Friday, June 22, 2012
Act 1, Othello
In Shakespeare's tragedy, "Othello," the character that sticked up the most to me is Iago. He instantly reminded me of Snow White's step mother, the queen. His frustrations with Othello, led him to his evil plans to ruin Othello's life. Iago used Roderigo to put his actions to work just like how Snow White's step mother used the "apple." I identify Iago as the antagonist of the play. He caused the conflict intentionally to win the king's favor, who happened to be Desdemona's father. With the help of Roderigo's love for Desdemona, he managed to put in bad impressions about Othello to Desdemona's dad. I think that the theme is tragedy. Since there is a love story where antagonists are trying to ruin their relationship and happiness.
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I was really excited to see that you made a connection to Snow White a story that everyone knows. Shakespeare's plays have never really been the funny or lighthearted stories, they are always filled with tragedy and betrayal. You found the symbolism to be similar in each story which is really cool.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Laurent. You brought a great connection with Snow White's stepmother. I loved how you used the apple to symbolize how Iago manipulated Rodrigo to work for him. Shakespeare's stories are usually always a tragedy but some end up being really great!
ReplyDeleteI love the connection to Snow White's wicken and evil Queen in comparison to Iago! They both had all these plots within plots, manipulated those around them to further their own goals while seeming to be innocently helping others, and in the end they disrupted the lives of those they hated.
ReplyDeletePart of me has a hard time putting the label of antagonist on Iago because he's such a back and forth character. Perspectively, he's almost the narrator and feels in his heart that he's been truly wronged in some way by Othello on a very personal level. He goes about it in the vilest way possible, and I find myself hating the character more often than not, but there are times where he is duplicitous in nature. Here he is in one scene acting the villain but in another he tells truth and comes clean that he will tell others how he sees fit, an endearing trait in a world full of liars, cheats, and thieves.
There's so many open things that are just out there for wild interpretation, so it's difficult to nail something down to this or that or the other.