Othello - Othello 4 - The Foreshadowing of Bad to Come

There are a few times in Othello where Othello foreshadows the tragedy that is to consume his happiness. The first time is when Othello sees Desdemona for the first time after arriving at Cyprus: "If after every tempest come such calms, / May the winds blow till they have wakened death" (II.i.201-202). Here Othello is overjoyed at what a wonderful outcome came from a terrible storm, so joyful as to jokingly call upon one to form once more. However, this next storm is not literal, but instead the metaphorical storm of chaos that overtakes Othello through the false claims of Iago. At one other time before Iago claims Othello's ear and mind, Othello once again foreshadows the eventual unhappiness and confusion: "Perdition catch my soul / But I do love thee! And when I love thee not, / Chaos is come again" (III.iii.100-102). The "thee" in this sentence is Desdemona, and Othello is saying that he should be eternally punished unless he loves Desdemona. He then does on to state that he will love her until there is once again chaos. Again, there is no literal chaos that occurs in the nature of the world, but there is social chaos and, later in that scene, a murder plan for this same beloved woman. This turn of events is caused by chaos, which has consumed Othello's mind in jealousy and drowns the love he had for Desdemona, for he no longer sees her as the pure woman he fell in love with.

Exercise on page 233-235 - Chapter 13

1. A is the better choice. The first line is the same as B. A sounds better because the second line flows better than B's second line. A has the same amount of syllables in line one and two, while B has many more syllables in line 2.
2. B is the better choice. The first line is the same as A. "Harsh" and "crabbled" in line two sound like unlikable ideas and are what "fools suppose" so they should sound that way. "As is Appollo's" flows swiftly, the opposite of fools ideas.
3. B is the better choice. "out-cast" leads in nicely to "crows croak" with the hard "c" sound. "Crows croak" carries into "hoarsely" with the "o" sound. "Across the whiteness" repeats the "s" sound.
4. B is the better choice. "Low" leads into "voice" with the "o" and ends the line with "gold." "Voice," "bells," and "singing" all have the "s" sound. "Twilight," "silent," and "water" all have the hard "t" sound that is like the bell swinging back and forth.
5. B is the better choice. "Myriads of rivulets" is a set of words that flow nicely. "Moan" and "immemorial" have a humming "m" sound that is calming which leads into the third line words "murmuring" and "innumerable."
6. A is the better choice. A has a more discordant sound to it like the words describe. "St," "sh," and "z" are harsher sounds in the second line. Almost hissing the end of "sharps."
7. B is the better choice. The list in B is related through harsh sounds that repeat. They are then described as "hard words," which they are by the sounds they make. "Bullets" rhymes with "gullets."
8. A is the better choice. "Hands," "sisters," "incessantly," and "softly" are all words that share the "s" sound. This repetition ties in with the idea of "wash again, and ever again," a repetitive cycle. "Soiled" and "world" both end with the same sound.
9. B is the better choice. The syllable count is the same for every line. "Lowing," "wind," and "slowly" all share a long "w" sound that slows down the line. "Plowman homeward plods" is also a slow line that emphasizes how the day is coming to a slow close due to the repeated "p" and then "weary way" is another instance of repeating "w."
10. B is the better choice. "Gilded wings" repeats the "i" sound. "Stinks and stings" emphasizes the harshness of the bug by repeating the harsh "st" sound.

Othello - Othello 3 - Iago's Connection to Demons and the Devil

In Shakespeare's Othello, the character of Iago is a scheming right hand man to Othello. Iago wishes to be lieutenant, yet is not chosen for the position and decides to create a plan to take the position as his own and to get Othello out of power. He is known for being two-faced: he is nice and polite to Othello and Cassio, yet is really a nefarious man who is plotting behind their backs. Iago has been said to relate with demons and the Devil. This is certainly one way to view this character, for he often does seem to hint that he is like them in some way: "When devils will the blackest sins put on, / They do suggest at first with heavenly shows, / As I do now" (II.iii.371-373). Iago compares himself to a devil who makes himself look honest but truly has the worst intentions by saying "As I do now," which confirms that he is doing exactly as a devil would. Iago is also associated with dark imagery, calling forth the notion that he could be associated with dark arts, manipulation, and trickery.

Rhythm and Meter Notes - Chapter 12

·         Rhythm – any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound (198)

·         Accented – given more prominence in pronunciation (198)

·         Rhetorical stresses – a change in the rhythmic effects of a word or sentence to change meaning (199)

·         End-stopped line – a line in which the end of the line corresponds with a natural speech pause; often end with a period or semicolon (199)

·         Run-on line – a line in which the sense of the line moves on without pause into the next line; often no punctuation, but not always (199)

·         Considered natural speech pause if it is between the subject and the predicate, but not as much if between other parts of speech (199)

·         Caesuras – pauses that occur within lines, either grammatical or rhetorical (199)

·         Free verse – a style of poetry where the poetic line is the basic rhythmic unit (199)

·         Prose poem – a sort of poetry that depends entirely on prose rhythms (200)

·         Meter – the identifying characteristic of rhythmic language where the accents of language are arranged so as to occur at apparently equal intervals of time (200)

·         Rhythm designates flow of pronounced sound vs. Meter which refers to the patterns that sounds follow when a poet has arranged them into metrical verse (201)

·         Rhythm = building, Metrical form = blueprint (201)

·         Meter = “measure”, Rhythm = “flow” (201)

·         Foot – a basic unit of meter; consists normally of one accented syllable plus one or two unaccented syllables; only compare syllables to other syllables in the foot to tell whether accented or not (201)

·         Line – other basic unit of measurement in metrical verse; may be end-stopped or run-on, and phrasing and punctuation will create caesuras (202)

·         Metrical lines are measures by naming the number of feet in them (202-203)

·         Stanza – a group of lines whose metrical pattern is repeated throughout the poem (203)

·         Metrical variations – call attention of some of the sounds because they depart from what is regular; Substitution – replacing the regular foot with another one; Extrametrical syllables – added syllables in a meter; Truncation – the omission of an unaccented syllables at either end of a line (203)

·         Scansion – the process of defining the metrical form of a poem (203)

·         (1) Identify prevailing foot; (2) name the number of feet in a line - if the length follows any pattern; (3) describe the stanzaic pattern - if there is one (203)

·         A noun usually receives more stress than an adjective that modifies it, a verb more than its adverbs, and an adjective more than its adverb (205)

·         Though normal reading of the sentences in a poem establishes its metrical pattern, the metrical pattern so established in turn influences in reading (206)

·         Scansion only classifies syllables as accented or not, only begins to reveal anything (208)

·         Divisions between feet have no meaning except to help identify the meter (209)

·         Perfect regularity of meter is not criterion of merit (209)

·         Expected rhythm – a silent drumbeat that makes us think that the pattern will be identical to the actual sound, mental idea of rhythm (210)

·         Heard rhythm – the actual rhythm of the words, sometimes the same as the expected rhythm but sometimes not (210)

·         Grammatical pause – pause signaled by punctuation (211)

·         Rhetorical pause – pause signaled by syntax and rhetoric (211)

·         Punctuated pauses often longer duration than those by syntax or rhetoric, pause for periods longer than pauses for commas (211)

·         Meter and rhythm serve meaning (211)

·         No “happy” meters or “melancholy” meters (211)

·         In most poetry, rhythm and meter work with the other elements of the poem to create the total effect (212)

The Stranger - Essay Outline

In Albert Camus' The Stranger, Meursault’s embodies Camus’ absurdist philosophy through his indifferent attitude to life and his idea that life is just as indifferent towards him.

Absurdism rests on the idea that human beings live in a meaningless universe and yet they try to look for a purpose where there is none. This creates a conflict between a person and their society.

The repetition of Meursault’s indifferent nature emphasizes his absurdist outlook on life.

·         “I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so” (35)

·         “I said yes but that really it was all the same to me” (41)

·         “When I was a student, I had lots of ambitions like that. But when I had to give up my studies I learned very quickly that none of it really mattered.

·         “I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to” (41)

·         “I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her” (41)

All of the above quotes are examples of Meursault’s indifference. Things “don’t make a difference” to him, they are “really […] all the same to [him]” (41).

• “I went with him as far as the bungalow, and as he climbed the wooden steps, I just stood there at the bottom, my head ringing from the sun, unable to face the effort it would take to climb the wooden staircase and face the women again. […] To stay or go, It amounted to the same thing” (56-57)

This quote is an allusion to The Myth of Sisyphus, an essay that is also by Albert Camus which paints the Greek mythological figure Sisyphus as an Absurdist hero. Meursault is Sisyphus here, looking up the stairs, his mountain, and the emotional stress of the day is his boulder. Meursault has just seen Raymond climb up those steps for at least the second time that day and is starting to think he cannot go back with him. The notion that Meursault has that “to stay or go, it [amounts] to the same thing” is obviously untrue, for up the stairs there is safety, while away from the stairs a possible threat of danger (57). This image of Meursault at the stairs can also be viewed as whether or not he should take the moral “high road” or the immoral “low road”. Though Meursault himself has no viewpoint of moral or immoral, the stairs represent taking a better route in life, staying safe in the bungalow, while the low road leads to danger and eventually a murder.

The Stranger - The Stranger 5 - The Surroundings in The Stranger

In The Stranger by Albert Camus, the surroundings in the world around Meursault seem to parallel and/or influence the actions that occur as well as Meursault's feelings. The sun and heat are viewed as bad, while water and coolness are viewed as good. Water is cleansing and pure, and Meursault states that "the water was cold and [he] was glad to be swimming" (50). In contrast, the first time that Meursault encounters the Arabs he is with Masson and Raymond and the sun is said to be "unbearable" (52). It is noted that the "blazing sun [looked] red" to Meursault before the fight broke out, which can be perceived as a sign of anger rising (53). The second time there is almost a fight, and the sun is told to be "overpowering" (55). There is a little spring where the Arabs are resting, and they are blocking the peacefulness of the water. The third time, when Meursault goes back alone, the sun gets even worse, and he feels the "heat [...] pressing down on [him]" (57). The spring is viewed again as an escape from this painful sun, for it is hiding behind the "small, dark mass of rock surrounded by a blinding halo of light and sea spray" (57). The rocks and the spring are described with a "halo", placing them at some kind of angelic or holy status, which has never seemed to appeal to Meursault in the past. While Meursault thinks about turning back after seeing the Arab, he says that "the whole beach, throbbing in the sun, [is] pressing on [his] back" (58). The sun makes him uncomfortable and stops his retreat, pressuring him instead into killing the Arab in his way of the cooling spring. The word "pressing" is repeated often while talking about the sun, which emphasizes just how much the sun is affecting Meursault.