My 'unacceptable/inappropiate' Othello Plan

Sir, I can assure you there was definately nothing in that email that could even be vagued deemed as inappropriate! So i have no idea why the school's filtering system was having such a field day?!

Anyway here it is....
(please note that i am not fully happy with it, i think the ideas are far to simplistic. But then we all knows what happens when i try to be to flowery. I justneed t strike the right balance i suppose)

Othello Plan

‘Othello’s tragedy is that he is unable to reconcile his ideals about the world with its reality. To what extent do you agree with the viewpoint?’

IDEAS…..

·         Othello can never be truly accepted into the society he lives in because of his race. Loomba ‘Othello, the moor of Venice, is a moor who cannot truly be part of Venice’  He is a moor, in Elizabeth times viewed as inferior a ‘villain’ or even a ‘devil’  (Kristin jonsen-neshati)

This is why he is established as tragic characters he can never be part of society and appreciate how it truly functions. Therefore Othello is forced into an idealised world; he lives through the stories of others to protect him and to act as guidance to his actions. Because apart from them he has no reference point upon how to act and what is right and wrong.

·         As A.C Bradley says he lives in a ‘wonderland’ enhancing that Othellos ideals are just fantasies, unreal, warped versions of reality Iago feeds him and in Othello’s naivety he believes.

·         Although this may be successful at the beginning of the play, he may achieve heroic status and be classes as ‘more fair than black’. He may be able to change the way he acts to fit in, however he will never be able to change his skin colour or origins, therefore this adds a sense inevitability to Othello’s future as he can never become a ventilation. Therefore his fate is sealed (Aristotle’s ideas of fate?)

·         Iagos manipulation of Othello is vital – view of women perfect/whores

PARAGRAPH INSERT.

Othellos misplaced trust ‘I am bound to thee forever’

·         Therefore because of Desdemona’s undefinable perfection if she does anything slightly wrong she is deemed as a whore. With Othello, as he has learnt through his stories there is no grey. You are ether one thing or the other.

 Back up with ‘perfection quotes’ and contrast with who quickly in act 4 sc 3 he goes from positive to negative.

Without being able to control Desdemona, how can he control troops and soldiers ‘Othello’s occupation is gone’

·         However Othello is so quick to believe these tales he is told, mainly by ‘honest iago’ as he is deceitful himself. States he comes from a land where ‘mens head grow beneath their shoulders’ this is obviously a lie. However more deceitfully the way he captures Desdemona’s heart is all bases on his stories she is enchanted by his fabrications not actually him. This argument is enhanced by Thomas rymer’s view highlighting that ‘Desdemona was won, by hearing Othello talk…this was sufficient enough to make a blackamoor white’. Ultimately their relationship is bases upon lies, Othello’s idealisms. As Coleridge states ‘it would be monstrous to conceive this beautiful venetian girl falling in love with a veritable negro’  Linking back to fate again it is doomed to fail. This is why a Shakespearian may not class this play as a tragedy as like rymer they feel is completely unrealistic for the senator daughter to fall in love with a moor. However I feel he must be commended to the lengths he goes to capture Desdemona’s heart, the idealist world he tries to create and maintain is difficult and complicated, but he does it all in the act of love as he knows in reality he would never attract a girl like her. This in my opinion adds to the tragedy of their love being destroyed.

·          Othello’s and Desdemona’s love it heavily romanticised all throughout. When they reunite in Cyprus Othello announces ‘amen to that sweet powers’ and there are frequent links to gods and goddess throughout. Therefore the lack of reality and honesty in their love causes their relationship to crumble when Othello falls apart. This intense romanticism can almost be seen as bathotic and as Rymer states ‘there had been a cloven-foot into the bargain (of their love)’  this limits the emotional impact the audience takes from the place as it is almost, over exaggerated and people cannot relate to the characters.

·         Handkerchief- rymer.

Far to much senimental emphasis put upon on thing.

·         Conclude…

Bertolt Brecht states tragedies should make audiences think how best to alter their world. However it is very subjective if Othello actually achieves this. As in his final purge he dies telling a story, he may recognise that he is an idealistic person ‘remember me…’ but he still continues to preach via stories and others tales. He is never his own person. This adds to tragedy?

SYMBOLS - ADVENTURE

‘Bad guys’

Good guy and bad guy characters are common themes of adventure tales. It could be argued that bad guys more importantly create solid storylines, twists and turns and the element of unpredictability. This is also mirrored in The Road. The reader is always in anticipation of when the ‘bad guys’ are going to appear, if they are going to come across the man and boy and if they are prepared and strong enough to defend themselves. The boy calling the horrendous characters the man and him come across, ‘bad guys’ represents the boy clinging on to the last threads of his childhood. Although he may have lost his childhood, been forced to grow up as mean of survival, he is still using childish phrases arguably showing the naivety if the boy. He may come across as boy with the sense, instinct and maturity of a man but deep down inside, I believe he is dumbfounded, he cant process the concept that ‘bad guys’ aren’t as fictional as they seem so instead he chooses to ignore it.

The End - 25 word response

Unjustified, Cowardly, Cliche
Frustration at disillusion
Cheap
Anticipated, yet unfitting
Creates fake contentment
Wasted opportunity
Dishonest, deflating
Abandonment  
Although, emotionally engaging
Relief, redemption
Confidence
Pivotal

Limited Pallette

‘Avoiding emotional language and keeping it simple makes the narrative all the more emotionally engaging.’

McCarthy’s avoidance of elaborative and emotional imagery creates a chilling result. The simplicity screams volumes, where complex, emotive language would only create a whisper. Although it may take perseverance to fully give yourself McCarthy’s style, when you do, the novel is an emotionally shattering piece of work.  

The simplistic style creating engagement is most evident in the key events of the novel. For example when the boy witnesses the baby on the spit, what he has seen and how he reacts McCarthy expresses in just four lines, just 41 words. This seems an awfully short section to portray something so gruesome and haunting; it is almost as if it is normal. But keeping it so blunt emotion is drawn out of the reader in so many more ways than if it was ‘fussy’. It creates a sense of shock; because of the blandness the reader doesn’t instantly process what he boy has seen, but when it sets in the realisation is disgusting. Leading on to think that something as shocking as seeing a ‘charred human infant headless and gutted…on a spit’ is a normality in the world in which the man and boy exist. This thought is heart-breaking, haunting and sickening. And conjures up questions to the man’s morality, the boy’s future and what is to come.  All of these questions and emotions McCarthy manages to draw out in just 41 words.

This same kind of bluntness is repeated in the death of the father, ‘….he woke in the morning his father was cold and stiff. He sat there a long time weeping and then he got up and walked out through the wood to the road.’ Once again the whole passage is completed in just 6 lines. The boys acceptance to the situation is heart-breaking, initial thoughts are that he doesn’t care but the reader knows that’s not true, he is only doing what his father has taught him. Don’t dwell on the past and his obedience to his father even in death is inspiring.

The reader almost wants lengthy, finely detailed, emotional passages, to give them some kind of normality and reference to novels they have read before. But by refraining from doing this McCarthy creates even more unease. And yes due to this lack of obvious emotion, relationships between the characters and reader are harder to form, but after a period of time they are carved deeper than they would be otherwise. The reader starts to care and want protection for the man and the boy, as what is come next for them to have to deal with is unknown.

The phases less is more could be more apt here.

Disscussing an Extract

Infant on a spit – page 256

We decided to look at this extract as it is such a prominent, horrifying episode in the novel. Also when comparing it against the rest of the novel, it seems to be quite an anomaly, many things occur in this section that don’t appear anywhere else.

The main observation we made in this extract is the role reversal or change in speech. This is show through the following quotes…

·         Boy : oh Papa

Usually when the boy witnesses something distressing or evidence of the harming of others he breaks down in hysteria. However here he turns back emotionlessly to look again, as if he needs to clarify and process what the human race is capable of. The oh papa come across emotionless and cold, it is more of a way to show his father acknowledgment of what he’s seen rather than wanting comfort from him. This is a key moment in the boy’s development; he emotionally perjures, and accepts this kind of horror to be normal.

 ·         Man: what is it?

Throughout the novel it is usually the boy who is persistently asking questions. However in this extract the man is the one who is questioning. This again emphasises the loss we see in the boy, it is almost as if he does not even care enough to ask anymore. It is another example of accepting such horror as the norm.

 ·         Man : im sorry.

Once again it is the boy who is usually constantly apologising. However in this extract, with great emotion the man does. He is obviously apologising to the boy for not protecting him from witnessing the gutted infant on a spit. But also I think he is apologising for everything that has happened, and everything he knows is going to happen. The fact the boy has lost his childhood, and will never be the same again but also the fact the whole time they have both been lying to each other, he is apologising for making the boy live a life full of lies.

Cormac McCarthy's style

Goldilocks and the three bears

Once. Upon. A time. There was a girl. Dirty blonde hair hung from her head and hollowed out eyes sat in her skull. She was walking through the woods. A dense wood. Branches clawing at her body hungrily scrapping her skin furiously. But she had become use to the pain she couldn’t feel anymore. She had been walking for hours days who knews. Passing nothing. Nothing but trees. The silence had begun to roar in her ears not dulling for a moment. She hadn’t eaten for hours days who knew. But she was hungry. Starving. The path forever winding seemed to be going nowhere. She was going nowhere. For an unknown time this carried on. And on. At first she thought she was hallucinating dreaming. But she wasn’t. Roughly a mile ahead of her was a farmhouse. It looked deserted. She reached it. She knocked. Silence answered. She turned the knob with a chilling creek the door swung open. She walked right in.

The room was big. A table sat right in the middle it was wooden, it looked strong. There were bowls. Three. The girls stomach groaned in anticipation. Saliva coming alive in her mouth. She had forgotten what that felt like. She tasted the contents of the first. It was porridge. Too hot. She tasted the second bowl. Too cold. The third. Just right.
Tiredness hit the girl with a sharp slap. There was a door in the corner of the room. Open. She went through. It was the living room there were three chairs. She at carefully down in the first chair. Too big. And the next, too big. There was one left, the smallest. She sat prepared for another disappointment. But it was just right. She settled down. Her eyes drooping already knowing that she didn’t have to fight to keep them open anymore. There was a sudden gasp. The chair had broken into pieces. The girl sighed.

There was a staircase. Dragging herself heavy body up each step she reached the top. She opened a door. In the room there were three beds expensive looking blankets covering the. Exhaustion so very prominent she lay on the first bed. Too hard. The second to soft. Finally the third bed taking her time to reach weary witht eh fate of disappointment she lowered herself down. Just right. The blackest black took over her eyes her mind and her soul in an instant. She was asleep. Dreaming of home. Wherever that was.

As the girl slept the owners of the house returned. Three huge silhouettes trudging toward the door of their home. Open swinging in the chilling wind. The girl knew nothing. But the three figures did. They walked inside.

Quotations...

This is my child, he said. I wash a dead man's brains out of his hair. That is my job.


When read aloud, the sentence reads with such a mundane feel. It lours the reader into a false sense of security, making the horror nearly miss able. But when re read, the line bares its self fully, the short, blunt sentences show the mans guilt and almost embarrassment of the situation. As if he wishes to get it facts of what has happened over with, as quickly and emmotionlessly as possible. 'That is my job' comes across to me as if the man is trying to redeem himself, showing he takes his role of fathering the boy responsibly, just as you would take a job responsibly, doing whatever necessary. However it could also be argued that the man is being completely selfish, keeping his son trapped in such a terrible world because he knows he could never face it on his own. The use of the word 'job', makes the man feel like by protecting his son he is getting some kind of payment from it, not being alone, or completely losing his mind. In addition it could also be argued that the use of 'job' is harsh and cold, as if the man does not see parenting the boy as something he chose to do, more something he has to do. Washing the boys head and hair also has strong links to baptism, the man could be figuratively washing away what the boy has experienced and witnessed, his sins; just like a priest washes away a persons sins through the baptism ceremony. 



Yes I am, he said. I am the one.


The man ‘stating’ he is the one could be seen as arrogant and selfish, especially in such a bleak and despairing time. However if we think about it, he is the one, the one that makes everything happen, and by ensuring he is looks after himself he can more importantly look after his son, physically and mentally. He has to take on this selfish character because if he didn’t ultimately they would die. He may have to steal food, force the boy to keep walking day after day, and keep the boy going even when they are on the brink of starvation. Because if he didn’t they would be in a far worse state than they are now, wallowing in self-pity and self-loathing, both wanting their lives to be ended. The father gives his son life, without him he would never survive and you can see the how adamant he is to say he is ‘the one’ because he knows if he was not what his sons life could easily be like.   

Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricot. Canned hams. Corned beef.

Initially reading these words, they are filled with joy and beauty; marvelling not only at the amount of food but also the types, and the vibrant colours that quickly pop into my mind. It is such a fantastic contrast from the incessant bleakness and monotony. But is it really? Before finding the supply they man and the boy were on the brink of starvation, which also meant on the brink death. It all could have been over, this horrible world finally not haunting them anymore, and they wouldn’t have been giving up, killing themselves, they would have been fighting till the bitter end. However finding the supply means they will live on, but they cant stay there, they can’t carry enough food to last forever and it will eventually run out. And when it does the physical and mental pain of the endless searching and hunger starts all over again. It’s like a vicious cycle. Also all of the food they find is in tins, obviously so it will last, but this means it has all been modified in some way, altered by mankind, nothing is fresh and natural. Just as you feel that whatever happened to the world for it to become such a desolate state was not something that naturally occurred, it was perhaps a human alteration gone wrong, or maybe mankind just tried to modify the world to much? 

Are we still the good guys, he said.     

The lack of punctuation in this line makes it a statement not a question, in doing this it almost become an accusation towards the father and how he is running their lives now. The boy can obviously see a change in how they have begun to morally live their lives, and want to confirm what they are doing is still ‘good’ as throughout the novel we see time and time again he is a massively considerate to everyone and everything around him. Also it is as if making the line into a question would have been pointless, as there is no one to hear and respond to the boy, or no one to compare their deeds too. Conjuring up an image a completely isolated image, showing just how alone the man and boy are, in this vast world.  

We should go, Papa, he said. Yes, the man said. But he didnt.   

The man’s reluctance to leave could be seen as a metaphor for his reluctance to leave his old life behind. I think the realisation he will never return to his old life has already almost sunk in, however he knows that to move on, look the after the boy and ensure they live, he must stamp out any flicker of hope that he will ever see a life like that again. He needs to rip the memories and the feelings from his mind and get rid of them, otherwise he knows he will cause him and in turn his son immense psychological pain that could be the end of them.  

The snow fell nor did it cease to fall.

This quote covers the past and present tense, showing that the snow also covers the past and present tense, as do all the horrors the man and the boy are facing. They are endless. The snow is a metaphor for their lives, that just like snow their lives are a vast expansion of cold, bleak, nothingness, one day merging into the next, with no flicker of joy or hope. And this is snow that doesn’t melt away to expose a healthy, vibrant new world underneath, this snow is here to stay.    

Okay? Okay.

This may be a little irrational, and is only an idea but for me this statement could sum the book up. The first ‘okay?’ is a question; someone is searching and asking for an answer, the second ‘okay.’ Is an acceptance, the answer has been found or acceptance there is no more the person needs to know, it is final, shown by the abrupt full stop. This questioning, finding the answer and then the acceptance is like the book as a whole. The book starts with the man and the boy both searching for answers to why the world has ended up in this post-apocalyptic state, shown by the boys intrigue with the past and also intense questioning to the father. Although we never find out why the world became such a state, and I don’t think the man or the boy fully know ether, there is a sense of acceptance between them like the know they have no power to change what has happen, it is a fact and it final, just like the full stop.  

They sat on the edge of the tub and pulled their shoes on and then he handed the boy the pan and soap he took the stove and the little bottle of gas and the pistol and wrapped in their blankets and they went back across the yard to the bunker

This sentences has to be one of the very few long sentences McCarthy writes throughout the whole novel so it stands out a prominently, Also with the repetition of ‘and’ eight times, The actions the man and boy are carrying out seem tedious and monotonous. Almost like they have developed a routine, So practiced that there is no need for ether of them to question the situation as they know exactly what the next move is. Things are predictiable and what the man and boy have come to know as normality.    

Tolling in the silence the minutes of the earth

The word tolling draws out the sentence when read aloud, reflecting how slowly time seems to be passing as if time itself feels it has no purpose anymore, it too has nearly given up. ‘Silence of the earth’ is a chilling thought, but for the man and boy a chilling reality. For the world to be utterly silent, for there to be no sound at all is something try as we might we can’t even imagine, everything has gone and there is nothing left to even prove it ever existed. A haunting image, and we as a reader want something or someone to blame, but who is there? No one.  

She was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift

For coldness to be classed as a gift, shows the man’s utter desperation to cling onto a past memory or an emotion he once felt, as he seems to feel nothing of any positivity anymore. He knows he need to cling onto something, or else he will start slipping away, from his son as his life. However when read, the line itself is completely emotionless, showing the gift wasn’t a thing he asked for or requested it was just thrust upon for him to deal with. It could be argued, linking to the first quotation where the boy goes through the horror of a dead man’s brains on his head, as hard as he tried he has unintentionally passed this ‘gift’ on to his son. We as readers start to realise that the boy receives and feels nothing but coldness.