"Please-Please!" (1250). Laura seems to be the sort of mediator between Tom and Amanda. When the reader first meets her, she seems very shy and not like she'll be a big part of the play. Since she has an ailment, she thinks that everyone looks at her in a different light, and a negative light in that. However, as it turns out, she isn't all too shy. She worries often, but she does actually have a personality, and she does have a backbone, at least towards her brother and mom. She knows that they do actually love each other, but she also has to sometimes remind them of that.

"Light clothes an' light food are what warm weather calls fo'. You know our blood gets so thick during th' winter" (1269). From what the reader is told of Amanda, she is from the south. She also always seem to remenice in those times. She recalls often how she had many gentleman callers in one day. So when Jim comes over for dinner, her dialect changes and she begins to have a southern accent again. This can show the reader that she wants to be back in the time when she was young, unmarried, and just meeting new men constantly. She obviously misses those times, and this shows that she hasn't changed much since when she was Laura's age.

"This play is a memory" (1236). One of the central themes of this play is memory. The way Tom chooses to remember it. He says that his mom is crazy and his sister is very shy. But if it were told from another view point, what would they say about him? From how he even portrays himself, he seems rude and selfish and uncaring. This makes me think that he is trying to be an unbiased narrator, or maybe just that he knows how he acts himself. There only seem to be very small memories within the play itself, however.

"[A dance." (pg. 78). So unlike Othello, this play ends in a dance. This ending reminds me of the ending to Monty Python and the Holy Grail (see video). It's like he just gave up towards the end. Where as Shakespeare thought "Eh, they're all married and heck, lets put in a dance" to end his play, the writters of Monty Python though "Eh, let's have them all get arrested" to end their movie. And I can't really blame either of them, because honestly, it's not like I could write anything even close to what Shakespeare did. So in any case, I guess even though it seems like he gave up, it's not too horrible of an ending to a play.

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" (pg 32). This line comes from Jaques. He is the most dynamic character in the entire play. Often times, he often seems to be the protagonist as well. He is called "melancholy" more often then not, but at other times can mock others, and in this instance given, he can be philosophical. He shows how dynamic he is through the entire play. He's never on any one's side per say, but never is against anyone either. He shows that he is a difficult character to understand through the entire play.

"Unless you could teach me how to forget a banished father, you must not learn me how to remember any extraordinary pleasure" pg. 5. This line is about how Rosalind is sad that her father has been banished. Her cousin, Celia, is comforting her, and her father was the one who banished Rosalind's father. This is an example of one of the central themes in the play. That theme being how love can heal another. Since Rosalind is so sad, Celia is doing everything that she can to make her feel a bit better. This example continues throughout the play, and there are more examples with other people later on.

Kesnija Bilbija once said: “Some rumors are entirely true. Others contain grains of truth; still others contain none at all. Plausible or implausible, truthful or false, rumors circulate because people are trying to get to the bottom of a matter. The acceptance or rejection of a given rumor in a given time or place depends on its ability to satisfy this need to understand” (Rumor Quotes). This is the entire truth as to why people feed off gossip so much. Just by hearing one rumor about another person or thing, one’s view of that person or thing can change significantly. Rumors can cause the destruction of relationships as in Othello, or the song “Rumor has it” by Adele, or they can cause an entire stock market to crash within a week. Rumors have been around since the beginning of man, and they will always be here, therefore, rumors are one of the many timeless themes in Othello.

When the stock market crashed in 2008, many at first did not completely understand why. Some assumed that we had put too much money into risky investments, particularly the housing market.  Others thought that we had just finally reached a breaking point in our banking system, especially with loans. In fact, both of these given reasons were true. However, neither of those reasons would have been found or given unless the rumor had begun. In the summer of 2008, a rumor started out of the blue that Bear Stearns, a very profitable and wealthy bank, was losing money rapidly. When confronted, the CEO said that everything was fine, and that they still had plenty of money. However, no one with stocks in Bear Stearns believed them, so they began taking out their money anyway. That was when they actually began losing money, and then the risky loans and banking were found (Inside the Meltdown). This is very similar to how Iago told Othello that Desdemona was cheating on him without actually knowing, and therefore destroying a relationship (III.iii.199).

In the song, “Rumor has it” by Adele, it talks about a girl hearing rumors that her significant other is cheating, but nothing is  ever confirmed. One of the lines says: “Haven’t you heard the rumors?” (Adele). This line is very similar to Othello because he believed something that was never confirmed, as did the girl in the song believe something that was never fully confirmed. The song is also similar to Othello when it says: “All of these words whispered in my ear/ Tell a story that I cannot bear to hear” (Adele). It is similar to when he says: “No, Iago,/I’ll see before I doubt, when I doubt, prove,/ And on the proof, there is no more but this-/Away at once with love or jealousy!” (III.iii.189-192). This means that he doesn’t want to believe what Iago is telling him until it is completely proven true, and even then, he doesn’t want to believe it.

Both of these examples given show that rumors are something that we will always have in life, and they may or may not be true. Regardless, however, people will believe them and act on them as well. It also shows how rumors can effect and change lives forever. With Othello killing his wife then himself, and with the market crash, they both had long term effects even though they had started with a false rumor. Rumors will always be around, and it is up to oneself to determine if they are worth listening to.

The first picture shown is the woman, Adele, who wrote both of the songs in the music video. The second picture is the girl who sings the mash up of the two songs together. I chose this song because I think that the two songs together show both sides of the story. One from Othello's view point and the other from Desdemona's. Othello has only heard rumors as to what is wife has been doing, but never found out what the truth is. He, like the song,Rumor has it" plan on no longer being with their significant other, but obviously in different ways. The second song, "Someone like you" shows Desdemona's view point, where she knows that her significant other no longer has the same feelings for her. The two songs together show a very interesting way of combining both sides of the story.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/rumour-has-it-lyrics-adele.html

http://www.metrolyrics.com/someone-like-you-lyrics-adele.html

"Look on the tragic loading of this bed./This is thy work." V.ii.385-386. Who would have thought? Everyone dies except the bad guy in the end. Othello kills Desdemona then himself. Iago kills Emilia. Rodergio is killed by Cassius, but Iago then tries to kill Cassius. And everyone has melodramatic, somewhat annoying, last words, and they all take hours to die. But it wasn't that bad of a play to be honest, just a little predictable.

"He hath, my lord, but be you well assured/No more than he’ll unswear" IV. i. 20-21. Dramatic suspense is created because the reader knows much more than what Othello, Cassio, and Roderigo know. All three of these men think that Iago is on their side and that he is actually is their friend, but when in fact he is working against all three of them. He is only on his side in the end. The reader knows and understands that Iago has ulterior motives. The reader knows that Iago is working against and around all three of them and only wants to get himself ahead. However, since Iago accomplished what he wanted, he is still working against them because he is already so far into his plan. The reader knows that Iago is manipulative, but the three men do not.

This play is mainly over the time span of a few days. With the exception of travelling to Cyprus from Venice, the play isn't very long. It seems longer, however, because of all the flashbacks and references to what had happened earlier. Also, what is somewhat odd about it is how quickly Othello is convinced that Desdemona is cheating on him. This can  kind of skew how the reader portrays time in the play. Most readers may assume that this would take a few months to process and then act, but in this play Othello decides what he is going to do within the span of a few days. Shakespeare left out the time that they were travelling because it was unnecessary. Overall, the play only lasted a week at most.