According to Gayle Holste (2002), William Shakespeare was born on April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. His father, John Shakespeare, was a leather maker and his mother, Mary Shakespeare, was a stay at home mom. For a man with little to no education, he influenced the English Literature. Some experts say there is no for sure way of spelling his name right because he spelled his name differently on many occasions. At 18, he married Anne Hathaway, who was 26 at that time (Gayle Holste 2002). Gayle Holste indicated that William Shakespeare died in 1616.
Before death, he had three children, Susanna, Judith, Hamnet. Hamnet died at eleven which influenced a lot of his plays and sonnets. He wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets. Most of his plays and sonnets are tragedies and comedies. William was associated with a theatrical company, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. He wrote many plays that were performed for Queen Elizabeth I as well as King James I. He stopped writing plays in 1611 and having a share in the theatrical company, he retired (Holste 2002). Shakespeare’s first play was the Henry vi, which had five parts to it. This play was presented in 1589 – 1591.
William wrote more plays after Ovid’s metamorphoses, Venus and Adonis and the rape of lucre. While William Shakespeare was becoming as successful as an actor and playwrights, he joins The Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1594. After, he wrote for no other company. One of his famous plays was Romeo and Juliet. The play takes place in the cities of Verona and Mantua, Italy, over the course of four days. Romeo and Juliet were about two young lovers whose deaths made their families stop fighting. Othello, one of Shakespeare’s popular plays, was published in the early 1600s.
The play was originally performed before King James I. According to (Smith, 005) it’s believed that Shakespeare based Othello on a short story called Gli Hecatommithi, which was written by Giraldi Cinthio in 1565. The story was based on a commander who was deceived by his ensign which caused him to kill his wife. Shakespeare’s Othello took place in a city called Venice and moves to Cyprus when the Turks, People from turkey, invaded Venice. One of the main characters, lago, believed he should have been Othello’s lieutenant, not Cassio.
So he came up with a plan which involved Roderigo, who wanted Othello’s wife. The original plan was to wait until Desdemona becomes tired of Othello. But circumstances changed and the new plan was to poison Othello’s mind into thinking his wife is sleeping around with Cassio. This plan took the wrong turn when lago killed Roderigo because he was getting too restless about Desdemona. Iago’s wife, Emilia, told Othello her husband’s plan after she realizes Desdemona is killed because he thought she was cheating. At the end, lago ended up in jail and later died.
Four people also died, Othello, Desdemona, Roderigo and Emilia. In Othello, the primary conflict is man vs self. lago, Othello’s enemy, and his ensign poisoned his mind when he told im his wife, Desdemona, is sleeping around with Cassio, Othello’s lieutenant. After all, Venice is a place known for prostitution. Othello didn’t believe lago at first. So lago forged some evidence and Othello felt for it. Othello acted out of jealousy and decided to kill both Cassio and Desdemona. He told lago to kill Cassio and him, his wife.
The plan failed due to lago killing Roderigo to get rid of evidence of his foul play. But Desdemona mistress and lago’s wife, Emilia, brought the truth out. She told Othello after he killed Desdemona about her husband’s plans and had Cassio arrested. At the end, Othello, Desdemona, Bianca, Emilia and Roderigo we all died. lago later died in jail. Another major conflict in the play Othello was Man vs. Man. This conflict is between Brabantio, Desdemona’s father and Othello, the moor who married Desdemona. The conflict started when Othello married Desdemona without Brabantio approval or knowing about it.
Brabantio was looking to take control of his daughter’s life. Even Though Othello was a noble moor in the military service of Venice, Brabantio didn’t want his daughter marrying him simply because Othello was a moor, black. Othello is a tragedy written from the point of view of 3rd erson limited omniscient. Because of the point of view, the reader will know the thoughts of lago, which was totally different from his actions. The narrator reports how certain characters feels and thinks. The events in the story are real enough to the point where it can happen in the real world.
The narrator carefully explains the feelings and thoughts of the character so prior knowledge wouldn’t be needed. There were many characters such as Othello, lago, Montano, Desdemona, Emilia, Bianca, Roderigo, etc but the narrator’s focus was on lago and Othello. Events in the play are surrounded around lago or Othello. The narrator wasn’t in the play, therefore, has no stance in the play. But has authority in some events. The language used in Othello is relatively simple for the average reader to understand.
The author provided both the original and the modern text. Othello, one of Shakespeare’s narrative plays, is written in both the original text and modern version but has some dialogue from time to time. Shakespeare establishes the intentions of some major characters. As the play moves on, the reader will soon realize there are two sides to a penny. The use of compound sentences made it possible for the reader to nderstand. However, the play is told in 3rd person limited omniscient meaning there were little to no foreshadowing.
Shakespeare uses some slang such as “ottomans”, a slang term meaning Turks. But in the modern version, most words are simplified making it easier to understand. Even though the author uses some uncommon words the average reader probably never seen before such as bobb’d, the reader wouldn’t need a dictionary. The only exception is if the reader is reading from the original version. The use of figurative language made it possible for the reader to imagine the situations in the play. In he play, Othello, keep your friends closer than enemies, is the underlining theme.
Keeping your friends closer than your enemy will only do good because most people know their enemy is there to keep them down but some friends will smile in your face and talk about you behind your back. lago, Othello’s ensign, caused Othello to kill his wife and himself. The reason for this is lago felt he should be his lieutenant. lago came up with a plane with Roderigo that later killed 5 people including him. He told Othello his wife is sleeping around with Cassio. lago said things such as” The one who is betrayed is erfectly happy, certain that he knows what lies ahead, as long as he doesn’t know his beloved has wronged him. implying that Desdemona has wronged Othello by sleeping with Cassio.
He also told Othello while Cassio was sleeping he started blabbing about how he slept with Desdemona and his feelings towards her, which was a lie. There are three minor characters in Othello, Desdemona, Roderigo and Cassio and two major characters lago and Othello. Othello was a noble moor in the military service of Venice(Holste 2002). Even though he was a moor, he was well respected. Gayle Holste once described him s thick lips,old black ram, and barbary horse.
He allowed lago to poison his mind which caused him to kill his wife and himself. Desdemona was Othello’s wife and the daughter of the senator Brabantio. Othello and Desdemona were married without anyone knowing and approval from Desdemona’s father. Another major character in the play Othello is lago. lago is Othello’s enemy and his ensign. He is married to Emilia. Even though he is Othello’s ensign, he wanted to become his lieutenant so he set him up. lago is the type of man you would want to stay away from because he smiles in your face but will stab you on your entleman of Venice.
He was deeply in love with Desdemona but Brabantio wouldn’t give his daughter’s hand in marriage to any chance he gets. Roderigo was a him. He was later killed by lago to cover his dirty tracks. Roderigo was a good friend of Cassio. Cassio was the lieutenant of Othello. He lost his rank after a fight because he was drunk. Othello wanted to kill him because he thought he was sleeping his wife. lago disrespectfully described Cassio as lacking real battle experience and has the same battle knowledge as a woman. In conclusion, of all the plays Shakespeare wrote, Othello stands out the most.
