ENGL 205 Exam 2

Iago's refusal to explain

- "he's that he is. I may not breathe my censure. What he might be- if what he might, he is not- I would to heaven he were": Iago's statement becomes emptied of all meaning, leaving his words very unclear; a final refusal of Iago to clarify in the last act - "will you, I pray, demand that demi devil, why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?": othello asks Iago the question that the rest of us have been wondering - "demand me nothing. What you know, you know. From this time forth I never will speak word": Iago will not give his reasons; he suggests complicity on the part of othello and the audience; maybe we do all know something we don't wish to know; all would be easier if Iago simply had a clear motive, but we are left with a sense of murkiness of human motivation in general

Microcosm and macrocosm

- "he strives in his little world of man to out-scorn the to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain": gentleman describing lear's behavior in the storm; refers to concept of man as microcosm - microcosm: mini version of the universe, the macrocosm - idea of man as microcosm underpins renaissance conceptions of human society as a reflection of an essentially hierarchical natural order; just as nature is orderly hierarchical, so is human constitution - disruptions in microcosm may cause disruptions in the macrocosm, and vice versa; for example, overthrowing a king is an unnatural act, and may cause unnatural occurrences in the surrounding world... or not

Necessity and identity

- "ask her forgiveness? do you but mark how this becomes the house?": lear is shocked when regan tells him to ask for goneril's forgiveness after she demands that he cut his train of knights - lear asks forgiveness in order to demonstrate how ridiculous it would be; according to hierarchies of age and gender, a father should have authority over his daughter, but his mockery suggests his deepest fears; under edmund's view, it would be "unnatural" to support an old man, as he is weak and useless - lear violently objects to his daughter's definition of "need"; daughters believe he doesn't need any knights when he has plenty of servants; "o, reason not the need! Our basest beggars are in the poorest thing superfluous. Allow not nature more than nature needs..."; argues that if you only give someone what he absolutely needs, a man will be reduced to the level of a beast; man is more than just his "natural" self; he will lose his social identity without his knights; without them, he has no autonomy, control, or majesty- he is not lear without them - edgar sees things differently: "Whiles i may 'scape I will preserve myself; and am bethought to take the basest and most poorest shape... That's something yet. Edgar I nothing am"; while lear's identity is connected to his social role, edgar's sense of self is more flexible, and he's willing to cast aside his identity as heir to gloucester in order to preserve himself; he is willing to act animalistic to preserve his life - something and nothing: final line in edgar's speech echoes cordelia's devastating words and lear's insistence that "nothing can come of nothing"; in this case, something will come of nothing; edgar makes himself not-edgar, and thus will survive in some form at least; these different attitudes suggest why lear goes mad and edgar merely pretends to - lear insists that nature is on his side: his daughters ought to respect him, subjects ought to obey their king; but when lear no longer has power to enforce his commands, daughters and subjects do not obey him; their previous behavior may have been built on social fictions and on fear; in this realization, lear's sanity begins to crack

"These be the christian husbands"

- "commend me to your honorable wife. tell her the process of antonio's end. say how I loved you. speak me fair in death, and when the tale is told, bid her be judge whether bassanio had not once a love": antonio's last words to bassanio contain a very un-christian guilt trip; intends to haunt bassanio's marriage; these personal jealousies throw the religious allegory off-track; continues when bassanio declares his willingness to sacrifice his wife to save antonio; grazanio leaps in to make a similar promise, and portia and nerissa get angry - comical scene, but also raises some serious questions: what happens when the man who is willing to give and sacrifice everything he has for love includes his wife in that "everything"? - "these be the christian husbands. I have a daughter. would any of the stick of barabbas had been her husband rather than a christian": shylock articulates audience's discomfort; at this moment, the women and jew (both outsiders) are aligned against the christian men who wield power in venetian society

Desdemona and othello's idea of himself

- "farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content; farewell the plumed troops and big wars that makes ambition virtue! Oh, farewell... Othello's occupation's gone": when othello believes his wife has been unfaithful, his whole world collapses - desdemona became a mirror in which othello could see his ideal conception of himself; which is why he bids farewell to his military career and not his love - "she loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them" - "i saw othello's visage in his mind, and to his honours and his valiant parts did I my soul and fortunes consecrate": she fell in love with his honor and valor, and in committing herself to him, she provides tangible proof of his worth - as a beautiful, white daughter of a senator, desdemona offers othello new legitimacy and status in venetian society - "my name that was as fresh as dian's visage, is now begrimed and black as mine own face": when othello begins to doubt her perfection, then, he begins to doubt himself as well; othello's name is dependent upon desdemona's virtue; husband places his honor in his wife's hands, but desdemona specifically served as proof of othello's purity and "whiteness"

Vision and fantasy

- "give me the ocular proof... make me to see't": othello demands visible proof of Iago's accusations against desdemona - "now I do see 'tis true": but he hasn't seen anything; at least not with his physical eyes; Iago has given him two pieces of proof (description of cassio's dream, and that cassio was seen wiping his beard with the handkerchief othello gave desdemona) - "i think my wife be honest, and think she is not. I think thou art just, and think thou art not": othello cannot trust Iago; yet, he believes Iago's word and swears revenge on desdemona and cassio without having seen the handkerchief or other physical proof - "damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her, damn her! I will withdraw to furnish me with some swift means of death for the fair devil" ... Iago: "I am you own forever": the two are kneeling in this scene, swearing oaths of revenge, and Iago gives himself entirely to othello's service; this scene has frequently been compared to a marriage ceremony, in which othello dissolves his marriage with desdemona and enters into a new one - othello's allegiance shifts partly because of what Iago makes him "see" in his imagination: dreams, Iago hints, can be a means of proof; if cassio imagined he was with desdemona in a dream, then he is assumed to be with her in reality; othello forgets that dreams have no basis in reality - iago convinces othello that cassio and desdemona are doing polluted, filthy things with their bodies, and thus othello's disgust with sex and physicality increases over the course of the play; but the play suggests that the truly filthy things happen in the mind, which doesn't mean that they cannot wreak havoc in the real world - "nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion without some instruction. It is not words that shakes me thus": othello declares that his feelings could not have been caused by mere words; however, it is nothing but words that shake his feelings; words may not refer to any existing reality, but they can create reality

Depressed rich people

- "in truth I know not why I am so sad. it wearies me, you say it wearies you" / "my little body is weary of this great world": two characters who ought to be comfortable in their social positions (antonio the respected merchant, and portia the beautiful heiress) feel melancholy and alienated - key differences in portia and antonio's situations: portia's unhappiness is clear (terms of her father's will make it impossible to choose her own husband) yet antonio doesn't know why he is sad - play's two plots introduced: antonio's debt and the winning of portia (the casket test); they share an uneasy mixture of fairy-tale and realism, a focus on worth, value, and judgement - two scenes set in different locations: portia lives in belmont ("beautiful mountain"), an invented place; venice, while very real, also comes along with mythology and a number of associations (cosmopolitan, sophisticated, liminal- situated on land and in the water, the edge of west and east) and very associated with romanticization of trade - "your mind is tossing on the ocean, there where your argosies with portly sail like signors and rich burghers on the flood...": "signors and rich burghers"- lords and rich tradesmen- seem equivalent here; venice seems like one of the few places where this could be so; venice flourishes through trade, but someone like portia lives literally above the commercial exchange of the city in her aristocratic retreat

Chastity and spoken word

- "it doth abhor me now I speak the word": Iago believes that chastity depends not on what his wife does or doesn't do, but on what is said or thought about her - in Much Ado, accusation was enough to defile Hero - "was this fair paper, this most goodly book, made to write '*****' upon?": othello retorts that desdemona has labeled herself a ***** by her actions, but in fact the one writing "*****" on the blank page is Iago and othello himself - "i cannot say '*****'. It does abhor me now I speak the word. To do the act that might the addition ear, not the world's mass of vanity could make me": desdemona distinguishes between speaking the word and committing the deed, but she also links the two; even saying the word ***** makes her abhorrent and a ***** - "lie-" "with her?" "with her, on her, what you will." "lie with her? lie on her? we can say 'lie on her' when they slander her": othello is aware that lie can have two meanings; the phrase "lie on her" may mean "lie on top of her and also tell a lie about her (which Iago is doing); yet Iago's plan works because he knows there is no practical difference b/w the two meanings; once it is thought a wife may be unchaste, it cannot be unthought - there are no innocent words: Iago manages to turn even the most harmless word or phrase into a nasty double entendre; othello picks up this habit; gentleness and obedience, two most important virtues a woman could possess, are turned steamy when Iago and othello talk about them

Eavesdropping and circumlocution

- "never tell me!" - in opening scene, audience is placed in the position of eavesdroppers trying to put together a story from puzzling fragments - referring to the elopement as "this" or "such a matter" makes Othello and Desdemona's relationship seem scandalous - this shifts to obscene and plain language - no decoration for this couple - suggests that the marriage cannot be spoken of without indecorum

Natural law

- "no nature's law, my services are bound": edmund's statement; what is natural law? - play set in pre-christian era; characters are pagans (pray to classical deities like jupiter, juno, apollo) and they have no access to god's revealed law; morality was thus drawn from their observations of nature; though they didn't have the bible, they had other holy book (book of nature) in which they could read god's laws, goodness, intentions - unnatural: used whenever someone objects to something in the play; when gloucester is upset by actions of lear's daughters, he says "I like not this unnatural dealing"; edgar denounced as "unnatural, detested, brutish villain; worse than brutish!"; he is worse than brutish because even animals don't behave how how he does; "natural" behavior is defined as loving and respecting one's father - "thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law my services are bound... why brand they us with base? With baseness? Bastardy? Base, base? Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take more composition and fierce quality than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed...": edmund declares that nature is his goddess; contrasts nature's law with "custom" and the "curiosity of nations" (legal niceties; may be different for different nations); nature thus has nothing to do with arbitrary inventions of law and custom - edmund resents two main customs: primogeniture (idea that the eldest son inherits all the land, thus keeping the estate whole) and legitimacy (idea that bastard sons have no legal claims on the father) - "my mind is as generous and my shape as true, as honest madam's issue": physical and mental excellence is what should matter, not order of birth or legal status of parents - edmund declares he is not only equal to legitimately born children- he is superior; bastards are conceived in "lusty stealth of nature", as products of genuine, energetic lust and not dutiful sex; bastards thus have more energy that legitimate children; "nature" is thus about natural impulses, not duty or morality; words like "legitimate", "bastard", "base" are just that- empty, meaningless words (which nonetheless govern his life) - gloucester's view of nature: "though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects. Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide; in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked twixt son and father"; though natural explanations can be found for unusual events, such disasters are actually unnatural disruptions of the order of things - what do mutiny, treason, and patricide have in common: to rebel against one's father is to go against natural bonds (natural bond b/w father and child), hierarchical view of cosmos (king and subject) was equally natural, kingship considered divine government and thus natural; thus, it is to the advantage of those at the top to believe that hierarchy is "natural" and not socially constructed - "the younger rises when the old doth fall": edmund's version of nature has strongest and cleverest ruling, because it is advantageous for him to think so - lear's abdication and following events expose fragile belief in natural hierarchies and bonds; play suggests social institutions may not be based in nature; people project their own sense of how world ought to work, and when preconceptions are stripped away, they may get glimpse of what world is really like- chaotic, brutal, meaningless

Problem of proof

- "no, Iago, I'll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove; and on the proof, there is no more but this: away at once with love or jealousy": othello doesn't want to stay jealous and unknowing, he wants to know and prove the truth; and then either desdemona will be proven guilty or innocent - yet, while it might be possible to prove desdemona guilty of adultery by catching her in the act, there is no way to prove her innocent; thus, othello must either live in uncertainty (which he cannot bear) or he must prove her guilty

Iago and othello's vulnerability

- "of her own clime, complexion, and degree, whereto we see in all thing nature tends. Faugh! One may smell in such a will most rank, foul disproportions, thoughts unnatural": instead of desdemona's love for othello proving his virtue, her love for him proves her depravity - iago is disgusted that desdemonda wouldn't want to marry someone like herself, as people naturally do; he implies that desdemona will commit adultery because she married othello and has such a sexual appetite (she will probably regret her decision and return to a more natural match, or animalistically have sex) - iago suggests that othello's only choice is in whether he wants to see his wife as a wicked woman, or if he wants to see her as someone who erred in her choice of marriage

Othello's jealousy

- "some monster in thy thought": there must be something horrible hiding in othello's thoughts - "the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on": jealousy both devours you in a horrible way and also humiliates you - "but jealous souls will not be answered so. They are not ever jealous for the cause, but jealous for they're jealous. It is a monster begot upon itself, born on itself": jealousy as a monster - "i have't. It is engendered. Hell and night must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light": "it" refers to Iago's partially formed plan or monstrous brain-child; from this perspective, the whole play is like a monstrous birth - "i'll pour this pestilence into his ear": othello is poisoned through the ear; reminiscent of hamlet - "what does this gentleman conceive?": "conceive" refers to othello's beliefs, but the word has a double meaning suggesting that othello's "conception" is a kind of pregnancy, a monster born in the mind - shakespeare makes it hard to tell if the jealousy is imposed on othello or if it was already in him - iago's tactics: improvisation (adopting things he has heard from others), leaning on common societal assumptions (even when contradictory), claiming special knowledge unavailable to a foreigner, working on the imagination (emphasizing how much is unknown and cannot be known, and inviting imagination to fill the gaps) - tactics are used to change othello's words from "i love her" to "why did i ever marry her?" - "she did deceive her father, marrying you": she abandoned her father to be with othello, Iago uses these actions as proof of her deceptive nature; Iago uses things that might be seen as love as reasons of doubt

Merchants and jews

- antonio is invited to belmont, but he remains isolated as the only major character, aside from shylock, not paired off in marriage; his happy ending comes in form of discovery that all of his ships have come safely into harbor; this is a good conclusion for a merchant, who is not worthy of love, as he is not a true gentleman - antonio serves as a surety for bassanio again: instead of lending his body, he lends his "soul upon the forfeit" that bassanio will never break faith with portia again - belmont as paradise: can almost hear the music of the spheres but not quite; running away from the dirty business of making money is only possible if you have inherited money to do so

Othello's final speech ("speak of me as I am")

- "speak of me as I am": othello wants to be remembered truly as he is; his last chance to reclaim control of his identity - indicates an awareness that who he is will depend on how the others speak of him - downplays his own faculties to achieve a certain effect; describes himself as well-meaning but simple; he is acted upon rather acting ("wrought" into a state of jealousy, "perplexed" by forces outside his control) - simile of "base indian": both self-deprecating and exculpatory; describes himself as a simple savage who was unable to recognize the worth of his "pearl"; plays into euro ideas of africans as primitive people; also downplays the horror of murder by comparing it to tossing away a pearl, making murder somewhat attractive - quarto v. folio: "base indian" in quarto and "base judean" in folio; if judean, then the "pearl" he destroyed is christ, making othello's crime a matter of wickedness and betrayal rather than simple ignorance; oddly appropriate uncertainty in the two different readings, emphasizing how difficult it is to work out who othello is - othello reminds listeners of his heroic life; reminds them he defeated a wicked turk, defended the christian state of venice; now, he is both the turk and the righteous defender of venice, and suicide may be the only option; split nature of his identity (both the venetian hero and malignant other) which can only be reconciled in an act of self destruction

Jews, christians, and scripture

- "the devil can cite scripture for his purpose": antonio associates shylock with the devil; shylock hates antonio because "he is christian"; play agrees with antonio somewhat, as shylock is portrayed as a villain; on other hand, shylock has good reason to hate antonio, who has made a habit of insulting him and his business; play treats jews and christians as far more complicated than just evil and good - antonio and shylock argue over how to interpret scripture; in defense of taking interest, shylock launches into the book of genesis (wherein jacob makes a deal with laban to work on his farm in return for receiving all the spotted lambs that are produced; jacob holds a spotted stick in front of the sheep so that they all produce spotted offspring, which go to jacob) - "this was a way to thrive, and he was blest, and thrift is blessing, if men steal it not": shylock argues that jacob took a situation and manipulated it to his advantage by using his intelligence; shylock similarly thrives through lending money at interest and is blessed with lawful profits; money lending may be an unsavory business, but even the patriarchs made equally unsavory gains, and god didn't seem to mind - "this was a venture, sir, that jacob served for- a thing not in his power to bring to pass, but swayed and fashioned by the hand of heaven": antonio's understanding of genesis passage is different; he believes jacob trusted his fortune to god, and god blessed him, thus his trust in the divine and willingness to serve should be emulated (but not his manipulations); antonio views shylock's interpretations as not only wrong but evil - in order to understand the play, it is vital to understand 16th century christian view of differences between judaism and christianity; thus we have to go back to history of st. paul - st. paul's mission: to convert the gentiles to the new faith, at a time when christians were still trying to work out if they were separate from jewish faith; paul told his gentile audience that they need not follow the jewish law in order to be christian, most importantly they did not need to be circumcised - "god hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life": paul explained christianity with the coming of christ as fulfilling the law, and now the words of the old testament needed to be understood in a different sense; christians must interpret the scriptures in a spiritual rather than literal sense - it is no good to follow the letter of the law and pay attention to diet, clothing, etc if one does not follow the spirit of having faith in god; thus jews were associated with the literal, the material, and in believing they could be justified by following the letter of the law, they ignored the necessity for god's mercy - judaism: following letter of the law, focus on the material (the fleshly), literalism, justice, eye for an eye - christianity: fulfilling the spirit of the law, focus on the immaterial and spiritual (ability to grasp figurative meanings), mercy and grace, charity - "my daughter, o my ducats, o my daughter... justice! the law!": we repeatedly see shylock filling the stereotype of the literal and material minded jew; he uses very literal language as well ("there be land rats and water rats, water thieves and land thieves- I mean pirates": the necessity to clarify his language); "good man": when shylock calls antonio a good man, he assures bassanio that he means "good" in a financially sufficient sense

"What mercy can you render him, antonio?"

- "what judgement shall I dread, doing no wrong?": in trial scene, venetian legal system seems helpless in preventing shylock from taking his pound of flesh; contract is legal; if court were to void this contract, it might create dangerous precedent; portia saves situation, but is her solution "just" or "merciful"? - portia uses letter of the law to save antonio- bond does not make any reference to blood; this adherence to the letter is not hypocritical on her part, but an object lesson for shylock on the inadequacy of his beliefs; no one, no matter how scrupulous, can fulfill every particle of the law, and thus everyone depends on mercy; now it is shylock who requires mercy from christians - do they show him mercy? yes and no: they spare his life (but shylock points out that they might as well take his life if they are going to take his money); they allow him a portion of his money, but the rest will be held in trust for jessica and lorenzo for when shylock dies; antonio stipulates that shylock must become christian, or else he will be executed after all (if forced conversion is valid, antonio may be viewed as saving shylock's soul, thus showing greatest mercy; if forced conversion not valid, he is exerting power over shylock for no higher purpose) - christianity is thus triumphant: christian characters are very rich and able to impose their religion through force on other people; if this is what it means for christianity to win, is it still christianity? - final act defeats the villainous jew, but all problems in money and love, literal and symbolic, do not melt away

Many aspects of the love test don't make sense

- "which of you... doth love us most?": lear begins the play by attempting to measure love; this goes very badly - how can cordelia get a "third more opulent"? by the time her two sisters have spoken, and received their shares, she gets whatever's left over on the map, no matter what she says - also, if one third is "more" than the other thirds, how can any of them still be thirds? something is wrong with lear's math - "i thought the king had more affected the duke of albany than cornwall": kent means that the king liked albany better than cornwall; shouldn't the division depend on the husbands, who will actually be ruling? - "it did always seem so to us. but now, in the division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values most, for shares are so equal that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moiety" (scrutiny of both parts cannot determine which portion is preferable): gloucester's response to kent's question

Perspectives on adultery and sexuality

- "wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?" "the world's a huge thing; it is a great price for a small vice... marry, I would not do such a thing for a joint ring, nor for measures of lawn, nor for gowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty exhibition. but for the whole world? Why, who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for it" - desdemona is willing to "trumpet to the world" her desire to live with othello, but she treats the idea of sex outside of marriage with horror; emilia is the one who suggests that adultery may not be the worst thing in the world - emilia believes adultery is a sin, but not a mortal one (purgatory); she also questions why adultery is considered a great sin rather than a small vice; she toys with moral relativism; whoever owns the world decides on what is right and wrong, and the world belongs to men- but they don't bother to follow their own commandments - "but I do think it is their husbands' faults if wives do fall. Say that they slack their duties, and pour our treasures into foreign laps; or else break out in peevish jealousies, throwing restraint upon us... why, we have gall, and though we have some grace, yet have we some revenge"; emilia suggests that women may commit adultery out of revenge for their husbands' shortcomings; she reminds audience of the power men hold over women (money, physical, etc.) and the fact that women have same desires and weaknesses as their husbands - "let husbands know their wives have sense like them: they see and smell, and have their palates both for sweet and sour, as husbands have. What is it that they do when they change us for others? Is it sport? I think it is. And doth affection breed it? Is't frailty that thus errs? I think yes. And have not we affections, desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?" - the men of the play, and the culture at large, are very uncomfortable with the idea of female desire; a woman with desires is a woman who may cheat to fulfill them; hence, the perfect woman is one who does not want sex (even with her husband)

Jews, christians, and common humanity

- allegorical meaning is complicated by complexity of shylock's character: both stereotypical jew (greedy and literal) but also justified in his grievances - "hath not a jew eyes? hath not a jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions—fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is?": shylock's famous speech; portrays shylock as sympathetic man suffering under prejudice and persecution, or echoes 16th century anti-semitic views; describes common humanity that jews + christians share; yet all examples are physical, maybe reaffirming stereotype that jews are concerned with material over spiritual realms - shylock also glosses over the fact that revenge is a moral choice rather than an inevitable reaction to an outside stimulus: if you prick us, we bleed; if you poison us, we die; if you wrong us, we revenge; he is actually justifying revenge, not preaching tolerance - shylock points out christian hypocrisy: they may preach turning the other cheek, but their reaction to wrongs tends to be seeking revenge; hence, shylock is merely following the christian example in seeking revenge on antonio

Merchant of Venice

- antonio - salarino (a's friend) - solanio (a's friend) - bassanio - lorenzo (b's friend) - gratiano (b's friend, nerissa's soon husband) - portia - nerissa (p's lady in waiting) - shylock - lancelot (shylock's, then bassanio's, servant) - old gobbo (lancelot's father) - jessica (shylock's daughter, future wife of lorenzo) - tubal (friend of shylock's) - balthasar (portia's servant; name of stand-in lawyer that portia pretends to be) - dr. bellario (lawyer; portia's cousin; provides clothing and docs for their identity switch)

Gentlemen

- bassanio is a true gentleman, as he does not work; yet he spends a great deal of money and is thus impoverished - can a merchant be a gentleman? bassanio is antonio's social superior, though antonio has superior wealth; this play assumes that they can be, but not fully securely; however, the jews are much less gentlemanly - "gentle Jew": gentle / gentile (not jewish) pun; jews are by definition not gentiles, and thus are not gentle either; suggestive that jews are inferior in both class and character - antonio may partly hate shylock for his religion, but he also may be worried about his own gentleman-ness, and thus needs to violently distinguish himself from the un-gentle shylock - difference between merchant and usurer (money-lender): usury associated with jews because for a long time usury (lending money at interest) was one of the few professions open to jews; christians were at first prohibited from charging interest, but the prohibition was changing in the 16th century as economy grew more complex; money-lenders and merchants were not the same, but they often overlapped and many english people in 1590s had mixed feelings about them (merchants considered hard working, but also greedy) - "for when did friendship take a breed for barren metal of his friend?": usury considered unnatural, as money should not be able to breed more money; if you think about it though, antonio breeds money unnaturally, too (he ships goods from one place to another where they are worth more) - antonio brings his christianity into his economic dealings: he makes a habit of lending money "gratis" or interest free; habit portrayed as not only generous, but christian; "gratis" is similar to "grace" (god's mercy that no one can earn, which must be freely given) - money and friendship entangled: if antonio lends money to his friends for free, it gives people an excellent incentive to be his friend

Attempting to explain the world

- characters struggle to make moral sense of what has happened; deaths of goneril and regan are easy to explain ("this judgement of the heavens that makes us tremble touches us not with pity") - gloucester's sufferings are more difficult to explain, but edgar tries ("the gods are just and of our pleasant vices make instruments to plague us: the dark and vicious place where thee he got cost him his eyes"); he determines that "the gods are just"- but in order to justify the gods, he must adopt a terribly harsh moral code, and since gloucester had sex out of wedlock, he was blinded for his sins - edgar may be right about the existence of "just" gods, or he may be attempting to interpret these events in a way that will allow him to make moral sense of the world; edmund agrees with edgar's statement ("thou hast spoken right; 'tis true: the wheel is come full circle. I am here") but refers to the wheel of fortune- idea that if one is in a high place, one will be inevitably in a low place; his explanation is not moral and doesn't involve any kind of heavenly retribution; each brother interprets what has happened to fit with his view of the world - when it comes to cordelia's death, everyone simply gives up trying to justify the unjustifiable - two ways of understanding the use of the play's pre-christian setting: 1. does play simply show us darkness of a world in which characters are ignorant of christ? 2. OR does setting give shakespeare opportunity to explore his darkest and most nihilistic perceptions of the world without worrying about appearing blasphemous? - similarly, there are two ways of understanding the play's portrayal of nature: 1. inherently harmonious world that is damaged and distorted by sin, wickedness, and ambition 2. OR as human fictions and inventions are stripped away, world is revealed in all its darkness and chaos - lay has been understood in both ways - by time we reach end of the play, it is difficult to imagine any traditional happy ending as truly satisfactory; lear is aware that justice is different for rich and poor, and thus only way to fix the problem is to stop having rich and poor people- this reality cannot fit into world of king lear or king james I

Materialism of christians

- christians no better than jew characters at making distinctions between material and spiritual goods - casket test: moral is that "all that glisters is not gold", yet bassanio is attracted by portia's glister, and borrows money to show up in high style; portia proves susceptible to appearances when she dismisses prince of morocco due to his complexion - "beshrew me but I love her heartily, for she is wise, if I can judge of her...": lorenzo insists he values jessica for more than her money; yet she has proved herself by stealing money from her father and giving it to lorenzo; impossible to separate financial concerns from lorenzo's love for jessica

Cordelia's death and the promised ending

- cordelia's death has been found to be particularly disturbing, as she has done nothing to deserve it, and would have been saved after a few more minutes; most audiences in 18th and 19th centuries would have watched lear in adaptation by nahum tate- in this version, cordelia survives and marries edgar, and all is happy - audiences of 20th and 21st centuries expect tragedies to be grim, and modern audience will not expect it to end well - shakespeare's original audience may have expected something different - quarto vs. folio: each includes iconic moments absent from the other; folio is called "tragedy of king lear", while quarto is named "history of king lear"; thus, quarto audience may not have realized they were going to see a tragedy - story of king lear was not invented by shakespeare; there was earlier play from 1590s called "the true chronicle history of king leir", a play that has a happy ending- french army wins the battle and cordelia restores lear to the throne, then she reigns after lear's death until she is put into prison and commits suicide- but no version of this story has cordelia die while lear is alive - after appalling episode in which gloucester is blinded, shakespeare suggests that things are beginning to look up: 1. cordelia returns in act 4, after having been absent from the stage since the first act, and brings with her some hints that redemption is nigh- she appears saintlike ("she shook the holy water from her heavenly eyes") and echoes the gospels ("oh dear father, it is thy business that I go about!" compared to "I must go about my father's business) 2. "lear has a daughter who redeems nature from the general curse, which twain have brought her to": cordelia restores meaning and order to a universe suffering from two wicked daughters; these words also remind christian audience of the fall of man, brought about by adam and eve and redeemed by christ 3. cornwall dies, as if in divine retribution for his attack on gloucester; at least albany views it this way ("gloucester, I live to thank thee for the love thou showest the king and to revenge thine eyes") 4. edgar saves his blind father from despair, and discovers goneril's plot to murder albany and replace him with edmund - in the battle buildup, edgar tells gloucester to "pray that the right may thrive"; in shakespeare's play, it does not (lear and cordelia lose the battle) BUT there is another chance for the "right" to win in the combat between edgar and edmund (as the good legitimate son faces the evil bastard son, the fight symbolizes the clash of right and wrong- and this time, right wins); however, this fight is a distraction to the fact that cordelia is being murdered off stage while edgar reveals himself and tells the story of his experiences - edgar's words move edmund to remorse ("this speech of yours hath moved me and shall perchange do good"); but his speech does NOT do good, and edmund's desire to do good comes too late to save cordelia; when edmund reveals that he ordered the captain to kill cordelia, albany cries "the gods defend her!", yet the gods fail to do so - all of these events seem like shakespeare is playing a nasty trick on his audience, raising their expectations for a happy ending and then dashing them

Desdemona's desire

- desdemona is far more frank about her desire for othello; "the rites for why I love him are bereft me, and I a heavy interim shall support by his dear absence. Let me go with him"; "rites" indicates she loves him but also because she wants to have sex with her husband; her words are almost alarmingly martial: she sees herself as having launched an attack on fortunes, social positions, and customs; emphasizes her agency - othello describes her as assertive; in the folio text, desdemona kisses othello after his tale (in the quarto, she sighs); indication of desdemona as an active and willing participant in the love; an assertive desdemona can be accused of immodesty (and will be later on) and painted as a seductress

"Oh, matter and impertinency mixed! Reason in madness"

- edgar speaks this line when he and blinded gloucester encounter the mad lear near dover; indeed, lear seems to have a heightened understanding of the world and himself: --> understands how justice depends on social class and power: "thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar? And the creature run from the cur. There thou mightst behold the great image of authority; a dog's obeyed in office"; "Through tattered clothes great vices do appear. Robes and furred gown hide all" --> understands himself as mortal, possessing a vulnerable body: "They told me I was everything. 'Tis a lie. I am not ague-proof"; "My hand smells of mortality" - on other hand, it is clear that lear's particular obsessions prevent him from seeing the world clearly (describes gloucester as "goneril, with a white beard"; assumes poor tom must have been driven to madness by his unkind daughters) - "i pardon that man's life. Why was thy cause? Adultery? Thou shalt not die. Die for adultery? For gloucester's bastard son was kinder to his father than my daughters...": some insights are harder to categorize as distorted or clear; seems to adopt edmund's view of the world under impression that gloucester's bastard was kinder than his own legitimate daughters; lear points out that the laws that control human sexuality are not natural (just look around, you can see birds and insects copulating indiscriminately) - "but to the girdle do the gods inherit; beneath is all the fiend's. There's hell, there's darkness, there is the sulfurous pit: burning, scalding, stench, consumption": lear claims he will permit promiscuous sex, but then launches into misogynistic account of female sexuality - to what degree is this misogyny and sexual disgust a symptom of lear's madness, and to what degree is it an inherent aspect of the play?; "good" woman in the play (cordelia) is portrayed as a virgin, even after her marriage; is it that lear doesn't want to think of cordelia as a sexual being, or does shakespeare find it difficult to portray a woman as both sexual and virtuous? Impossible to tell, but lear does provide a different perspective later on in the scene when he imagines he is scolding an officer for whipping a prostitute ("strip thy own back; thou sotly lusts to use her in that kind for which thou whipp'st her"); punishing women for inciting sexual desire in men is hypocritical - lear's obsession with sexuality: women causing havoc in his life are his daughters, not wives or lovers; play repeatedly suggests that lear is unable to see his daughters as separate from himself ("But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter, or rather a disease that's in my flesh which I must needs call mine"); he has two options- either the daughters are entirely separate beings or they are inseparable from the father, and their sins and diseases are his too; lear associates his daughters' wickedness with his increasing disgust with physicality, the act of begetting, and his own weak and collapsing body

Act 2: located in cyprus

- enemies: ottoman empire and Iago - turks are defeated (anticlimactically) - by the time othello reaches cyprus, turkish fleet has been swept away in a storm - chaos from within: "are we turned turks, and to ourselves do that, which heaven hath forbid the ottomites?"; the enemy is nothing so simple as another nation, or another religion, it already exists within christian "civilized" society - iago practices on cassio

Possible motives of lear's love test

- final gesture of control: lear attempts to exert power over future events even as he gives up this power; "that future strife may be prevented"; "to thine and albany's issue be this perpetual"; "to thee and thine hereditary ever" - an attempt to keep his power and centrality as a father that he renounces as a king: his sons in law will take his political authority, but at least he will remain in importance with his daughters, who must declare their devotion to him in front of their husbands; cordelia: "why have my sisters husbands if they say they love you all?"; cordelia is the honest sister, while her sisters are lying and saying their obedience lays with their father, just to get more land - he believes that words have substance and power (though ironically he is in the process of divorcing the title of "king" from the power that goes with it); cordelia's "nothing" thus strikes lear as almost apocalyptic; she's trying to make a distinction between words and truth, but this is not a distinction he accepts; goneril says "i love you more than words can wield the matter," but she goes on to express her love in many words

Othello's identity

- full title of play is Othello: The Moor of Venice - he is technically a foreigner, who's been hired by venice to fight their wars for them (thus, he is not what he is in this case) - some describe him as noble and heroic, others as devilish and sexually rapacious (either idolized or looked down upon); either way, he is thought of as other - "moor": could refer to any or all muslims, heretics, north africans, or sub-saharan africans; sometimes used to refer to inhabitants of the new world; essentially to suggest dark skin and lack of christian faith - titus andronicus: shakespeare's early play where Aaron the Moor is a villain (embraces stereotype of "black evil"); "let fools do good, and fair men call for grace: Aaron will have his soul black like his face" (both "black" and "fair" have moral as well as racial meaning here) - christian values, however, insist on the importance of inner spiritual state over outward appearance - othello himself is definitely Christian, but characters like Brabanzio accuse him of devilish ways and witchcraft; the duke and other senators seem tolerant (even approving of the marriage), but they also need him to defeat the turks - "if virtue no delighted beauty lack, your son in law is far more fair than black": othello, according to his morals, is basically white because he's so pure and moral; prejudice and racism is embedded in the language itself- othello's fair virtue may be beautiful, but not his dark complexion - "foul" used to describe othello as both black and wicked - othello's virtuous identity comes to depend on Desdemona - on what she says about him and what she thinks of him - and on whether or not she is a reliable witness; even Desdemona says "I saw Othello's visage in his mind", declaring that he may not be fair on the outside, but he is on the inside - othello downplays the sexual component of his relationship, while Iago insists on sexualizing it whenever he can; "I will your serious and great business scant when she is with me" - or, I will do work when she is with me + she won't distract me; he must present himself as rational and controlled, perhaps more than a white man would have in a similar situation; he also suggests personal anxiety that too much desire for his wife may interfere with his profession as a soldier

King Lear

- gloucester (nobleman) - kent (nobleman who serves king lear) - king lear - edmund (g's bastard son) - goneril (l's oldest daughter) - regan (middle daughter) - cordelia (youngest daughter) - king of france (marries cordelia bc he's impressed by her honesty) - edgar (g's legit son) - oswald (goneril's steward) - caius (kent's code name) - albany (goneril's husband) - curan (gloucester's servant) - cornwall (regan's husband) - poor tom (edgar's code name) - the fool

Sense of self, masculinity, and manhood

- goneril and lear run into conflict over their sense of who lear truly is or should be - goneril: "these dispositions, that of late transform you from what you rightly are"; lear: "doth any here know me? this is not lear... who is it that can tell me who I am?"; fool: "lear's shadow": goneril may mean that he is not acting appropriately dignified as a king; she also implies that he is now a dependent old man, and should act like it; lear pretends to not recognize himself; when name is separated from substance, title from power, a mere "shadow" is all that remains - "life and death! I am ashamed that thou hast power to shake my manhood thus... I have another daughter who I am sure is kind and comfortable. when she shall hear this of thee, with her nails she'll flay thy wolvish visage": lear rages at goneril and shifts between threatening her with her sister and threatening his own power - lear is enraged that goneril has driven him to tears, revealing his vulnerability and threatening his manhood; he threatens to tear out his own eyes rather than cry anymore; retention of masculinity here involves self-harm, mutilation, as anger that lear feels rebounds upon himself -yet his first idea for redress seems rather unmanly, as he imagines that regan will attack goneril on his behalf; lear oscillates between portraying himself as a raging and powerful patriarch, and a helpless victim; his idea of what he wants his daughters to be is similarly contradictory (he imagines regan as properly feminine and imagines goneril as "wolvish"; but then says that regan will rip goneril's face open with her nails" - lear's identity and nature and origins of power come into question: what makes a king a king?; to press the question further, what constitutes a person's identity?; lear loses his sense of self over the next two acts... what's left?

Allegory

- greek term meaning "saying otherwise"; saying one thing ("vehicle") and meaning another ("tenor") - trial scene makes repeated gestures towards allegorical meaning --> ex: "i stand here for law"- literally, shylock demands justice from the court, but means that he represents the law --> ex: "i stand for sacrifice"- literally, portia talks about the power of mercy, but shakespeare complicates this literal meaning

Demonic iago

- iago describes himself as a demon: "when devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows, as I do now" - makes the common association between hell and blackness, but here the "blackness" is a quality of his own - iago: "hell and night must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light"; iago's plot, or brain-child, is being "born"; quick to exploit fears that a marriage between desdemona and othello would be unnatural, resulting in miscegenation, monstrous offspring; however, the true "monstrous birth" is a metaphoric one, the idea born from Iago's mind

Iago's weapons and strategies

- iago proves a master improviser and manipulator: uses what is on hand - desdemona's father (barbanzio) gives him lots of material, esp ideas about what is "natural" and "unnatural"; "for nature so preposterously to err, being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense, sans witchcraft could not": barbanzio believes marriage between othello and desdemona is unnatural, and thus othello must have used unnatural means (witchcraft) to bring it about; "her eye must be fed, and what delight shall she have to look on the devil? Very nature will instruct her in it and compel her to some second choice": iago uses similar argument to convince roderigo that desdemona has fallen in love with cassio; suggesting that othello's skin color makes him unattractive, and thus nature will compel desdemona to choose a new lover who is attractive - "a maiden never bold, of spirit so still and quiet that her motion blushed at herself - and she in spite of nature, of years, of country, to fall in love with what she feared to look on!": barbanzio confuses the common and socially acceptable with the natural; assumptions about desdemona and women in general (perfect because she is modest and passive; she could never love someone of a diff. race, it would be against nature); the only other option would be that she is not perfect at all - iago's other tool: male expectations, anxieties, and fears about women; "if she had been blessed, she would never have loved the moor"- if witchcraft is not involved, desdemona must be secretly immodest; "look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see, she has deceived her father, and may thee"- brabanzio is alluding to the idea that father and husband fill the same role in family structure (head, lord); his point is that a woman who flouts one male authority figure will not hesitate to flout another; iago insists on sexualizing desdemona and othello to further this impression of the girl as ungovernable and immodest; if something is likely to be true, Iago insists that it might as well be true: it is likely that desdemona would fall in love with cassio, and thus he can make people believe it

The ensign

- in an army, ensign is the standard-bearer, who has charge of the flag, gives signals, provides the rallying point - iago: "I must show out a flag and sign of love, which is indeed but sign"; he is directing the army but it's all fake signs - worst job for someone like Iago, who you cannot trust at all

Defining humanity

- in trial scene, it becomes clear that christians define humanity in a way that excludes shylock; they then demand that he follow standards which they believe he is incapable of meeting - "thou art come to answer a stony adversary, an inhuman wretch incapable of pity": duke expresses his sympathy to antonio for having to deal with a wretch of a human; christians have higher standards for human behavior? - "shylock, the world thinks... that thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice... thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture, but, touched with human gentleness and love, forgive a moiety of the principle... we all expect a gentle answer, jew": duke shames shylock into merciful behavior- despite fact that he has already expressed that he believes shylock is incapable of such behavior; suggests that humanity is gentile (not jewish); they don't expect a gentle answer at all - "you'll ask me why I rather choose to have a weight of carrion flesh than to receive three thousand ducats... as there is no firm reason to be rendered... so can I give no reason, nor I will not, more than a lodged hate and a certain loathing I bear antonio": shylock's response; a parody of the materialistic, illogical, inhuman jew; refuses to justify his behavior in moral or rational terms - shylock portrays hatred and revenge as uncontrollable physical responses; as some men loathe certain foods, he loathes antonio; though shylock does have real reasons to hate antonio, he deliberately plays down these reasons to the court; dehumanizes antonio as the rat that shylock is willing to pay much money to eliminate - "you have among you many a purchased slave which... you use because you bought them... so do I answer you. The pound of flesh which I demand of him is dearly bought. 'Tis mine, and I will have it": devastating critique of christian hypocrisy; venetians accuse him of immorality for taking antonio's flesh when he legally owns it; they themselves habitually traffic in human flesh - christians own slaves, and would not listen to appeals to treat their slaves with "human gentleness and love" - shylock wins the argument; then portia comes in to the trial

Othello similarities with Much Ado

- soldiers struggle with domestic situations - what counts as evidence? - a villain manipulates pre-existing opinions and fears (including suspicion of female infidelity, anxiety about female sexuality) to achieve his ends Villain's motivations are problematic

Jessica and lorenzo

- jessica converted to christianity, but her place in the christian community does not seem assured: graziano and lancelet inform her that she is still an "infidel" and "damned"; can conversion transform a jew into a christian, or does jessica remain an infidel in the eyes of society? - "did young lorenzo swear he loved her well, stealing her soul with many vows of faith, and never a true one": when the couple rhapsodizes about the beauty of the night, they recall tales of famous lovers, who ominously all came to tragic ends; playful banter, or genuine doubt from jessica? - "i am never merry when I hear sweet music": jessica's last words; she remains silent throughout the rest of the final scene - "fair ladies, you drop manna in the way of starved people": lorenzo's response to the contract signed by shylock to give them his wealth after he dies; manna is the food that god miraculously provided to the jews in the wilderness; christians read this old testament story as manna symbolizing grace (food is provided to believers wandering the wilderness of the otherwise sinful world), another way of reading according to the spirit and not the letter; thus when lorenzo uses "manna" as metaphor for money, he comes across as more materialistic than jews

"What is the cause of thunder?"

- lear asks what the cause of thunder is of poor tom, under the impression that the beggar is a philosopher; this important question may have several answers: 1. thunder is a sign of the presence of the gods; we're told they will strike the guilty with their lightning; lear expresses this belief when he declares that the guilty should tremble at the god's wrath, but that he does not deserve to experience it ("I am a man more sinned against than sinning") 2. thunder and storms are a sign of disorder in the natural world: the cosmos reflects and responds to turmoil in the microcosm of man; explanation suggests that an ordered world centers on mankind 3. thunder and other natural disturbances may be random, indifferent to humanity; man may not be an elevated creature in this explanation, but just another animal

Theater, illusion, and dover cliff

- lear is restored to sanity by the reappearance of cordelia, and gloucester is rescued from his suicidal thoughts by edgar, though his method is peculiar; while cordelia reassures lear that he is loved and respected and the world is not so terrible, edgar convinces gloucester that he has jumped off a cliff and survived and thus further wraps his father up in illusions - edgar's method undermines the message that the play hammers home: the importance of clear sight or the need to "see better"; a particularly bleak reading of the play thus suggests that only illusions can keep people alive (in this case, the illusion that the "clearest gods have preserved" gloucester)

"Is man no more than this?"

- lear's madness in acts 3 and 4 is illuminated by flashes of insight; he begins to question all his previous beliefs, thus inviting the audience to reconsider their assumptions about the way the world works - "is man no more than this? consider him well. thou owest the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume. ha! here's threeon's are sophisticated! thou art the thing itself: unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal.": lear asks this question of poor tom - lear declares that he, kent, and the fool may be sophisticated in their clothing, but the creature before them is the true image of unaccommodated man; what a man truly is, when the disguises are removed, is a "poor, bare, forked animal"; implies that man is not distinguished from other animals by his reason; man is really an irrational animal, like the beggar in front of him - lear's conclusion is complicated, however, by the fact that the lunatic in front of him is a man in disguise; he believes that he has pierced through to the truth of things, however terrible the truth may be, but he is merely looking at another illusion

"Never, never, never, never"

- lear's words over cordelia's corpse are devastating acknowledgement of permanence of death; lear's negatives recall the word that has reverberated throughout the play ("nothing"); christian audience would know that god created the world out of nothing (ex nihilo) and thus "nothing will come of nothing" is false; but the play takes place in pre-christian and pagan world, and most of the "good" characters begin by believing gods are just, gloucester changes his mind after he is blinded; can something (any hope) come of the "nothing" left at the end of the play? - some readers have found the ending of lear as extremely bleak, yet other have found hints of hope and suggestions that the world can be remade anew, or that a better world waits beyond; hope in total destruction of the "wicked" characters and in lear's final words ("do you see this? Look on her! Look, her lips, look there, look there!"); lear may have some epiphany or glimpse of a life beyond, or he may die in comforting illusion that cordelia lives - typically a gesture towards restoration of political and social order at end of shakespeare's plays; lear may be exception; albany gives speech dividing rewards, but stops himself to focus on the terrible spectacle of lear and cordelia; when lear dies, kent opts out of governance; we don't know who will be in charge at the end- usually it's the last character to speak, but in quarto albany gets last words, and in folio it's edgar; final words also say nothing about the future

First act of Othello

- like a mini-comedy - enemies: angry father, ottoman empire, Iago - comic plot: angry father and scheming villain attempt to part lovers, lovers triumph and are accepted by society and the duke - iago's plot: undermines the sense of comedy and joy and marriage, practices his evil ways on Roderigo - suggests that a comedy may turn into a tragedy if the story goes on after the wedding

Desdemona and Bianca: virgins and whores

- men in the play share the common cultural assumption that women fall into one of two categories: virgins and whores; dichotomy appears in figures of desdemona and bianca - cassio's attitudes towards the women are revealing; "divine desdemona" is worshipped, while bianca is mocked and denigrated; proof how, despite absolute opposition between the two types of women, it is very easy for the first to become the second; absence of a middle ground encourages the kinds of shifts in perspective that othello experiences - all Iago has to do is suggest that desdemona might not be a saint and she is immediately a sinner - in general, wives occupy very uncertain ground, as they are both sexually experienced and chaste: this combo creates dissonance in a world where feminine virtue is so closely related with physical purity; for a married couple to desire sex too greatly was considered adultery - adultery: word used to describe any marriage considered illicit - from the perspective of desdemona's father, for instance, her marriage to othello would be "adultery" - adulterate: to make impure, to corrupt, to debase by contaminating with another substance; to make impure by mixing things that should not be mixed; othello and desdemona were a kind of unacceptable racial mixture, and also possibly adulterous in sexual desires; another example of the power and poison of language

Murder as consummation

- no clear answer as to whether othello and desdemona have had sex: play repeatedly makes audience wonder; they had many interruptions throughout - when desdemona asks emilia to put her wedding sheets on the bed, she either wants to remind othello of their wedding night, or thinks this may be her wedding night - othello's refusal to shed desdemona's blood takes on a new meaning: to shed her blood would be to stain the wedding sheets with the traditional indication of lost virginity - the sheets would then resemble the handkerchief ("spotted with strawberries"), which has come to serve as both the proof and symbol of desdemona's lack of chastity; to shed her blood would scar her purity - ideal desdemona is cold and untouched, and othello's language suggests he wants to not only preserve this appearance, he wants to make this appearance truth; when she is dead, she will be pure and still as a statue - "when I have plucked thy rose, I cannot give it vital growth again": death is intensely sexualized; occurs in her bed, on wedding sheets, othello uses rose symbolism to suggest that to kill her is to deflower her; yet somehow keeping her corpse "intact" matters - female virtue is inextricably linked with physical purity: this association makes a wife's sexual activities (even with her husband) problematic; for a husband or wife to desire his or her spouse too greatly could be considered a form of adultery; thus othello's reluctance to shed desdemona's blood may indicate guilt over being the one who has defiled her

Hierarchy, wealth redistribution, and equality

- one illusion that the play undermines is the idea that a hierarchical society is "natural"; at certain moments, the play even goes so far as to suggest that social hierarchies are a terrible human invention - when lear is reduced to the level of "poor naked wretches": "O, I have taken too little care of this! Take physic, pomp; expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, that thou mayst shake the superflux to them, and show the heavens more just"; lear suggests that people with wealth need to actively go out and experience what wretches feel, and then give up their extra possessions so everyone is equal - lear is aware that justice is different for the rich and the poor, and thus the only way to fix the problem is to stop having rich and poor people, a realization that cannot fit into the hierarchical world of the play (or of the world during that time)

Resolvements

- othello dies joined in death with desdemona on their marriage bed, but Emilia is typically on the bed as well (in some productions she isn't); this image recalls Iago's suspicions that othello was committing adultery with Emilia; also suggests the tangle of divided loyalties that resolve in startling ways in final scene (emilia decides her duty to the truth and to desdemona supersedes her duty to her husband) - "who hath done this deed?" "Nobody, I myself, farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. Oh, farewell!": desdemona's words can be read as saintly love for othello or as fear for what may happen to emilia if she confronts othello - lodovico gets the last word: insists that Iago "look upon the tragic loading of this bed"; he believes that the sight is offensive because of the number of deaths, but also maybe the sexualness of the scene; quickly divvies up property and responsibilities and insists that Iago be properly tortured - iago's continued presence (living, silent) suggests the futility of these attempts to restore order; the damage has been done

Othello's approach to murder

- othello's motives for killing his wife are not as clear as we may think, and his lack of clarity seems deliberate on his part - "yet she must die, else she'll betray more men. Put out the light, and then put out the light": in act 5, he regains some control, speaking in flowing blank verse as he contemplates his sleeping wife; a beautiful way to describe murder; he's doing his best to change the story: this is not about revenge, it's about justice for othello; he's not doing it for himself, he's doing it for her and every other man - "this sorrow's heavenly, it strikes where it doth love": desdemona as the beloved but sinning soul, othello as the lord - when desdemona awakens, she refuses to go along with othello's idea of murder as justice - why does othello kill his wife? answer is not as simple as it initially seems, othello's own stated motives are untrustworthy; what he wants to believe about himself may not correspond to the truth

The rings

- portia and nerissa's rings evaluated in a number of ways 1. "there's more depends on this than on the value": bassanio says that the ring has symbolic value for him, so he can't give it away 2. "a hoop of gold, a paltry ring": graziano defends his actions based on ring's low material value 3. "what, talk you of the posy or the value? you swore to me when I did give it you": nerissa says the ring was more than just a ring; it was a symbol of a vow 4. "let his deservings and my love withal be valued against your wife's commandment": ring is weighed against things of greater value; asks bassanio to value his friend's love over his wife's command; in giving up ring, he suggests, he will not be denying his marriage, simply placing allegiance to his friend over his wife's demand 5. "this house, these servants, and this same myself are yours, my lord. I give them with this ring": portia believes the ring is a symbol of marriage contract and all of the possessions bassanio has gained; in giving the ring away, bassanio gave away his right to portia and her possessions 6. "no, not my body nor my husband's bed!": if the doctor has her ring, he must be her husband; in giving him her body she will give him her other "ring" (vagina) - even in belmont, christians have difficulty separating material value from symbolic value; even when a ring is taken to be symbolic, it still has monetary value - "it was my turquoise (ring); I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor. I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys": in a contradiction to jew stereotypes, shylock is able to understand the spiritual and symbolic value of his ring

Otherness and foreigners

- suitors come from all over to woo portia, though they are not all welcome - the lifeblood of venice is the movement of people and goods; foreigners and their businesses are necessarily welcomed; but portia expresses horror at the idea of marrying a frenchman, german, scotsman, englishman, etc; has fond memories of the venetian (bassanio) - "if he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should absolve me of my sins than wive me": portia's response to prince of morocco; even if he's a saint, she wouldn't want to marry a black man; contrast her to desdemona; belmont is removed from the bustle of venetian trade, and thus foreigners are perceived as intruders there - central category of otherness is not blackness, its jewishness: shylock fulfills a necessary function for venice, but he is disdained and barely tolerated; nevertheless, though antonio dislikes him for taking interest, he comes to him when he needs ready money; christian venice cannot do without the jew

Portia versus shylock

- portia as only character who can effectively oppose shylock: descends from above, from a belmont that is not corrupted by things that taint venice, and thus possesses a moral authority that no venetian can attain; OR as a woman, she has understanding of the other outsider (shylock) that she can use to her advantage in manipulating him, as he comes to believe that she is on his side - portia as wise or hopelessly naive: when she asks which is merchant and which is jew, is she showing impartiality or cluelessness?; as she speaks in favor of mercy, is she expressing christian doctrine, or opinions of a sheltered woman who has no contact with anyone who thinks differently from the way she does? - "therefore, jew, though justice be thy plea, consider this- that in the course of justice none of us should see salvation. We do pray for mercy, and that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy": attempts to urge shylock to have mercy, yet excludes him in her terms; she says "us", but is referring to the christian belief that divine justice untempered by mercy would result in universal damnation; christians believe that they are redeemed through christ's sacrifice, not through their own ability to follow the law; yet shylock "craves the law" - showdown: shylock's words recall the cries of the jewish crowd at jesus' trial ("his blood be on us, and on our children"); while portia speaks for christianity, shylock speaks for the law, refuses grace, and aligns himself with those who reject and killed christ - "i do oppose my patience to his fury, and am armed to suffer with a quietness of spirit": meanwhile, antonio seems determined to behave in a christ-like fashion, sacrificing his life for a friend; contrasts his attitude with shylock's

Love and money

- replacing economic bonds with affectionate bonds: bassanio asking antonio to help him win the love of his life, or to invest in a promising business venture?; religious language is mixed in also ("what lady is the same to whom you swore a secret pilgrimage?"); from a purely economic perspective, lending bassanio money is a terrible idea; antonio lends him money not because it makes sense, but because of his affection for his friend; bassanio entangles his love and finance (asks a man who loves him for money so he can woo a girl; woos a girl to use her inheritance to pay back his friend who he loves) - "in belmont is a lady richly left, and she is fair, and fairer than that word, of wondrous virtues": bassanio leads with the money ("richly left" as an heiress); adds that she is beautiful, then adds that her virtues are even fairer than her physical beauty; then frames his pursuit of her as a heroic quest (compares himself to ancient greek hero, Jason, pursuing the golden fleece, which he connects to portia's beauty; but in this context, her golden hair may be confused with her golden money); he also points out that everyone wants portia - portia's value: would her beauty and virtue be prized if she were not rich or acknowledged to be a valuable prize / hot commodity? - christian merchant: is it possible to be both christian and a merchant (merchant as anyone who trades, exchanges, makes bargains); salerio suggests that it isn't ("what harm a wind too great might do at sea. I should not see the sandy hourglass run but I should think of shallows and of flats... should I go to church and see the holy edifice of stone and not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks?"); wealthy and influential men depicted with hourglasses in portraits of the time; hourglasses were memento mori, reminders that time on earth is limited; salerio suggests that merchants will obsess over unworldly and unimportant things, such that even the sight of a church would merely make him think of rocks

Othello

- roderigo - iago - desdemona - othello - cassio - brabanzio - montano - bianca - lodovico - graziano

Motiveless malignity

- samuel taylor coleridge: romantic critic and poet; describes Iago's soliloquies as "the motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity" - in Shakespeare's first draft, Iago loves desdemona, and decides to destroy her and her husband out of anger at being rejected; as with don john in much ado, Shakespeare removed this motive - unlike don john, Iago is not simply a "plain dealing villain": if anything, he has too many motives - "i hate the moor, and it is thought abroad that twixt my sheets he's done my office. I know not if't be true, but I, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety"; being passed over for promotion is a good reason for disliking someone, especially if Iago feels that othello is inferior due to his race and foreignness; if othello is sleeping with Iago's wife, he has even more reason for hatred, and the two reasons are connected in Iago's mind- othello has taken Iago's "office" in bed, just as he has taken his deserved office in the army (professional and sexual humiliation are tied); feels that being passed over is a direct attack on his masculinity; inevitably worries about his marriage, even if they are illogical worries; strangely, Iago doesn't say he hates othello because of adulterous rumors, but he tacks it on at the end (hence the "motive-hunting") - "i fear cassio with my night-cap, too"; iago also suspects cassio of sleeping with his wife; suggests a kind of pathological jealousy- anyone who has taken Iago's place professionally may be taking his place in the bedroom, too; lieutenant: comes from the french "lieu-tenant", meaning place-holder; captain's deputy, filling his place in his absence; iago's plans suggest a fear that his place might be held by another in both work and in the bedroom - "the moor, howbeit I endure him not, is of a constant, loving, noble nature, and I dare think he'll prove to desdemona a most dear husband. Now I do love her, too... But partly led to diet my revenge, for that I do suspect the lusty moor hath leaped into my seat, the thought whereof doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw my inwards..."; in the span of ten lines, Iago acknowledges that othello is loving, noble, and constant; expresses his fear that he may have cuckholded him; declares that he loves desdemona; declares that when he says "love" he doesn't mean "lust"; then says he may mean "lust" or at least "as great a sin"; crazy man

Structure of Othello

- set in Venice: cosmopolitan city, where foreigners can rise to important positions - after first act, all characters move to Cyprus: on the edge of boundaries between west and east, christianity and islam - written between 1601 and 1603, shortly after Hamlet and Twelfth Nigh

Interpretation of the play: letter or spirit?

- shylock alludes to another biblical story: younger son jacob tricks his blind father isaac into giving him the blessing that was supposed to go to his older brother esau; jacob is smooth and esau is hairy, so jacob covers himself with a hairy skin to trick his father - lancelet plays similar trick on his blind father: tricks him, then finally reveals himself and says "give me your blessing"; father touches lancelet's head and mistakes his hair for a beard and exclaims "thou hast got more hair on thy chin than dobbin my fill-horse has on his tail" - biblical allusions suggest that this story was traditionally interpreted by christians as an allegory of christianity and judaism; according to this interpretation, esau stands for jews and the tale predicts the transfer of the father's blessing to the younger people, the christians; this interpretation is not literal, and thus it was according to the spirit and not the letter - this biblical episode proved troublesome to protestant reformers dedicated to placing increased emphasis on the scriptures themselves, returning readers to literal events narrated in the bible, even though some of these narratives were unsettling with allegories stripped away - allegorical reading tells comforting story of christianity triumphant, younger son inevitably supplanting the elder; but literally, we are left with an impression of tricksters, sharp dealing, moral ambivalence - lancelet's father gives the dish of doves intended for shylock to lancelet's new christian master, bassanio; does play want us to see lancelet as an everyman who exchanges judaism for christianity to the benefit of his soul, or as preferring bassanio for the reason that he will give him a fancy new servant job?; salvation vs. fancy new uniform - play repeatedly invites allegorical reading, but simultaneously undermines such interpretations

Portia, bassanio, and the three caskets

- task given to portia's suitors is meant to reward the true lover (who values inner worth as well as outer appearance); also meant to distinguish suitor with the best understanding of christian values (truest lover will thus be the most christian lover); the winner thus values humbleness and a willingness to have faith in things unseen - "who chooses me must give and hazard all he hath": inscription on lead casket; echoes the language of the gospels ("if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me... for what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?") - bassanio makes correct choice, but is he the husband that portia's father had in mind?; his interest in portia is not entirely unmercenary; it is possible to understand christian values without always following them; but does he win fairly?; portia often raises the possibility of cheating ("I stand for sacrifice": telling bassanio to choose the casket that demands a sacrifice?); instead of a christian man choosing a hazard and sacrifice and winning bliss, we see a cheater - portia's song for bassanio: many words rhyme with lead; cheating again; raises a few questions about interpretation --> in winning portia, does bassanio: win a place in belmont with the christlike portia who "stands for sacrifice" (allegorical reading), or win a life of luxury with a gorgeous heiress (literal reading) --> can the symbolic and literal readings harmonize with one another, or are they mutually exclusive? can earthly riches stand for treasure in heaven? given the gospels, one must renounce the former to gain the latter; jessica observes that portia is living embodiment of the "joys of heaven" but there is a downside, as experiencing bliss on earth may make salvation later on more difficult

Nothingness and ambiguity

- the word nothing reverberates throughout the play (cordelia's answer to lear) - "i do invest you jointly with my power, preeminence, and all the large effects that troop with majesty... only we shall retain the name and all the addition to a king": lear's language about what he gives up and what he intends to keep after leaving his kingship is vague; what does this sentence mean? - in this context, goneril's edginess is understandable; lear gets angry easily and fails to think before he acts; now he occupies an ambiguous position as king and not-king; he will be followed by 100 knights who obey him alone; goneril seeks a reason for their dismissal, and a pretext to challenge her father's authority, so her account of their "rank and not-to-be-endured riots" cannot be trusted; on other hand, one can understand her concerns about such a large number of men who are in her household and yet not obliged to obey her orders

Iago's self-negation

- trusting Iago: one thing audience learns right away is Iago's name; in this case, Iago is the only definite in a swirl of ambiguity; Iago is also our only source of information for the first scene - distrusting Iago: appears to be a dramatic figure as the resentful underling who's under appreciated and angry at his lack of career advancement, yet he has more profound darkness - "but I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at. I am not what I am.": viola says this to Olivia; echoes Jehovah's statement in Exodus ("I am what I am"); iago suggesting a kind of demonic negation of self; also believes it foolish and weak to wear his heart on his sleeve or display any kind of emotion - unlike Iago, Othello is certain he is what he is: "not I. I must be found. my parts, my title, and my perfect soul shall manifest me rightly"; othello himself is honest, and seems to be honest, and generally believes that what people seem is what people are (which is what Iago will use against him)

History of Merchant of Venice

- written in 1596-97; one of the earliest plays we read in this class - parallels with othello: set in venice, outsiders of venetian community who fulfill essential roles, difficulty in establishing and maintaining lines between "us" and "them"