Back on Track: Othello, Act 3

Yikes, I've been sick for a week. The infamous influenza plague of 2013. I felt like modern-day Lady Lavinia, but I did not die, and Matthew did not leave me for Lady Mary (oh, but  I AM Lady Mary...)
It is evident that the two first episodes of season three of Downton were the bookends to my flu.

Now there is no excuse, so I am back hitting the book. I finished Act 3 tonight and will read Act 4 tomorrow and Act 5 the following day. I need to start reading all my gurus: Harold, Garber, Nuttall, et al.

This evening, as I was driving to and from he TV station to tape my legal segment, I listened to Harold. What struck me again, as I have listened to this lecture several times now this month, is that Desdemona resembles Juliet: she is also a teenager, 14 or 15 years old, and independent thinker, an original soul and a good and loyal individual. I also enjoyed Harold's defense of Othello. Othello has gotten a lot of slack in the last century for being so easily manipulated by Iago. To some critics, that takes away from his character and therefore from his heroic stature. Harold asks us to evaluate him as a military hero, for his valor, his loyalty, his decisiveness, his strength. For me, the jury is still out on big O.

One last note: I was curious to find out how the famous handkerchief makes its appearance and was not disappointed: Desdemona wants to rap Othello's head with it to cure his headache. I had pictured it as a small hankie, but to wrap around someone's head, it is a pretty substancial chunk of fabric. I also liked that it has a berry design on it. Very feminine. I'll try to get one like that, even if it is just to keep it in my underwear drawer (and I'll make sure Iago does not get a hold of it).

Harold points out to Othello's rage, which he believes it has not been equalled in all of literature. Also, he opines that Shakespeare took sexual jealousy to it's epitome in literature, and not even Freud or Proust have conquered its dark corners like our boy William. I like to think my jealousy was also dried out by the suns of my childhood, but sometimes all of us let that monster take hold of us, like Emilia warns.