In the chapter “The Beginning” of John Crow’s Devil, Marlon James talks about how the beginning is actually a brand new beginning in the life of Gibbeah’s people. That all the bad things have finally come to an end.” She was dressed in long, light blue dress and men’s work boots laced up to her calves”(206).That quotes shows us how widow Greenfield steps up to help people of Gibbeah move on from all this terrible things that has been happening. Based on what she wore tells us that she has overcome her status as an widow mentally and physically. Her men’s work boots proves that she is ready to do things that a typical man would do such as be a leader and show people what is right or wrong. So if Marlon James does decides to make a book, the widow would be a really good choice of main character because she has been through a lot and she is the only one left alive Continue reading ““The Brand New Beginning””
Shakespeare wrote numerous plays that are read by many students today but Romeo and Juliet is well known by many.We like watching tragedies and even reading them because we tend to make connections on what is going on in our life to the book or the play. Romeo and Juliet and Othello are very different in some ways and similar in others.
Romeo and Juliet is about star crossed lovers whose love is not accepted by their families. Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet. The Montagues and the Capulets have not always gotten along, therefore Romeo and Juliet could not marry. The Capulets wanted Juliet to marry a young bachelor named Paris. In order to get out of the marriage, Juliet plan to fake her own death by drinking a herbal concoction that made her appear dead for forty-two hours. Romeo did not know that Juliet is faking her death, so he drank some poison to be with her forever. By the time Juliet wakes up, she finds Romeo dead and she ends her life by stabbing herself. As a Capulet said,”As rich shall Romeo’s by his lady’s lie, Poor sacrifices of our enmity” (5.3.314-315).
Othello, on the other hand is about a Moor who marries a beautiful woman named Desdemona. Their marriage faces a lot of problem; they go through so many hardships because of Iago, who is Othello’s soldier. Iago have many motives to ruin Desdemona and Othello’s marriage. For example he believes his wife Emilia is cheating on him with Othello and he wants revenge on Othello for choosing Cassio to be the lieutenant instead of him. Iago commented,”And nothing can or shall content my soul till I am evened with him, wife for wife” (2.1.320-321). So in order to to take revenge, Iago creates a lot of conflict between the couple by telling Othello that his wife is cheating on him with Cassio. In the end Othello’s poor judgement and lack of trust led to him ending Desdemona’s life.
There are many similarities in these two tragedies. They are both romantic stories with tragic endings. Both couples are never meant to be together; due to the racial difference in Othello and Desdemona and the conflict between two families in Romeo and Juliet. Family plays a huge role in accepting the individual who the other person loves. For example, Juliet fell in love with Romeo but The Montagues and the Capulets would not let them get marry at any cost. In Othello, Desdemona’s over protective father is not so sure about letting his daughter get marry to someone who have a different skin tone.
The differences are that in Romeo and Juliet, both characters loses their life because of lack of communication. Juliet should have told Romeo that she is going to pretend to die so she can manage to get out of marrying Paris. Since Othello choose to believe Iago’s lies instead of trusting his wife, she lost her life due to lack of trust. In Romeo and Juliet, feuding families are the one who led to Romeo and Juliet’s death. While in Othello, Iago is the one who had the biggest hand in killing Desdemona. In Othello, it shows how a marriage can fall apart while in Romeo and Juliet, we find that even in death true lovers can not fall apart.
Even though both plays are tragedies, lives could have been saved if there was not a lack of trust and communication. Even today racial differences and feuding families exist in our world. It is up to us on how we decide to see things and act upon it. As a human being we tend to connect with Shakespeare’s plays because we experience love, loss, and betrayal. All of these aspects make Shakespeare’s tragedies more accepted in our culture.
Work Cited
Mowat, Barbara A. and Paul Werstine, eds. Folger Shakespeare Library: Othello by William Shakespeare.Simon and Schuster, 2009.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet: Original Shakespearean Text, with a Modern Line-for-line Translation. New York: Barron’s, 2002.
Hi my name is Manali Dhanak, I was born in Mumbai, India. I came here when I was just one year old. I have two younger brothers who are ages fifteen and twelve. We moved around a lot due to my dad’s job transition. We started off in Conover, NC and now we are finally settled in a small town name Dallas in North Carolina. Continue reading “Get To Know Me!”
In Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation, Vowell favors Lincoln more then Garfield by admitting Garfield is hard to like and to find interesting. Chapter two, Vowell writes “As for me coming across that downbeat commencement speech was the first time I really liked Garfield….it’s hard to have strong feelings about him”(p.135). Therefore this proves that she didn’t get as motivated to write about Garfield. Continue reading “A Die Hard Lincoln Fan?”
Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello tend to grab our heart by his uses of the character’s role. In her article “Othello: A Modern Perspective,” Susan Snyder explains that in the beginning of Othello and Desdemona’s marriage it goes through so many hardships, but they remain strong and powerful together. Two days later, however, their marriage starts falling apart. Snyder offers many theories on what goes wrong in their marriage. As a reader, I believe Othello’s marriage is ruined because of Iago’s wrongdoing and his internal conflict with himself.
In the story, Othello and Desdemona’s relationship was threaten by Iago, whom was Othello’s soldier. Iago’s actions had motivations. Iago’s wife Emilia whom he believed was cheating on him with the Moor. In Act 3, Scene 1, Iago commented “And nothing can or shall content my soul till I am evened with him, wife for wife.” (2.1.320-321) Iago was over confident on getting the position as a lieutenant. HE knew hew as better then the other solider Cassio. In Act 1, Scene 1, Iago said “In personal suit to make me his lieutenant, off capped to him, and by the faith of man, I knew my price, I am worth no worse a place.” (1.1.10-12)
Iago’s motivation had consequences. Since he is impulsive and jumps to consequences it costed him the position of being the lieutenant. Snyder writes “And when Iago, after engineering Cassio’s downfall, does get the lieutenancy at the end of act 3, scene 3, he expresses no satisfaction either then or later.” (289) But it also cost Othello and Desdemona their marriage.
In Shakespeare’s literature we learned that sometimes people are not what they seems to be and trust has to be a number one thing in marriage. If Iago didn’t have the insecurity and jealousy then none of this would’ve happened.
Work Cited
Mowat, Barbara A. and Paul Werstine, eds. Folger Shakespeare Library: Othello by William Shakespeare.Simon and Schuster, 2009.
Snyder, Susan.”Othello: A Modern Perspective.” Folger Shakespeare Library: Othello by William Shakespeare, edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Simon and Schuster, 2009.287-98
Manali Dhanak 