- donareeJan 27, 2012 11:46 AM
Iago’s philosophy: morality is worthless
He starts his speech by saying “Virtue? A fig” which shows that he places no value on honesty and being trustworthy. This is supported by his cunning actions at Brabantio’s house. And by his repetition of “put money in thy purse” from line 339.
All Iago wants is for Roderigo to keep on giving him money so that he can continue to exploit him. He knows that Desdemona will not get “sated with his [Othello] body” but he says it because he knows that will get him what he wants. It corroborates his comment on how servants should put on one face towards their masters but secretly be thinking about themselves.
I don’t agree with Iago’s philosophy. I think that without morality people would become cold and heartless – like Iago. In my opinion, Shakespeare’s function for Iago was to represent how cruel the world could become if we followed the philosophy of ‘me, myself and I’ and disregarded our values.The play begins in Venice,a civilised,comercialised area at the time.
Othello is well-respected due to his position as general,and his close ties with the Duke of Venice,so when he is drafted to Cyprus, this sudden change into a potential war zone reflects the turmoil he will encounter,preparing us for any oncoming tagedy.
Even the beginning of the play doesn't start off calm,but with Iagos schemes and Brabantios dissaproval of Desdamona and Othello's marriage, due to racial and religous differences.Iago is a Machiavellian in that he is almost obsessed with hiding his true identity
He refers to the body as "gardens,to the which our wills are gardeners" which shows that he is clearly all about bettering himself instead of his peers. Iago's self centered beliefs completely contradict the 'team' attitude that should be upheld by someone within a military unit like himself.
Morevover, it is clear that Iago is memorized by the kudo's that being in a position of power can bring, hence his obsession with Othello and Cassio's demise. Othello and Cassio have more power than Iago (he is envious of this,and feels he has been served an injustice) ,thus he delights in conjuring up a plan that will bring both characters to their knees. However, he realises that he is not powerful enough to carryout his actions alone, he will need an unknowing and a "supersubtle Venetian" (Desdemona) to play her part and also the "barbarian" (Othello) himself to be at his weakest.
Iago's philosophy to life does not seem to be in keeping with the majority of society -both of Elizabethan and modern day society- and so I do not think it is a good trait. His lack of morals and loyalties will only get him so far,which we of course find out at the end of Act three.Setting plays a particularly important role in establishing and enhancing tragedy in "Othello". this is shown when on being told his daughter is having an affair with Othello Barbantio should react encouragingly since he should embody the civil and cosmopolitan traits that made Venice the pinnacle of culture as the "Venetian senator". Yet the first action he takes on finding this out is of trying to attack Othello accusing him of ritualistic black manage to charm his daughter to Othello's side. This enhances tragedy because we know if Othello changes setting from Venice to anywhere he will inevitably treated badly but traveling to the barbaric Cyprus can hardly end in any result other than tragedy. This enhances tragedy because Othello has chosen to travel their to defend a society (Venetian) that only cares for him as weapon than as a person who can court whoever he wishes.
Iago's philosophy on life is rugged Nietzsche-esque individualism veiled as compassion or even socialist standpoint.This is obvious when Iago makes his "purse" speech to Roderigo after Roderigo despairs about his chances with Desdemona.Iago says of Othello that Desdemona will be "sated with his body" and urges Roderigo to "put money in thy purse". Essentially he is disguising Iago is disguising his greed and need to dominate with almost charitable kindness toward Roderigo. This highlights what Iago tends to do, using characters perceptions of him as the definition of morality to take advantage of them as immorally as possible (in this case Roderigo).In short, he cannot even see the existence of morality merely the weak and the strong and how to take advantage of both. Iago is the antithesis of morality disguised as morality itself.
The philosophy Iago preaches is the philosophy he reproaches, that of kindness. I agree with the philosophy he portrays but not the self-serving subtext of it that he truly means.
Tuesday 31 January 2012
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Sunday 29 January 2012
Look at Iago’s speeches from lines 310 to 360 (Act 1 Scene 3). What is his philosophy to life? By David Palin
In the first of Iago’s speeches he speaks about human nature. He talks about his experience of human behaviour and proclaims that he would become a baboon before drowning himself over a woman. He first mentions his age, “four times seven years”, (or 28 for us humans). He is clearly using this as a reason why his opinion is one of sound backing, with age comes experience, according to him. He also says that “since I could distinguish […] I never found a man that knew not how to love himself”.
Immediately this intrigues readers because this is quite a cynical view of humanity and as he has said from a young age, one where he was able to begin to “distinguish” he saw this. We are led to believe that even as a child he was able to see the world in a manner unlike a child, this leads us to the conclusion that Iago is either trying to be extremely definitive or is a very smart, sharp individual. The use of the phrase “love” in this quote is important because it indicates selfish or self-indulgent qualities unlike phrases like “support” or even “like”. This tells us that Iago sees men as being this way, a cold and generalizing view.
He continues this speech by saying that “I would change my humanity […] ere […] I would drown myself for […] a guinea-hen”. Just to clear that phrase up, “I would become a baboon before I would drown myself for a woman”. (See? Not that confusing.) Iago mentions a baboon, something seen as quite comical, on purpose as it shows how much he is repulsed by the idea, both of the animal and the act of suicide over a woman. This adds weight and punch to this line because of his certainty. The phrase “guinea-hen” is used here as slang for a woman, but can also mean “domestic fowl”, or chickens. This has a striking resemblance to one of the first descriptions of Stanley by Tennessee Williams. He describes him as a chicken in a coop surrounded by hens. We can therefore suggest that Iago uses this term as a derogatory term towards women.
Iago then attacks the idea of “virtue”, something he swipes away with the phrase “A fig.” The sharp and quick way he dismisses the idea suggests he is completely against the idea. He then uses an extended metaphor to suggest that “our bodies are gardens […] our wills are gardeners”. He speaks of “plant[ing] nettles, sow[ing] lettuce, set[ting] hyssop (a herb) and weed[ing] up thyme (another herb)”. He mentions monogamy, “supply it with one gender of herbs”, and polygamy “or distract it with many”. Shakespeare uses the types of plants in the phrase to show Iago’s view of life. By planting nettles, something that is seen as a weed, he is showing that this negative plant, or way of living, is good. This is continued when he mentions weeding thyme, thyme is not a weed but a plant and getting rid of it would be considered negative, but obviously not to Iago.
Interestingly here he uses the verb of “supply” to indicate that men need at least one woman to provide them with some necessary requirement, while having many partners “distract[s]” a man, something which applies to Cassio, reminding us that Iago is unhappy with Othello’s choice of Lieutenant. This is further when he mentions being “sterile with idleness”, something shown as being negative, or being “manured with industry”, or being ‘well-sown’, garden-wise. The most prominent theme of this speech is that men are viewed higher than women by Iago, men are described as using women, who are described as ‘ingredients’, to grow as people.
He also says a rather long and confusing line in this speech, one which will definitely require a translation(!)
“If the beam of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions.”
Confusing right?! Here’s the translation:
“If the balance beam of our lives didn’t have a weight of reason to counterbalance a different balance beam of sexual drive, our passions would take us to the most ridiculous endings.” Phew. Better? This is another metaphor and conjures up idea of balancing to make life seem like a delicate and uncertain game with rules demand careful and measured playing. He finishes by returning to his previous metaphor and describes love as a “sect or scion”, a ‘cutting’ or ‘offshoot’.
The third of his speeches to Roderigo begins with him saying “be a man […] Drown cats and blinds puppies.” These are rather harsh and shocking images of brutality and cruelty, something that suggests this is how Iago sees masculinity and being a man. He repeatedly tells him to “put money in thy purse”, we know that Iago has no intention of his conversation with Roderigo other than to trick and use him for his own fun. This repetition tells us that Iago is very demanding and is defiant when it comes to getting what he wants. He then makes predictions about Desdemona’s love which, under the surface are wild and unlikely, “it was a violent commencement […] the food that to him now is luscious […] shall be to him shortly […] bitter.” We are already aware that their meeting took place over some time and the length of Othello’s story suggests that it took a long time to get to the situation of them getting married. Immediately we can tell that Iago not being serious and is only trying to persuade Roderigo. He promises that she will be “sated with his body”, or bored with the sex. Again, they are married, something shown as having great substance and significance so this is easily debated. He proclaims that Othello is an “erring barbarian” and that Desdemona is a “supersubtle Venetian”. Each of these words is important, ‘erring’ or ‘mistaken’ shows he implied idiocy of Othello, while ‘barbarian’ uses his race to attack him. ‘Supersubtle’ or ‘sophisticated’ contrasts to the first description and makes her seem perfect, while ‘Venetian’ is used, again to contrast, and shows where her true loyalties lie, according to him. Iago ends this conversation by, rather disturbingly, suggesting that Roderigo should be prepared to die for his cause, “Seek […] to be hanged in compassing (obtaining) thy joy”. This is a shocking and worrying image as it shows sincerity and cruel brutality rather than success or ‘joy’ as Iago states. Again this contrast to typical thinking is used to make Iago’s perception of masculinity seem alien and something of gravity.
Saturday 28 January 2012
Comment on how the setting of act 1 scenes 1-3 helps Shakespeare prepare the reader for tragedy.
Setting has a major but not obvious part in Shakespeare's play Othello. The play starts of in Venice, which at the time was up-holded by law and civilization, "This is Venice; my house is not a Grange" as said by Brabantio, chaos has no place in Venice. However, Cyprus was- at the time- the exact opposite of this: It was seen as barbaric and a place devoid of law. The physical change in environment allows the tragedy to unfold in an area prone to destruction. In some ways, the venician law represents the stability of Othello's mind, the move to Cyprus illustrates Othello's descent into madness.
In venice, Othello has the law on his side, he is not punished by the duke, for marrying Desdemona without her father's permission even though the duke says to Brabantio, "...The bloody book of law, you shall yourself read in bitter letter After your own sense..." This emphasizes that although he is above the law in Venice, in Cyprus there will be no law figurehead to protect him. Also, Othello is a moor and experiences racial derogatory slurs such as, "Barbary horse". Even in Venice- a multicultural society- Othello is an outsider, by going to Cyprus this increases his isolation, making a tragic end inevitable.
Cyprus itself, also holds some historical background relative to the play. In classical mythology, Cyprus is the mythical home to Aphrodite- the goddess of love and beauty. It is a place where she was "first carried ashore", this is depicted by Shakespeare when Cassius greets Desedemona "...The riches of the ship is come ashore..." this draws parallels to Aphrodite, who was known for her adulterous affairs. This forebodes that the play is centered around Desdemona's fidelity- "...If thou hast eyes to see she has deceived her father, and may thee." At the time, adulterous women were said to have strip their husbands of their masculinity, the possibility of Desdemona cheating on Othello- a man of strength and honor- is enough to ensure a tragic demise.
Sources
http://www.shmoop.com/othello/setting.html
http://www.theatredance.com/othello/comments.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/othello/themes.html
Sources
http://www.shmoop.com/othello/setting.html
http://www.theatredance.com/othello/comments.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/othello/themes.html
Tuesday 24 January 2012
Activity 1 - Act 1 Sc 1
Hello LELI 3 and LELI 4 The Othello blog is now up and running!
Here are your tasks for this week (Due for lesson on Monday 30th January).
Rules are simple
1. Do it in time for lesson
2. NO CUT AND PASTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
enjoy :)
Here are your tasks for this week (Due for lesson on Monday 30th January).
Rules are simple
1. Do it in time for lesson
2. NO CUT AND PASTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
enjoy :)
1. How does the setting of Act 1 allow the play 'Othello' to develop as a tragedy? Use some eveidence to cack up your opinions (Remeber - this is a blog ppost so does not need to be as formal as a standard academic style essay).
2. In Iago's speech(es) to Roderigo in Act1 Sc1 (318 - 360) he outlines a possible philosophy (or approach) towards life. What is this approach? Do you believe he really means it? Do you agree with what he says?
Here are some links to get you thinking:
Revenge Tragedy:
Universal teacher - a reasonably good site - a bit wordy but some good information. Look at the comments on structure in particular.
A rather acdemic essay on 'Othello' - go on, test yourselves:
Some general notes:
Hello from Othello.
'The Moor of Venice' they call me, a title which, although can be rude, serves me well enough. Rude am I of speech and not blessed with the soft phrase of peace but still respected by the Duke of Venice and held in high esteem. Desdemona is my angelic bride but, as Brabantio said, "look to her moor if you have eyes to see/she deceived her father and might yet deceive thee".
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