Desdemona—Passive or Assertive?

One question that can arise with the audience after watching or reading the play Othello is the extent to which Desdemona was a passive character.  Was she just a victim of Othello’s brutality, or what was her role?  The end of the play made her seem like an entirely passive victim.  She hardly even fought or argued with Othello before he smothered her and ended her life.  However, if you look back earlier in the play, she shows more assertiveness when her husband is around than when he is not.  Desdemona’s first speech is extremely confident and straight forward.  She defends her marriage and is not afraid to assert her beliefs.  She is surrounded by not only men, but powerful men, and she is not ashamed to stand up for herself and her decisions.  Unfortunately, Iago recognizes her straight forward manner and ends up using this against her.  Her willingness to stand up for what she believes in gets flipped upside down when she starts to stand up for Cassio.  Iago turns this around to make it look like an affair.  Also, her courage in her refusal to search for the lost handkerchief infuriates Othello.  She even yells out against him when he abuses her, and she constantly insists that she is innocent.  All of these signs of her standing up for herself make Othello question her loyalty to him even more.  However, this doesn’t just come from himself, but it is fed to Othello by Iago.  Desdemona clearly becomes affected by Othello’s brutality.  He has given her so many reasons to think poorly of him, but she never says anything.  Even when she is with her best friend Emilia, who bad mouths men, Desdemona has nothing worse to say than “Heaven keep the monster from Othello’s mind” (III.4.158).  She shows assertiveness when she is with her husband, but when he is not around, she does not stand up against him.  But even the assertiveness with her husband eventually disappears.  We see the effect of Othello’s brutality in the last scene when Desdemona finally becomes a passive victim.

Hell, Demons, & Monsters

Hell, demons, and monsters are a re-occurring theme throughout the play Othello.  Iago tells Othello to beware of the “green-eyed monster” known as jealousy.  He describes it as one that mocks the meat it feeds on.  Iago’s wife, Emilia, also describes the green-eyed monster of jealousy as dangerously self-generating.  Imagery of damnation and hell occur in the play and especially at the end when Othello wants to murder Desdemona.  Othello can’t stop thinking about the moral and religious judgment of Desdemona and himself.  Once Othello learns the truth about Iago in Act Five, he calls Iago the Devil and a demon several times.  Earlier in the play, Othello made a reference to some monster in his thoughts.  Sadly, this ironically turns out to be Iago.  Also earlier in the play, he refers to Desdemona’s betrayal of him as monstrous.  Right before Othello kills himself at the end of the play, he asks for eternal torture in Hell.  The imagery of the monster begins to take over.  The jealousy-crazed character is grotesque, deformed, and demonic.  Something else that is interesting about all of this reference to devils and demons are the characters actual names.  Othello includes the word hell and Desdemona includes the word demon.  Othello is dark and supposed to be like the devil in hell.  But Desdemona is white and is supposed to be like the light.  However, her name includes the word demon.  This makes her character seem more questionable and not as pure as everyone thought she was.  It’s hard to determine whether or not Desdemona is a good person or was faithful to her husband.  But after looking at her conversation with Emilia, it seems like she would never consider betraying her husband Othello.  This is why it is hard to determine the reasoning for including “demon” in the name Desdemona.

Light and Darkness in Othello

The theme of light and darkness or sight and blindness has a large role in the play Othello.  The most obvious example is Othello’s physical difference from everyone else.  He is the only one who is black, while every other character in the play is white.  Desdemona looks beyond this racial difference and can see more than just Othello’s color, even though Othello cannot. This is something that he doubts by the end of the play.  Desdemona mentions multiple times about different types of sight.  One thing she says is, “Saw Othello’s visage in his mind, and to his honors and his valiant parts, did I my soul and fortunes consecrate” (1.iii.250-252).  Desdemona loves things about Othello and believes things about Othello that she cannot see.  Othello acts as though he needs more proof of things and needs to see what is happening in order to believe it.  However, throughout the play, Othello is convinced by Iago of things that he cannot see.  The most tragic example is when Othello accuses Desdemona of having an affair with Cassio, even though he never actually sees her infidelity.  He does not believe her when she tells him that it’s not true because he doubts that she ever actually loved him.  This comes from his insecurity about being dark.  Because Othello places such a great significance on light versus dark, he ends up murdering his wife and committing suicide at the end of the play.  After Othello kills himself, Lodovico says, “Look on the tragic loading of this bed.  This is thy work.  The object poisons sight.  Let it be hid” (5.ii.373-375).  There are so many things that can distort our sight and make us believe something that we did not actually see.  Othello’s color distorted his sight of Desdemona.  It made him believe rumors that were not true.  Iago took advantage of all of this and caused the tragedy in the play. 

Disguises in Twelfth Night

Disguises are a big part of the plot in the play Twelfth Night.  The most obvious example of a character that uses disguise is Viola pretending to be a boy named Cesario.  She puts on the clothing of a man and everyone assumes that she is a man.  This causes a lot of confusion, especially with Olivia who begins to fall in love with “him.”  A similar problem also arises for Viola because she falls in love with Orsino, who assumes that she is a boy.  I think that Shakespeare is showing how ridiculous human attraction can be.  Just a change of clothing can make someone attracted to someone else that they normally would never be interested in.  Malvolio also uses a change in clothing to try and attract the female character that he is interested in.  He assumes that by dressing in strange attire, he will win Olivia over.  He daydreams about being Olivia’s husband and sees himself as above all of her other servants.  His change of clothing shows that he feels empowered to rise above to another social class.  Another character that changes his appearance to take on a new identity is Feste.  Feste dresses up as a priest named Sir Topas to make Malvolio think that he has gone mad.  He does not even need to dress up because the room is dark, but he does so anyway.  This suggests that in order to play the part, Feste needed to be wearing the disguise.  Shakespeare brings up a lot of questions about human identity with all of these disguises.  It seems that gender and status can be easily changed with just a change in wardrobe.  People are delusional, and they cannot see passed the physical appearance of each other.  Who a person is should be much deeper than what they look like, but that doesn’t seem to be the case in Twelfth Night.

She's The Man vs. Twelfth Night

The movie She’s the Man was influenced directly by the play Twelfth Night.  It is not supposed to be an exact adaptation of the play, so there are many differences in the two versions.   However, the overall plot is almost exactly the same.  In the play, Orsino, the Duke of Illyria is in love with Olivia who does not love him back.  In the movie, Duke Orsino has a crush on Olivia who is not interested in him at all.  In the play, Viola comes in dressed up as Cesario to work for Orsino, and ends up falling in love with him.  Unfortunately, he has Cesario help deliver his love letters to Olivia.  In the movie, Viola goes to Illyria disguised as her twin brother Sebastian, and she starts to fall for her roommate Duke.  Sebastian ends up having to help Duke try and win over Olivia.  In the play, Olivia falls for Cesario, and in the movie, Olivia falls for Sebastian.  The real Sebastian enters the scene and Olivia takes him to marry her.  The real Sebastian enters the movie, and Olivia kisses him.  All of the miscommunication is resolved when everyone is at the same place at the same time.  Viola shows who she really is (no longer Cesario or Sebastian), and Orsino decides to marry her.  In the movie, Duke decides to ask her out.  The movie puts a modern twist on the story, uses the names of characters and places, and removes the element of homosexuality.  Orsino seemed extremely interested in Cesario as a boy, which was not the case at all for Duke and Sebastian in the movie.  The most important element that the movie is missing is including the characters Maria and Feste.  There is also no practical joke played on the Malvolio character by Andrew or Toby.  This was an important part of the play, but it did not have a role in the film.

The Dating Game

A Midsummer Night’s Dream reinforces the idea of wanting what we can’t have and wanting what other people want.  This idea was first seen in the play, The Taming of the Shrew.  Lucentio wanted Bianca because he saw that all of the other men wanted her.  This theme has come up again in regards to Hermia and Helena.  Helena is madly in love with Demetrius, to the point that she heavily dotes on him.  Demetrius knows that she wants to be with him and he is not at all interested.  Demetrius instead wants to be with Hermia.  Why?  Because he sees that other men want to be with her as well.  Also, Hermia has no interest in him.  This makes the game more exciting.  People like to engage in the “chase” when going after someone that they want to be with.  It makes things more exciting.  Hermia does everything opposite to try and get Demetrius to stop loving her, but he just loves her more.  She says things like, “I frown upon him, yet he loves me more… I give him curses, yet he gives me love…The more I hate, the more he follows me” (I.1. 194, 96, 96).  This turns into the game that people like to play today.  When you like someone, you are mean to them or act like you don’t care about them.  This makes things more exciting, and gets the other person to try and chase you.  Demetrius takes all of Hermia’s curses and hatred and turns it into an exciting game.  Helena does not understand how this game works.  She pours herself all over Demetrius, taking away the excitement and mystery.  Helena wants to learn how to win him over so she asks Hermia for help.  She needs to learn that people want what they can’t have, and Demetrius knows that he can have her whenever he wants.

Julius Caesar—Public Life vs. Private Life

Throughout the play, Julius Caesar, personal interest versus public interest is a theme that has occurred in multiple places.  The theme can be seen mostly when looking at the difference between public life and private life.  Most of the characters neglect their personal feelings that are brought about in their private lives, and instead follow the interests of the public.  This decision usually leads to disaster.  The first example of this would be with Brutus.  Brutus does not tell his wife, Portia, what he is struggling with when she asks him to confide in her.  He puts aside his personal loyalties to Caesar and decides to act on what he thinks is the public’s will.  Brutus chooses to murder Caesar, despite the fact that they were close friends.  He goes through an inner struggle, but ultimately chooses to follow the interest of the public.  Cassius is another man who is determined to create a powerful public appearance.  He does not really have a private life, which is why he does not seem to deal with an internal struggle.  Cassius does not have any personal honor or sensibility and is just a ruthless murderer.  Caesar also struggles when determining whether or not he should stick with his private life or public life.  Calpurnia urges him to stay home when she has a dream that he will be murdered.  At first, Caesar decides not to go to the Senate, but he is then persuaded by Decius when Decius announces that he will receive the crown if he goes.  Caesar chooses his public self image over his private life and his wife.  He is so concerned with his image that he scolds his wife for making him look like he was afraid in the first place.  All of these characters neglected their private sentiments and chose to follow public concerns.  This is ultimately what led to Caesar’s death.

How Do You Read It?

There are two different ways that the audience could read or interpret The Taming of the Shrew.  View one would be that the play is extremely misogynistic, and view two would be that Kate actually improves or develops throughout the play.  There are definitely plenty of examples for Kate’s improvement.  If the director wanted to make the play have this type of reading, then he would need to stage it so that Kate’s and Petruchio’s great relationship was emphasized.  The most important piece would be to show that what actually happens is Kate learns to play the game.  Her spirit is not actually broken, but it just has to show that she now understands what is necessary in order to win men over.  The director could show Kate as being in on the scheme to win Petruchio money during the bet.  Another important piece to this argument would be to show that Kate is happier after all.  She did not like being a shrew and constantly going against society.  So, now that she no longer can debate everything, she is actually happier.  However, I would argue that this is quite a stretch.  The director would have a lot of work to do in order to give the audience this type of interpretation.  I believe that this play is much more misogynistic.  Kate becomes completely submissive to Petruchio and is no longer considered an equal.  She is married against her will, and Petruchio uses cold methods of manipulation.  Not only does he starve her and sleep deprives her, but he makes her say whatever he wants.  Petruchio completely humiliates Kate.  He never has to compromise, while she completely loses her voice in the play.  This play shows women having no role in society or even control over their own lives.  Men have power over their future but women do not.  The question is whether or not the men will be generous with this power, and clearly, Petruchio is not.

Themes in The Taming of the Shrew

I believe that social roles and disguise are an important recurring theme throughout the entire play.  The roles are defined by wealth, age, and gender.  Each character has a specific social role, and that role determines how they should behave.  Their behavior is enforced by their friends, family, and society as a whole.  Bianca and Kat are young, upper-class, ladies in waiting.  Baptista is their older, upper-class father, looking for someone to marry off his daughters to.  Lucentio is a young, wealthy student, and Tranio is his servant.  Hortensio is an older, upper-class, male looking for a potential bride.  These characters are expected to act appropriately as whom they are, which leads to the introduction of disguise.  Certain characters change classes by disguising who they are.  Tranio puts on the clothes of a lord and pretends to be Lucentio.  Lucentio and Hortensio dress up as working-class tutors to get closer to Bianca.  This transformation shows the power of appearance.  It only takes a change of clothing for these characters to be seen as members of a completely different social class.  On the other hand, Kat tries to reject her social role and shows her frustration to everyone.  Instead of disguising herself, she is open about how she feels with her position and what is expected of her.  Unfortunately, this is what causes her to be known as the shrew throughout the entire play.  People disapprove of her behavior because she does not live up to the expectations society places on her.  However, by the end of the play, all of the characters must conform to their original expectations.  Tranio must go back to being the servant of Lucentio.  Lucentio has to announce who he truly is to Baptista before he can marry Bianca. The most important transformation in the play is that Kat must ultimately submit to Petruchio, whether she wants to be his wife or not.  Order is reestablished by the end of play.  This shows that in order to truly be happy, one must accept their role in society.

The Taming of the Shrew vs. 10 Things I Hate About You

The film 10 Things I Hate About You was based upon Shakespeare’s 16^th century play, The Taming of the Shrew.  Although many could argue that a significant amount of the play was changed in order to better entertain a 21^st century audience, the directors were still able to capture the timeless elements.  There are many parallels between the two stories, including quotes that are similar word for word.  The overall plot is almost exactly the same as well.  In The Taming of the Shrew, Lucentio wants to marry Bianca, but she cannot wed before Katherine.  Lucentio then disguises himself as a schoolmaster in order to get close to Bianca and tutor her.  Another man vying for Bianca’s love is Hortensio.  His plan is to get Petruchio to marry Katherine, and Hortensio convinces him of this because of the large dowry that she comes with.  This plan is almost perfectly mirrored in 10 Things I Hate About You.  Cameron wants to date Bianca, but she cannot date until her sister Kat dates.  He then acts as a French tutor in order to get to know Bianca better.  Cameron has some competition because Joey also wants to take Bianca out.  Joey plans to pay this boy Patrick to take Kat out on a date, so that in return, he will be able to take out Bianca.  However, the major difference between the two is that in 10 Things I Hate About You, the characters actually fall in love with each other.  There is no element of taming Kat.  In The Taming of the Shrew, Kat is not happy with Petruchio, and he is forced to “tame” her.  This difference makes sense considering the two time periods in which these works were written/created.  It would not make sense for Kat to submit to dating Patrick for no apparent reason.  Not many fathers in today’s society would be able to force their daughters to go on a date with someone they didn’t want to.  It was acceptable back in the 16^th Century for a father to choose who his daughter would marry without her consent.  Katherine was not happy with Petruchio and he forced her to submit to him.

The Taming of the Shrew, Act One

After having read only the Induction and Act One of the play, Shakespeare has already created gender specific roles.  So far, my view on the men in the play is that they are superficial and act like pigs.  The women don’t really have a role yet besides being wooed by the men.  It seems so far that the women are somewhat powerless and definitely not considered equal with the male characters.  Although there have been a few examples of defiance and power among the women, none of the men actually take them seriously.  The first example of this is with the hostess in the Induction.  She takes control over the situation with Sly and tries to get him kicked out.  He does not submit to her requests but instead passes out at the bar.  She was allowed to take charge, showing her power, but the man still did not listen to her.  This is somewhat similar to what happens to Katharina in Act One.   She rebels against what all of the men say to her/about her, acting like she doesn’t care. Her plan is to never submit to a man by marriage.  Even though I have only read Act One, my guess is that she will end up marrying one of the characters and have to listen to what he tells her to do.  This character will most likely be Petruchio, who is just one of the many males that shows the men’s vile behavior.  In order for Hortensio to convince Petruchio to marry Katharina, all he had to do was tell him that she was rich.  Even after he describes what a terrible person she is and says he wouldn’t marry her for all of the gold in a mine, Petruchio says “thou know’st not gold’s effect.” This means that gold to him is worth more than anything else, and that it is all that matters.  On the other hand, the men who are enamored by Bianca are not concerned with gold but with beauty. The audience can clearly see that both of these things are superficial.  So far, the men in the play are only concerned with satisfying their desires, and the women are mere pawns. 

Richard III

In Act One of Richard III, there are multiple references to The Bible.  The most powerful one occurs in Act One, Scene Three, lines 344-358.  This is when Richard is alone before the murderers enter.  He first refers to Clarence, “whom I indeed have cast in darkness.”  This line (I.iii.347) is comparable to Matthew 8:12 “But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  This verse means that the people of the kingdom (of earthly things), and not of God, will suffer great consequences.  Here, Richard believes that he has caused Clarence to suffer these same consequences.  Next, only a couple of lines later (I.iii.355), Richard again refers to scripture.  This time it is much more obvious because he states that he is using it to hide the fact that he is the villain.  He claims that he tries to follow scripture like Matthew 5:44 “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  Richard’s plan here is to appear to others that he does not mean to do his enemies any harm, and better yet, that he loves them.  This is exactly like the devil citing scripture for his own purposes, and Richard even admits to this by saying “And seem a saint when most I play the devil” (I.iii.358).  These references to the bible and the way that he is manipulating people are truly showing Richard as the villain.  He is acting like the devil with what he says, and the audience can see the power of language.  Richard knows exactly what to say and this soliloquy adds dramatic irony to the play because the characters don’t realize how well Richard works with words.  Shakespeare is clearly familiar with The Bible, and Richard III uses this to manipulate the others into doing and believing what he wants.  This scene is only one example of where The Bible is referred to in this play, which brings up the question of whether or not Shakespeare was a Christian.  He obviously understood scripture very well, but one should not judge what characters say to be the beliefs of the author.