Hiller, Othello Journal

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Journal #1

I do beseech you,

Though I perchance am vicious in my guess,

As, I confess, it is my nature’s plague

To spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy

Shapes faults that are not, that your wisdom,

From one that so imperfectly conceits,

Would take no notice, nor build yourself a trouble

Out of his scattering and unsure observance.

It were not for your quiet nor your good,

Nor for my manhood, honesty, and wisdom

To let you know my thoughts.

 

In this quote, Iago is saying that it seems that Iago is indirectly telling Othello not to listen to him.

“I do beseech you,

Though I perchance am vicious in my guess,”

Though this is just apart of his plan, by telling Othello not to listen to him, this is going to subconsciously going to make Othello want to listen to him more. With Othello weakness, believing that most men are wise, especially Iago, this just makes more vulnerable in Othello's beliefs and confidence. This goes back to the plan that Iago has in stored by Iago maintaining his "innocence" and "trust" whatever Iago says such as:

Nor for my manhood, honesty, and wisdom

To let you know my thoughts.

Othello will support it and stand behind it 100%. Through this paragraph, Iago continues to test how far he can push Othello to believe him and how long he will continue to believe in his lies. This is paragraph, this makes Iago smarter, more cleaver, and even more powerful than Othello because it shows how much control he is able to maintain on him throughout the story. 

Journal #2

In Act 5 Scene 2, Emilia discovers that Iago set up everyone in the play. After her lady, Desdemona is killed but Othello, she realizes that she was unknowing, apart of Iago's plan.

As for her first hand observation, Emilia is seen as a woman who caters to her lady and seems to be a loyal servant to Desdemona. She is a considerate wife to Iago and doesn't show a sign of dishonesty nor dishonor towards Iago. She seems to be just an ordinary servant and loyal wife. 

Through second observation, Iago deceives everyone in the story by taking advantage of his known honesty and the trust they put in him. Iago deceived his wife by putting her in on the plot without her unknowingly helping her husband, to get Desdemona murdered. It began with the handkerchief, when she gave it to Iago, in order to set Desdemona up as if she was cheating on Othello, which made her look like a bad guy. Giving the impression that Iago that set up his wife.

As the story goes on, we begin to understand that Emilia's intention weren't as we suspected. They were the totally opposite. All Emilia was as loyal as she can be and she had a lot of love towards Desdemona, in a way that she didn't mind working for her and Desdemona treated her like a person and not so much a servant, which she loved about her. But in the particularly sense we see that she went against her husband, when she had the chance to stand by him, she instead remained loyal to her lady and sacrificed dieing by her side. In many ways her character is a lot like Desdemona's.

 

Journal #3

When Othello was growing up, he was the type of person that didn't have very much and wasn't acknowledged for his well beings because he grew up in the slave type environment. Though he may not have had the silver spoon lifestyle, Othello managed to maintain a leader like mind-set. This came from seeing how the men lived their lives. Meaning, since he grew up a slave environment, he learned how to become a leader from the male slave owner, sense men were known for being slave owners, unlike women. He saw how much power and control men were able to have over people and he admired this. He saw them as honest, true and dominant amongst the people. This is where, honest, true and dominant, which motivated him into becoming the general of the army and he can now dominate over those who once dominated him. 

 

Journal #4           

In my performance for Othello, the kind of tone of voice that I'm going to bring to my performance is going to be an intense voice because my scene is a scene where Othello has to kill Desdemona. One of the most important actions I have to do is strangle Desdemona. In this scene I have to have self- control and I have to bring intensity to the table. 

I'm not bringing a prop and/ or no specific costume.

One of the things that should make my scene stand out is the fact that I have a killing scene and this isn't just a quick stab or gun shot, but I have to strangle somebody and when you kill somebody with you bare hands, this is something that takes a lot of will power and a lot a strength (in reality). I was told that in order for my scene to stand out I had to maintain a

serious face, gesture and actions. With these tips, I think I can do okay with my part.

 

Journal #5

Yet I shall not shed her blood, nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, and smooth as monumental alabaster. Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men. Put out the light, and then put out the light.

This quote held a very valuable moment in the whole story because this is the scene where Othello is having a really deep debate with himself about wheatear or not he should kill Desdemona or not. This line separates the difference between Desdemona’s life and how the rest of the story will end. Through the decision of Othello choosing to kill Desdemona he, subconsciously, killed everyone else around him and involved in the lie that Iago told and Othello chose to believe. Throughout the whole play and story, this line was the most and important and was the key to everything. This sense proved that Iago had won and gained power over everyone.

During this line I thought that I delivered it the way Othello would have, with much uncertainty but understanding that this is the way it must end.

Over all I think that my group did a really good job, given the fact that we had such a powerful scene, which meant that we had to really give it our all and that we had to show that we can do our part the way it was meant to be portrayed. I think we delivered the best we could and I am proud of what we did, though I do think that if this part was memorized it would have been an even better piece of work because since this was such an intense sense, intensity can be really seen and deliver through eye contact, which would have really gave the audience something amazing. But even though that wasn’t portrayed, our tone of voice was set even on each scene that needed a specific voice and I thought that we did a pretty good job on the strangulation scene.

After doing this, it made me understand that Othello was tied between two decisions and two separate words, his wife against a man he put so much trust into. I understand that this wasn’t just a choice that could have been made up in seconds, but a choice that took time to understand and a very difficult decision. It made me see that Othello loved Desdemona as much as she loved him and him doing this made him have a constant battle with himself and his inner self. I’m glad I got to play the ending of Othello as Othello because thins made me get a clear and deep understanding of love and war that people will do to break others apart from each other and themselves.