Othello Journals:

Chris Tran

Silver Stream

English Benchmark Prompt 1:


That’s not amiss.

But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw,

Now will I question Cassio of Bianca!

(raise his hands up and pound on something)

A huswife that by selling her desires

Buys herself bread and clothes. It is a creature.

That dotes on Cassio, as ’tis the strumpet’s plague

To beguile many and be beguiled by one,

(Walk around, thinking)

He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain

From the excess of laughter. Here he comes,

As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad.

And his unbookish jealousy must construe

Poor Cassio’s smiles, gestures, and light behavior.

(Looking at blank space as though Cassio was there)

Quite in the wrong.—How do you now, lieutenant

at you. I’ll make him tell me the whole story again—,

where, how often, how long ago—

and when he plans to sleep with your wife in the future.

I’m telling you, just watch his face. But stay calm, and don’t get carried away by rage,

or I’ll think you’re not a man.(Now looking at Othello)


In this journal we have to choose one part of a scene in the play of Othello and make director’s edits. These edits gives you the freedom of making the script in any tone of voice that you choose. The target that I was focusing on, during this edit of the line by Iago is the audience. The reason why I target the audience was because I want the audience to experience the amount of anger and hatred that Iago has for Othello.  Here is the reason, why I put a period, is because I want to add a short break to make it more dramatic. In this first line I added a period because I want to add movement during the short break of each lines.The second line added another short break in between the lines so that the characters can have a breath between words and lines. This gives the character a chance to walk around the stage to make this scene more dramatic. So,it would make Iago sound serious. Exclamation points helps the line and the character sound serious, because without it, it would sound plain and the audience wouldn’t know what the expression the character is expressing. During this serious situation, the character’s posture has to be straightforward. Some serious monologues have occasional scenes where the characters express what they are saying by their unique postures and hand gestures. Different movements throughout the breaks between lines helps the audience have the full experience of the emotions of each character. That’s why in this short director’s choice, I choose to add two or more breaks in between these lines.


Benchmark prompt 2:


A couple of important scenes that Rodrigo appeared in:

- When Iago and Roderigo plans to get Othello caught being with Desdemona. (Act one,scene one)

- When Rodrigo was stopping Cassio from getting out of control and got into a fight. (act two,scene three)

- When Roderigo and Iago plans to ambush Cassio. (act 5,scene 1-2)

- When Roderigo got killed and betrayed by Iago. ( act 5, scene 1-2)

In this play, Rodrigo has experience with tons of moments of betrayal. For example on act 5 scene 1-2 he was very collaborative. During that scene he followed the detailed plan that Iago has settled out and went to take his position. The way I see it he is more betrayed than collaborating, because he wasn't there for one large portion of the story. For the part that he was out the plan still carried on only he used other victims like Othello to cooperate with him and help him succeed with his plan.

Well what Rodrigo observed second handed is the plans that Iago has settled out to get revenge on Othello. During the whole book there was no part in the story that showed us that Rodrigo was the leadership type, he was mostly the follower.


Well one way we can understand the character's motivations better is that when you focus on one small part ,you can carefully analyze the character's thoughts and feelings. Their statuses in society can also be an influence of how their future can be in real life or in stories. We can also understand how the character's expressions and actions can affect them in the future.



Benchmark prompt 3:

When he was young, Brabantio have a lot of affections from his parents. When he grew up and got married, he loved his wife just like his parents had taught him. His favorite past time when he was small, until now recently, he loved to go fishing at the creek near his old house. He loves to catch the fishes and release them because he believes that those fishes will soon reproduce to have more offsprings. His affections toward nature was carried in his blood forever. When he had a daughter, he swore that someday he would do anything to protect his baby girl. That love that he had for the nature, influences him to make that promise. On a stormy day, his daughter felt scared when he was there to hug her and comfort her until the storm was over. By the time he was well-known and became a senator. He took his time to write memoirs about his life and how he and his daughter had claimed the world by storm. They are never to be separated no matter what. Thats the type of person that Brabantio is, he is a loving person.


Benchmark prompt 4:


In this journal I wrote about my performance and how my group plans to make our performance stand out. Some of the specific actions,movements,and tone of voice that I have to bring during the performance are some unique emotions because since I play a role of a dad who is losing a daughter to someone I don’t want her to marry I have to sound sad and sometimes I have to be mad and angry. Brabantio has came a long way to lose his daughter like that so he has to act this way. Other movements that I have to bring into the performance is the way I talk to Nomi, who is acting as Desdemona. I have to gesture her over to my side just like any father would command his daughter. There will be two props that I will use throughout the play.One prop is a lantern or a flashlight and another is a cane because Brabantio is an old man so I think he must have a cane. The thing that will make my group’s performance stand out is that we are going to have suspense and action. There is also lots of movements in the scene instead of just standing there and looking into the crowd or audience. Well one thing that both groups of mine agreed to is that we have to have more movement in the stage to make the performance be more eloquent.


Benchmark prompt 5:

“I pray you,hear her speak: If she confess that she was half the wooer,destruction on my head,if my bad blame light on the man! Come hither, gentle mistress: do you perceive in all this noble company where most you owe obedience?”


This quote was one of the 8 lines that Brabantio had in this play. This quote in my point of view is the most important line that Brabantio had said throughout the play. This quote states that Brabantio can’t believe the event that occur to him. He wants to hear the full story to see if Desdemona really married herself to Othello without his permission.Then he said that, if its true then he would not accept it. He would blame Othello for everything that happen. Therefore, he needs to call upon  Desdemona and ask her if she truly love the man. This quote is really important to the story because it shows the fact that Brabantio is too mindful of Othello’s race. He doesn’t want her to marry a Moor. I think he expects her to marry someone that is noble and of an appropriate race. During the play,  I was trying to act like I’m not accepting this marriage. I was acting like a strict parent who disapprove everything that the child is doing. I was trying to put the situation under my control and articulate my thoughts out clearly as possible. I delivered this in a serious sad tone because of the fact that he is getting his daughter taken away from him is sad and also he wants to get this situation straightened out so he has to be serious as well.

Well yes the performance went really well. Both groups that I was in proved that they placed their best foot forward and performed their best. The way I planned it was just exactly like the actual effort and outcome of the performance. Well what I’m most proud of is that both groups’ scenes were really intense because of the way we planned was really well-planned and executed. Then also the point of that I memorized all of my lines are one of the things that I was proud of.  What I could have done differently in my performance is the costume. Most of the groups has costumes and I really don’t have anything. If I could have a chance to do the performance again. I would definitely bring a costume. After performing the play, this play has changed my whole understanding of the Shakespearean text. I learned that I can always act the part out if I really don’t understand it. Also the performance influence me to not be shy anymore and be more expressive more.


Comments