Othello: Stop saying Otello it makes you sound pretentious.
Mariel: I apologize. Othello, I understand you to be a very busy man. Thank you for your time.
Othello: Yes, what with my duties in the Venetian army and my constant surveillance of my wife, Desdemona, "the cunning whore of Venice" (4.2.87-89).
Mariel: You seem to have a very negative opinion of your wife. What caused you to feel this way towards her?
Othello: I know her to be seeing other men... intimately. She has always thought herself to be too good for me, I just know it. She's far younger, richer, more educated... Oh woe is me!
Mariel: Speaking of education, what kind of education did you receive in your homeland? Do you ever study AP English?
Othello: Well, considering I come from North Africa, where the language is predominately Arabic, and I work for the Venetian government, who speak Italian, I have absolutely no experience in the English language. I do not even know how we are speaking to each other.
Mariel: .... Right. Well, surely you enjoy reading, of course? We read some fascinating books in AP English 11 that I'm sure you would enjoy.
Othello: Oh really, peasant! What kind of books do you speak of?
Mariel: The first book we read was Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, a black woman living in early America. I'm sure you can sympathize to her plight---
Othello: Oh, because I am dark of skin! Granted, I do know the pain "Of being taken by the insolent foe/ And sold to slavery," but that seems to be all anyone talks about, my Moorish descent! It drives me mad. (1.3.136-137).
Mariel: Again, I apologize. I seem to be offending you quite a bit today....
Othello: "I will chop her all to messes!"(4.1.202).
Mariel: You certainly seem to have a violent side... much like Dick and Perry in Truman Capote's novel In Cold Blood.
Othello: This Dick and Perry you speak of... what crime did they commit?
Mariel: They murdered an entire family in quite a brutal fashion.
Othello: Fascinating... did the family wrong them in some way?
Mariel: No, and I guess that is the most puzzling part of the story--they did not know the family at all, they just killed them.
Othello: How depressing! Why would you read such a novel?
Mariel: That's a good question. Now that I think about it... ALL of the books we read in AP 11 were depressing in some way.
Othello: Thank God I didn't take that class. My life is upsetting enough as it is.
Mariel: True that, Othello. Well, I am very sorry to hear about your wife. I hope everything works out for you two.... But it won't.
Mariel I greatly enjoyed this blog entry. I think you forgot to give a shoutout to our homegirl Cupcake La'Vette Brown. I completelty understand that you did not include her most likely due to the fact that you are still trying to rid your memory of our Cupcake Brown video production. The funniest thing is that after all of the depressing novels we read, I had hoped that the vibrant cover of our book would match the content inside. Cupcake seemed to have turned her life around, so maybe she will come out with a happy sequel so that we can read something happy for once!
ReplyDeleteI like that you started this off with an allusion to "Sassy Gay Friend," because it is all I can think about when I start going over Othello quotes. I also appreciate that someone besides me chose to study Othello for the AP test! Since I'm so cool, I guess that makes you a little bit cooler by association or something. Anyways, your depictions of the violent and impatient Othello prove quite humorous, and I very much enjoyed your interview.
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