Othello #3

Throughout the play Iago presents himself differently to every person, and very little is known about his for sure. However, through Iago's usage of multiple facades, the reader is able to see that he is a man who will stop at nothing to execute his maniacal plan. In Act II, scene iii the reader sees Iago present Cassio as the villain. However, Cassio is actually the gentleman that did not want to drink for fear of getting drunk, and Iago made Cassio drink so that he would be drunk and fall victim to Iago's plan. Iago tells Montano that Cassio is a drunkard and not fit to be lieutenant, which leads Montano to speculate that "perhaps [Othello] sees it not, or his good nature / prizes the virtue that appears in Cassio / And looks not on his evils" (II. iii. 139-141). Here the reader is presented with a bit of dramatic irony if they were to replace "Cassio" with "Iago." Since Iago has presented Cassio as the villain, Montano believes that Othello is blind to Cassio's faults. However, it is Iago's faults and evils that Othello, and everyone else, is blind to. Iago is consistently referred to as honest, which is in stark contrast to all of the lies he tells to get his way. Iago seems to be a master of deception in the way that he is able to turn the seemingly good and moral character into the villain, while he, the actual villain, escapes all suspicions.

S+S Chapter 13 Exercise

1. b) Euphonic long vowel and soft consonant sounds help establish the safety felt from having virtue be one's guide.

2. a) Euphonious sound of "ph" is repeated to add to the uplifting feeling.

3. a) The cacophonous "c" sounds are surrounded by euphonic "f," "h," and "s" sounds, adding to the effect that the negatively portrayed crows are leaving the positively portrayed snow.

4. a) Repetition of the "t" sound in the first line provides flow, and the euphonious vowel sounds in the second line add to the beautiful image created.

5. a) Euphonious sounds are repeated to add to the image of a peaceful nature scene.

6. b) It sounds more Shakespearean, and taking into account the fact that the passage is talking about being out of tune, it makes more sense for the correct passage to be cacophonous and not melodious. Passage A was extremely melodious and euphonious but it does not align well with the meaning, therefore the more cacophonous passage B adds more to the meaning by highlighting the mention of being out of tune.

7. b) Cacophonous sounds emphasize the wretchedness of the weapons of war, and the two lines rhyme.

8. a) The repetition of the euphonious sounds portray the actions of Death and Night to be utilitarian.

9. b) Iambic pentameter allows the passage to flow and feel continuous, just like the actions in the passage.

10. b) Repetition of the "stin" sound in the last line creates parallel structure with a cacophonous "t" sound, emphasizing the bad qualities of the bug.

Othello #2: Iago's Asides

In Act II, scene i of Shakespeare's Othello, Iago has two asides, each of which provide insight into his thoughts and schemes. The first of his asides starts at line 182 and ends at line 193 and is in response to seeing Cassio and Desdemona hold hands. Iago says that "with as little a web as this will I ensnare as / great a fly as Cassio" (II. i. 183-184). Here Iago hints at how he will get back at Othello and become lieutenant. Iago wants to use this hand hold to trap Cassio and become lieutenant. Iago also says that "I will / gyve thee in thine own courtship" (II. i. 184-185). Iago again hints at how he will use the hand hold for his own personal gain. This is just another way if Iago saying that he is going to trap Cassio from his own actions (the hand hold). Throughout the rest of the aside Iago makes comments about the hand hold he is observing and how said action is going to make his goal easy to accomplish. Iago's second aside of Act II, scene i is in response Othello and Desdemona's conversation and then kiss. Iago says: "O, you are well tuned now, / But I'll set down the pegs that make this music, / As honest as I am" (II. i. 218-220). Through his aside, Iago once again provides insight into his future actions through his thoughts. Iago uses a metaphor of a string instrument to symbolize his plan to destroy the love between Othello and Desdemona. In a string instruments the pegs are what hold the strings and keep the music in tune. If Iago were to lower the legs in the instrument, he would cause the music, metaphorically Othello and Desdemona's love, to become out of tune, and thus, he would cause their love to unravel at the seams. The part of the aside "as honest as I am" hints at how Iago is going to make his story sound like the truth, especially given Othello's keen view of Iago. Iago's asides are his thoughts and his thoughts are key to understanding Iago's motives and what he plans on doing throughout the play.

Othello #1: Iago's Motives

In Act I of Othello the reader is introduced to Iago and some of his schemes. Also, given that Othello is a tragedy and Iago is presented as the scheming villain, one could logically assume based on the information presented in Act I that the coming deaths in this tragedy will be set forth by Iago and his plans. Iago brings Roderigo to tell Brabantio about Othello and Desdemona's elopement and he conveniently leaves Brabantio and Roderigo to join Othello and warn him of the coming mob. However, before any of this happens Iago speaks about his anger towards Othello and gives some insight into why he will do what he does. While speaking with Roderigo, Othello says:

"I know my price, I am worth no worse a place ... Forsooth, a great arithmetician, / One Michael Cassio, a Florentine, ...That never set a squadron in the field, / Nor the division of a battle knows / More than a spinster ... Mere prattle without practice / Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had th' election; / And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof / At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds / Christened and heathen, must be beleed and / calmed / By debitor and creditor. This countercaster, / He, in good time, must his lieutenant be. / And I God bless the mark, his Moorship's ancient" (I. i. 12-35).

Iago is extremely angry at Othello for choosing Cassio to be lieutenant rather than him. Iago feels that he is much more deserving than Cassio and that he has actually proved himself in battle, as opposed to Cassio. Othello passing over Iago for the lieutenant position seems to be the main source of all of Iago's anger which inspires his future actions. However, during his soliloquy that ends Act I, scene iii, Iago introduces another motive for his actions. He says, "I hate the Moor, / And it is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets / 'Has done my office. I know not if 't be true, / But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, / Will do as if surety" (I. iii. 429-433). Iago is aware of rumors that Othello slept with his wife and although he does not know if they are true, since he is already angry at the Moor, he has decided to operate under the assumption that the rumors are true. If one adds together the anger of being passed over for the important assignment of lieutenant with the anger of Othello sleeping with his wife, it can be understood why Iago is scheming to cause Othello pain.

Sound and Sense Ch. 12 Notes

Rhythm - any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound. In speech, the natural rise and fall of the language

In words of more than one syllable, there are accented or stressed syllables

Accent - the relative prominence given a syllable in relation to it's neighbors, resulting from stress (force of utterance producing loudness), duration, pitch, or juncture (manner of transition between successive sounds)

 Rhetorical stresses - stressing different parts of a sentence to make intentions clear

Understanding rhetorical stress and meaning is essential to comprehending poems and their rhythms

Pauses affect rhythm as well

End-stopped line - end of the line corresponds with natural pause in speech

Heavily end-stop when line ends with punctuation

Run-on line - when the sense of the line moves on without pause into the next line

Caesuras - grammatical or rhetorical pauses within lines

In free-verse, the basic rhythmic unit is the line

Consider contrast between end-stop and run-on lines as well as caesuras

Prose poems depends entirely on prose rhythms

Meter - the identifying characteristic of rhythmic language

Metered verse have accented syllables arranged at equal intervals

Rhythm designates flow of actual sound whereas meter refers to the patterns the sound follows

Foot - basic unit of meter, usually consisting of one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables (occasionally no accented syllables)

Compare syllables within a foot to determine stressed and unstressed syllables

*in the spondee the accent is distributed equally over the two syllables and is occasionally referred to as a hovering accent. No whole poems area written in spondee and thus there are only four basic meters

Line - other basis unit of meter

Similar to free verse, the line in metrical verse can have end-stop lines, run-on lines, and caesuras

Naming of line based on number of feet

Monometer - one foot                 Tetrameter - four feet

Dimeter - two feet                       Pentameter - five feet

Trimeter - three feet                    Hexameter - six feet

Stanza - third unit of measurement

Group of lines with a repeated metrical pattern

Metrical Variations - call attention to sounds that depart from the norm

Substitution - replacing the regular foot with another one

Extrametrical Syllables - added to the beginning or end of lines

Truncation - omission of an unaccented syllable at either end of a line

Scansion - the process of defining the metrical form of a poem

1. identify the foot
2. name the number of feet in a line - if there is a pattern
3. describe the stanzaic pattern - if there is one

When marking metrical stresses, only compare the syllables within the foot

A noun usually receives more stress that its modifying adjective

A verb usually receives more stress than its modifying adverb

These rules don't tend to hold up when the modifying word refers to an unusual condition

Though normal reading establishes metrical pattern, metrical pattern influences the reading

Scansion generalizations:

1. most readers do not stop to scan a poem, although occasional scansion of a poem holds value. As in the example poem, scansion can help to unlock meaning
2. Scansion ignores degree of accent, it only classifies syllables
3. Divisions between feet have no meaning. Rhythm often runs counter to meter. Trochaic hinge word yields a predictive pattern when it echoes throughout
4.   There does not need to be perfect regularity of meter. Once a pattern is found there is an expected rhythm, but the heard rhythm is sometimes different, highlighting important parts. Variation can be introduced by grammatical and rhetorical pauses. 

The Stranger Essay Outline

Prompt #8 - Meursault is a frustrating and fascinating character who can be very difficult to understand. Who is Meursault as a character, and how does Camus use other characters as foils to further clarify Meursault?

Thesis: Through a series of foils, Camus establishes Meursault as someone who is indifferent and objective, represses his emotions and lacks empathy, and is nonreligious.

BP 1) Meursault's indifference and objectivity

Indifference

Objectivity

View on execution and his future

BP 2) Marie Foil

Pg. 35 - Marie asks Meursault if he loves her - she finds meaning in his response

Complete opposite of Meursault who is indifferent to feelings and doesn't look for meaning

BP 3) Meursault's repression of emotions and lack of empathy

Last chapter - covers up his emotions with objectivity

BP 4) Raymond Foil

Ch. 3

BP 5) Meursault's lack of belief in religion

BP 6) Chaplain Foil

Interaction between Meursault and chaplain in the prison cell

The Stranger #5: Meursault’s Struggle with Objectivity

            In the last chapter of The Stranger, the reader is let on to an inner struggle that Meursault is facing.  During his time in his jail cell Meursault does a lot of thinking, and after the trial most of this thinking is directed towards making sense of his future.  Meursault attempts to take an objective point of view, yet there are times when his emotion shines through.  When Meursault first analyzes the idea of executions, he remembers a story his mother would tell him, which made him realize that “there was nothing more important than an execution” (Camus 110).  He decides that if he ever is to be freed he will watch every execution, however he interjects that “I wasn’t being reasonable” (110).  As much as Meursault would love to be freed and be able to watch future executions, he realizes that there is no way that will ever happen.  As he further contemplates this idea of the execution, he realizes that there is a flaw in the system; Meursault believes that  “the most important thing was to give the condemned man a chance…the trouble with the guillotine was that you had no chance at all…the condemned man had to hope the machine would work the first time” (111).  Meursault realizes how nobody is given a chance to live after a conviction and this bothers him, most likely because of his experience in the system and his desire to keep living.  However, as he further develops his opinion on French executions, he realizes that what he saw as a flaw “was the whole secret of a good organization…the condemned man was forced into a kind of moral collaboration” (111).  As Meursault tries to objectively look at his situation, he realizes that there is no escaping his fate, as much as he may like.  In a way, his objectivity makes him lose hope and his desire to live. 

            Another one of his objective endeavors is the concept of life and death within his thoughts about his appeal.  When going under the assumption that his appeal will get denied, he makes himself feel better by assuring himself that  “everybody knows life isn’t worth living.  Deep down I knew perfectly well that it doesn’t much matter whether you die at thirty or at seventy, since in either case other men and women will naturally go on living…since we’re all going to die, it’s obvious that when and how don’t matter” (114).  Meursault presents himself with the objective view on life and death in attempts to lessen his disappointment if his appeal gets denied.  When he says that “deep down” he knows that when he dies doesn’t matter, it signifies that although he knows that it doesn’t matter when he dies he still cares.  Lastly, when Meursault lets himself ponder the possibility that he is pardoned, he says, “It would take all my strength to quiet my heart, to be rational” (114).  Although this statement is made directly relating to his reaction to potentially being pardoned, it applies to everything he tries to view through an objective lens.  In all of his thoughts about his future there is the presence of emotions that he tries, yet struggles, to hide through his objectivity.

The Stranger #4: Meursault’s Omission of Certain Details

            In earlier sections of the text, Meursault leaves out details of certain things and leaves the reader to speculate what happens, and to speculate why he left out the details.  In chapter two of part two, Meursault explicitly states that there are parts of his life that he doesn’t like to talk about.  In doing so, Meursault leads the reader to wonder what he doesn’t like talking about them.  The beginning of chapter two states: “There are some things I’ve never liked talking about.  A few days after I entered prison, I realized that I wouldn’t like talking about this part of my life.  Later on though, I no longer saw any point to my reluctance” (Camus 72).  Although the reader is first led to believe that his stint in prison is going to be another area of detail that Meursault leaves to speculation, Meursault indicates a shift in his viewpoint and leads the reader to believe that he will disclose the details of his time in jail.  However, there are still areas of his prison life that he clearly leaves out.  Meursault says that “the things I’ve never liked talking about began” shortly after Marie wrote to him (76).  Meursault leaves the reader wondering exactly what it is that he is leaving out and why he seems ashamed of it.  Also, Meursault seems to contradict his statement that there is no longer any point to his reluctance to talk about his life in prison when he refuses to talk about any aspect of it.  Meursault’s omission of details establishes him as a narrator who refuses to provide the reader with all the available information.