HA!

"He sprang from the cabin window as he said this, upon the ice raft which lay close to the vessel. He was soon borne away by he  waves and lost in darkness and distance." pg 211

Wait...that's it? Victor dies of mental and physical exhaustion and the monster gets all sad and commits suicide? Is Mary Shelley insane? What other question could I possibly ask? Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket at the end. Poor Robert. If we imagine ourselves in his position for a moment, some guy just happens to show up while you're off trekking in no-man's-land, tells you a ridonkulous tale, dies, then a crazy thing shows up and tells you he will commit suicide because he doesn't have anyone to torment anymore. I'd say he got the short end of the stick. He didn't even get to do magnet-y things like he came for. I guess he'll have to take comfort in the fact that someone else will figure it out, so the world won't stay completely ignorant. Shucks.

Also, this is what my voice did when I was asking those rhetorical questions.

Step Off My Teepee

"My father tried to awaken in me the feelings of affection. He talked of Geneva, which I should soon visit, of Elizabeth and Ernest; but these words only drew deep groans from me. Sometimes, indeed, I felt a wish for happiness and thought with melancholy delight of my beloved cousin or longed, with a devouring maladie du pays, to see once more the blue lake and rapid Rhone, that had been so dear to me in early childhood; but my general state of feeling was a torpor in which a prison was as welcome a residence as the divinest scene in nature; and these fits were seldom interrupted but by paroxysms of anguish and despair." pg 174

There were just some things in this quote that stuck out to me mostly because I don't know what they mean or what they are. So it's time to learn!

maladie du pays - homesickness

Found from this forum post!

So I know where the Rhine is, but where in the blazes is the Rhone?

Right there!

And finally

paroxysm - any sudden, violent outburst; a fit of violent action or emotion.... HA!

Ramen Noodles: The Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner of Champions

"Liberty, however, had been a useless gift to me, had I not, as I awakened to reason, at the same time awakened to revenge." pg 189

So I'm not exactly sure if Victor is a hero or antihero. As illustrated by the quote, his motivation is revenge. Additionally, his motivation for making the creature was an unhealthy obsession of succeeding. He faints and is ill constantly. Definitely not heroic; however, he does attempt to save those he loves. He embarks on a dangerous trek across wastelands to hunt down his creation and he's very strong-willed when deciding never to create another being even at the risk of a life of perpetual misery. That seems pretty heroic to me. You say "potato," I say "Why did you say potato? Weirdo." HA!

Weren't expecting that, were ya?

Dressing Like an 80 Year Old Lady Since 1993.

"...by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs." pg 56

Okay, so the quote isn't from the second half of the book, but this is kind of an abstract juxtaposition so I needed a more general quote. Don't judge me...rude. Baaaasically, I noticed that it becomes more clear in the second half the juxtaposition of life and death. Frankenstein gave life to the monster. The monster then takes life away. For something has joyous as creating life, this was an experiment gone wrong that only succeeded in extinguishing it. Life-death-juxtaposition. It's deep, okay?

HA!

I may be a raving lunatic, but my hair looks fabulous!

"Clerval! Beloved friend! Even now it delights me to record your words and to dwell on the praise of which you are so eminently deserving." pg 149

"She left me, and I continued some time walking up and down the passages of the house and inspecting every corner that might afford a retreat to my adversary. But I discovered no trace of him and was beginning to conjecture that some fortunate chance had intervened to prevent the execution of his menaces when suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful scream." pg 186

So suspense is exactly what Frankenstein doesn't do. Operating within a frame story, it is very difficult to create suspense because the reader knows that whatever peril the protagonist is in, he'll make it out safely, more or less, or he wouldn't be narrating. Additionally, Mary Shelley really did write the book (HA!) for this genre because, especially leading up to Elizabeth's murder, I felt like I was watching one of those really predictable thriller/horror movies where you talk to the screen at the characters telling them that they're incredibly stupid for wanting to check the closet. Sure enough someone pops out and makes you jump. Well that's kind of what happened with Elizabeth. Victor leaves her alone to go check for the monster. Yeah, capital idea. So, that's how suspense is killed, strangled like the monster does his victims. Metaphor? Oh yes.

You're right Frankie, it's just a book.

Side Effects May Include Death!

"On examining my dwelling, I found that one of the windows of the cottage had formerly occupied a part of it, but the panes had been filled up with wood. In one of these was a small and almost imperceptible chink through which the eye could just penetrate." pg 103

Creeper! CREEEEPER! Creeepercreepercreeeeeper!!!!

"My thoughts now became more active, and I longed to discover the motives and feelings of these lovely creatures; I was inquisitive to know why Felix appeared so miserable and Agatha so sad. I thought (foolish wretch!) that it might be in my power to restore happiness to these deserving people." pg 109

Uh-oh, I feel something TRAGIC coming! I'm not quite sure why the monster has taken such an interest in this family. It's nice what he's doing for them. I guess it characterizes him as an inherently nice person with feelings too. Then he's probably gonna get rejected 'cuz they all gon' be like "oh nooo, it's so ugly pa!" And then the monster is going to get its feelings hurt. Which makes it kill a little boy... The half way point had to be right in the middle of the frame frame story!

When you're out in the club and you see a fly girl, do the creep.

Chicken Dinner! I left the head on 'cause I love you.

"A flash of lightning illuminated the object and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch, the filthy demon to whom I had given life. What did he there? Could he be (I shuddered at the conception) the murderer of my brother? No sooner did that idea cross my imagination than I became convinced of its truth; my teeth chattered, and I was forced to lean against a tree for support." pg. 73

Okay, what I want to know is how you're so sure that it was your monster that you created. Sure he shows up in a flash of lightning all ominously, but does that prove his guilt? I think Justine is guiltier than the monster. We never even found out if the monster actually killed him in this half of the book anyway. And why would he? What motivation would he have to randomly kill a person, save the fact that his creator shunned him. All he wanted was to be loooved! I blame Victor.

But everyone knows my logic is never flawed!

It's lonely being an oatmeal vending machine.

"From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation. I read with ardor those works, so full of genius and discrimination, which modern inquirers have written on these subjects. I attended the lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the men of science of the university, and I found even in M. Krempe a great deal of sound sense and real information , combined, it is true, with a repulsive physiognomy and manners, but not on that account the less valuable." pg 49

Oh and that's just the beginning folks! That whole chapter, Chapter 4 as it is so eloquently titled, is an entire chapter devoted to his motivation in making the monster. This is the whole lead-in to the creation of the monster chapter which leads to many subsequent freak-outs. But as a whole, this chapter shows Frankenstein's drive for knowledge and understanding. Additionally, it shows his great intelligence and capability for advancement which makes it more believable that he could make a persony-thing. Oddly enough, this motivation is replaced immediately after with lethargy and invalidity. Then a desire to want to destroy the monster comes after that. (Sunday comes afterwaaaarrrrddsss.) Who knows what Frankenstein wants to do after chapter 12?! Let's let our good friend Rebecca tell us more about this sequence stuff.

My secret super power is eyebrow grooming.

"From the tortures of my own heart, I turned to contemplate the deep and voiceless grief of my Elizabeth. This also was my doing! And my father's woe, and the desolation of that late so smiling home - all was the work of my thrice-accursed hands! Ye weep, unhappy ones, but these are not your last tears! Again shall you raise the funeral wail, and the sound of your lamentations shall again and again be heard!" pg 85

And it goes on like that for a while. In fact, I wouldn't have chosen stream of consciousness if I didn't feel like Victor was freaking out about something every other page. Because this is a frame story with Victor as its narrator, we get the insight of how he felt coming straight from the character, rather than the view of an omnipotent narrator or a third party narration. It seems to me the author's main tool for characterization through the work thus far. Stream of consciousness has shown Frankenstein's cowardice, intelligence, and tenderness all through "Whine, whine, whine, monster, whine, whine." And because his thoughts are so golly gee chaotic, it lends a kind of suspenseful tone as well. Will this crazy monster I've made that I try not to think about, but totally do, come back to haunt me in a more significant way? I can only wonder...as I wander....

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

No pine, no apple...just a whole lotta PINEAPPLE.

"But I consented to listen, and seating myself by the fire which my odious companion had lighted, he thus began his tale." pg 97

As if it couldn't get any better, the monster starts another frame story within a frame story. It reminds me a lot of Inception. Every new frame story is like another dream within a dream. I'm half expecting a train to come crashing through and annihilate the monster and Frankenstein. Or at the very least, Leonardo DiCaprio's wife showing up with a gun to blow their brains out. But as far as the function of frame stories, it definitely keeps my interest more. As a reader I'm constantly playing catch-up which (sometimes unwillingly) forces me to devote more effort to keeping everything straight. It's definitely a way nifty concept and it gets my stamp of approval as an effective literary technique.


Also, if you've seen Inception before, this will be tres funny.

I'm a couple sandwiches short of a pile of sandwiches!

The Blog That Deals With The End Blog

So I learned a few things from this book, Costello-jan. Afghanistan is messed-up beyond fixing probably. Human vice always makes for a compelling read. Child rape makes me feel icky and want to take a shower. I can see why it's on the work of literary merit list though. It had a highly relatable, yet thoroughly disdainable protagonist in Amir. You can feel good about yourself twice over! It made several banned book lists too which is a prereq for literary merit. I think just about all the other book choices were on a banned book list at one point too. But in the end, Amir felt better about himself and could move on with his guilt to focus his efforts on a new project, Sohrab. Yay America! Boo Taliban! Yay kabobs and naan! 

Relevant picture....what?

Who are you calling a HoHo?!?

"'You could have told me,' Farid said later. The two of us were lying next to each other on the straw mats Wahid's wife had spread for us.
'Told you what?'
'Why you'e come to Afghanistan.' His voice had lost the rough edge I'd heard in it since the moment I had met him.
'You didn't ask.'
'You should have told me.'
'You didn't ask.'" pg 239

This whole exchange just reminds me of some cliched bonding moment that one would see in a movie. It even uses the trite "You didn't ask (how virtuous I really was)" comeback. It's like they're twelve. Or maybe they're in Rush Hour and Farid is Chris Tucker and Amir is Jackie Chan. Now that I think about it, their whole Kabul-Peshawar-Islamabad ordeal seems kind of like a gorier misadventure of Rush Hour. I never thought I'd ever compare this book to that movie, but I think it just happened. Maybe Allah will strike me down because of it, but I think I'll take my chances.

I'm utilizing a religious motif today and would like to present to you

Our Lady of Perpetual Diet Coke.

You wanted a Diet Coke? You didn't ask, my child.

Tacoh No!

"'For you a thousand times over,' I heard myself say." pg 371

D'aww! What a cute ending! Amir has finally learned the meaning of selfless! My mimicking the mantra of Hassan to Hassan's son, it kind of gives the story a full circle effect, which is sooo much better than a cliffha.... Hassan was very foiley to Amir because he gave himself fully and completely out of partly servitude, but I believe mostly out of love for his friend. Now Amir has forgiven himself and loves Sohrab much like a son and is willing to devote himself completely to him like Hassan did to Amir. It's the ciiiiiirccle of liiiiiiiiiiiife, and it moves us allllllll! Another motif that isn't really given by direct quotes is child rape. So that's pretty cool. Hassan really just had a bad luck streak in his family for that, I guess.

It's Poprah. 

This just made me roflcopter.

When you're on a golden sea, you don't need no memory.

"This isn't you, Amir, part of me said. You're gutless. It's how you're made. And that's not such a bad thing because your saving grace is that you've never lied to yourself about it. Not about that. Nothing wrong with cowardice as long as it comes with prudence. but when a coward stops remembering who he is...God help him." pg 275

This very statement pretty much characterized Amir for the entire story thus far. The funny thing is that he's telling himself this. This character flaw drives most of the story in the beginning. Then the cowardice of dealing with guilt drives the post-America "let's go on an Afghan safari for orphans" drives Amir to do what he does in good 'ol Kabul. Such a charming place. Anywho, he get's crazy healed shortly after and it's cool then and his motivation shifts from caring for Sohrab out of a debt he feels he owes to Hassan to a general love and concern for his half-nephew who is equally messed-up but through no fault of his own. Also, the Weezer lyrics are a shameless attempt for brownie points.

I used one of her steps ;)

Giraffes have a neck like whaaaaaat?

"My body was broken - just how badly I wouldn't find out until later - but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed." pg 289

There are quite a few climaxes in this book, but this seems to be the biggun'. Sure there's another after this with the whole "this is the most depressing suicide attempt ever" dealie, but I take it this story is more focused on Amir trying to atone for his utter douchebagginess to Hassan during his childhood. This bizarre catharsis as a result of the hooliwad (word my mom uses) being punched out him was necessary in Amir's eyes to feel healed. I personally think Assef and Amir are insane. To want to feel physical pain to atone for your emotional torment would definitely rack up some extra sessions on the psychology bill. I also found it odd that Amir laughed like Assef when he had his little epiphany in jail. And just for the record, getting a kidney stone kicked out of you is not a sign from AllahGod. In other news, Hosseini made this super cool 'cuz teh cLiMAXX ez pARiDoxIcAL!

*sigh*

Too dumb to chew gum.

"That's Henry Kissinger." pg. 21

There really isn't much depth to this quote. I just kind of picked it to see if I could make a random post about it. So far I've got three sentences. I had to look up Henry Kissinger on Wikipedia because I'm a sheltered dumb American. I'd heard the name before. But I'm glad he did a lot of super-duper things for America. And it was nice of him to visit Afghanistan. I guess it may have been a kind of foreshadowing with the whole Russian situation that was to come, so that's cool.

Hey Costello, he stole your glasses!

Food and Wet. I call it soup.

"Years later, I learned an English word for the creature that Assef was, a word for which a good Farsi equivalent does not exist: 'sociopath.'" pg. 38

Hmm, usually I hear it the other way around. Like oh, there just isn't a good English equivalent for this word. We've even adopted words like zeitgeist and schadenfreude and doppelganger from German because in English we have to use entire phrases like "the general thoughts and feelings of the time", "taking pleasure in one's pain", and "someone who roams the world who looks exactly like you." I really think schadenfreude should have it's own English equivalent. You can make it up. Submit it to Websters. Either way, I'm glad to learn English has one-upped Farsi. Maybe because they didn't have the word for it, that's why nobody did anything about Assef when he ran around raping children...Bazinga!

On a fun note, here's a whole song about schadenfreude from Avenue Q. It's very questionable as far as language and themes go, but hey, I'm reading a book about child rape for class, so we can't get too nitpicky can we?

Everything needs to smell like lemons, OK?

"You greeted the guy across the aisle, you invited him for a bite of potato bolani or a little quabuli, and you chatted. You offered  tassali, condolences, for the death of a parent, congratulated the birth of children, and shook your head mournfully when the conversation turned to Afghanistan and the Roussis - which it inevitably did." pg. 138

This quote, to me, goes beyond mere dialect or style. It's a crucial description of an important routine of, it seems many, Afghan immigrants. What really spices this and the rest of the story up is the constant bombardment of Farsi words. Who knew I'd ever learn how to say thank you in Farsi? The constant repetition of familiar words such as thank you, naan, bread, and others make it seem more real, colloquial, but even deeper. It immerses the reader in Afghanistan. The Afghan way of life is very important to Amir and his people, so the local color of Afghans in Kabul and Afghans in California is quite prevalent. It makes me want to eat Mediterranean food.

Get me some naan up in hurr.

Cheese is just a lump of old milk.

"And I could almost feel the emptiness in Soraya's womb, like it was a living, breathing, thing. It had seeped into our marriage, that emptiness, into our laughs, and into our lovemaking. And late at night, in the darkness of our room, I'd feel it rising from Soraya and settling between us. Sleeping between us. Like a newborn child." pg. 189

I don't know why we can't be cool people and call this personification. Or is this personification/anthropomorphism at all? Sure it's giving human characteristics to "emptiness," but it's not an inanimate object or animal like the definition says. Am I bound to the strict definition like a Constitutionalist is to every word of the, uh, Constitution? Is there a totally different word for this altogether that I'm just missing? What IS tempo? But claps for Hosseini on taking something intangible and making it into something creepy like a newborn child just popping up outta nowhere. It really fits this metaphorical specter that has manifested itself in Amir and Soraya's life. Poor things, no chillins for them or their Afghan pride.

C'est la vie, eh Amir?

Congratulations! You're America's Next Top Babushka!

"I knew I was being cruel, like when i'd taunt him if he didn't know some big word. But there was something fascinating - albeit in a sick way - about teasing Hassan. Kind of like when we used to play insect torture. Except now, he was the ant and I was holding the magnifying glass." pg. 54

Oh Amir, you're such a selfish little prick, you! I don't understand why Amir would ever want to mess with Hassan. I don't think Amir knows why he does it either. It especially makes him super antiheroic when Hassan is so foily (does that mean he's shiny? =D). Hassan's total submission to Amir's will and his portrayal as someone pure and innocent is right out the antithesis of an antihero which helps to draw a starker contrast between the two characters. Yet what complexifies it is their relationship as practically brothers. They spend most of their time together, playing, talking, doing kid things. Yet social customs, like Amir's being a Pashtun and Hassan's being a Hazara, and Amir's whacked-out personality make this relationship tragic.

It's Hassan. He's a foil character. Nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk.

Happy Turban Tuesday!

So I thought this play was nice. I mean, it was cool and stuff because, yay black people and civil rights and stuff, but I feel like I've read many similar classics like it in that same niche of "I'm an African-American author writing about African-American struggles in a real, down-to-earth, yet entertaining way." To Kill A Mockingbird jumps to mind first. Though they're different, they're really the same. I really enjoyed To Kill A Mockingbird and I thought A Raisin in the Sun was pleasant, but I just felt some redundancies. I guess the best stories really have already been told, it's just the spin you put on it that makes it special. I've read countless hero cycle stories too, so I guess I can't complain too much. Meh. Mah thots r awwsum sumtimez.

We should read some boring Limey Literature next that doesn't include

William of Shakespeare.

Gaze into my Bottomless Bellybutton! - $5.00

How is dramatic suspense created?

Suspense in this play, unlike others, is not caused by the withholding of information from the audience or characters, because everybody knows just about everything that goes on. Rather, the suspense is created from the poem from which the play takes its name. "A Dream Deferred" is utilized as throughout the play, tension is created from the chasing of the dreams of the family. Each person's dream is put off for some time, such as Walter's dream of owning a liquor store, Mama's dream of owning a nice house, and Beneatha's dream of becoming a doctor which causes tension to steamroll, especially with Walter. Sometimes the scene is joyous and then swiftly changes to moody and reflective. It is in these shifts too that suspense is created. The realistic portrayal of a poor African-American family in itself also causes some suspense in that at the time, it may have been a taboo topic in plays, and when applied to modern times, is still often a sore spot as a large percentage of the poor are minorities which plays into their mistreatment Pre-Civil Rights Movement.

Now THAT'S a "Dream Deferred"

Pills for Everyone!

What themes does the play present?

I think the main theme of the play is the value of dreams, especially because "A Raisin in the Sun" refers to "A Dream Deferred." Also, although a raisin may shrivel in the sun, I really think a grape would be more prone to do that then turn into a raisin, so really the play should be called "A Grape in the Sun that could Turn Into a Raisin." But pursuing dreams is the driving force behind the plot. "Daring to Dream" and "Following One's Dream" usually carry a lot of weight with people, especially those crazy theater types, so the weight of the theme is felt throughout the play which increases the pleasure of the performance. And because it isn't kind of a watered-down "Golly gee Ma, I wish we done had a house so's we can rise above the white man's oppression" kind of plot due to it's well thought out and profound writing and actions given in stage directions, the didactic aspects of it seem well implemented and leave the audience with a sense of wanting themselves to (hopefully) implement social change. Just bashing the oppression of African-Americans and constantly beating what would have been a mostly white audience with that would have had a negative effect on the play and I would probably have never read it because it wouldn't have made it past opening night.

Unlike this play, the milk is going a wee bit curdy. 

You may be cool, but you'll never be four popped collars cool.

So the big ending when Laura blew those sticks of wax out and Tom was all moody and "Laura, I can't quit you!" (Did that just happen? Oh yeah.) has me all in the speculative mood. So let's start with what I noticed, because that's what good readers do, or something. Light, and sometimes lack of it, played a large role in the play. You could say it was the lead! Ahahahaha! But many times, light cues were used, and lighting was described, such as a pale red light coming from the new floor lamp that illuminated Laura's beauty that wasn't there normally, a reference to a pleasant lemon yellow light, the light shining on their father's picture, the electricity going out, and a reference to Benjamin Franklin when he found electricity, the sheer beauty when light was shone on one of Laura's glass pieces, and many more that would just brighten your day. So after Laura's kind of transformation, as physically represented with the unicorn losing its horn, Laura, who is represented as a glass figurine of sorts, blows out her dim candles that wouldn't quite illuminate her as brilliantly as a light bulb. So blowing out her candles, though usually kind of a bad symbol is actually quite positive because she's moved to the brilliance of electrical light, which was kind of a big deal back then because it was new-fangled for the general consuming public. This is made evident by the line "For nowadays the world is lit by lightning!" which I believe references to Benjamin Franklin doin' his thang with his kite and key and lightning and electricity and light bulbs. So now Laura's happy and shtuff and that's cool.

Can I get a double dang for that in-depth analysis?

Go big money!

When someone asks you "What is creepy?" the correct answer is "teeth."

Does the play employ realistic or nonrealistic conventions? Etc, etschm (et schmetera)...

Seeing as this was a really important topic in class, I thought I might like to regurgitate and expand on what was discussed. What was realistic or nonrealistic (surrealistic would be a better word because nonrealistic isn't a word, but don't tell the book or it'll get it's posse of people with Ph.D.'s in stuff that don't matter to sic you [as a further aside, I used the word "sic" in this post and last post in two different ways. Go me!]) <----punctuation logjam - in this play was not a measure of how much I liked it, because it interwove realism and *sigh* nonrealism and outright told the audience to which it was being presented that, hey guys, this play is going to be a bit surrealistic sometimes and I'm down with that. What made it what critics would call to make you go see it "masterfully written" was the seamless stitching of recognizable, very relatable events for most people such as family strife and inner struggles with the inherent nonrealism that comes with plays to enhance the (...unity?) dramatic experience, such as the passing of time, breaking the fourth wall by addressing the audience, and having music and light cues. There are quite a few jokes in this post that may only make sense to me, but that's okay, I'm a unique glass unicorn...

...who pukes rainbows!

I motion to change "catfish" to "freakingradfish."

Identify the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s). Are there any foil characters? Etc, etc, etc...

Well, dearest question of brain-probeyness, Imma go out on a limb and say that dear Laura was our protagonist. But the kicker here is that Amanda, Tim, and the internal conflict of Laura and family issues were the antagonists. Dios mio, some-a those ain't peeple! Oh you're so complex, Tennessee Williams, with your intangible antagonists. But I did like the foil characters. Laura was a foil to Jim in that she was introverted and we all felt sad for her and Jim is all "I take night classes on speaking good [sic]," and Laura was a loner in high school and Jim was all popular and full of coolness. Though not a foil, an "anti-foil" (double negative? yes.) if you will, and you do will, was Tim and his father. It is made evident that they are incredibly alike in their nature for adventure, listlessness, and inclination to alkeyhol which makes us all like "ohhh nooooo, he gon' destrooy this here family by leavin' 'em all high and dry like." And he did leave them, but Laura blew out her candles, so it's cool everyone, don't freak out.

Also, this song will stay in your head for forever but is totally worth your time.

The little bucket goes in the bucket, then they both go in the big bucket. Trust me, it rules.

I've always wanted to read Othello ever since I've seen the game and just kind of made up my own rules when I played with it in aftercare in grade school since I was too young to understand or care about the rules. Now that it's in the books, I'm glad I got it out of the way, because I know it would have haunted me to my deathbed even though I didn't put it on my bucket list I made sophomore year. I still don't quite understand the game except that Othello is black and Iago is white and that seems to be the game's big selling point. So that's nifty. I also thought Emilia's death was kind of funny, unnecessary, and funny, which means Shakespeare knows how to appeal to my dark side (Which doesn't even have cookies! It's such a lie!) So now that I've got another Shakespearean play under my belt I can officially call myself a better and more learned person that will better improve society with my newfound insights of myself and the world around me. Thank you, Shakespeare, and thank you people who care too much.

Tell it like it is Mr. Flower.

If being wrong is wrong, I don't want to be right.

I think question numbah one deserves a little cuddle time and will therefore be caressed with the black squiggles that make coherent thoughts found both in this sentence and below.

The literal conventions in Othello provide a great base for the play. It's setting, Venice and Cyprus, very real places, plus the conventions of the traditions found therein such as having Othello, a Moor, be the head honcho-y war guy is also factual. The love between a man and a woman and betrayal and human emotions also win a point for "realism." However, what makes this a Shakespearean play, or just a play in general and thus more entertaining than real people cheating or not cheating or killing or not killing are the non-realistic conventions such as Iago's asides (you can't hear me, so I'm going to tell the group of people watching us what I'm thinking, teehee!). Not to mention, we've got ourselves some over-the-top characters like Iago and his paranoia, and Othello and his paranoia that ultimately causes his fall from grace. People speak plainly when they're wounded rather than "AHHHH MAH LEEEEGG!" And the fact that Iago has everyone fooled into thinking he's a pretty cool dude is highly unlikely, but fun to assume for the sake of Ye Olde Theatre.

Don't Trust Anyone Who Can Do the Splits.

Question Numero Two and all that inhabits it will be answered with the following words.

Just a hunch, kids, (Don't you hate when people call other people "kids" just to give themselves a seeming air of superiority and confidence? Good point, their own insecurities may very well be at work here. You're so smart! It's always a pleasure having such stimulating conversations with you, kiddo.) but this play is a tragedy if I ever smelled one. Shakespeare really gets the audience ready for some bloodshed after four whole acts of blah, blah, blah, blah, blaaaaaahh. And boy, does he deliver with four deaths and a decapitation! Yay gore! To give this play it's tragic nature, Othello had to die sometime, though a suicide was kind of lackluster after all the murders; however, his departing speech did somewhat redeem his character. As per tradition at the Globe, a flag of a certain colour (colour because I feel British and Shakespearean) would be raised before a play was performed so the audience knew if it was a tragedy, comedy, or history, but if the audience hadn't known this, they probably could have figured it out by all the ominous things happening, or if they didn't, then they would either enjoy the shock factor of dying people more or they could be weirded out a bit. Eh, this is an odd question in the first place. Mazeltov.

Iago, in package form.

BOOTY BOOTY BOOTY BOOTY ROCKIN' EVERYWHERE!

Just in case you didn't know, a lot of my titles end in exclamation points. The more I read Othello, two things happen. 1) I get better at reading and thinking in Shakespearean English and 2) I care much less because my interest and the time I spend reading this are inversely proportional. Equation as follows: I = T x N^s where I is interest lost, T is time in seconds, and N is the number of pages I have read raised to the the power s, the number of soliloquies Iago has had. But on the plus side, it would be absolutely WIZARD if people still said "what, ho!" Do thou fetch me mine peanut butter and jelly sandwich, what ho! Make haste and do with good countenance fair wench, that when nigh is the hour for which I make sleepytime, thou hast in thine soul the charity and humour upon which, fair maiden, you are noted, bringeth thy own liege his PJs and dress him thus. Hmm, sign me up for this thing and you could be reading The Tragedy of the Perpetually Drunk Duke and his Beddybye Time.

...yeah...

Let's All Get Giant Perms!

How is dramatic suspense created?

I don't know about you, but it seems that Iago has a soliloquy every other iamb, giving explicit details of his plans for revenge right before the scene unfolds or just as it ends (II.iii.345-351 and just about any other page you turn to). So, how then could this possibly cause suspense when the audience knows exactly how the play will unfold?  People were probably dumber in the 15/1600s and needed some more 'splainin, but there's still that mote of uncertainty which something could go terribly wrong with Iago's plan, or, I dare say, yes, I dare, a twist in the plot. We even know Othello is a tragedy which means (spoiler alert!) that Othello has to die in some way. Even knowing all the information, I still find myself captivated as Iago brings himself to new lows. Train wreck principle, I suppose. (Are you tired of italics yet?)

You can't not look!

It's Snowing, Everyone Panic!

Identify the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s). Are there any foil characters?

Protagonist equals Othello. Antagonist equals Iago. They are foils. It's funny because they're foils in their personality, Othello is naive whilst Iago is cunning, AND physically they're foils because Othello is black and Iago is white! Whooooaaahh, Shakes is a deep guy. The minor characters such as Cassio, Roderigo and Desdemona are also some movers and shakers in that they play major roles in Iago's manipulation of people to exact his revenge upon the Moor and help to characterize Othello and Iago, so much so that they could be considered more like Major-Minor characters. Oh how paradoxical, what ho! Sometimes I wonder if Othello is even the main character at all. o.O

Mmm, rockin' the soul patch in the middle ages.