One Jump Ahead
A picture of Iago, from Walt Disney's Aladdin
"And what's he then that says I play the villain?
When this advice is free I give and honest..."
-Taken from William Shakespeare's Othello, A2S3 Lines 316-317
I've gotta tell you guys, I went and bought a copy of Othello and read three acts of it today. My favorite Shakespearian play is Hamlet, but Othello is becoming a fast favorite of mine.
People often make the connection between Shakespeare's Hamlet, and Walt Disney's The Lion King, as there are several distinct similarities between characters in both mediums, and the story is very much similar. As for reading Othello, "honest" Iago reminds me entirely of the characters Iago and Jafar from Aladdin.
But, as we all know, Iago isn't quite so honest in Othello. I'm only through the third act, but Iago has done all sorts of terrible things to both Cassio and Othello. Iago is quite possibly the most manipulative character I've ever read about in any work I've ever had the good fortune to read, and I must says his scheming reminds me very much of Jafar's attempt to overthrow the sultan in Aladdin, though I'm sure that's slightly more than coincidental.
I plan to read the rest of the story after writing this blog, and I don't want to ruin the novel for anyone who may not be where I am right now, but I will say that I'm quite excited for our discussion tomorrow, and I feel this work is much easier to understand and comprehend in its entirety in comparison to the first two pieces of literature that we've taken up in reading.
As for a link worth taking some interest in, I did some reading on Wikipedia on the Moors, as it is our connection from our focus on Middle Eastern literature to the play we're reading.
The link can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moors
There's an extensive amount of reading to be done there about many aspects of what being a Moor actually means. I hope you have time to read it!
I can't wait to discuss all of this with you tomorrow and see what you all think on your blogs this evening.
Shalom!
Dan
People often make the connection between Shakespeare's Hamlet, and Walt Disney's The Lion King, as there are several distinct similarities between characters in both mediums, and the story is very much similar. As for reading Othello, "honest" Iago reminds me entirely of the characters Iago and Jafar from Aladdin.
But, as we all know, Iago isn't quite so honest in Othello. I'm only through the third act, but Iago has done all sorts of terrible things to both Cassio and Othello. Iago is quite possibly the most manipulative character I've ever read about in any work I've ever had the good fortune to read, and I must says his scheming reminds me very much of Jafar's attempt to overthrow the sultan in Aladdin, though I'm sure that's slightly more than coincidental.
I plan to read the rest of the story after writing this blog, and I don't want to ruin the novel for anyone who may not be where I am right now, but I will say that I'm quite excited for our discussion tomorrow, and I feel this work is much easier to understand and comprehend in its entirety in comparison to the first two pieces of literature that we've taken up in reading.
As for a link worth taking some interest in, I did some reading on Wikipedia on the Moors, as it is our connection from our focus on Middle Eastern literature to the play we're reading.
The link can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moors
There's an extensive amount of reading to be done there about many aspects of what being a Moor actually means. I hope you have time to read it!
I can't wait to discuss all of this with you tomorrow and see what you all think on your blogs this evening.
Shalom!
Dan
posted by Dbrim at
8:24 PM
3 Comments:
Hey, Dan, I just read the Wikipedia article on Moors you put up and I found it very interesting and informative. I notice not only the more specific definition of "Moor," but also the fact that the word "Moor" was used in broad sense to mean any Arab, not just someone from the Magreb. Oh, and I love the connection with the film "Aladin." More on that soon...
I mean "Aladdin."
cute picture :) The comparison of Aladdin's "Jafar" and Othello's "Iago" is dead on. Good thinking!
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