Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Creating Character in Othello
Write an analytical paragraph in which you explore how Shakespeare uses figurative language to establish the character of one of two minor characters: Brabantio or the Duke. Practice organizing your paragraph around the five features of analytical paragraphs that we discussed in class: a topic sentence, quote contextualization, direct quotation, ideas/claims, and an explanation that links the ideas to the specific details of the text.
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ReplyDeleteShakespeare uses figurative language to establish the character of Brabantio in Othello. So far, Brabantio has experienced betrayel, shock, rage, and above all grief. Losing Desdemona to Othello is one of the hardest situations he has ever undergone. When a meeting is held among various important figures to discuss the current situation in Cyprus, Brabantio says with great melancholy, "Take hold on me, for my particular grief Is of so floodgate and o'bearing nature that it engulfs and swallows other sorrows / And it is still itself" (Shakespeare 1.3.65). Shakespeare uses personification to indicate that the sorrow affiliated with Desdemona's "maltreatment and enchantement" engulfs every other form of sadness he has known. The incorporation of literary devices makes the text so much more powerful and descriptive, as is seen with the quotation above. Through the use of figurative language, Shakespeare is able to characterize Brabantio very well, one of his prominent traits being extreme misery.
ReplyDeleteShakespeare uses figurative speech to characterize the Duke as a logical character. In the courthouse, in response to Brabantio’s claim of Othello’s use of black magic, the Duke says, “To vouch this is no proof without more wider and more overt test than these thin habits and poor likelihoods of modern seeming do prefer against him” (Shakespeare 1.3.125). The Duke in this circumstance could easily have sided with the strong emotions and racism of Brabantio, but his logic outweighs the infectious emotions of Brabantio. The phrase, “to vouch this is no proof” is a clear example of how the Duke is able to handle the tense situation in a way that is fair and fact based. The Duke also calls out Brabantio for spreading unfounded narratives by calling his claims ‘thin habits’. Throughout scene three, Shakespeare is able to characterize the Duke as someone who can see past emotion and use his logic as a means to find fact.
ReplyDeleteThrough the use of figurative language, Shakespeare is able to establish the character of the Duke as a reasonable, thoughtful, and wise gentleman. After Brabantio accuses Othello of enchanting and stealing Desdemona away, a court session is held to determine Othello's innocence. Othello and Desdemona then proceed to give their statements and speak of their love as being both true and consensual. The Duke, recognizing the couple's transparency, then articulates to Brabantio, "When remedies are past, the griefs, are ended By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended. To mourn a mischief that is past and gone Is the next way to draw a new mischief on. What cannot be preserved when fortune takes, Patience her injury a mockery makes. The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief; He robs himself that spends a bootless grief" (Shakespeare 1.3.232-240). In this passage, Shakespeare uses a metaphor to describe a victim who lets matters settle, to a person that smiles when robbed, therefore, taking something away from the thief. He also writes that they are robbing themselves when they spend their time troubling over unchangeable things that have already happened in the past. The way that Shakespeare uses figurative language in these lines proved very effective in helping the Duke give advice to Brabantio. Because of the well-spoken manner of the Duke, Shakespeare characterizes him as highly sensible and intelligent.
ReplyDeleteBrabantio is sued by the evil words of Iago, which causes him to treat Othello as the "Blackman". When before the duke arguing over Othello's rights to Desdemona, Brabantio obnoxiously exclaims, "She is abused, stol'n from me, and corrupted by spells and medicines bought of mount banks; for nature to so preposterously err being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense Sans witchcraft could not." Brabantio is fufilling this idea of this bad black man when he talks about these "tricks" that Othello is using on his daughter and was brought to this idea by Iago rants. Brabantio has been swayed and has made false conclusions which has lead to these straight up racist statements. Without Iago rants before hand Brabantio would most likely not making these rash and unnecessary statements.
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ReplyDeleteShakespeare uses figurative language in order to characterize Brabantio as susceptible, misogynistic, and irate. After being manipulated by Iago in order to believe the new idea of "blackness", he is extremely irate. "O Heaven! How got she out? O treason of the blood! Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters' minds By what you see them act"(Shakespeare 1.1.191). This is an example of how just minutes before he was defending Othello, and now he despises him. Secondly, he is characterized as a misogynist. In Othello, Brabantio thinks that since Desdemona lied to him, then she will then also lie to her husband by cheating on him. Brabantio is perpetuating that Desdemona and women are inherently lairs. "Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee."(Shakespear 1.3.333) He is saying "Look Othello, she lied to you and will once again."
ReplyDeleteThrough Othello Shakespeare uses figurative speech to characterize the Duke as a sensible, and intelligent character. When Brabantio levels allegations of kidnapping his daughter with black magic against Othello with no evidence, the Duke says, "To vouch this is not proof without more wider and more overt test than these thin habits and poor likelihoods" (Shakespeare 1.3.125-128). Brabantios strong language could have fooled a more gullible man, however, his strong allegations had no affect on the Duke, who immediately saw through his lies. The Duke could have easily sided with Brabantio and charged Othello, however the Duke knowing that these claims where brought by pure racism not fact lets Othello tell his side of the story. This action paints the Duke as a sensible intelligent character.
ReplyDeleteIn Othello, Shakespeare uses figurative language to portray Brabantio as emotional and exaggeratory. When Brabantio first confronts Othello about the supposed abduction of his daughter, he says “For I’ll refer me to all things of sense, If she in chains of magic were not bound” (1,2, 82-83) The explanation on the left page says that this statement can be translated to “ I would entrust my case to evidence plain to the senses, if she in chains of magic were not bound.” If this was the only statement Brabantio said, one could deduce that he really thinks that Desdemona is literally tied up with magical chains. However, just a few lines down, he says “So opposite to marriage that she shunned the wealthy curled darlings of our nation.”(1,2,86-87) This shows that he doesn’t really think that Desdemona is tied up with magical chains, but that she is either deliberately shunning all the other, more traditional, options for marriage, or that she has been mentally enchanted by Othello. Neither of these two options suggests that she is literally tied up and trapped somewhere. Thus the usage of chains to describe the hold that Othello has on Desdemona is apparent as a metaphor. The way that this metaphor portrays Brabantio as emotional and exaggeratory is that, even though it’s apparent to him that Desdemona is either under a mental spell or is deliberately attracted to Othello, he uses words like “chains” and “bounds” in an effort to make Desdemona’s situation sound more involuntary and violent. In addition, Brabantio acknowledges that he doesn’t actually have evidence plain to the senses, and that he has only his emotions and intuitions as evidence. This, most of all, shows that Brabantio values his emotions and thoughts so much that he’s willing to accuse a man of a crime solely based off of them. This is how, using figurative language, Shakespeare was able to portray Brabantio as exaggeratory and emotional
ReplyDeleteIn Othello, Shakespeare uses figurative language to describe Brabantio. In this scene, Iago and Roderigo go to Brabantio's house to warn him about the escape of his daughter, Desdemona. After much discussion and convincing, Brabantio finally realizes that she is gone. In his grief of the loss of his daughter he says, "Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters' minds by what you see then act. Is there not charms by which the property of youth and maidenhood may be abused? (Shakespeare 1.1.192) In this quote, he is saying that fathers should no longer trust what their daughters say, and he accuses Othello of using spells to seduce Desdemona. He uses the word "property" to describe Desdemona, which seems to objectify her. Not only is Brabantio losing trust in his daughter, he has no proof or evidence of Othello stealing away his daughter. This quote is a good example of his misogynistic and racist personalities that he possesses throughout the first act.
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