Final Shakespeare Essay December 15, 2007 Othello Iago uses his cleverness in convincing Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him. Othello has strong trust in the woman he loves when the idea of cheating is first mentioned and undermines his instinct to believe the rumor immediately as seen in 3.3.187 `not from mine own weak merits will I draw the smallest fear or doubt of her revolt. For she had eyes, and chose me' Othello was very pleased that a woman of Desdemona's caliber chose him, being a black man. Iago suggests to Othello that he simply check out his wife's behavior towards cassio in order to get the idea planted in his mind so he can later convince him with ease. He also makes Othello aware as an outsider that he may not know the way women of Venice are in their romantic dealings. 3.3.201 `I know our country disposition well: In Venice they do let [god] see the pranks they dare not show their husbands; their best conscience is not to leave it undone, but to keep't unknown. Iago uses lies to gain Othello trust through his convincing of cassio's cheating with Desdemona. 3.3.216. `I hope you will consider what is spoke comes from [my] love'. 3.3.226 `long live she so! And long live you to think so!' Slowly Othello realizes he is out of place and perhaps is being played and what he considered to be the greatest thing to ever happen to him was simply too good to be true. Othello is very upset to hear of Cassio's dream and how he kissed Iago in bed. 3.3.432 `Ill tear her all too pieces' Iago plays a perfect role here by telling Othello to not be so alarmed due to the fact that this is not yet visual evidence which just makes him want to know more. 3.3.433 `nay, yet be wise, yet we see nothing done; she may be honest yet' Othello changes drastically when he hears of the handkerchief that Iago mentions to him. 3.3.445 `all my fond love thus do I blow to heaven. `Tis gone. Arise black vengeance, from the hollow hell'. Iago has shown his loyalty with evidence of handkerchief and in return Othello foolishly 3.3.479 `now art thou my lieutenant'. Iago waits for the right moment and then tells Othello that Cassio has slept with Desdemona and Othello seems to lose it 4.1.44 `confess? Handkerchief? O devil!' Iago convinces Othello as far as to want to kill his wife as noted in 4.1.204. `get me some poison, Iago, this night. I'll not expostulate with her, lest her body and beauty unprovide my mind again. This night Iago'. Iago's influence has played such a large role on Othello's belief of his wife's wrongdoing as noted when he confronts her, he also mentions his new knowledge of Venetian women 4.2.88 ` I cry you mercy then. I took you for that cunning whore of Venice that married with Othello. You Mistress'.
3.1.55-90 In this famous soliloquy Hamlet debates on whether to act or not act. `To be or not to be that is the question' Hamlet has a great task at hand and his debating whether he can actually face this task and triumph at the same time. Hamlet debates whether he would rather live or die. `Hamlet shows fear in line 65 `for in that sleep of death what dreams may come'. He contemplates not knowing what will come if he chooses to take his life. He goes on to say that any man is able to kill himself in 73 the patient merit of the unworthy takes, when he himself might his quietus make with a bare bodkin; who would fardels bear'. He then goes on to contemplate the value of life in general. In 82.85 he speaks of how `conscience makes cowards of us all' He is saying that through thinking everything out and not acting immediately one becomes a coward and does not accomplish what one wants really wants. `and lose the name of action' we discusses how character such as fortinbras and Hotspur were men of actions and did not reflect upon what they were preparing to do. Rationalizing the irrational can prove to be your weakness is what he is claiming towards the end of this soliloquy. In this final portion he also suggests what is going to happen in the rest of the play as he leaves open the question of why he is delaying his action. 3.4.53-101 Here Hamlet is speaking to his mother concerning here relationship with King Claudius. Hamlet is implying that his mother must have known what happened had and that she is corrupt in her sexual union with his Uncle Claudius. Hamlet cannot believe that there is anyway that his mother fails to see the truth in this matter and curses the king. 65 `here is your husband, like a mildewed ear, blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes? Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed' Hamlet is asking why his mother would ever do such a thing knowingly when it is so clear what has taken place. He then claims his mother slept with the king out of sexual lust and accuses her of being too old to have these kind of feelings. 68 `You cannot call it love, for at your age the heyday in the blood is tame, its humble, and waits upon the judgment, and what judgment would step from this to this' Hamlet then ask what kind of devil could have blinded her to not see the wrong in all that she has done referring to her sexual sins. He considers this incestuous. 76 `what devil was it that thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind? The queen then tells hamlet to speak no more that she no longer sees her son through his eyes. Hamlet then gives her the dagger as he says in 92 ` nay but to live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love over the nasty sty!. Hamlet uses a lot of emotion in that part and his madness may come out a bit due to the fact that at this point in the play nothing is going in the right direction and he is basically disappointed with Denmark as whole. The emotion was highly noted though poorly acted through Mel Gibsons portrayal of hamlet in the video clip shown in class.
Hamlet's dilemma with revenge is noted throughout his first opportunity to kill the king. Hamlet claims that if he is to kill the king while he is praying it would not get the job done because he would most likely go to heaven. Act 3.2.76 `A villain kills my father and for that I his sole son do this same villain send to heaven' Hamlet is noticing that this would prove unsatisfactory to his father and his sense of revenge would not be fulfilled through this act at the time. 3.2.84 `And am I then revenged, to take him in the purging of his soul' He then goes on to tell us what must occur for his revenge to be adequate. 3.2.89 `when he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed, at game a-swearing, or about some act that hath no relish of salvation in it' Hamlet seems to only believe in revenge when it is absolutely necessary and spends a great deal of time debating it throughout the play but shows his loyalty to his father when he accomplishes his murder of the king. Hamlets view on death is expressed throughout the gravediggers scene. In this scene Hamlet comes to the realization that death is an equalizing force and that everyone eventually ends up on the same place. He shows this as he mentions great personas such Julius Ceasar and Alexander the great. 5.1.202 `to what base uses we may return, Horatio! Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till' a find it stopping a bunghole? He shows strong emotion toward death when he holds the skull of Yorick whom he knew very well and shared many close moments with. 5.1.185 `He hath bore me on his back a thousand times and now how abhorr'd in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it'. Hamlet goes on to ponder what really makes a man great or not great at the time of death. Hamlets view on suicide is noted when he is considering whether to kill the king or not. He ponders what lies after death, 3.1.77 `but that dread of something after death, the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveler returns, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have than to fly to others that we know not of?' I believe hamlet debates killing himself here but realizes that taking ones life would be a coward move. I believe he also knows that he cannot reach heaven if he is to do so but he is so tangled up in everything going on at the time that he actually considers it. 3.1.60 `to die to sleep- no more and by sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to'. I realize I used this soliloquy above but it's the only take on suicide I was able to find in the allotted time frame.