Emilia’s Role

Throughout the play of Othello, the character of Emilia goes through an important change. At the beginning of the play her character is very weak but as the plot thickens, her character shows herself to be strong.

Emilia starts out as an insignificant character. She is very simple and does not ask questions when he husband asks her to do things. At one point Iago, her husband, asks her to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief. Emilia knows that this handkerchief is important to Desdemona because Othello gave it to her as a gift. “I am glad I have found this napkin, / my wayward husband hath a hundred times/ Wooed me to steal it, but she so loves the token/ and give it to Iago. What will he do with it/ Heaven knows, not I. / I nothing but to please his fantasy” (3.3.297-306). Emilia admits that this is a strange task but does it anyways without questioning.  Stealing from her lady without having a reason does not paint Emilia out to be strong or caring.

As the play progresses, Emilia starts standing up for herself and standing up to Iago. Her feelings toward her husband change and she is no longer willing to do everything to please him. She even talks about cheating on her husband because she says that husbands cheat on their wives and why should the standards be different. She does not openly disclose whether or not she has cheated on Iago but she hints that she would. In the last act of Othello, Emilia shows herself to be strong and caring for Desdemona. She tells everyone what her evil husband did, even though Iago is screaming for her to shut up. “No, I will speak as liberal as the north. / Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,/ All, all cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak” (5.2.233-235). Emilia defies him and tells everyone that is was he who poisoned Othello’s mind and caused Desdemona’s death.  

                The development of Emilia’s character from weak to strong is significant. She is the one who opens everyone’s eyes to the truth. If she was not able to grow and stand up to herself and also for Desdemona, Desdemona would have died with people thinking she was unfaithful. This makes her growth as a character very significant.

Excessive Behaviors in Twelfth Night

                In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, there are certain characters who display excessive behaviors. Count Orsino demonstrates excessive love, Olivia displays excessive grief and Sir Toby shows excessive drinking. All of these characters act in a way that is more than normal for the average being, and it makes their characters very annoying.

                Count Orsino claims to be madly in love with Olivia. Instead of simply stating his love for her and trying to gain her love in return, he sulks in his home listening to music and day dreaming. “If music be the food of love, play on;/ Give me excess of it, that surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die. / That strain again!”(1.1.1-4). He is acting like a fool by spending all his time thinking about Olivia when she does not feel the same way for him. His surplus of love is annoying to witness.

                Another character who demonstrates excessive behavior is Olivia. Her brother has recently died and understandably she is in mourning. Any normal person would be upset and may spend time mourning. Olivia takes this to the next level. She decides to cover her face and not show it to anyone for seven years. “The element itself, till seven years’ heat, / shall not behold her face at ample view” (1.2.25-26). Seven years for the death of her brother. It is admirable that she is willing to do this for her brother but it is extreme. She is overreacting and it is annoying to witness her unnecessary behavior.

                Sir Toby also demonstrates excessive behavior. He enjoys drinking to an excess. This makes him an annoying character that has no respect for others. These characters all display excessive behaviors that are entertaining in the play, but in reality they would be very annoying people to spend time with. Their behaviors show that they are very self interested and car about themselves over anyone else.   

Shallow Love in Twelfth Night

In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, there are many different characters who claim to be madly in love with another character. The love displayed in this play is very manipulated by shallow physical attractions. There are three people who change their affections quickly due to physical motives; Olivia, Orsino and Sebastian. This fast change of love proves that love in this play is shallow.

Olivia’s love is superficial because she claims to love Cesario, but when she finds Sebastian, her feelings change.  She shifts her love from Cesario to Sebastian within a matter of minutes. Even though she believes that Sebastian is Cesario, someone who is truly in love should be able to tell who they love.     

Orsino’s love for Olivia is also shallow. His love switches quickly to Viola when he figures out that she is a woman. This is comical and hypocritical of him because at the beginning of the play he claims that his love comes from within and women are incapable of loving that way.  His switch of love is awkward because he thought that she was a boy for so long and now he is going to marry her. This proves that Orsino’s love for Olivia is shallow because he goes back on his word to love her and switches to Viola. Sebastian’s love for Olivia is also shallow. He marries her simply because she is wealthy and beautiful.

                The love displayed in Twelfth Night, is not true love but rather shallow love. Olivia, Orsino and Sebastian all exhibit this superficial theme by either falling in love quickly or changing their affections quickly. This shallow love makes one question the realistic quality of this play. If love is so quickly shifted, how can it be true?

Malvolio: The Butt of Everyone's Joke

The character Malvolio is an annoying square in Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night. He is the steward of Lady Olivia’s house and the other members of the household do not like him. Sir Toby, who is Olivia’s uncle, is a drunk and loves to laugh and party. Maria works in the house as well and likes Sir Toby. The two of them together decide to torment Malvolio and his party pooping ways. This household dynamic is like elementary school children who pick on the one who is a rule follower and tattle tale.

                At one point, a few people in the house are up very late drinking and carrying on and Malvolio comes in to break up the party. He threatens to tell Lady Olivia on Maria if she gives them any more to drink. “Mistress Mary, if you prized my lady’s favor/ at anything more than contempt, you would not give/ means for this uncivil rule. She shall know of it, by/ this hand” (2.3.120-23). This is the classic example of a tattletale threatening other children. He is such as square that it makes him extremely nervous to be around or witness people drinking and disobeying house rules.

                Because Malvoio threatens to ruin their fun, Maria, Sir Toby and Sir Andrews decide to pick on him and play a practical joke. They know that Malvolio loves Lady Olivia, so they decide to fake a note from her to him to make him believe that she loves him as well. When Malvolio receives the letter he is extremely excited and makes a fool of himself in order to receive Lady Olivia’s love. This makes one feel sorry for Malvolio. He is the little rule follower who no one likes and who is making a fool out of himself for nothing but his enemies’ enjoyment. He is the butt of everyone’s’ joke but he is not aware.

Meddling Parents

Throughout Hamlet, parents like to meddle in their children’s business and try to know everything going on in their lives.  They feel the need to control their children and spy on them if they are not able to figure out themselves. Polonius meddles in both of his children, Ophelia and Laertes’ lives and Gertrude and Claudius meddle in Hamlet’s life.

Gertrude and Claudius enlist the help of two of Hamlet’s friends to spy on him and figure out what is wrong with him. He has been acting strange and they know that he will not speak to them so they bribe his friends to gather information for them. “To draw him on to pleasures and to gather, So much as from occasion you may glean, Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus/ That, opened, lies within our remedy”(2.2.15-18).  Claudius asks his friends to figure out what is bothering Hamlet.

As for Polonius, he is the king of meddling. When Laertes leaves to go to Paris to study, Polonius sends a spy to ask about him and figure out what kind of mischief he is in. He enlists Reynaldo to travel to Paris and get information on his son. “Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth./ And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,/ With windlasses and with assays of bias/ By indirection find directions out”(2.1.62-65). He wants him to lead people into giving up what his son has been up to, whether it is going to brothels, drinking too much or gambling. He doesn’t have enough trust in his son to ask him so he must meddle and send in a spy. Polonius is also very meddlesome in Ophelia’s life. He treats her like she is a child and makes her tell him everything about her love relationship with Hamlet. She gives her father the love letters that Hamlet writes her and tells her father everything about Hamlet’s actions.

The parents in Hamlet are very meddlesome in their children’s’ lives and sometimes go about finding out what is going on in a sneaky way. Many children would feel an invasion of privacy and angry if they found out that their parents were using spies to track their actions and decipher their moods.

Helena’s Missing Backbone

In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the character Helena is extremely annoying. She is hopelessly in love with Demetrius, a man who not only doesn’t love her back, but in fact despises her. Demetrius is in love with Hermia, one of Helena’s friends.

Demetrius makes it very clear to Helena that he does not love her, but she still follows him around like a little puppy. In one scene in the play he is telling her to stop following him and she responds by telling him she is his spaniel and that he can beat her but she will still love him. “And even for that do I love you the more. / I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, / The more you beat me, I will fawn on you” (2.1. 203-305). Her love is completely hopeless. Her character has no backbone at all! It is said earlier in the play that he once told her that he loved her, but once he met her friend he changed his mind. This guy is a total jerk! He led one girl on and then dropped her quickly as soon as he found a prettier one. Helena should see this. She needs to grow a backbone and call him out for what he has done to her, but instead she allows it and degrades herself.

It is hard not to feel a little sympathy for how pathetic she is, but at the same time she whines all the time and it just gets annoying. Helena’s self confidence and respect has been shattered and she makes no attempt to build it again. “No, no, I am as ugly as a bear; / For beasts that meet me run away for fear./ Therefore no marvel though Demetrius/ Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus” (2.2.100-103). She is so pathetic that she gives excuses for Demetrius’s actions, saying that she is so ugly that she does not blame him for running away. This much whining gets very annoying and it is hard to feel sorry for her.

Helena, simply put, does not have a backbone. She cannot stand up to a jerk that has used her and ran away and ignored her. She needs to get some self respect and stand up for herself and stop acting like a little puppy. It is very pathetic and obviously not working out for her.         

Overlooking Women

While reading Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, I found it interesting how women were completely overlooked and pushed aside. There are only two women in this play, each has a meaningful roles. They each attempt to console and protect their husbands from the danger that they feel is in the future.

Calphurnia is the wife of Caesar and her role is very important. Calphurnia has a dream one night, and in the dream it spells out the impending destruction of Caesar. “She dreamt tonight she saw my statue, / Which, like a fountain with a hundred spouts, / Did run pure blood. And many lusty Romans/ Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it“(Act 2. Scene 2. 76-79). Here Caesar is explaining to Decius the dream she had. He makes her out to be a silly woman who had a bad dream, and is taking it too far. The moment Decius gives Caesar his opinion of what the dream means, Caesar dismisses Calphurnia and states that he is ashamed that he ever considered her fears. It is interesting here because Calphurnia is clearly worried about her husband, and is begging him not to go. He brushes her off very easily not knowing that if he would have listened to her, he would not be murdered that day.

The other female character who is disregarded is Portia, the wife of Brutus. Being the ideal wife that she is, she asks her husband to confide in her and tell her what is bothering him. “Tell me your counsels. I will not disclose ‘em/ I have made strong proof of my constancy/ “(Act 2. Scene1. 300-301). He refuses to confide in her and this causes her a great sadness that eventually leads to her suicide. It is important for everyone to talk to someone and work out moral dilemmas. Brutus does not realize the importance of companionship and ignores Portia’s requests.

These women could have significantly changed the lives of Caesar and Brutus if only they were not overlooked and in fact given a second thought. This aspect is why I found these interactions to be so interesting.