Othello: #4

            In Act II Iago states, “Reputation is an idle and/ most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost/ without deserving” (II. iii. 287-89). In Act III Iago perfectly contradicts himself: “Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,/ Is the immediate jewel of their souls” (III. iii. 182-83). First he says that reputation does not matter, and then he tells Othello that a man is not a man without his reputation. This blatant display of dishonestly is only shown to the audience, so unfortunately Othello does not know the real Iago. Iago also admits to poisoning Othello with lies, but once again only the audience is told this: “[The Moor already changes with my poison;]/ Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons,/ Which at the first are scarce found to distaste,/ But with a little act upon the blood/ Burn like the mines of sulfur” (III. iii. 373-77). Originally, Othello is a trusting and honest man. He is very calm and collected, even in times of war. Iago is so conniving that simply telling lies changes Othello completely. Iago does not physically do anything in his plot, but he uses his creative and mischievous talents to tell elaborate lies that make even the most trusting person jealous. Othello’s personality does a complete 180. Desdemona even notices this shift in character when she says, “I ne’er saw this before” (III. iv. 117). It is interesting how one person can completely change another person just by what they tell them.

Sound & Sense: Chapter 13

1.   A) The alliteration of “g” in “guide” and “guard” gives a sharper image of virtue as the speaker’s guide than virtue that will “point your way” and “keep you safe.”

2.   A) Although “harsh” and “rough” are cacophonous words, they sound more euphonious together than “harsh” and “crabbed.” The euphony compliments the subject of music.

3.   B) The consonance of “out-cast,” “crows,” “croak,” and “across” is cacophonous to represent the harsh croaking of the crows.

4.   A) The consonance of “talk” and “attests” is euphonious to compare the serenity of her voice to singing gold.

5.   B) The consonance of “myriads,” “moan,” “immemorial,” and “murmuring” is euphonious and uses the mellifluous consonant “m” to represent the fluidity of the streams.

6.   A) “Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps” is more cacophonous than “In harsh discordant tones with doleful flats” to stress the unpleasantness of the lark’s out of tune singing.

7.   A) The “bombs,” “bastions,” “batteries,” “bayonets,” and “bullets” of quotation B) are too euphonious to describe the harsh words of war, so quotation A) is the better version.

8.   A) The consonance of “sisters,” “incessantly,” “softly,” and “soiled” is euphonious to demonstrate that Death and Night are forever linked, and that one does occur without the other.

9.   Quotation A) is cacophonous to represent the speaker’s distraught feelings of the day coming to an end.

10.  B) The onomatopoeia of “flap” expresses the movement of the bug’s wings and the consonance of “stinks” and “stings” suggests the strength of the bug’s power.

Othello: #3

“As I am an honest man, I thought you had/ received some bodily wound. There is more sense/ in that than in reputation. Reputation is an idle and/ most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost/ without deserving” (II. iii. 285-289)

            Iago is Shakespeare’s perfect villain. Iago is a puppet master of sorts. He comes across as a good guy, but his purpose is to ultimately screw over Othello. He is such a good liar that not one person suspects any foul play. Iago blatantly states, “I am an honest man” (II. iii. 285), when the audience knows for certain that that cannot be farther from the truth. Everything that comes out of Iago’s mouth is a lie. He lies to Roderigo, Cassio, Othello, Desdemona, Emilia, and everyone else except the audience. No one will know that Iago is behind all of the mischief until it is over. In this passage Iago tells Cassio that his reputation does not matter. That is not only a lie, but it is quite ironic as well. Iago’s masterful plan came about because of his jealousy of Cassio. Iago wanted Cassio’s position and for everyone to see him as noble and important; Iago wanted a better reputation, yet tells Cassio that reputation does not matter. Iago has gotten himself strung up in so many lies that I predict it will eventually hurt him. This play is a tragedy, so obviously someone or multiple people will die. I think that Iago will no longer be able to distinguish from the truth and his skewed hopes for the future will only hurt himself.

Sound & Sense: Chapter 12

·         Rhythm: any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound

·         Stressed Syllable: given more prominence in pronunciation than the rest

·         Rhetorical Stresses: used to make our intentions clear

      ex) “I don’t believe you” vs “I don’t believe YOU”

·         Poetic Line: unit that creates pauses in the flow of speech

·         End-Stopped Line: the end of the line corresponds with a natural speech pause (period, semicolon)

·         Run-On Line: the sense of the line moves on without pause into the next line (no punctuation at end)

·         Caesuras: pauses that occur within lines, either grammatical or rhetorical; varies the rhythm of lines

·         Free Verse: nonmetrical poetry in which the basic rhythmic unit is the line, and in which pauses, line breaks, and formal patterns develop organically from the requirements of the individual poem rather than from established poetic forms

·         Prose Poem: short composition having the intentions of poetry but written in prose rather than verse

·         Meter: the identifying characteristic of rhythmic language that we can tap our feet to (the pattern that sounds follow when a poet has arranged them into metrical verse); 3 basic units: foot, line, stanza

·         Foot: basic unit of meter that consists of one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables, or no unaccented syllables

·         Line: same as poetic line, but metric lines are measured by naming the number of feet in them (monometer, dimeter, trimeter, etc.)

·         Stanza: consists of a group of lines whose metrical pattern are repeated throughout the poem

·         Metrical Variations: call attention to some sounds because they depart from the basic metrical pattern

·         Substitution: replacing the regular foot with another one

·         Extrametrical Syllables: added at beginnings or endings of lines

·         Truncation: the omission of an unaccented syllable at either end of a line

·         Scansion: the process of measuring metical verse, that is, of marking accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the lines into feet, identifying the metrical pattern, and noting significant variations from that pattern

·         Expected Rhythm: the rhythmic expectation set up by the basic meter of a poem (silent drumbeat in your mind)

·         Heard Rhythm: the actual rhythm of a metrical poem as we hear it when it is read naturally; conforms to or modifies the expected rhythm

·         Grammatical Pause: a pause introduced into the reading of a line by a mark of punctuation (also known as caesura)

·         Rhetorical Pause: a natural pause, unmarked by punctuation, introduced into the reading of a line by its phrasing or syntax (also known as caesura)

The Stranger: Outline

Thesis: Society noticeably critiques the issues of death, religion, and the justice system in The Stranger. Camus comments on these inherent issues by focusing on how society reconciles a meaningless world with meaningful life.

I. Society is expected to follow specific rituals in association with death.

            A. “You know, your mother’s friends will be coming to keep vigil too. It’s customary” (9).

            B. “Then I felt like having a smoke. But I hesitated, because I didn't know if I could do it with Maman right there. I thought about it; it didn't matter. I offered the caretaker a cigarette and we smoked” (8).

            C. “For a second I had the ridiculous feeling that they were there to judge me” (10).

            D. “they will conclude that a stranger may offer a cup of coffee, but that beside the body of the one who brought him into the world, a son should have refused it” (91).

            When Mersault does not wish to see his mother’s body at her wake, he is harshly judged. There are certain traditions that society follows regarding death and mourning, and if one does not follow them, they are shunned for their insincerity. Everyone is puzzled as to why Mersault acted so strangely at his mother’s funeral. Camus focuses on everyone’s obsession with Mersault’s lack of appropriate behavior. Camus believes that they should not search for meaning where there is no meaning to be found.

II. Religion and faith in God is essential in one’s acceptance by society.

            A. “After a short silence, he stood up and told me that he wanted to help me, that I interested him, and that, with God’s help, he would do something for me” (67).

            B. “He told me that he believed in God, that is was his conviction that no man was so guilty that God would not forgive him, but in order for that to happen a man must repent and in so doing become like a child whose heart is open and ready to embrace all” (68).

            C. “He said it was impossible; all men believed in God, even those who turn their backs on him. That was his belief, and if he were ever to doubt it, his life would become meaningless” (69).

            D. “‘You do believe, don’t you, and you’re going to place your trust in Him, aren’t you?’ Obviously, I again said no. He fell back in his chair” (69).

            It is socially accepted to believe and worship God. In fact, when Mersault claims to not believe in God, the magistrate reacts as if he has never heard anything more foul in his life. He cannot comprehend why Mersault does not believe in God, but more importantly why he killed a man. Once again, Camus points out that society attempts to construct meaning in something that is meaningless. If Mersault does not know why he did something, than no one else can construct meaning in his life.

III. Camus exploits the justice system by showing that the world is not inherently meaningful.

            A. “My lawyer raised his arms and pleaded guilty, but with an explanation. The prosecutor waved his hands and proclaimed my guilt, but without an explanation” (98).

            B. “What I can say for certain is that I would rather Maman hadn’t died. But my lawyer didn’t seem satisfied. He said, ‘That’s not enough’” (65).

            C. “‘Here we have a perfect reflection of this entire trial: everything is true and nothing is true!’” (91).

            Mersault has no rational explanation for killing the Arab. Although he speaks up and tells he judge that he never intended on killing him, no one regards hiscomment. The prosecutor continues to construct a meaning within the murder when there is no inherent meaning at all. Because they cannot just accept the fact that Mersault killed a man with no intentions, the authorities continue to construct their own explanation of the murder.

Stranger: #5

“My lawyer raised his arms and pleaded guilty, but with an explanation. The prosecutor waved his hands and proclaimed my guilt, but without an explanation” (Camus 98).

            In the usual courtroom scene, the truth prevails. The justice system is always successful and the correct person is always punished. Therefore, the average person can take comfort in the fact that we live in a world that is just and fair. However, in the courtroom scene in The Stranger, Albert Camus undermines this idea of justice. He believes that it is irrational and silly, just as he believes in the absurdist philosophy. The absurdist philosophy states that the efforts of humanity to find inherent meaning will ultimately fail and are absurd. This philosophy is clearly portrayed in the courtroom scene. Mersault has no rational explanation for killing the Arab. Although he speaks up and tells he judge that he never intended on killing him, no one regards hiscomment. The prosecutor continues to construct a meaning within the murder when there is no inherent meaning at all. Because they cannot just accept the fact that Mersault killed a man with no intentions, the authorities continue to construct their own explanation of the murder. This explanation is based off of false assumptions, so the story becomes so twisted that it points to Mersault committing the murder premeditated. If the courts were not focused on always finding an answer to the “why” question and they just accepted confessions as they were, they would not waste as much time and actually try the defendant fairly.