Desdemona fair and square and he treats her very well. People keep calling Othello black and ugly. It's obvious how easy it is for Desdemona to see pass that because Othello is such a good husband to her.

GOOD AND BAD PEOPLE

The protagonist in the first three acts is clearly Iago. He is doing everything he can to get back at Othello. He pretends to be his faithful friend. Iago uses Roderigo like a tool to help complete his master plan. He tricks him into thinking that he will eventually get Desdemona. Little does he know, Iago is taking all his money and has no intention of setting him up with Desdemona. Iago is horrible to his wife. He treats her with incredible disrespect and always tells her to shut up. The antagonist is Cassio. Unlike Iago, Cassio treats all women like princesses. He has great manners and always greets them and talks with them. Because of this, Iago uses this quality to turn Othello against him. Cassio is a good man and has always worked hard under Othello. However, Iago is bringing out the worst in him by giving him alcohol and spreading all kinds of rumors about him. Again, his jealousy is causing him to act as the bad guy.

THEMES

JEALOUSY: The first three acts is all about how jealous people are. Iago shows a lot of jealousy towards Cassio. He doesn't think that Cassio deserves the lieutenant position. He goes to great lengths to destroy the relationship between Cassio and Othello just for his own selfish desires. This shows how destructive jealousy can be when you let it control your decisions. Iago only cares about himself and as a result, becomes a two-faced person. Roderigo is also a jealous person. He goes and "tells on" Desdemona just because he is jealous of Othello. He has gone begging for Desdemona many times and he is jealous that he was not the one to win her over. Another theme of these acts is racism. The only reason that Barbantio is upset his daughter has married Othello is because he is black. Othello is widely respected but he is referred to as black and ugly. They even call him the "old black ram" I.i.87. The fact that Iago and Roderigo are so racist towards Othello also shows how jealous they are of him.