This past week in class we had to finish reading Sir Gawain and The Green Knight and begin reading The Tragedy of Othello. In part 4 of Gawain, the Green Knight spares Gawain from decapitation and tells him the reason why he went to Camelot. I think that Gawain can be classified as a brave war hero because he demonstrated courage and bravery in going to meet up with the Green Knight to be decapitated. If Gawain wasn't a hero he would have just accepted the guides offer to leave and the guide wouldn't tell anyone about Gawain leaving and not meeting up with the Green Knight. I think that part of why Gawain is so brave is that he is a warrior and he has to chivalrous no matter what, its a code of honor by which the people of Camelot lived by and if he wasn't chivalrous he would be frowned upon on if they found out. I don't know if they talk about this in the story, but i noticed that the Green Knight swung 3 times to Gawain meaning that he took one swing for each day that he was in the castle and the way he comported himself. On the third swing the Green Knight nicked Gawain's neck for not telling him that he received a girdle. In class Mr. B told us to look out for the "3's" in the story and that was one of them.
In act 1 of Othello we learn that Iago is helping Roderigo in trying to get Desdemona, which is Othello's wife. When I started reading the story and read that Iago was helping Roderigo, a rich man, get Desdemona I thought to myself that it sounded too good to be true because of the reason that Roderigo was rich. I think that Iago's reason to help Roderigo was only for money, but then Iago says that he is doing it because he wants to get back at Othello for giving Cassio a position that Iago deserved because he was more experienced. Later in the story in act 3, I think, we learn another reason for why Iago is doing what he's doing and its because he thinks that his wife, Emilia, slept with Othello. The point I'm trying to say is that Iago just states reasons for why he is doing what he is ding but I think that he is just messed up in the head and that he only wants to see people burn. In class today we were talking about the Joker and said that Iago is similar to him and I agree because when I read about his reasons for doing what he was doing I thought he was insane and imagined him to look like the Joker. I also think that maybe he wasn't always crazy, maybe something happened in his life that made him turn that way, maybe it had something to with the wars or battles that he fought in.
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I don't think we talked about it in class, but I agree with your analysis of why the Green Knight swings three times at Gawain.
ReplyDeleteIt's always interested me why Iago does what he does. Different actors use different motivations and it makes for very interesting versions of the play.