Term 4 WK1: Othello Pre-Reading Research Activity

1.     Venice

Venice is located in northeast Italy. In the 16^th century the Venetians were at war with the Turks which are also now as belonging to the Ottoman Empire. Venice also had a critical population drop around 1575-76 due to the plague. Venice after losing Crete to the Turks it turned instead to becoming one of Europe’s most popular tourist attractions and an important musical center. In this time several manufactures helped boost Venice’s economy including silk, wool textiles, Venetian glass, sugar, soap textiles. Venice had once been known for their monopoly of spices but they were no longer because of the Portuguese, but art flourished in Venice instead. The relationship between Venetians and the Turkish was a poor one as they were at war in this era, the reason for their conflict was to control the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean Sea was an important asset in the 16^th century as it was the international center for trade especially as many products were imported from Asia to Europe by sea. 

Map of Venice

2.   Cyprus

  

Cyprus is an island in the Eastern Mediterranean Sean, East of Greece, south of Turkey and north of Egypt. It was the 3^rd largest island in the sea. Cyprus was considered value to conquerors as it represented an important trade center in Europe. The Ottoman Empire’s conquest of Cyprus coincided with the gradual stagnation of the Near Eastern economy due to the discovery of the Atlantic trade. The politics of the countries nearest to it were tense as Venice and the Turkey were at war. Cyprus is approximately 2100 kilometres away from Venice in Italy.

Map of Cyprus and Europe

 3.     Moors

 Moor refers to the descendants of Islamic Arabic inhabitants of North Africa who conquered Spain in the eighth century. The majority had dark coloured skin.Moors originated from North Africa, they lost their land and weren’t in rule in any country. They migrated to Europe and they were forced to hide their religious identities and many were forced to turn to Christianity. The religion associated with moors was the Muslim faith.

4.   Turks.

 The Elizabethan attitude to foreigners in general was that they were to be mistrusted. They were seen to be outsiders like ‘alien’ race. 

 5.     Epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a diverse set of chronic neurological disorders characterized by seizures. The symptom associated with is long term recurrent seizures. People who suffered from Epilepsy in the 16^th century were view as outcasts; they were shunned from society as doctors in this time still did not understand what it was. In the 16^th century it was thought that Epilepsy was contagious to others causing the victims to be seen as nearly not part of society at all. Epileptics are vulnerable to certain conditions which could possibly render a seizure including alcohol, flashing or flickering lights, emotional stress and sleep deprivation.

Class Writtig Task on Othello - Tuesday 16th October

Othello says of himself he is “one not easily jealous but, being wrought, perplexed in the extreme.” I he correct or is he deluded?

Othello is deluded as his thought of himself is that he is “one not easily jealous...” when his jealous rage controls him to make aggressive accusations of his dear wife Desdemona of being unfaithful. Iago plants a web of lies in Othello’s mind that his wife is having an affair with Cassio, Othello’s jealously drives him to trust Irgo more than his wife. Iago plants ideas in Othello’s mind and when he confronts his wife he refuses to hear or believe her side of the story. The thought that his wife might be having a affair with is most trusted lieutenant made him wrought with anger and jealously. He quickly is able to accept that his wife is having an affair, even though Iago has little evidence or proof that this is the truth.Othello is deluded that his own words about himself and jealous to be false as it is his green-eyed temper that leads him to suffocate Desdemona.

Pride and Prejudice: How important is the character of Mr Collins?

In the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen the character of Mr Collins is reasonably important as through characterization of him the truth behind other characters . Austen has positioned the reader to view Mr Collins in a negative light but still with a comical air surrounding him. The reader observes him to be silly, ridiculous, pride filed through his long speeches where he states many formalities which have absolutely no meaning. Mr Collins talks highly of those of a high class then himself in order to make himself seem elevated in society. He continuously refers to Lady Catherine DeBourgh, but in this association he demoralizes himself. This high admiration Mr Collins has for Lady Catherine allows the reader to see the irony in it revealing her true character which is demanding and she believes she can order anyone around. An example of this behaviour is when they are invited to dine with Lady Catherine and Mr Collins tells Lizzy that, “do not make yourself uneasy, my dear cousin, about your apparel...i advise you merely to put on whatever of The reader is positioned to dislike Mr Collins more as he is the next male in line to inherit Long burn once Mr Bennet dies, this causes a frustration in the reader about the expectations and rules about women’s rights during this time. Mr Collins wishes to marry one of the Bennet sisters to lessen the burden of entailment; he becomes especially interested in the second oldest Bennet sister, Lizzy. His interest to marry Lizzy becomes an additional key point in his importance in the novel as when he proposes to Lizzy she refuses as she finds him a creep. Mr Collins is a reasonably important character in the novel as through his comments and speeches the true character traits of other characters are revealed.

Pride and Prejudice: Elizabeth Bennet

Elizabeth Bennet is the protagonist in the novel, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She is referred by her close friends and family as ‘Eliza’ or ‘Lizzy’ and is the second daughter out of 5, she is considered the favourite daughter by her father and the least favourite by her mother. Her character qualities include that she is lovely, clever, quick witted. The reader is positioned to admire her strong opinions, independence and wit. Elizabeth overcomes the conventions of her class-bound society to find romantic happiness with Mr Darcy. Along the way she has to push aside the society pressures of finding a husband, she rejects Mr Collins as she does not love him. This rejection of his offer as she refuses to marry unless she is in love would be an appealing character trait to many readers who would relate this.  Even though at the beginning of the novel she has a mistaken impression of  Mr Darcy as a rude, overly proud but as the novel progress she realises her inaccuracy in her initial prejudice against Mr Darcy as he is actually a man of noble character.

Short Story Rationale (rough idea) - The Boxer

The aspects of journey that I will be exploring in my short story are physical and inner journeys. The protagonist of the story is a young boxer who joined the Jimmy Sharman boxing tent to learn how to defend himself. The setting is the return to his home town for the local show. The Boxer has learnt about himself though the many fights he has had. The concept of journey in my story is that life is a circle and you have the option to either repeating the journey or going down different path. I will represent the concept of journey in the story through having a linear structure and the setting will be in the boxing ring. The techniques used will be a flashback to the boxer’s childhood and imagery of the boxing ring. The attitudes unpinning the story that is you have control of your own journey.

My Daddy's a Diver Short Story Review

My Daddy’s a Diver meets the short story genre requirements well except in a few areas, an example being that it is only written from one perspective and it doesn’t have a balance of showing and telling in the story. The story does meet many of the short story genre requirements, one being that the story is based within a 24 hour period. Another example is that it has a restricted setting which is the ocean and their home. The story was a restricted number of characters; the father, the daughter and the fish. The purpose of the story is to evoke feelings of love, loss and companionship. The story connects on an emotional level with the reader, the emotions it arouses in the reader are sadness, pity, hope and love.  An example of how the uses language effectively is “lifting its seal he let the seawater in, bathing his face, easing the sadness,” this effectively shows how strongly the dad feels about the loss of his wife and the burden of grief he has been left with. The values that underpin this text are love and the importance of having a partner to share your life with. The type of journey evident in the story is inner journey.  This is shown by the realization of the father from the death of his wife that there can be hope and redemption of the new life and love from his daughter.  The story is very effective as it has strong imagery of loss but loss is also represented in the killing of the fish’s companion. The story also is effective as it shows the value of love one has for their partner in life and that love is such a previous thing and must be cherished.

Unpolished Gem Homework Part 3 – What does this section say about “Journey”? Justify your response by referring to the text and quoting from it.

In the third part of Alice Pung’s novel, Unpolished Gem it represents the concept of ‘Journey’ through the text as it highlights the physical journey and also shows the inner journey they take as well. In the beginning of this section, Alice describes her family’s achievement of finally having their own ‘great Australian dream’ come true and how her family see immigrants who just arrived in Australia starting to take their own journey. Alice refers the ‘Great Australian dream’ in this section which is the desire to own a large house and to have decent or well paying job.  Alice’s family in the section seem to have ended their journey in reaching their ‘Great Australian Dream’ as they are moving into their new house. The physical journey conveyed in this section  is the physical moving into their new house, which also has  inner journey aspect of making their dreams come true from when they first moved to Australia. Alice subtly conveys the aspects of inner journey in this section by using several different angles. Many layers of meanings are shown  in her inner journey, example from the text being, “Gone were the days of where a one-dollar plastic brown vinyl coat a birthday present from the government.” This sentence from the text makes the reader look deeper back through her life, like how her family were once immigrants to Australia and how their attitude has changed since then. Alice and her family watch new immigrants arrive like they did once before, but they feel pity, guilt, resentment and have a different understanding. They now understand how to integrate into society by trying to remove the stereotype about Asian’s and peasantry and how they have lost the amazement they once had. Another angle of inner journey Alice expresses in the text is about the pressures she had as a child to be successful for her parents as they work so hard for Alice to have a better life. The text shows this pressure Alice feels as a child, “parents killing themselves with dangerous chemicals just so you can live a comfortable life, there no comfort within” (p.136). This section explores the physical and inner journeys Alice’s family have been through to build their life in Australia.