Barbie Doll

I thought Marcy Piercy's poem Barbie Doll was really depressing.  Maybe the saddest part is that the poem reflects the reality for many girls today.  Girls, from the start of life, are trained to be beautiful.  They are presented with all shades of pink objects, to show them what color they are to like.  They are given Barbie dolls and kitchen toys, to give them an example of what they are to look and act like.  Girls are expected to fit a certain stereotype, and, if they fail to do so, they are ridiculed and mocked by their peers.  "She was advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty, exercise, diet, smile, and wheedle" (Piercy, 836).  I think this poem shows the unrealistic standards that society sets for girls/women.  This poor girl in the poem, because she did not fit into the mold set for her by society and her peers, was tormented throughout her life because she was different.  She probably didn't think there was anything wrong with her until one of her classmates pointed out her every flaw.  Many girls are not given the opportunity to discover who they are, because they are constantly being told who they ought to be.

To His Coy Mistress

I thought that the speaker of Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress was the one who was really being coy!  He kind of makes fun of his mistress for holding out on him, for keeping her virginity.  To him, her chastity is equivalent to her being "coy".  He spends most of his time on the cheerful topic of death, and how we are all destined to grow old and die.  He makes his mistress feel great about herself when he basically says she'll just get uglier as time goes on.  He summarizes, however, that "while the youthful hue sits on [her] skin like morning dew" (Marvell, 804), they should just have sex now.  The speaker doesn't want to wait, because time is ticking, and he wants to 'experience' his mistress now!  A modern-day summary of this poem could be "YOLO: you only live once".  That's the message the speaker is sending to the woman.  He's kind of a pig!  The way he sees it, they're not getting any younger, so she might as well stop playing hard-to-get, and do it with him that moment!

protecting their own

Susan Glaspell's A Jury of Her Peers is by far my favorite short story we've covered so far this year.  From the beginning of the story, the reader assumes that Minnie Foster killed her husband, and yet, Glaspell is still able to fill the story with suspense and mystery.  I loved how the two women were able to relate to Mrs. Wright.  They knew the loneliness that came with being isolated in a house, and the feelings of inferiority thrust upon them by all men in their lives.  They were the only ones who knew without doubt that Minnie had, in fact, killed her husband, and they were the only ones who knew why.  They protected her, even though they knew she would probably be convicted anyway.  I was struck by the simile of Minnie being like her canary.  Mrs. Hale reflected that Minnie had been like a caged bird as well.  "'She...was kind of like a bird herself.  Real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid...'" (Glaspell, 421).  Martha stated that Mr. Wright "'wouldn't like the bird...a thing that sang.  She used to sing.  He killed that too'" (Glaspell, 423).  When he killed the bird, which had been like a child to his lonely wife, he killed the remains of Minnie's spirit as well.

the three stooges

The stupidity of a few of the characters in Tobias Wolff's short story Hunters in the Snow made it almost painful to read!  However, the story's plot and events are driven by the characterization of Tub, Kenny, and Frank.  Frank, while often accused of not bothering to pay attention to anything, is the most down to earth and wise character in the story.  He is the only realistic/reasonable character of the three!  "'You can't hurry nature.  If we're meant to get that deer, we'll get it.  If we're not, we won't'" (Wolff, 190).  He is calm and accepting of whatever may happen to him.  Kenny, who at one point accuses Frank of being a hippie, is the wild, unpredictable one.  He hides whatever real feelings he has about something by being cruel to Tub, making jokes, or doing something outrageous.  When the farmer's dog was barking at the three men, "Kenny got down on all fours and snarled and barked back at him..." (Wolff, 191).  Throughout the course of the short story, Kenny almost ran over Tub, verbally abused him, went on a random shooting spree, and got himself shot.  Tub is the victim for the majority of the tale.  He is constantly laughed at and looked down upon by his so-called "friends".

Reversed Roles

By the end of William Shakespeare's Othello, the three main men (Othello, Iago, Cassio) find themselves in circumstances they never could have predicted.  Othello started out in full power and grace, with a beautiful new wife whom he adored.  He expected to live happily with Desdemona while faithfully serving the Venetian army.  He never would have thought that, in the near future, he would have murdered his wife, been stripped of his "power and [his] command" (V. ii. 330), and end up committing suicide.  Meanwhile, Iago, the mastermind of the plot, fully expected all the pieces of his twisted puzzle to fall into place.  Never would he have foreseen that his obedient wife would betray him.  He was expecting to rise in ranks of the army through his lies and deception, not end up a slave that would soon be tortured to death.  He always treated Roderigo like a moron, and never would have thought he'd be smart enough to write a letter accusing Iago of his lies.  Cassio was perfectly content with his position in the army, and was blissfully ignorant throughout most of the play of the plots being set against him.  He ended up with the job of his superior, and in charge of the torture and death of his right-hand man, Iago.

Evolution of Emilia

Possibly my favorite character in William Shakespeare's Othello is Emilia.  In this entry, I want to reflect on how Emilia drastically changed from the beginning of the play to the end.  At the beginning of the play, Emilia is literally Iago's doormat.  He talked openly about how stupid she was right in front of her.  Emilia started out too timid to ever stand up for herself or refute anything her husband said.  She really was never given the opportunity to have an opinion about anything.  This is why I wanted to give her a giant, metaphorical, hug in the final act of the play, because she finally stood up against her wicked husband.  She refuses to be intimidated or threatened into silence once more after she knew of Iago's hand in the murder of her Lady.  "No, i will speak as liberal as the north.  Let Heaven and men and devils, let them all, all, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak" (V. ii. 219-221).  She was going to make sure that whoever was involved in the killing of an innocent woman was made known to all, no matter the consequences of her disobedience to her husband.  Even her last words before her death showed her new-found rebellion.  "So speaking as I think, I die, I die" (V. ii. 250).  She died in the act of doing what she had never before been brave enough to do: speak her mind.

Foreshadow of the Sheets

William Shakespeare's Othello uses the literary technique of foreshadowing all throughout the play.  Desdemona not only alludes to her soon approaching death, but also to the setting in which she would die.  "If I do die before thee, prithee shroud me in one of those same sheets" (IV. iii. 23-24).  She is referring to her wedding sheets that she had previously asked Emilia to put on her bed.  It is lucky timing on Desdemona's part that she verbalized this wish just hours before she would, in fact, be killed.  After having read the rest of the play, I realized that this statement from Desdemona actually foreshadows three things.  It links to the fact that Desdemona's life was not only ended, but that it was ended on the very wedding sheets she wanted around her when she was dead.  It also, in a way, foreshadows Emilia's death.  Desdemona predicted she would die BEFORE Emilia, but Emilia soon followed her to the afterlife.  I found it ironic that both women were slain by their husbands, but both for very different reasons.

conflicted feelings

In William Shakespeare's Othello, the mode of the characters in almost tangible.  I can feel Othello's conflicting emotions when he finally and completely believes Desdemona's unfaithfulness.  He keeps trying to convince himself that she is evil, because that would make it easier for him to hate her.  However, throughout his conversation with Iago, the more Othello attempts to speak badly of Desdemona, the more he calls to mind all of the things he loves about his wife.  "Hang her!  I do but say what she is, so delicate with her needle, an admirable musician-- oh, she will sing the savageness out of a bear..." (IV. i. 174-176).  It is heartbreaking for the reader to see how Iago is corrupting "the Moor".  Othello is so clearly in love with Desdemona, that he cannot say himself or hear anyone else say bad things about her.  He becomes livid when he thinks Cassio is speaking ill of Desdemona.  This really shows how much he loves her.  Even though he thought his wife was cheating on him, he still could not bear to hear her name dragged through the mud.  Othello thought the world of his beautiful Desdemona, but their love story would soon come to an end.

Til death do them apart.

William Shakespeare's Othello portrays two contrasting relationships between man and wife.  The first is Iago and Emilia, the second being Othello and Desdemona.  Iago is chauvinistic and unbearably arrogant.  He belittles his wife Emilia and makes her feel like nothing more than a foolish burden.  Even though he rarely gives Emilia the chance to talk, Iago insists to Cassio that "would she give you so much her lips as of her tongue she oft bestows on me, you'd have enough" (II. i. 100-102).  He even shamelessly admits to Desdemona later in the act that his definition of the ideal woman would do nothing more than have babies and take care of the house.  To Iago, his wife is nothing more than another body he can use as his tool in manipulating others to get what he wants.  Othello's actions towards Desdemona could not be more different.  With every interaction in the beginning of the play, Othello's adoration for his wife is almost tangible.  Just upon seeing Desdemona after his long journey, Othello states that he "cannot speak enough of this content.  It stops me here, it is too much of joy" (II. i. 191-192).  Othello openly professes that he would do anything for his wife.  He values and adores her, and would never treat or talk to her in the way that Iago does with Emilia.

Shakespearian racism

William Shakespeare uses clever diction and imagery to portray the clear racism in the play Othello, the Moor of Venice.  It would appear that, even back in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, that fair-skinned people were racist and prejudice against black/dark-skinned people.  In one page of dialogue alone, Iago equivolates Othello with a "black ram" and the "Devil".  On looking at the footnote, I was able to see how the devil reference was also a bash at Othello's race.  In old pictures and carvings of the devil, he was represented as being black, as Othello is.  Even the Duke, who loves and admires Othello, comments on his race as a way to consol Brabantio.  "If virtue no delighted beauty lack, your son-in-law is far more fair than black" (I. iii. 286-287).  He is basically saying that, even though Othello is black, Brabantio should consider himself lucky that his son-in-law is so refined and sophisticated for his race.  Iago constantly shows his supposed superiority over Othello by only refering to him as "the Moor".  Iago, along with more people of the time I'm sure, saw Othello as being closer to an animal than a respectable man.

Iago's chess pieces

I'd just like to outline Iago's methods of manipulation with several of the other characters in William Shakespeare's Othello. 
1) Brabantio:  Iago swayed this father that his daughter had been shamefully swiped from his possession, and that her honor was being defiled by a black man.  He somehow got Brabantio to forget the fact that he had for a long while LIKED Othello, and convinced him to hate the man who stole his Desdemona.
2) Cassio:  Iago is using false friendship to sway Cassio his way.  As far as Cassio is concerned, he "never knew a Florentine more kind and honest" (III. 1. 38-39).  Cassio doesn't realize that the only reason he got drunk, was fired, and is now loathed by Othello is because of the workings of Iago! 
3) Roderigo:  He is basically Iago's worthless henchman.  Iago cares not for him, but controls his money and knows he can get Roderigo to do anything if he spins it into a scheme on how to gain the love of Desdemona.
4) Othello:  Iago has cleverly managed to create the makings of Othello's ruin, while still staying in his good graces.  Othello, along with everyone else, believes Iago to be honest and pure.  Every time Iago is backed into a corner, he uses words and subtle hints to make everyone see the situation in the way that he wishes him or her to.

ignorance is bliss

William Shakespeare's Othello has countless emotions, thoughts, and messages that anyone could relate to.  These timeless messages make it clear how Shakespeare's works have survived the ages.  In this blog, I will touch on a cliched but timeless mindset that Othello exhibits in Act 3: ignorance is bliss.  Othello rants for some time to Iago about his despair and mourning in having been told about Desdemona's alleged affair with Cassio.  "He that is robbed, not wanting what is stol'n, let him not know 't and he's not robbed at all" (III. iii. 343-344).  He insists that it is better not to know of wrongs done to you at all.  He was happy in his ignorance of her supposed unfaithfulness.  He clearly longs to return to that state of blissful joy and trust.  We, as the audience, know that there is nothing for him to be mourning.  He thinks he is cruelly no longer ignorant, when in reality, he still is.  He is now ignorant to the fact that Iago is totally playing him and turning Othello against everyone he loves!