Othello's un-true love

Othello is in love with the idea of having Desdemona but is not truly in love with her; he shows this through his pride, jealousy, and how easily he falls prey to Iago's manipulation.

In order to full understand this we must look at all sides being with Desdemona and her fathers relationship.

Act I, Scene 3, Page 33
Line 69.
Duke- "Why what's the matter?"
First Senator- "Dead?"
Brabantio- "Ay, to me."
Brabantio and Desdemona had been seemingly close and had a good strong father daughter relationship. When Brabantio hears that she has ran off with the Moor he is very hurt and feels that she is dead to him and no longer his daughter.

Othello seems to show no real care in the matter. He believes that he is in the right and that Desdemona fell in love with him reasonably and does not care that she did not make it known to her father even though it was her father who had invited into his home in the first place

Act 1, Scene 3, Page 35
Othello- "I won his daughter."
In this time it certainly was not okay to take a man's daughter and run away to get married. Even now it is looked down upon but back then asking permission from the father was appropriate and a way to show respect for the father as well as the daughter. Othello does not seem to show respect for anyone but himself. He claims that he won her as if she were a prize for him being such a great soldier.

Othello does decide to explain how they came to be married but he skims over his love for her and focuses mainly on her love for him.

Act 1, Scene 3, Page 41
Othello- "She loved me for the dangers I had passesd, And I loved her that she did pity them."
It seems that Othello believes that he is worthy to have a socially high status young woman because of the battles he has endured. And he seems to just love having Desdemona there doting on him and pining over how awesome he is militarily. He doesn't really care about her as a person just as the prize that she is and how she can make him look even better than he already thinks he is.

Iago even seems to know how much Othello puts into having a younger woman and how proud that makes him.

Act 1, Scene 3, Page 53
Iago- "She must change him for youth. When she is sated with his body she will find the error of her choice."
Now we know that this did not really occur, that she never cheated on Othello, but Iago brings it up as something that he is going to use in the future to hurt Othello. This seems to help drive home the point that Othello feels more like a strong manly-man because of being able to satisfy a younger woman but the moment he believes he may be losing her to another he quickly remembers who he really is and does not want those sorts of thoughts in his head.

Act 3, Scene 3, Page 131
Othello- "For she had eyes, and chose me."
Later on the scene after Iago continues his manipulation and lets a few things out that he supposedly knows about Desdemona, Othello seems to change his mind very quickly and drastically.
Act 3, Scene 3, Page 135
Othello- "Haply, for I am black And have not those soft parts of conversation That chamberers have, or for I am declined Into the vale of years- yet that's not much- She's gone. I am abused, and my relief Must be to loathe her."
Now after only hearing a portion from Iago Othello has reverted to believing he is not good enough. She is what kept his pride intact and the moment he believes she is not worthy of him or is going to make him like less of a man he decides he must now hate her!

Othello seems to think that if he didn't know he'd be better off, however, he does ask for proof, but it seems that before he even gets proof he has resigned to the idea of her being a cheater.

Act 3, Scene 3, Page 143
Othello- "I had been happy if the general camp, Pioneers and all, had tasted her sweet body, So I had nothing known."
Othello decided that as long as it couldn't hurt his pride or his belief that he was good enough for Desdemona then she could have slept around with everyone and he would not have cared. He just wanted her to seem loyal and loving in his eyes so he could going on being proud of his prize or the young woman that he had "won."

The time is quickly coming now that Othello can no longer bear his marriage be something that he can not be proud of. he has decided that she must die and that he will kill her. He shows how powerful he can be and seems to take pride in his ability to take away the life of his wife whom helped him to gain pride in his power and now he is losing his pride as well as his mind.

Act 4, Scene 2, Page 195
Othello- "Come, swear it. Damn thyself, Lest, being like one of heaven, the devils themselves Should fear to seize thee. Therefore be double damned.
Desdemona- "Heaven doth truly know it."
Othello- "Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell."
Othello may have lost some of his pride in believing that she was cheating and allowing himself to be manipulated to believe that not matter she said she was lying but here it seems that he is full of pride and omnipotence! He feels that he has the right to damn her to hell, even to know that she is going to lie before she speaks, and he even claims that he knows what heaven knows about her.

Othello allowed himself to be manipulated because his pride and strong belief in himself was based on the love of a young beautiful well-off woman. He felt powerful when he was with her and even when jealousy overtook him and he felt the lowest of low he immediately was able to rise back up again and reclaim his power by damning her eternal soul and taking her life. Othello could not truly have loved her nearly as much as he loved himself.

The movie 'O'

I just finished watching the movie based on Othello tonight. I really enjoyed it. But I think I got all my tears out before watching it when I finished Othello earlier this afternoon. So far Othello has been my favorite read of this course. After hearing the discussion in class yesterday about how Hugo was made out to be someone that people could feel sorry for I watched the movie with that in mind. At first I certainly felt that for him with the way his father treated him and overall how sad and lost he looked. But as soon as he started scheming against Micheal and ruining O's relationship with Desi my feelings quickly went back to how I felt about Iago in the play. He just seemed so cold and how he easily agreed, if not urged O to go ahead with having Micheal killed. One striking difference to me from the play and the movie that may seem kind of subtle to others was Hugo's reaction to O saying he was going to kill Desi. In the play Iago seems as though he wants her to stay out of this in that way, like he doesn't see any need for harm to come to her. But at the same time he kind of gives in and decides he can get everything he wants just the same if she dies. Another interesting thing about the film was how at the end it seems that Hugo in a sick way still got what he wanted. As the police car is driving away you hear his voice saying that he just wanted to be seen. After all the murders and the fact that he was behind all of them in one or another certainly gives him fame and will cause him to be seen. It may be in a negative light but think of all the killers and evildoers in the world that we never would have known about had there not been so much coverage on them. And it's not even about just him being mentioned as the evil one behind it media much further in depth when they talk of the killer. Like with the boy who did the shootings at virgina tech, he almost got as much coverage as the poor victims. So I a way it seems like Hugo got more of what he wanted in the film but in the play it seemed to leave you with the feeling that he got left with blame and torture to torment him for the rest of his days.

Sir Thomas More

I found a very interesting site about More. It was actually the first one to pop up when I searched him on Google. The page I am highlighting at this site is about his life, just a short overview. But what makes it interesting is that you can click on most of the people's names and other things throughout the page to get an explanation about those as well. It's pretty cool, check it out: http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/morebio.htm

Take note on this site of his friend Erasmus' description of him. Also this site goes into greater detail about his life. Also it gives a lists of all of his works, this site highlights him as a saint and martyr for sure. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14689c.htm

This site has a quick easy to read timeline. Just thought it was neat. http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/more.html

Awesome and intriguing website focused in on the trial of Sir Thomas More. It includes quotes from More and expalins more about what More was against when it came to the King. It even states that he had privately disliked the rulings of the King before he charged with treason. Very interesting site, and I think a student from our class posted on the site about how good it was and I agree!
http://www.duhaime.org/LegalResources/LawMuseum/tabid/345/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/112/The-Trial-of-Sir-Thomas-More-1535.aspx

Dissapointed in the Wife- My argument.

Well I am extremely dissapointed in the Wife of Bath. I went back to re-read the prologue with a notebook in hand. One side labeled Bad and the other side labeled Good. Sadly I found an overwhelmingly large ammount of bad things. I had originally planned on writing how she was good and a just a strong woman but I don't believe that anymore. And possibly if I had been better at reading Old English when I first read the prologue I may have had this opinion all along. Here are my reasoning and arguments:
A450: "That to offring before her sholde goon. And if there did, certeyen so wrooth was she That she was out of alle charitee."
Here the line states that she had to be first to offer her offering at church and if she wasn't she would not give anything at all because she would be so mad. She thought that her offering was better than everyone else's and that because of her stature that she deserved to go before everyone else. Proving that she did not have a kind heart in giving in the first place, she purely did it for recognition and praise.
Line 154: "An housbonde wol I have, I wol not lette, Which shall be both my dettour and my thral, And have his tribulacioun withal Upon his flessh whil that I am his wif. 'I have the power duringe all my lif Upon his propre body, and noght he.'"
Here she is saying that she will be satisfied no matter what, but as for her husband she owns him as if he were her property. She clearly states that he has the power over his body and he does not."
Line 175: "This is to saye, myself have been the whippe-"
The note along side explains this as meaning "pain-giver." It seems as though she is taking pride in causing her husbands misery.
Line 198: "Unnethe mighte they the statut holde In which that they were bounden unto me. Ye woot well what I meene of this, pardee."
Here she says that her husband will keep up with her sexual desires. There is nothing really wrong with feeling this way, but the way she makes it sound like she doesn't care about their needs and how she tells this to a group of men is kind of disgusting and low.
Line 204: "They had me viyen hir lond and hir tresoor, Me neded not do lenger diligence To winne hir love or doon hem reverence. They loved me so well, by God above, That I ne tolde no deyntee of hir love."
Here she says that her husbands had given her all their money and property therefore she didn't care that they loved her very much.
Line 211: "But sith I hadde hem hoolly in mine hond, And sith they hadde yiven me all hir lond, What sholde I take kepe hem for to plese But it were for my profit and mine ese?"
Here she bluntly states that she controlled them and had everything she wanted so why should she even try to be good to them since there was nothing else for her to get out of it.
Line 219: "I governed hem so well, after my lawe, That ech of hem ful blisful was and fawe To bringe me gay thinges fro the faire. They were ful glad whan I spak to hem faire, For, God it woot, I chidde hem spitously."
Here she says that she had them so wrapped around her finger that they brought her gifts and this would actually be nice for a change. This clearly was an abusive relationship if her husbands were so relieved for her to be nice.
Line 228: "For hath so boldely kan there no man Swere and lyen as a womman kan. I sey not this by wives that been wise, But if it be whan they hem misavise. A wis wif, if that she kan her good, Shall beren him on hond the cow is wood. And take witnesse of her owene maide Of her assent."
Here she says that women lie and wise wife would be so smart to lie herself. She says that this intelligent wife would be able to convince her husband to believe her over the gossip. And this sort of wife would even know to have someone validate her alibi. Which clearly means that she as well as other wives cheat and lie about it, and should know how to lie in a way that keeps their husbands believing that they can do no wrong.
Overall from all these lines I feel there is no way around thinking the wife is good. I originally felt sorry for her being looked down upon but now I agree that she was just not a nice person. She did not care about anyone but herself, she hurt others to get what she wanted, she openly discussed her desire for sex to strangers, she wants to own her husbands not be equal with them, and she wants to teach other women how to get out of being caught cheating. From what I've seen in just these few lines I don't see how anyone could convince me to go back to original beliefs about her.