"But I do think it is their husbands' faults if wives do fall" -- Emilia

Today's class went well. Like I said in class, I didn't want to pass by Emilia's speech because it is so progressive and advocating of women's rghts. Shakespeare gives his female characters few chances to express themselves amongst their male counterparts. In this speech, Emilia describes why she would abuse her husband for the price of all the world. She believes it is a man's fault if a woman does fail him. If men are jealous, strike their women, or give all their money to foreign affairs, then it is their own fault. She wants husbands to know that wives are much like them. They see, smell, and taste as they do. And they feel the bitterness of revenge and the desires that men do. So let them do what they will, but if a woman wrongs her man, it is only because he has taught her so. (Snaps to that. You go girl!)

After that, we watched both film versions and filled out a Venn Diagram for comparison and contrast. Here are some of the clips we watched in class:

In both films, Iago chooses silence in the end, and our main characters (Othello, Desdemona, Emilia, and Roderigo) die in the end. Both films used suspenseful music to heighten the drama of the action, but used different techniques (camera angles, character tone and devlopment, and language) to demonstrate this.

Tomorrow, we'll be working on our final assessment.

DEETS:

In-class:

--Emilia's soliloquy

--Film Compare and Contrast

HW:

--None