Othello project

“Now will I question Cassio of Bianca, A huswife that by selling her desires Buys herself bread and clothes. It is a creature That dotes on Cassio, as ’tis the strumpet’s plague To beguile many and be beguiled by one. He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain From the excess of laughter. Here he comes”.

From this section I see that Iago can be talking to himself, and revealing his plan to the audience. I can tell all of this because he doesn't seem like he is talking to another character. Also it makes me wonder why he would be saying his plan to himself. Although maybe he wanted to get his plan in the air. Maybe he wanted to see how it sounded. So from those reasons you really can’t chose what Iago was doing. Therefore he could have been speaking to the audience, or himself. Iago is a tricky character, because he reveals his plans a lot, and when you don't know if another character is there you wouldn't know who he was talking to.

Journal 2:

Barbantio- Page 41, Act 1 section 3 

Barbantio saw many things, but on page 41 he saw Desdemona confessing to her being with Othello. He personally saw that her saying she was with Othello. Barbantio was not happy with the fact that they are together, and that they were having intercourse. He didn't like how they were together, and how they were open with it. He was told that they were doing it everywhere, and that they do stuff together a lot. He was told that they ran away together. Barbantio was mad at the fact that it was Othello, and he thought that because he was different that he forced Desdemona to be with him. Othello was african, so he just assumed he had a spell on Desdemona to be with him. We can understand how he was angry, and how he was mad at the fact it was Othello.

Journal 3:

Desdemona was a good girl, but she had a freaky side. While she was growing up every boyfriend she had was in love with her, because of how sexual she was. She made the days of many with a simple kiss. As she got older, her sexual knowledge expanded. She found out more, practiced more, and got more experienced. When she left men, it broke their heart. Not only was she a kind, considerate, and just plain nice girl, but she had a freaky side as well. When she got to Othello, she showed him a different way of being sexually active. It was so good, he fell in love. Othello knew about her sexual touch, but not her loyalty. He knew her touch was enough for a guy to go off. So thats why he believes she is cheating. So that brings us up to Othello killing Desdemona.

Journal 4:

I’m using my girly voice, and having my fake breast on. The tone i’m using is the tone of a defensive person, but a not defensive voice. I needed to be serious about my role, because we traded places. So since I was Desdemona, I needed to be super professional.

My prop was the fake breast. It made our scene look funny, but they brought out the women in me. It made me look more like a lady. They aren't really needed, but I like them.

The end scene made us stand out because nobody else ended their scene like that. The strangle scene was the best. It makes the audience understand the seriousness of the scene.

Journal 5:

"Ay my lord" Desdemona says yes my lord to Othello. Even though she knows she is about to die, she is still showing love towards him. She still addressed him as her lord. She still took pride that he was her husband. She never got loud, and tried to avoid it. She didn't try to force her way out. She could have gotten violent with him, however she didn't. She kept her cool and knew what was about to happen. She knew that Othello was losing something, and he wouldn't be able to get it back. She was saying if you kill me thats your loss. This line was important because Desdemona knew she couldn't really escape death. She couldn't escape her fate. She knew what ever was to happen would happen. Therefore she didn't fight off Othello. She tried what she wanted, but never got physical. With the line "ay my lord" she still is looking at othello as her husband, even though she knows he is planning on killing her. She knows he was tricked, but kept with it. In her eyes she was meant to die. I delivered this line fast, and direct. I did that to let my partner, who was Othello that Desdemona still loved him. I made sure that most of my lines were direct so that Desdemona was still on the defense. I made sure Desdemona was on the defense with most of the lines I said.

I think our performance went as expected. It went how we planned. I had fun doing the scene with my partner. I think we really got across the strangle part of the scene. Since strangling is so physical, and brutal I think we did a good job. We really took the roles seriously. I think that being Desdemona was fun, because I got to act different from what I would have not normally been. Normally, I would have been Othello, but because we switched I got to be Desdemona. The only thing I would have done differently was know my lines. I think it would have been more fun, not reading of the paper. For the 2 scenes where I sat there as a dead desdemona, I probably would have laughed in scene 8. Other than that I felt like my partner and I did a fine job. Shakespeare is a hard text to speak, and understand so I think we read well. We also were serious during our scene. That was due to how many times we practiced it. We practiced our parts a lot of times, and I think it reflected in our scene.

When performing it, the scene came alive to me. It made me understand how it feels to have someones hands around my neck. I know how the scene plays out. The scene was important in the story. So I'm glad I got to be apart of it. I wasn't nervous about doing the scene. I was looking forward to doing it with my partner. I like acting, so I was ready to do the scene.