Hamlet #1

In the first two scenes of the play, the audience learns of the ghost resembling Hamlet's father and of the grief that Hamlet suffers due to his father's death. Throughout the act one scene two, Hamlet is grieving his father's death, while his mother and Claudius are unaffected by their son's great unhappiness. The queen says to her son: "Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off,/ And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark./ Do not forever with thy vailèd lids/ Seek for thy noble father in the dust./ Thou know’st ’tis common. All that lives must die,/ Passing through nature to eternity" (I.ii.70-75). The queen is telling her son to be nicer to Claudius, and to stop moping around remembering his father. She also tells her son that death is natural, and that it happens often. During Shakespeare's time, death was an mystery and was quite common. Therefore, people did not make such a great deal when one passed. However, this is contrasting to Hamlet because he is constantly upset regarding his father's death, and no one else seems to be affected by the news.

Othello #7

Shakespeare’s play Othello ends with many tragic deaths. In the last scene of the play, Othello, Emilia, and Desdemona all die in result of Iago's evil motives. Othello kills his wife Desdemona because he believes that she was having other romantic relations with Cassio, all which was false. Iago pretended to be Othello's friend, but he was feeding Othello lies about his wife, which lead to Othello killing her after debate. This particular soliloquy from Othello is particularly significant because it shows that Othello can be sympathetic. Earlier in the play, Othello was crazy, paranoid, and out of control due to Iago's mind tricks. Othello believes that killing Desdemona will be morally justified: "Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men" (VI.ii.6). Othello wants to kill his wife partly because he does not want other men to suffer for the reasons that Othello did, and because he is trying to end this reoccurring sin that could possibly happen in the future. In his soliloquy, Othello also discusses how he plans on killing her: “But once put out thy light,/ Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature,/ I know not where is that Promethean heat/ That can thy light relume” (VI.ii.10-13). Othello wants to kill his wife peacefully. This is also a redundant analogy because if he kills Desdemona, Othello I partly killing his inner goodness because Desdemona brought about the goodness in Othello, before Iago brainwashed him with lies.

Othello #6

In this section of Shakespeare's Othello, the relationship between Emilia and Iago is questioned by the audience. Emilia is completely unaware of her husband's devious plan. When talking with Desdemona, she describes a person who is very much like Iago, but does not realize it because the description is negative. She also talks with Othello. She says, "If any wretch have put this in your head,/ Let heaven requite it with the serpent’s curse,/ For if she be not honest, chaste, and true,/ There’s no man happy. The purest of their wives/ Is foul as slander" (IV.ii.16-20). Emilia tries to convince Othello that Desdemona is not cheating on him, saying that God should curse anyone who makes him think otherwise. This shows that Emilia does not know her husband as well as she thinks she does. This is also ironic because in the quote above, Emilia wants God to curse her husband.