Finished: Othello (Shakespeare). Great tragedy, great read! How sad these Shakespearean characters are that are so duped by villains like Iago; duped into believing their soul mates are unfaithful, spurring them on to kill their beloved ones. Arrghh! I loved Desdemona and felt so sorry for her in the end, especially because she loved Othello even with her dying breath! If the stubborn man had only listened to her and believed her! After Othello kills Desdemona for having an affair with his best friend, Cassio, (which she did not have), then he finds out the truth...that his servant Iago had set the whole thing up and led him to believe that his wife and friend were lovers. He beseeches the men who are witnesses to the confession and the final scene to speak of him as one who thought he was doing an honorable deed. Then, he kills himself. In his final speech when Othello utters the line, "Then you must speak of one that loved not wisely, but too well." it reminded me so much of these lyrics in the Eagles song Wasted Time...some of my favorite lyrics of theirs that take me back to high school:
The autumn leaves have got you thinking about the first time that you fell
You didn't love the boy too much, no, no, you just loved the boy too well.
Another of my favorite lines is one Josh has on a T-shirt that he got from his Shakespeare class he took in high school. (He loved that class!) The shirt says... "I will kill thee, And love thee after". I always thought this was supposed to be a kind of humorous statement, but now I know they are the words Othello uttered as he kissed Desdemona in her sleep right before he woke her to kill her.
And, of course, two of the famous phrases to come from Othello: "I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at." and "O, beware my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on." Both were spoken by that scoundrel, Iago. And...now I know why Jafar's little feathered friend was named Iago in Disney's Aladdin!!!
Here's a passage that the Duke speaks early in the play when Desdemona's father has accused Othello of bewitching her in order to get her to marry him, because Desdemona ran off without telling her father she was going to marry. Othello and Desdemona both dispute this accusation vehemently and declare they are in love. The Duke believes them and encourages Desdemona's father not to hold a grudge:
Let me speak like yourself and lay a sentence
Which, as a grise or step, may help these lovers.
When remedies are past, the griefs are ended
By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserved when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mock'ry makes.
The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief;
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.
Love that passage!
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