Assignment #1
Due: the start of class on Tuesday, December 5
Blog your initial impressions on the playwright William Shakespeare and the tragedy Othello. Remember your blog must be at least 6 sentences for credit.
Blog your initial impressions on the playwright William Shakespeare and the tragedy Othello. Remember your blog must be at least 6 sentences for credit.
posted by fdileo at Sunday, November 26, 2006
45 Comments:
Unfortunately, I've never even skimmed through Othello. However, I have read two of Shakespeare's works,"Romeo and Juliet," "Macbeth," so I know a little of the heavy literature that will appear in the reading. Im looking forward to reading and annotating the story and Im also hoping to gain something out of the experience.
Othello looks like a very interesting book by William Spakskepeprrr. Othello is one of 4 of spakespeares tragedies along with hamlet, king lear, and macbeth. I usually dont like spakesspear or books based on plays but i think this one will be very exiciting and full of twists. I alos think that in some points this book will be challenging to read becuase of te way he uses languaage that is not fimiliar to us.
My first impression of Othello was that it was going to be a pretty sad book. I'm not sure if I'm really looking foreward to reading another tragedy by Shakespeare, because I didn't really enjoy Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth. But it did interest me that Othello is of African descent because I guess that is really not typicall. I am really glad that we're not reading another really famous play though, because I don't know what's going to happen. Shakespeare is really good at writing plays that make yout think about human nature, so it will be interesting to see what he has to say about Othello. But I still don't really want to read another tragedy.
AP Bloggers,
I am enjoying reading your initial impressions of Othello and Shakespeare. You are fortunate at CHS to study his great plays each year. Whether studying his tragedies, comedies, histories, or his sonnets, the themes that the great writer incorporates still resonate in our own lives today....and they are universal to all cultures.
Mr. Di Leo
After recieving Othello, I believe that this is going to be the classic tale of a man striving to protect himself from a world full of evil (the epitome being Iago (I think his name is)) and heartache. After reading Macbeth as well as Romeo and Juliet, I would asume that Othello might incorporate some sort of relationship with a beautiful woman and perhaps Iago trying to rip it apart. Truly, I have no idea, these are obvious assumptions but I believe this tradgedy will probably be quite entertaining and interesting. The way you talk about it, I can only hope for the best. It is pretty lengthy so hopefully it will be able to hold our attention.
My initial impression of Othello was that it would be like every other tragedy we have read for the past 2 years. There will be a little bit of romance and deception, followed by death, either murder or suicide or even both. The language will be confusing and i see that it is 265 pages long so it will probably be even harder to follow than Macbeth. There are an unexpected twists to this tragedy, however. I am surprised to see that Othello is 'of African American descent' (thanks to will). For some reason I thought he'd be... well not of African American descent.
Well I'm finished.
Bye Mr. D.
I am missing one sentence.... my bad. 6. Shakespeare is very skilled at creating indepth plays, although somewhat difficult to understand unless you are fully committed. This will be an interesting challenge to see if we can fully understand Shakespeare after having two prior experiences.
I never had the experience of looking through Othello. When you handed them to us in class i realized that this was no easy read. The book is almost 300 pages long! I've read two diffrent plays by William Shakespeare,
"Macbeth" and "Romeo and Juliet."
Judging from those two, i know this will probably be another tragedy and it will take us forever to get through but im sure it will at least be interessting.
The first thing that comes to mind about reading Shakespear's Othello is that somewhere throughout the play there is going to be a death. I have a feeling that it is going to be a suicide, however I have no idea (I'm just basing this on the fact that almost every work we have read in the past year has resulted in suicide.) I have never in my life read Othello but as I skimmed down the page of blogs I have learned that Othello is of African descent and the play is 265 pages long. This seems to be one of the longer plays of Shakespear, and may possibly be going in a differant direction than other Shakespearian plays we have studied. Although this is a tradgedy, I strongly believe that is going to be quite differant from other tradgedies we have read. During Shakespear's time there weren't very many Africans in America. Therefore, Shakespeare is either ahead of his time in African issues or this play is based in Africa. However, as I said before I have never read this play and therefore do not know what exactly to expect. I'm looking forward to reading this play. sarah d. per.2
I have yet to glance through the text (but the length of it did not go unnoticed), however, my first impressions of Shakespeare's Othello are based on the 2001 movie "O." If I'm not mistaken the movie is a modern update of the classic tragedy and was one rollercoaster ride of emotions. The overall plot of the story tells of one man's immense jealously of a close "friend's" lifestyle and the opportunities it possesses, which results in a series of unfortunate and dismal events. True, all works we have studied thus far of Shakespeare have been on the downside, yet (particularly exemplified in Macbeth), they never cease to provide a genuine and universal moral through an interesting and edgy plot. I don't understand the buzz on the racial background of Othello and refuse to possibly look for some symbolism in regards to it. If anything, Othello's African descent only emphasizes the universality of the themes Shakespeare presents to the reader. And finally, I am aware of the challenges Shakespeare's texts present in relation to diction and other literary elements. This worries me, but hopefully I'll manage to be up for the challenge.
Enjoli Hall, Prd. 2
At first, my reaction to reading ANOTHER one of Shakespeare's plays wasn't very good. Although I do have to admit that I doubted Macbeth and actually loved it. I'm interested to see how this play turns out because I'm finding out a lot of unexpected information. For some reason I never would've expected that Othello is from African descent! I can only hope that I've gotten somewhat used to the difficult language that Shakespeare uses. Well, I guess we'll just have to see how everything turns out. ~Stephanie T. (Per. #1)
I have to say that I am very excited to read "Othello". Though I don't know much about the plot. It seems like it will be a bit complex because it deals with the concept of jelousy and how it can break a man. "Othello" looks like it has many of the same components of a Shakespeare tragedy, so I will probably enjoy it as much as I enjoyed "Macbeth" and "Romeo and Juliet". I can't wait to begin our next Shakespearian adventure!
-Sophie
My initial impression upon reading Shakespeare's Othello was that it would differ from Macbeth in several ways. Othello seems to be more of a hero than Macbeth, who was more of a brave and powerful leader. Yet, I predict that the two plays will share a common ground - which is the tragic downfall. Perhaps we will be able to witness a downward spiral, which is a favorite motif in literature, particularly in Shakespeare's works. I am definitely looking forward to reading Othello and reading deeply into the text. I enjoy analyzing the old English used and, most importantly, connecting it to society.
My first impression on Othello is that it differed from the other two works we studied by Shakesphere. It kind of caught me off guard that Othello is of African decent and not European like the usual characters in Shakespheres works. Im not exactly "enthusiastic" about reading another one of Shapkesphere's work because i can never fully comprehend them because of the language. It takes twice as long to read a story written by Shakesphere. Im hoping that Othello will hit me off guard and become a great work study like The Awakening.
-Roberta Dombrowski,period 2
My initial impression of reading William Shakespeare's Othello, was, "Oh boy, here we go again." Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Shakespeare's plays, I'm just not too thrilled to know shortly I'll have to be deciphering all these words and phrases I have no clue as to what they mean. I'm just guessing from previous years and what we have studied (Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet), the outcome will usually be the same. The main character will commit suicide, or die somehow, or there will be some struggle between characters. As Laura said, Othello will probably include many of the same Shakesperian themes of deception, jealousy, and love. Reading a few of these blogs, I am also surprised Othello is of African descent. Perhaps a new tone will be set in Othello, differing from his other works. I sure hope so. I'm just anxious to get a taste of what Othello is all about, and perhaps my Shakesperian-language comprehending will improve. =]
Good evening Bloggers! I finished reading your responses and my initial reaction is I AM IMPRESSED! Your comments are genuine and importantly you are reading the posts created by your peers. Leshante's comment on the idea that someone will make a mistake is accurate...as Ms. Garris said, let's trace the path that leads to that mistake.
As far as the language, read what you know...we will work through the rest.
Othello is of African descent; he is a Moor meaning he comes from North Africa. In giving the lead to a person of color, Shakespeare was reacting against the conventions of the period, which equated beauty to whiteness. Do we still equate beauty with white skin and golden hair?
Othello importantly possesses a public image of great dignity. The Venetian senate unanimously approved of him as a leader and a fine general in the army.
Desdemona is the woman Othello loves. She is the daughter of a senator so we know she is not "trash". Do you think her father, Brabantio, would have a problem with his daughter eloping with a man of color?
Well, I am looking forward to exploring the themes in this great play. Remember, we are all humanists, meaning we need to be concerned for and interested in the welfare of humankind.
See you tomorrow.
Mr. DiLeo
My initial response to Shakespeare's play "Othello" was that Othello was a man of African desent. I then noticed it was a long tragedy with a glossary next to each page. The cover of the play shows the gorry insight and most likely Othello's fate. Shakespeare usually writes in an odd form so I would guess that "Othello" would be hard to understand. When I also think of "Othello" I also think of the game Othello so I think "Othello" will me about a challenge of power. I do not really know anything else about "Othello" But i am sure it will be an interesting play.
I like most of shakespeare's plays so hopefully i'll like this one too. According to your quiz I know a lot about him. I don't know much about Othello yet so I can't say much except that it's a tragedy. I hope Othello isn't too much like the others because a lot of Shakespeare's tragedies are alike. Also, I hope it won't be too hard to read with the Shakespearian language.
I have many doubts about reading William Shakespeare's Othello. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed reading Shakespeare's works in the past. But I am growing tired of reading tragedy after tragedy. I have not heard much about Othello, but if it is anything like what we have read in the past, I'm sure it will be pretty predictable. I did find it interesting however that Othello, the protagonist in a Shakespearean play, was of African descent. This seems suprising based on the time Othello was written. I have my doubts, but I am still very curious and anxious to start reading this book in class.
-Nicole Ashman, period 1
My first impression of Othello was that it was going to be a pretty sad book. I'm not sure if I'm really looking foreward to reading another tragedy by Shakespeare, because I didn't really enjoy Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth. But it did interest me that Othello is of African descent because I guess that is really not typicall. I am really glad that we're not reading another really famous play though, because I don't know what's going to happen. Shakespeare is really good at writing plays that make yout think about human nature, so it will be interesting to see what he has to say about Othello. But I still don't really want to read another tragedy.
Shakespeare has never been easy for me. I have read Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, As You Like It, and A Midsummer Nights Dream. None have been easy, but they have all had interesting plots. The language in Shakespeare is really hard for me to understand at first, and it is impossible for me to understand a passage from only reading it once. As You Like It in particular was really interesting to me and was so cleverly written. About Othello... well I have to say that the racial undertones interested me immediatley. Hopefully it won't be be too sad, but if it is I suppose that is a good thing because then the author just portrayed his point well enough to get his readers emotionally invovled.
So sorry about the horrible spelling Mr. Di Leo!
Laura K. Period 1
My first impression of Othello is another classic Shakespeare play. Although this one seems to have some differences from other (point on the fact that Othello is African), but I am not sure if I will find it any different from other Shakespeare's plays. Shakespeare always seems to focus on jealousy, betrayel, love, and fate. Fate especially due to the fact that the events in this play take place in such a short amount of time (comparable to Romeo and Juliet). From the play map handed out in todays class, jealousy will be a big factor too (Macbeth). Although the themes tend to run along the same lines they are never ending in the human nature. Shakespeare is a brilliant writer and I am sure that this will a great tradgedy.
Kristin period 1
After skimming through Othello, it does appear to potentially be very appealing for it contains aspects that differ from other Shakespearean plays. The fact that the protagonist is of African descent will be interesting because it is different than other characters that William Shakespeare has created. In addition, I want to see how the plot unfolds with Iago, after learning that he is one of the most malicious characters in literature. If this character can scheme and manipulate more than Lady Macbeth, it will be intriguing to read, although it will most likely be sad to read as well. Also, after reading Brave New World and hearing many references to this famous play, I will finally be able to understand what John says about this play. Although, it will be difficult to read and understand, I am looking forward to reading this play.
-Liz Felix Period 3
I think that Othello will be very interesting to read, especially since a lead character is an person of color. I also think that it’s interesting that Shakespeare chose Desdemona, the daughter of a well respected Venetian senator, to be Othello’s wife. Like almost all Shakespeare, Othello might be difficult to understand at first, but when it gets broken down and analyzed, it will probably be very enjoyable. Othello will more than likely have an underlying life lesson or moral contained within it and all of us will probably be able to relate to it in one way or another. Just looking at the book, Othello seems a bit long (even though with the added notes and vocabulary and the preface, the play itself might not be that long), but I think once we get to reading it, it wont seem as long. Hopefully the notes will help me out, because last year with Ms. Willard, when reading “Macbeth”, I didn’t have that advantage. Also, on the AP Exam there is probably going to be something relating to Shakespeare on the exam, and so now we will have at least two or three Shakespearian pieces to refer to.
~Ijeoma Period 2
The first impression I got from Othello was that not only would it have an immense amount of language and diction, but that those to literary devices would carry a compelling story. Othello is the first character of race in a Shakespearean play that I have ever read. That provides an interesting vision of where the author may take this story to. Also the fact that it has earned the title of tragedy, as many of Shakespeare’s plays did, gives more insight of the format of the book. The length of the book is much larger than the novels we have read this year. This shows that the author is going to divulge more information about the characters and their situations throughout the entirety of the play.
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"To be or not to be" is the first thing that comes to my mind when i hear the name William Shakespeare.Shakespeare is a great written whose most famous plays include "Macbeth" and "Romeo and Juliet." Shakespeare wrote during the English Renaissance which is very different from the english we use today. I know from reading two of his others works that I will have a difficult time reading and understand the english used in "Othello". I do not know much about the play "Othello" but I do know that Othello is of African descent and he will be the tragic hero that of course involves a tragic ending. I am excited to read Othello because I know it was unusually for there to be plays starring blacks during the English Renaissance.
TimmyA
After a quick skin through of Shakespeare’s, "Othello" my first impressions were that it is probably another tragic tale of another tragic hero. I will no doubt cringe my way through it, yet I am hopeful that it will be an interesting read. I have heard little about it in the past so it has that new book feel, I am itching to know the rest of the story. I am also pleased with the change from a European protagonist to an African one, even though the play will by undoubtedly euro centric. I also noticed many similarities between this piece of work and Macbeth; I am guessing that they are on the same lines as far as Shakespeare’s tragedies go. Anyways I’m ready to do this, and I am prepared enjoy it as much as I can enjoy literature.
After a quick skin through of Shakespeare’s, "Othello" my first impressions were that it is probably another tragic tale of another tragic hero. I will no doubt cringe my way through it, yet I am hopeful that it will be an interesting read. I have heard little about it in the past so it has that new book feel, I am itching to know the rest of the story. I am also pleased with the change from a European protagonist to an African one, even though the play will by undoubtedly euro centric. I also noticed many similarities between this piece of work and Macbeth; I am guessing that they are on the same lines as far as Shakespeare’s tragedies go. Anyways I’m ready to do this, and I am prepared enjoy it as much as I can enjoy literature. hahah forgot ma name--Lumumba Ocho Theodus Cinco Maxwell Mutua period 02
My first thoughts about the tragedy of Othello were that it will be difficult to read. If it is written by Shakespeare, I'm positive I will have difficulty reading it. I need to slowly go over each sentence, checking the side notes. I'm not sure what this tragedy will be about, but I'm certain it will be something about murder and revenge. All of Shakespeare's plays seem to be on similar topic, and always have very tragic characters that have problems within their lives.
These plays deeply interest me, but I believe a lot of time is needed for people to understand the language used.
My first impression after a short reading of Othello by William Shakespeare was that it definetly was going to be a drama/tragedy. I also saw that the charcterts are totally different from his other great literature works. While Romeo and Juliet was romantic and etusiastic, these charcters are going to be more dramatized and more emphasized. Othello is definetly not a short book so I know its going to interesting. When you were talking about Othello being of color it made me wonder if racism was also practiced in Shakespeare's community. We also talked about how is love/his wife Desdemona is a non-color and her father Brabantio disapproves of it. I think this be a wonderful and dramatic piece of literature by Shakespeare maybe not as good as Romeo and Juliet or A Midsummer Nights Dream but maybe it will prove me wrong,we'll just have to wait and see............
Ramon Morrow Per.3
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Shakespearian drama has always been intimidating to me, but I feel I am ready for Othello. Due to reading Macbeth last year, the language barrier does not seem to effect me as much. I am excited to read Othello, but also do not want to because of the difficulty I know is to come with read Shakespearian drama. My impression of Othello itself is different, the story does not seem to challenge me at all, in fact I want to read it because it caught my attention. The fact that Othello is of african descent changes everything because Shakespear was challenging everyday ideas by making him the protagonist. I cannot wait to start reading Othello, not only because I love Shakespear but because it seems to hold my attention more than most other books I have read.
Shakespearian drama has always been intimidating to me, but I feel I am ready for Othello. Due to reading Macbeth last year, the language barrier does not seem to effect me as much. I am excited to read Othello, but also do not want to because of the difficulty I know is to come with read Shakespearian drama. My impression of Othello itself is different, the story does not seem to challenge me at all, in fact I want to read it because it caught my attention. The fact that Othello is of african descent changes everything because Shakespear was challenging everyday ideas by making him the protagonist. I cannot wait to start reading Othello, not only because I love Shakespear but because it seems to hold my attention more than most other books I have read.
Well...when I first glanced at Othello, I was surprised and a bit intimidated by the length of the play. However, the helpful notes within the text quickly compensated. I assumed it would be a "classic" Shakespearean tragedy. I came to this conclusion based upon the 2 Shakespearean tradegies we previously studied: Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth. I find it interesting that tragic hero Othello is a Moor, considering during the time period, people of darker complexions weren't regarded as highly as whites. However, I am very confident that Mr. Shakespeare will not disappoint us with this tragedy. This unit, I hope, will be very fun and insightful.
I've never heard of Othello before it was introduced to us in class today, but I have read two other works by Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth. Even though I have a hard time with the language I enjoyed both of them. Also although I've never actually looked at Othello, from what was said in class today it is another tragedy. I also think that it's quite interesting that the protagonist, Othello, is African American, even though in Shakespeare's time this was not accepted. I believe that it will be interesting to see if he encounters any racial issues, also due to the fact that his wife, desomonda is white. So hopefully it will be captivating.
-Christina Riccio, period 1
I am probably the only person that I know that is actually excited to begin reading this play. I, personally, really enjoy Shakespears plays as they have a fantastic storyline. The real themes are not able to emerge until you work through the language. That is the part that I am most concered with. I am excited to see where this play is going to go because of Othello's race. What kind if impact will that have on the play? I am interested in finding out the answer to this question.
Krisitna Dillon, Period 1.
When I first glanced at Othello, I immidiately thought that this was going to be another Shakespeare masterpiece with difficult language and a thick plot. Although I have enjoyed reading other Shakespearean novels, Othello stands out for me, in that it might strike some difficulty since it is part of the AP coursework. I expect that Othello will be somewhat of a challenge as a result of the discussion we had in class. With it's manipulative and socially-unaccepted characters all strewn into the complex story of Othello, I'm sure that this book will arise questions in all of us sooner or later. I also expected Othello to be like other Shakespearean because they all seem to claim this expected difficulty in all of his books. With the complex and outdated lauguage and the expectations of the other students, I'm sure Othello will be an interesting read for our class.
I am actually excited to be reading Othello. I am interested in this play mainly because it's main character contrasts the time's so accepted racial prejudices. My impression of Shakesphere depends on the play, i thought macbeth was boring and tedious, but i liked romeo and juliet, and i hope that i will like othello. As for Othello being a trajedy, i think that they are more interesting than comedies, even if they are not as fun to read. Trajedies are also easier to write about. I look forward to starting this unit! anika
Mr. Dileo, I just want to inform you that I am currently logged on with my 12th password and username. This is just ridiculus. I really need to fix my computer. I presume that i will not be using it for a while. After this last blog, I will not post anymore comments till I repair this problem. Give me about 36 to 48 hours. Thank You. This is my last blog. For now of course.
Othello seems to be an interesting character. When I first picked up this book, I realized that it was not a brief play. It is conspicuous that I am expected to analyze this work carefully. I was quite astonished when I found out that Othello was a man of African descent. Shakesphere must have been a universal man. I anticipate that the voacabulary in this book will be challenging as well but I am looking forward to it. After a quick skim, I realized that the book may in fact revolve around mythology. I, myself am a fan of Roman and Egyptian mythology and hope that this book will include a lot of it.
Okay Mr. D, that was my last blog. For now. Good Night!!
My first impression of Othello was that it was going to be just like any other one of Shakespeare's plays. I think that there are going to be a lot of words that I'll have no clue what they mean. Half the time I probably won't know what the characters are saying. I think it will also be a tragedy like most of his other plays and hopefully there are some good parts like in Macbeth. Hopefully there are also some pretty good death scenes like in his other plays. I also think that this will be one of the better ones because Mr. DiLeo said that one of the characters in the play is one of the greatest villains of literature so im excited to see how bad they really are.
-Nick C. Period 1
Shakespeare's Othello seems to be a story of great deciet, lies, and jealousy. The character of Iago is known as a classic figure literary antagonist by being a two-faced lieing manipulator. This work seems to be a great love story followed by a superb tragic ending. I expect for Othello to be met with many obstacles set up by Iago and by his own feelings of doubt because he it might be possible he is afraid of what people think of him because of his African descent. Whatever the plot I am sure a great number of rhetorical devices shall be employed and I shall enjoy exploring another Shakespearian play.
Ivan Bakin Period 2
honestly what had foremost struck out to me about Othello was that it is quite long, and i really hope that i will find it rather intriguing then tediously boring. I am in a way greatly looking forward to another classic piece by Shakespeare, since i truly enjoyed reading Romeo & Juliet. On the other hand i also hated the tragedy Macbeth, so i don't really know weather i will or won't enjoy Othello.
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