Suzanne Rivera's Theatre Review of Othello at the Shakespeare Tavern Oct 27 2013, Selections

I am your spaniel...

the more you beat me, I will  fawn on you...

What worser place can I beg in your love --

And yet a place of high respect with me, --

Than to be used as you use your dog? 

Helena, A Midsummer Night's Dream

(The word "dog" appears in Shakespeare's work over 140x)
(And it is Othello who calls himself a "dog" in his final lines)

October was National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, this coupled with personal bias may have colored my viewing and subsequent review of Othello in which race has taken a backseat. Both Desdemona and Emilia are killed by their husbands respectively. Regardless of this common outcome the actual relationships beforehand had seemed to be total opposites. Othello and Desdemona had appeared to be this gentle in love couple whereas Iago and Emilia already displayed tension and distance. Prior to the death scene Iago is already seen as evil and violent, through his plot against Cassio and Othello and the murder of Roderigo, so the killing of Emilia doesn’t come as a surprise. However since Othello and Desdemona were portrayed as so in love the killing of Desdemona seems more tragic. Looking more thoroughly one can see the cracks in Othello and Desdemona’s marriage that lead to their tragic end. 

Desdemona is one of the main topics of conversation in Act 1 yet she does not herself appear until Act 1, Scene 3 speaking for the first time around line 182. When discussing the wooing of Desdemona Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, accuses Othello of using witchcraft. Othello denies this claiming he won her solely on his language, “She loved me for the dangers I had passed, / And I loved her that she did pity them. / This only is the witchcraft I have used.” (1.3.193-195). This is saying though that Othello loved Desdemona because she loved him, not because of how he felt about her. Othello is more in love with her “hero worship” of him and his masculinity than with her. This will make Othello more unstable when he believes that her affections have shifted to Cassio. From the beginning Desdemona is more invested in the relationship than Othello, she is the one who asks to go to Cyprus with him. “Where Othello speaks of something like hero worship, Desdemona speaks of love…” (Garber 598).

The handkerchief plays a large part in the unraveling of Othello. When Iago receives the handkerchief from Emilia there seems to be a brief moment of faked flirting by Iago before he snatches it (3.3.344-368). You can see the love is gone from their marriage in which Emilia now only functions to serve Iago, with fear. In the following scenes Othello’s doubt of Desdemona grows. Contradictory to the beginning though Othello cites the almost magical or superstitious history of the handkerchief, with his parents’ marriage and those before. The first time Othello strikes Desdemona is quite public but all he is required to do is apologize. During one verbal fight in the bedroom Othello makes a gesture that caused my friend and me to look at each other and ask if Othello had just raped Desdemona, a distinct possibility. When compared to the slow pace of the beginning of the play once Othello becomes violent he escalates quickly. 

Garber notes:

Othello’s notions of womanhood are, it appears, more conventional than Desdemona’s. He prefers a posture of obedience and admiration (‘She loved me for the dangers I had passed’), a woman who ‘knows her place’ and does not overstep it; yet as Iago will be quick to observe on the first opportune occasion, ‘She did deceive her father, marrying you’ (3.3.210). Desdemona’s outspokenness in the council chamber scene is welcome to her husband, but it is a harbinger of trouble ahead. She had told him she wished that ‘heaven had made her such a man,’ but he does not want her to act like a man in the political sphere.”  

598-599 

Othello shows internal conflict of wanting a strong woman yet needing to retain his own masculinity and superiority. His love towards Desdemona is more like that for the obedient dog than for a wife. This to me echoed in the blocking of the death scene in which Emilia, who as a woman and attendant to Desdemona was one of the lowest ranked characters, died on the floor, See Figure 1 (page 5). This scene lasted for quite some time in which both female bodies were left on the stage as props, opposed to Roderigo whose body was quickly removed from stage. Desdemona is left on the bed while Emilia’s body sags and crumples on the floor beneath, left loyally holding onto Desdemona’s hand. While Desdemona’s body was rearranged and cried over Emilia’s was simply left on the floor how she fell while no tears were shed. That showed the place of both women and those of lower classes.

Macbeth Discussion Questions

Henry Fuseli
 Macbeth, Banquo, and the Witches
on the Heath (1793-4) 

On issues of womanhood in regard to Lady Macbeth:

From Jessica

We have discussed lightness and darkness, what is fair and dark with regard to women. How does this apply to Lady Macbeth? Is Shakespeare trying to suggest that women are dark and corrupting of men? Without Lady Macbeth's goading, Macbeth might not have killed Duncan or Banquo.

From Kevin

 Act 2 seems to be filled with references to interior motives ( dagger in men's smiles and look like the flower but be the serpent underneath it). Why is it that the women are straightforwardly evil and the men are good on the outside and evil on the inside?

From Tyler

 "unsex me here" (1.5.48) - Why does Lady Macbeth ask to be more masculine to do deeds she already can? How does this affect gender roles?

"You should be women,/ And yet your beards forbid me to interpret/ That you are so" (1.3.47-49) - Similarly, how does this line affect gender perceptions? Is Banquo confused because the witches look female or because they look magical and supernatural? 

"I have given suck and know /How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me/ I would, while it was smiling in my face, /Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums /And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you /Have done to this. (1.7.62-67)- Why does Lady Macbeth take an act associated with motherhood and femininity and relate it to terrible acts of murder and violence? Does this help "unsex" her? 

 From Rashmi

 We briefly discussed the gendering of Lady MacBeth.  Compare this to the gendering of MacBeth.  (Act, Scene, Line?) How is it similar/different from the performance of gender in Othello?

From Nathaniel via Twitter

 What's gender significance of having Lady Macbeth be the conniving one?

On Nationhood and Class:

From Jessica

Why does Shakespeare choose Scotland for the setting of Macbeth? After our discussion on marginalizing Ireland and the uneasy history between Scotland and England, why is Shakespeare calling attention to Scotland? What is his purpose?

From Priscilla

 After Duncan is killed, Malcolm plans to flee from Scotland to England, and Donalbain to Ireland. Is this significant considering what we have learned in class about England as a nation?

From Rashmi

 Discuss the porter's speech.  Compare it to the dialogues and soliloquys of other major characters.  What does his speech indicate?

From Michael

How does the play as a whole regard to England's view of the other?  Brutish and overambitious? 

On gender, differences between men and women:

From Selina

 How does Shakespeare explore the values of masculinity through characters? How does he subvert the characters’ perception of power and gender roles? Explain the relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Can we relate their relationship to the Dark Lady and the poet from the Sonnets? 

From Claire

 What is the relationship between Banquo and Macbeth?

From Michael

It is no doubt that Lady Macbeth is the catalyst of the murder of King Duncan.  However, she feels more guilt than Macbeth regarding the murder.  What does this show about England's view of women's decision making abilities?

From Neel
 Much of what goes wrong in the play, from the initial foretelling of the witches to Lady Macbeth's urging of Macbeth murder Duncan, can be linked to the very few women in the play.  With fears of the other in mind, what does Shakespeare associating the evil that is to unfold in the play with women suggest?

"What are these

So withered and so wild in their attire,

That look not like th' inhabitants o' th' Earth...Upon her skinny lips. You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so." (I.iii.40-50)

What does associating the female witches with sinister yet masculine features suggest about gender roles and stereotypes in the Early Modern Period? 

How would you compare and contrast the power dynamics in the relationships between Macbeth/Lady Macbeth and Othello/ Desdemona, with regard to the culpability of each in the outcomes of each tragedy?

On Imagination, Fantasy and Myth-making:

From Selina

 How are the witches characterized in Act 1? What is the thematic significance of having the fantastical witches in the play? How does their appearance affect Macbeth's visions and hallucinations? 

From Adna

 What do you guys think about the three witches, their similarities to the fates from Greek mythology, and the importance of the number 3? I don't think the fates are generally portrayed in a negative light, but they still have power over destiny and the future, like the witches seem to have. Also the number three is usually considered sacred or important in Christianity so what does that mean for the witches?

 Like the past few plays we've read, do you consider imagination and reality to be important themes in Macbeth? In Act 1 Scene 3 when the witches appear, Banquo calls them "fantastical," as if he can't believe his eyes and suspects that he is imagining them. Later when they disappear, Macbeth says that "what seemed corporal melted." Like we were discussing in class, the play's reality seems to be malleable.

From Michael 

The idea of prophecy is key in this play(involving the three witches) and is similar to some classic greek plays(ie. Oedipus rex).  Why is it employed?

On Language:

From Suzanne Rivera

Macbeth is referred to as the Scottish play and we know from Henry V that Shakespeare is capable of writing a Scottish accent. Why is it then that no one in the play features such an accent?

 The word blood appears about 18 times within the first two acts of Macbeth. How does this feature in terms of race, rather than simply as a life necessity. 

On Issues of Morality:

From Jack via Twitter

 Is Duncan an inept/bad king for being conned by Macbeth or does he represent moral stability? His death = tumult n the land

From Kevin

 Macbeth and Henry both seem very courageous and loyal. However, Macbeth easily succumbed to desire and greed whole Henry always seemed to shift the blame on his actions to other people. Could Shakespeare be hinting at the superficiality of men?

On Performance:

From Peter

How do we translate the war state into the 21st century, where "wartime" has become ambiguous? Is it satisfying to interpret the "moving forest" as soldiers in Vietnam-era camo (I've seen two current performances make this choice - 7 Stages, and Theater Emory)? Why or why not?

A Midsummer Night's Psychedelic Dream, selections from Kevin Hwang's Essay

"Thy drugs are quick" - Romeo and Juliet
Artwork by Angelynne M Please

A group of high school kids walk into a park. They light up their drugs and sink into the seductive warmth of the high, a few minutes later, the fairies of their imagination arise and cause the kids to make love to those they shouldn’t. After a few hours, the high fades and they leave the park in a muddled haze. Though this may seem to be a post-modern happening, people all throughout time have been enchanted by the psychedelic drug, opium. The earliest recorded use of opium was around 1500 B.C. The Sumerians, Egyptians, Minoans, Persians and many other ancient societies commonly used opium for pain relievers (Opium). Circa 1,300 B.C, Egyptians referred to the effects of opium as magical and mystical. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream though, Shakespeare cleverly represents the magical experience and lullaby of opium. Through the unique setting and characteristics of the Athenian woods, the changeling boy, and Cupid’s “love-in-idleness” potion, Shakespeare alludes to the presence and trade of opium between England and India via what would soon become the East India Company.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare discerns two very different social settings: the royal court and the Athenian woods. As a strict patriarchal society with rigid laws and caste systems, the royal court is a microcosm of 17^th-century England. The king, Theseus, makes Hippolyta his bride as a prize for his conquest of the Amazons, and Hermia, under her father’s wishes, is forced to marry Demetrius or face execution. The chain of command is divided clearly from the king to the conquered, from the young adults to the tradesmen. On the other hand, the Athenian wood is a place of mystery and refuge. It is given no direct descriptions other than that it initiates an acting troupe from town. Shakespeare neither gives any physical descriptions nor hints at the connotations of the woods for the Athenian characters. Lysander and Hermia flee to this unknown as refuge from the court’s rules for the prospect of a fruitful marriage. This parallels the first English merchants leaving for the East, though not for marriage, but for prosperity through the buying-and-selling of luxury goods such as spices, fabrics, and mind-altering narcotics. From both exaggerated travelogues as well as gossip and rumor, the English would then view India as a place of mystery and exoticism as the readers view the woods as a place of equal mystery and exoticism.

The dichotomy between the woods and the court is further distinguished by changes in the linguistic structure of the play. In Act 1 Scene 2, the dialogues within the courts between Lysander and Hermia are written in blank verse.

Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,
War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
Making it momentany as a sound,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream

However, in Act 2 Scene 2, as soon as the characters enter the woods, they start speaking in a highly structured, rhymed verse. This spontaneous change highlights the exoticism of the woods.

Lysander riddles very prettily.
Now much beshrew my manners and my pride
If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.
But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy,
Lie further off in human modesty.

When Lysander and Hermia, soon to be followed by Demetrius and Helena, enter the woods, they suddenly speak through this rhyme. Compared to how they were speaking in the royal courts, their speech is more dramatized and the rhymes carry a hypnotic flow. These dialogues then represent the metaphorical lullaby of opium. The rhymes serve as the captivating lyrics and the iambic pentameter, ba DUM ba DUM ba DUM, serves as the hypnotic beat. When the characters speak through this melodic and rhythmic their intoxication under an opium induced trance is subtly illustrated. Music, when people are under the influence, often feels as though it flows through a person’s body and slowly takes control. As a result, by unconsciously following the lullaby’s structure as soon as they enter the woods, the characters and their actions speak not only to the exoticism of the woods but also to the narcotic effect of opium.

Opium was reintroduced to Europe in the mid-1500’s as a medicinal product. From the 13^th century, anything from the East was deemed related to Satan and considered a taboo. However, with the surge of seafaring, opium was brought back to Europe by Portuguese sailors. Dubbed the “Stones of Immortality,” the black pills were a popular remedy for numerous ailments. The opium trade first took off with the Portuguese in the 1500’s. By then, opium was already being abused by the Turks and Egyptians (Opium). In 1591, the first English merchants left to trade in the Indian Ocean. These merchants later become known as the East Indian Company (East India Company). By 1606, under Elizabeth I, the finest opium from India was officially ordered to be transported back to England (Opium).

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Jealous of the intimate bond between Titania and the boy, Oberon demands Titania to give him up. With Titania, opium is metaphorized as the objectified speechless Indian Boy – a commodity. For Oberon, the drug takes on a more material and functional role. Opium has a purpose.  For instance, the “love-in-idleness” flower resembles the harvesting of opium. Oberon describes this plant as “before, milk-white, now purple with love’s wound”. When harvesters cultivate opium, they first peel off the outer part of the plant, which allows the raw opium to ooze out and dry on the surface of the pod. When it comes in contact with the cool night air, it oxidizes and darkens into a deep and dark purplish hue (DEA). Moreover, not only do the physical aspects of the potion and opium match but also their effects as well. Symptoms of opium include senses of emotional detachment, sleepiness, and impaired vision, mental processes and mood (Short Term Effects). Titania, Oberon’s first victim, unfortunately awakes to see Bottom. Although Bottom has the head of a donkey, she says that “on the first view to say, to swear, I love thee”. In addition, not only has she fallen in love with the face of a donkey but also with a mere human being. Titania, being a fairy, falling in love with a mortal is appalling. Even when she is infatuated with him, she states that she will “purge thy mortal grossness” – an interesting parallel with the “Stones of Immortality.” This displaced love is mirrored by Demetrius and Helena. After being drugged with the potion, Demetrius suddenly falls for the woman he detests the most. For Titania and Demetrius’ case, this may seem like an obvious use for the potion. The whole point of a love potion is to artificially create love. However, the way it creates this love is through disrupting the victim’s mental process and mood. For Demetrius, Helena was nothing more than a dog, a “spaniel”. However, with his cognitive abilities compromised, he views Helena as a “goddess, nymph, perfect, divine”.

Shakespeare Behind Bars

From Vikram:

Although I was unable to go see the screening of Shakespeare Behind Bars, the topic reminded me of a This American Life podcast that I listened to a few years ago: Act V. 

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/218/act-v

The hour-long podcast discusses the production of Act V of Hamlet at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center. As all of the men acting in the play have committed murders, the actors have a unique perspective on what could be the bloodiest act written by Shakespeare. I believe this connects with what Edward Said's theory of using the past to help understand the present and vice versa. These inmates use their own experiences to portray these characters with ultimate honesty. And as you'll hear, through the reading and acting of this play, the inmates better understand what drove them to commit such murders and reconcile their negative actions.

If you don't have time to sit down and watch Shakespeare Behind Bars, this could be an easier platform to understand the topic of the documentary

"I have been studying how I may compare this prison where I live unto the world" Richard, Richard II

On "bio-nationality" in Henry V from Nathaniel Ludewig's Essay

"The Wild Irish man" "The Wild Irish Woman" wearing the Irish Mantle
"It is Captain Macmorris, is it not?...he is an ass, as in the world." - Fluellen, Henry V 

In his essay, "Broken English, Broken Irish: Nation, Power, and the Optics of Power in Shakespeare's Histories," Michael Neill introduces the concept of bio-nationality, which defines one’s nation by one's blood. A person can never change his/her bio-nationality. The Irish soldier, Macmorris, in Shakespeare’s Henry V shows that nationhood in late 16th and early 17th century England is defined by blood when he poses the question, “What ish my nation?” This further complicates the English-Irish relationship. Neill writes, “ When, in the course of this century's first great anticolonialist revolution, Irish patriots. . . celebrated the ‘renaissance’ . . . their belief in Irish "nationhood" can be traced back to the sixteenth century and the earliest systematic attempt to absorb Ireland into the English body politic.” The idea of nationhood is not a natural concept — it is man-made. The English introduced this concept to the Irish, but Macmorris’s identity makes it clear that this nationhood is defined by blood. As they continued to be “civilized” through exposure to English culture, the Irish rebelled, insisting on their own nation. In fact, the allusion to the Earl of Essex in the final prologue dates play. In early 1599, Essex was sent to quell Tyrone's Rebellion (The 9 Year War). 

In this way, the entire surface construction of Henry V is a demonstration of English anxieties regarding Irish rebellion. Apart from the question posed by Macmorris, the play continually defines nationhood as a product of military expansion. It does this throughout the development of the plot as Henry tries to claim France as part of the English nation. This is military definition of nationhood is what Queen Elizabeth and her English authorities wanted the play's viewers to believe. As long as the Irish believe that they are part of the English nation, they will not rebel against it. The discrepancy between Henry V’s surface definition of nationhood and Macmorris’ definition of true nationhood is a manifestation of English anxieties about an Irish rebellion.

Elizabeth in Ireland timeline from the University of Wisconsin-Madison:
http://faculty.history.wisc.edu/sommerville/123/123%20256%20irish%20policy.htm

Selections from Vikram Pursnani's essay on A Midsummer Night's Dream and Kayne West

"Can ye endure to hear this arrogance?"
Henry III 3.2

Critical Custodians of Dominance: Shakespeare and Kanye West

            The similarities between Shakespeare and hip-hop have been explored by rappers and scholars alike to understand both phenomena within the modern and Elizabethan contexts. As both Shakespeare and hip-hop artists employ similar rhythmic and sampling techniques, the comparisons between them are often diminished to the sound and background of their language rather than the social factors guiding it. However, in his TED talk “Hip-Hop and Shakespeare?,” hip-hop performer Akala declares both Shakespeare and hip-hop artists as “custodians of knowledge” as both distribute ideas to the lower classes though both are rendered as “just entertainment.” As custodians of knowledge for the masses, Shakespeare and hip-hop artists depict the social dichotomies rooted in race, class, location, and financial position. Like Shakespeare, some hip-hop artists such as Kanye West have become global cultural icons, despite their criticisms of the social institutions that helped them succeed. Recently, West has taken some criticism regarding an interview he gave Zane Lowe in which West claimed to have been shut out of the fashion industry, amongst other opportunities, because of his status as a black rapper who speaks his mind. As Kanye West aims to break racial tropes which have been perpetuated by social organization, he explores acceptable identities for racial minorities. Ultimately, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare and an interview of Kanye West, the use of racialized language, rooted in conscious racial difference, further develops identities of self and other to objectify darkness as a function of dominance.

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In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the inclusion of Hippolyta and the Little Indian Boy as representations of the “other” portray the objectification of race as a means for Theseus, Oberon, and Titania to acquire power as rulers. Hippolyta is the Queen of the Amazons who were known as a group of all-female warriors within Greek mythology. They were strongly built and not necessary beautiful. Ultimately, Theseus saying that he “wooed thee with my sword” suggests that Hippolyta is betrothed to Theseus as a result of war rather than love (I.i.16). Within the racial context of that statement, the marriage of Hippolyta and Theseus portrays the dominance of the Athenians over the “other” or the Amazons. Similarly, the struggle for power between Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of the Fairies, is objectified by the possession of the Little Indian Boy. As the Little Indian Boy has neither lines nor a description, the language of the play fails to describe any racial or cultural differences of a boy who represents the “other.” Through the contextualization of the lack of language, the possession of the Little Indian Boy reflects an assertion of domination of Oberon over Titania. Thus, the portrayal of the race of Hippolyta and the Little Indian Boy leads to their objectification as power acquisition.

Although Kanye West represents the “other” identity, he also introduces heavily racialized language to depict the racial hierarchy that exists in the modern Western world. As West criticizes the racial hierarchy and the accepted identities for members of minorities or lower classes, West cites Michael Jackson’s struggles to initially have his videos aired on MTV because Jackson was a black artist. West declares that “He’s [Jackson] not even black. He’s Michael Jackson.” Initially this may be taken as a joke as Jackson’s skin color gradually progressed from black to white as a result of a disease. However, by looking past the surface color, Kanye asks, “How can he be classified as a black artist?” Kanye’s dismissal of Jackson’s racial identity suggests that Jackson, as a global icon, should have been the first person MTV played. As popular as Jackson was globally, the American identification of Jackson as the “other” culturally contradicts the tremendous impact of Jackson’s music. Just as Hippolyta will always be an Amazonian warrior even though she is engaged to be the Duchess of Athens, Michael Jackson will always remain a black artist even though he is universally regarded as the King of Pop. Another occasion of West questioning identity through racialized language occurs when West declares “rap is the new rock and I’m the biggest rock star of all of them.” West received backlash due to this statement because he is not a rock star but rather a rapper, and rap has a history of being marginalized in comparison to other genres. Also, bluntly, rock stars are not black. As Kanye is consciously aware of the racial differences, the identity declaration is larger than rock star instead of rapper, but rather self over other. Although Kanye is probably the biggest musical artist in the world, he cannot declare himself a rock star, a trope traditionally reserved for whites. Just as Hippolyta cannot become the Duchess of Athens by any means other than being defeated in battle and then gradually accepted into Athenian society, Kanye West cannot become the biggest rock star in the world without silencing his critical edge and waiting until he is accepted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an event marking his social and cultural contributions to the social hierarchy though decades too late. Thus, through racialized language, Kanye West challenges the acceptance of standard identities resulting from racial hierarchy.