Othello Test - Tragic Vision

The "tragic vision" of the play, Othello, is also the irony of the play. Iago's motives cause all of the tragedy within this play. Although Iago got exactly what he wanted, his plan came back to bite him; "Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims..." (Frye) For instance, Desdemona's tragedy was that she did nothing wrong, for it was Iago that planted the seed in Othello's head causing Desdemona's death. Desdemona's death then led to Othello's death. Even Iago directly caused Emilia's suffrage, for she was merely an innocent bistandard who also did nothing wrong. These are the tragedies present within Othello ultimately leading to the "tragic vision" of the play as a whole.

#11

What makes love so complex?

I believe one of the things that makes love so complex is that we all feel we have to have it. We all feel like love is imperative in our way of life and that without it, we're missing out. Another reason might be is that no one really knows exactly what it is, yet half the time love kills people. I bet "love" is the most common reason for suicide. Well that, and depression. I'm really not sure what else I can say about love. It's too complex, and I'm merely a teenage girl. I'm not supposed to know about love.

"Love makes you do crazy things. Insane things. Things in a million years
you never thought you'd see yourself do. There you are doin' it. Can't help it."

#10

Write about one or several difficulties in growing-up and about being a teenager in general. What are some of the paradoxes, the pathos of being a teenager, and/or the difficult lessons you may have had to learn--or may still be learning.

Being a teenager, you're in limbo between childhood and adulthood. You feel like you need to act more mature and responsible, yet there is still that urge inside of you to wrap a blanket around your neck and jump off of the roof with your friends. You want to succeed in highschool, you feel like you need to do extremely, over-the-top, excellent with your school work. You want to do well, but you also want to be able to go out with your friends and have a social life, but you also feel like you need to spend time with your family, etc. There are so many things as teenagers we feel we need to do. Also, we, as teenagers, still are unsure of how to think of our parents. Being suspended between childhood and adulthood, we are also suspended between believing that our parents are these supreme beings that could never ever be wrong, and believing that they are human beings just like the rest of the world, and that they can make mistakes. Some of us have already learned that our parents are just regular people, but others of us, much like myself, still have a hard time believing that our parents can and will make mistakes and it's not that big of a deal.

#9

The Ellison Family

My mother, Terrie, and my father, Mike, are in their 18th year of marriage. I am their only child. Though we don't eat dinner as a family regularly, or take family vacations, the three of us have a pretty good relationship with one another. One thing that I find strange about my mother is the fact that she grew up just down the street from where we live now, yet she has one of the most southern accents I've ever heard. For example, she pronounces the word 'wash' as 'worsh', and the word 'one' as 'own'. One quirk about my father is that he is majorly obsessed with Indiana Jones. In our living room there is a life-size statue of Indiana Jones. He has crafted various artifacts fromo the movie series out of things like clay and cardboard. I can't even try to count the number of fedoras (the type of hat "Indy" wears) he owns. My parents relationship with each other, is basically normal. They hug and are affectionate toward each other. They spend time with one another. Of course there is the occasional argument here and there.
Also there is my grandmother, Margie. Margie is what I call her. We have the best relationship of all. She is my mother's stepmother, yet the two of us are more alike than my mother and I. I try to be sure I take her out to dinner at least once a week. Ever since my grandfather, her husband, died, the two of us have gotten closer than ever. I feel like I can tell her anything. But have you ever heard of those old ladies, often referred to as "crazy cat ladies"? Well.. meet Margie. She's less crazy, more just.. cat lady. You can hardly ever see her without one of her many cat-affiliated sweatshirts. She has many cats at home, and she also goes out every morning to help feed feral cats and dogs around her neighborhood. But hey, you do what you like, and you like what you do.

#8

"After all the discussions in class about Oedipus, Harold Crick and the seemingly endless circle of fate and responsibility, what do you walk away with knowing, understanding, doubting, or wondering?"

Well I've always wondered whether or not things happen for a reason. I still can't figure it out. I'm not even going to worry about it though. There doesn't have to be an answer. I think I'm just going to go with my belief, which seems to be a lot of other people's beliefs, that your freewill controls your fate, and your fate controls your freewill. So in all actuality there is neither. There is only you, your person, your mind. Fate is nothing but wanting to have something to rely on or to blame. If you do something you weren't supposed to do or something that was wrong to have done, you can just say that it was your fate. You can just say that what you did happened for a reason. That way, if you do something right, or correctly you can just say that you were using freewill and that what you did had nothing to do with your fate. If that makes any sense. Your life is your responsibility. Therefore, what you do in your life is also your responsibility. So doesn't it only make sense that if there really is fate, then your fate is your responsibility. If your fate is to kill your father and marry your mother, those are things you're doing yourself. Yeah it sucks, but what can you do? Oedipus didn't know what he was doing. But what if you put the situation outside of the fact that he was told his prophecy and outside of the fact that it was his mother and father. Would you not say that it was his responsibility that he killed a man? Would you not say that it was his responsibility that he married a woman and had children? That is just how I look at this whole fate vs freewill thing. That's why I like sudoku.

#7

The Ultimate Question: Do you believe that you have a freewill, or do you believe in fate?

I'm not sure why, but this is a difficult question for me to answer. I've always looked at the situation as being that you are your fate, so in a sense, isn't that freewill? I don't believe that things are decided for me, no, but I do somewhat believe that everything happens for a reason. I guess if I had to choose, I would pick freewill, because you can do something unexplainable, that had a good outcome but that doesn't mean it was predetermined that you were going to do that, but that also doesn't mean there wasn't a reason you did it, even though it wasn't intended.. If that makes any sense. Partially why I've put off answering this question for so long is because my mind keeps contradicting itself. Freewill. I choose freewill. That doesn't mean I'm right. I could be completely wrong. Of course everyone could be completely wrong. No one knows.. No one will ever know, not until they're dead at least. You, yourself go to the grocery store to buy a carton of milk. Skim milk.. because you ran out last night and you want a bowl of cereal. Rice Krispies cereal. You can't have rice krispies without milk.. milk's the whole point!! snap, crackle pop.. okay so you go to the grocery store right, because you need to so you yourself are doing it on your own. That's freewill. But that's not to say that your freewill isn't predestined. Is it? I should probably get some sleep..

#6

Live a long life, but remain known only to a small group of people..

ORRRR

Live large, die in my early twenties, but be insanely famous for the next 1,000 years..

If I had to pick between the two, I would definitely choose to live a longer life. I want a family, I want grandchildren, I want to see what happens to the world as I progress through life. I don't need to be known by everyone. As long as I'm famous to the people I love, that's all that matters. Dying early is not worth fame, especially if I'm not going to be alive while I'm famous.
I didn't have to think about this choice very hard. Sure, we all want to be famous at one point, but having a family is ten times greater than any fame or fortune. In the words of Forrest Gump, "Thats all I have to say about that."