The Insight of Othello

In Susan Snyder’s essay Othello: A Modern Perspective,  Snyder introduces many approaches to how the destruction of Othello and Desdemona relationship came about. Snyder asked the question ‘what goes so quickly and terribly wrong with the marriage of Othello and Desdemona?’ Out of all the approaches that Snyder mentioned, Iago being the center of all chaos remains as the most sufficient.

Othello is an outsider who is intelligent and confident in military matters but socially insecure. Othello came to venice to live among the different people of the city. Due to his skin color, Othello constantly lived separated from everybody. Sometimes referred to as a ‘Moor’, a representative African, people called him black which in color symbolism mean wickedness and guilt according to Elizabethan morality. 

The story progresses, and Othello is given the power to appoint an lieutenant by his side. He chooses cassio, who in Othello eyes is a student of military knowledge and deserved the position. This is where the appearance of Iago is found. Iago became furious about the decision of the new lieutenant and set out to bring revenge on Cassio and Othello  ..“poison Othello’s happiness, and to bring down Cassio”. (288)  That was Iago’s number one motif.

Iago began his master plot of manipulation by telling Othello he saw Desdemona with Cassio. Othello being insecure and not having confidence in himself and his relationship, let that lie become reality and believed it. The rumor told by Iago was not true at all , but the self-doubt and insecurites came alive inside Othello which ultimately lead him to believe that his wife was cheating. Iago being angry at Othello and Cassio, by telling Othello that his wife was cheating with Cassio is basically destroying two birds with one stone. The phrase made by Iago “chosen instrument” (289)  was saying that he was using Cassio to destroy Othello may not be completly true because Iago was just jealous of Cassio. Othello’s insecurities ultimately lead to the death of wife but it would not have been possible with out the help of Iago.

In Modern perspective, this story is seen all the time. This is a facet of the story that I didn’t explore in my first essay. In today’s world this is basically a story about a lower class man that didnt get the job he wanted. So to get back at the people he felt did wrong to him he devised a plan to create his two enemies to become eniemies. This story relates to the confusion and the state of misconception seen in Romeo and Juliet.  Characters such as Rodeirgo having the same role as the father of Juliet in the story. The two stories are the same but are in different time periods.

Works cited

Snyder, Susan. “Othello: A Modern Perspective.” Folger Shakespeare Library: Othello by William Shakespeare, edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Simon and Schuster, 2009. 287-98

The Path of Hate

In Othello: A Modern Perspective by Shakespeare the actions taken by a angered man cause great conflict and chaos in this short play. Othello, a person known for his honor and sacrifice, served a general in the Venetian army and is soon to be marrying Desdemona. Othello is given the power to elect a lieutenant. Iago is angered when he is not selected for the position, he then sets out to destroy the life of Othello by aiming towards his relationship between him  and Desdemona. The approach Susan Synder took in her essay was surrounded by revenge that led to a deceitful plan to destroy another persons life.

Iago is seen to been the number one suspect in the downfall of Othello. Although he is accompanied by Roderigo, another enemy of Othello who secretly is in love with Desdemona. Still going through with his sinister plan, Iago promises Roderigo his desire for Othello’s wife Desdemona to be fulfilled in success of his attempt. Jealousy is also seen, Iago felt “subordinate to both Othello and Cassio in the army hierarchy” (291) and referring to the social stand points of the two, Othello and Iago. You have Othello, a legend in the Venetian war with a respected service record, compared to Iago,  who is classified as being in the lower class of society. It is not difficult to see where the hate is rooted from.

Throughout this is story it is clear that Iago has no regard for anyones well-being and is doing everything possible to fill his void of failure. Unhappy about his own marital life and infuriated about his selection of lieutenant, Iago devised a deceptive scheme to achieve revenge on Othello and Cassio

The analysis revealed that the possession of jealousy and hate can lead people to acts of mendacious schemes. The insecurity and lack of trust Othello had for Desdemona played a big role in the destruction of their lives also, but still the presence of Iago remained superior as he was the root of all evil in this tragedy.

 

Works cited

Snyder, Susan. “Othello: A Modern Perspective.” Folger Shakespeare Library: Othello by William Shakespeare, edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Simon and Schuster, 2009. 287-98.

 

Assassination devastation

In Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation, the life and death of our fallen presidents Lincoln, Garfield and Mckinley. These were our countrie’s first 3 assassinated presidents. Vowell seemed to take a very biased approach to her examination of the presidents Lincoln and Garfield. Favoring Lincoln’s life and personality way more than Garfields, many examples are seen throughout the novel that supports that position.

Lincoln who was murdered  April 15, 1865 is the topic of the first chapter.The beginning of chapter one is spent by Vowell taking an excursion to various sites relating to Lincoln’s death. Forde theater being the first place she list, the theater where Lincoln was murdered. She then took a trip to a memorial in D.C. that contained the contents of what Lincoln had in his pocket the night he was murdered. Comments made by Vowell are seen through the first chapter suggesting her strong feelings toward Lincoln’s role in history and life. She later takes a day trip to Fort Jefferson where the conspirators of Lincoln’s assassination were imprisoned. The effort and time seen spent by Vowell in attempt to glue all the pieces of Lincoln’s death, add on to her fascination of him and his presidency.

The location of Vowell’s view toward the two is seen early at the beginning of chapter two as she states “Thankfully, the story of Garfield’s death is more interesting than the story of his life”(p.125). She opens by devaluing Garfield’s life and unconsciously making Lincoln superior to Garfield. As she continues to give away her true emotions towards Garfield she writes“The most famous thing ever said about President James A. Garfield is about how nobody has any idea who the hell he was” (123).Vowell doesn’t spend nearly the same amount of time reflecting on Garfield’s  as she did Lincoln, but instead she talked about his assassin Charles Gateau. She wrote about his hard upbringing and unstable family life. Gateau’s life presented to be more interesting and intriguing to Vowell as she portrayed  where her time was spent writing about.

Abraham Lincoln is regarded as one of America’s greatest heroes due to his incredible impact on the nation during the civil war. He played a key role in the 13th amendment which led to end of slavery. All in all, Lincoln left behind a more respectable legacy than Garfield. With that being obvious , it is easy to understand Vowell’s approach to the two presidents and her feelings toward them.

Word Cited

Vowell, Sarah. Assassination Vacation. Simon and Schuster.2005.

Hector Bligh’s Nightmare

In the begining of the chapter “Wilderness” in John Crow’s Devil by Marlon James, Hector Bligh is awaken by then sun’s cast of white glow but there is no heat or warmth followed by it. The ex-pastor immediately concludes that he has finally drunken himself to death. Hector believes that he has actually died unfortunately he was experiencing an actual living Hell, way more damnation than literal Hell could offer.

As Hector Bligh’s hallucinations began ” these are the things that must happen to you”(56) is whispered into his ear. He imagines an Cherub with a familiar face with no eyes, a evil spirit.  Hector then begins to vomit violently until he was slumped into complete agony. The widow was livid at the mess he caused but was still concerned about the ex-pastor’s well being. In distraught and drunkenness Hector rejects her offer to help and request that she leave him in a room for his own sake. He was then visited by his brother’s voice ” why did you betray me?” coming from the heavens. Unfortunately, that was only the start of his torment. Later that night he had another living dream that his room had been overrun by rodents ” rats,  rats, rats”(59) screamed Hector. Taken over by her compelling concern of the pastor she bursts into the room to see the pastor in a state of complete madness. Having a history with alcohol and alcoholics the widow forces some into his mouth ” You trying to kill me?”(59)  yelled the  Hector as he spit out the liquor. Surprised by his response the widow answered “I trying to save you, you ungrateful sum’bitch”(59).

Following his recent encounter with rodents, Hector asks the widow to lock him in his room. Although compliant to the orders of the pastor, the widow “let herself in the room”(60) on the second night. During the time of being isolated, Hector imagined his brothers wife naked and white “she straddled him and he unzipped his pants”(60). In the mist of that Bligh realized that the figure had no face, but only a skull “Bligh screamed and the wife disappeared” (60).

In my opinion, its ironic the widow, Ms.Greenfield, is once again taking care of an alcoholic just like her husband. That explained the reason why she was so caring and concerned for the pastor. Hector Bligh’s poor character and countless bad choices related directly to the torment he endured.

Marlon James’ John Crow’s Devil is a battle between two men both driven by guilt. It also a spiritual warfare as you see the wrath of a man’s unforgiven sins cause terrifying torture before his brought to death.

 

What do you know about me ?

Well first off, my name is Jordan Blair Hightower. I am from Atlanta, Georgia. I am in my first semester of freshman year majoring in IT at Lenoir-Rhyne University. In this blog, I am going to tell you more about my past and interests.

I was born in Stone mountain, Georgia. A relative big town about twenty minutes outside the city. I have two older sisters and one older brother therefore I’m the baby of the family. Growing up I watched all of my siblings participate in Sports, so it was basically expected for me to do the same.

All the way up to my senior year in High school I played Football, Basketball, and ran Track. Football has always been my number one love; track came naturally because I was already fast. Some more of interest consist of watching movies, listening to rap music and visiting new places. My favorite movie is Paid In Full and my favorite artist is Curren$y.

 

First blog post

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