Could I post a blog in ten words?

 

Hank Green's YouTube hit "I Know (A Song in Ten Words)" pretty much sums up the logic that Othello's mind must have been spinning through while contemplating his murder on Desdemona.  Now, I don't mean to be rude in the presence of a Hank Green video, but I feel like this is in order.  This song confused me at first.  The song possesses only ten words, which are then sang very quickly to a very catchy tune, yet these ten words somehow manage to capture how I feel the Othello reaction to his situation was - confusing and lacking of any structure.

"I don't think you know what you think you know, baby,
But baby don't you think that I know what I know maybe."

Now, I'm not trying to sum up Desdemona's reactions to Othello's strange accusations in a modern English translation, but I think that this would be as close as one could get to finding one.  Not only did Desdemona know what Othello thought he knew, but she then countered what she thought Othello knew she thought he knew.  The war pitted amongst Desdemona and Othello may have ended in a physical smuggling, but this was only after they were pitted against each other in a brutal mental battle by Iago where each thought they knew what the other thought they knew, but didn't realize that they didn't really know what the other really knew.  That sentence was confusing for emphasis.


Note: The song doesn't take the whole video, so that part warrants none of your time, unless you are a tried and true Nerdfighter.



Juxtaposition.

Conspiracies of a Teenage Mind

"In personal suit to make me his Lieutenant" I.i.9.

"I hate the Moor, and it is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets he's done my office" I.iii.366-368.

"Whether [Roderigo] kill Cassio, or Cassio him, or each do kill the other, every way makes my gain" V.i.12-14.

I am going to throw around all of the theories discussed in class or that have textual support and my own personal evil motives within Iago that I have pondered while trying to procrastinate the actual assignments or when I get bored in class religion.  Doesn't everything seem less daunting when it is bullet form?

• From line ten of the play, even I was able to figure out that Iago was angry that Othello did not choose him to be Lieutenant in his army, but instead Othello had chosen Cassio who had never seen a battle.  What many people do not realize is that Cassio and Iago actually should have undertaken a battle to the death, much like in the Roman Colosseum, but because this never happened, Iago had to undertake this outside of human knowledge.  This caused a chain reaction that Iago knew would cause him to be Lieutenant should he succeed in.  Once Iago received the distinguished title of Othello's Lieutenant, he kept going for more; ergo, this hypothesis was not fully correct.
• Iago thought that Othello had sexual relations with Emilia, so, in accordance to the Mosaic Law, Iago had to make Othello think that Cassio had sexual relations with Desdemona.  If an eye for an eye makes the world go blind, then a cheater for a cheater makes people have trust issues, so it would seem at least.  However, even after Iago learned that Othello and Emilia were never betwixt the sheets, Iago still continued to scheme against them.
• Late in the play, Iago reveals that he needs either Cassio or Roderigo dead, though it would be better to have both.  If Cassio lives, then the affair between Cassio and Desdemona would surely be proven false, not to mention Iago looks ugly compared to Cassio.  In addition, if Roderigo lives, then Iago would actually have to pay back all of the money that Roderigo paid him.  I still struggle with identifying irony, but I feel like paying for your own death fulfills the definition.
• By the time Iago learned any of these to be false, his plan was in to far.  What would he do?  Just walk up to Othello and say, "Hey, so you know how I said that Desdemona is a lying, unfaithful whore?  Yeah, I was just kidding."
• Aliens secretly... okay, that probably did not happen.

 Now, when compared with Othello's motivation behind his murdering Desdemona, I think that any of these very reasonable and well thought out and justified reasons would trump Othello's reasoning behind the murder.

• She is cheating on me so she must die.

I must admit, I feel like a much better story would have been the logic behind Emilia in marrying Iago.

P.S. I drew this picture on paint because I don't want to go study for German.

I shant retire until I hath sayest this line!

"Nobody, I myself.  Farewell.  Commend me to my kind lord.  Oh, farewell!" V.ii.122-123.

I love those awkward moments when someone is on their death bed because you murdered them and then they still stand up for you after everything you have done for them... not.  Not only was this line uncomfortable to read, but as I expressed today in class, very unrealistic.

I will now do my best to psycho-analyze what was going through Desdemona's head in an attempt to answer the final question in the book.

The first thing that I noticed was the epistrophe of the word "farewell."  Call me crazy, but if I was dying in front of my best friend as was Desdemona, I probably wouldn't want my final words to them to be "See you later."  Call me crazy, but I think that people near death may not be completely sane.  For all I know, she could have very well thought that nobody did kill her.  I hear a lack of oxygen can cause you to forget things.

Dr. Oz agrees with me. http://www.drz.org/asp/conditions/oxygen_deficiency.asp

Anyways.  I realize that this post is a complete tangent to the issue at hand, so I will now show you the connection point that I am getting at.

That picture had so many references.

Anyways.  What I am getting to is the fact that Othello's whole reason for suicide seemed to be derived (more math references in case Bryan Rainey decides to read my blog) in his realization that Desdemona was innocent.  Had he never found out that Desdemona was innocent, then he would have always thought that his murder was qualified.

I assume that this was not the answer that was being looked for, so I will give you what I believe was the text book answer to this question:  Had Othello died never knowing that Desdemona was innocent, then the reader would not feel sympathy for his death.  He would have died a bloody murderer instead of guilty murderer.

P.S.  He is the murderer, not Iago.  Iago is just the evil genius.

Is it ironic that dramas use dramatic irony?

That title.  See what I did there?

Anyways.  I'm answering question 12, but I'm not going to talk about Oedipus Rex, because that is not what we read (unless I did something wrong).

"I will question Cassio of Bianca, a housewife that by selling her desires buys herself bread and clothes" IV.i.91-93.

After several times of missing this line and reading the discussion between Cassio and Iago, I finally saw that they were actually talking about Bianca, unbeknownst (first time I've used that word) to Othello.  It made me laugh.  This dramatic irony where only the reader, Iago, and to an extent, Cassio, knew who they were chatting about is what makes me love Iago.  Had dramatic irony never been used in this story, then the reader would just be like Othello trying to piece together why Desdemona was cheating on Othello instead of asking why Iago was betraying... everyone.

My dog just licked my Lit book.

The dramatic irony also created much suspense for me.  While people (not going to name names, but Grace Weisenbach in particular) seem to have this irrational hatred of Iago because he seemed to have no clear cut reason for the schemes (that will be my third blog post), I really thought I connected the most with Iago thanks to these dramatic ironies.  Not only did he basically run the story, but he even let me know what was going on when I got unbelievably confused.  The suspense that people would figure out his plan that seemed so obvious to me almost drove me insane.  I knew that basically everyone died, but I was still always scared that someone would piece everything together.

Not only did the dramatic irony help me to understand the story, but it also made me a proud member of team Iago.

Here is a hierarchy of my favorite characters.

Ma'am, I thinkest you droppest your napkin thingy...

 

"Your napkin (handkerchief) is too little, (He puts the handkerchief from him, and it drops.)  Let it alone.  Come, I'll go in with you" III.iii.288-290.

"Lend me thy handkerchief" / "Here, my lord." / "That which I gave you." / "I have it not about me." / "Not?" / "No indeed, my lord." / "That's a fault." III.iv.46-49.

Alright Othello, this, right here.  You see this?  This is why I am a proud member of Team Iago!  You are bashing your wife for losing the "napkin" that you gave her despite the fact that you were there when it happened!  Shame hypocrite is not a literary device.  I think that this whole Act would be a good use of dramatic irony though. If there is only one thing that I like about Shakespeare writings, it would have to be the fact that he blatantly tells the reader what is about to happen and why people are doing what they do.

Back to my hatred of Othello, this is kind of like that Bumblebee story in my mind.  It's really annoying that we had Bumblebee who never did anything, but the narrator was just as guilty in his never making him do anything.  Othello is just a piece in Iago's game of Othello.

Not to sound racist, but Othello is that black piece in the middle of Iago's complete annihilation of Othello's reputation.  Ironically enough, Iago has now had Othello wreck Cassio's reputation too.  This whole dramatic irony situation really makes me get annoyed with Othello when I read because I just watch Iago be a genius, but I can't help but notice how everyone is turning away from each other.  Literally just talking about the situation would be enough to figure out all of these lies, but I suppose this is a story and people just aren't as smart as me Iago.

I just "Loled" when I realized that I used dramatic irony to describe a drama.