02 Thursday March 31

We began class with a discussion of the meaning of The Renaissance or Early Modern Period from 1500 to 1650, the time during which Shakespeare was writing. The Renaissance had to do with the increase in secularization while the Early Modern Period dealt more with the beginnings of certain behaviors and modernity, and was a period of exploration and increasing surveillance. We then watched a scene from the Othello movie and wrote in class about the evidence that Iago gave about Desdemona’s infidelity and the reasons that Othello believed him. We determined through discussion following the writing that Iago provided entirely circumstantial evidence (Cassio’s dream, Desdemona’s handkerchief being in Cassio’s house) but that Othello believed him because Iago is “honest” to Othello, and that Iago has been voicing fears that Othello might already have concerning his worth. Othello never really understood why Desdemona loved him, so throughout the play he has developed a low perception of himself and begins believing the Moorish stereotypes to be true about himself. This becomes obvious on pages 135 and 145, when Othello begins referring to himself as black. We determined that Iago merely plays on Othello’s insecurities in order to poison him against his wife and his friend Cassio. We discussed whether or not Othello and Desdemona had consummated their marriage and determined that they had tried to but had been repeatedly interrupted by several instances (Othello being called off to Cyprus, Cassio fighting Roderigo). We discussed the possibility that things would have been different if they had gotten the chance to consummate their marriage, and decided that Othello would have been more trusting of Desdemona if he had found out that she was still just as chaste and virgin as ever. It would have ruled out the possibility of her sleeping around. We discussed Desdemona’s change in character from the beginning of the play to the end. At the beginning she is openly defiant towards her father and the council, but by the end of the play she is quiet and submissive. We determined that she was written this way for several possible reasons, including the differences in age between her and Othello, her naïveté, and the fact that she had isolated herself from everyone but Othello so really had no choice but to be on his side no matter what. We also talked about the discrepancies in the two stories of the handkerchief that Othello tells. When he talks to Desdemona he says that his mother gave it to his father, but when he tells Iago the same story he changes who gives it to whom. We said that Othello changed his story because in the first story the woman is in control but in the second the man is, showing his change regarding his relationship with Desdemona. A change in story also occurs concerning Othello’s final speeches. Before he kills Desdemona he laments and cries, but afterwards he merely wants his story told a certain way.