World Literature IIRenaissance to the Present

Dr. Michael Broder

University of South Carolina

February 2, 2012

Daily Write #8

Scholar Leonard Prager writes, “It is not strange that few people remember the Clown in Othello. He appears twice, speaking a total of about a dozen lines, and is not especially humorous. Most critical discussions of the play simply ignore the Clown.” How would you explain the clown’s function in Act 3 of Othello?

Upcoming Assignments

• 2/7 Shakespeare, Othello, Acts 4 & 5

• 2/9 Molière, Tartuffe• 2/14 Molière, Tartuffe

Work and Play

• Plays are called plays because they involve playing = pretending = imagination = having fun

• We think of play as the opposite of work• But does a play do work?• “The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the

conscience of the king” (Hamlet, 2.2.599-600)– Hamlet is trying to provoke is uncle Claudius to

show some sign of guilt about killing Hamlet’s father

Horace (65-8 BCE), Ars Poetica, 333-4

Aut prodesse volunt aut delectare poetaeaut simul et iucunda et idonea dicere vitae.

Poets wish either to profit (prodesse) or to delight (delectare) or at the same time (simul) to say things both pleasant (iucunda) and suited to life (idonea vitae).

The Mary PoppinsTheory of Literature

“In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and snap! The job’s a game.”

Horace’s Maxim in the Renaissance

• The idea of pleasure and instruction in poetry resurfaces– Sir Philip Sydney (1554-1586)– John Dryden (1631-1700)– Other Renaissance writers throughout

Europe

• By this time, however, Horace’s either/or has become an emphasis primarily on moral instruction

The Defence of Poesy (1583)

[The poet’s] effects be so good as to teach goodness, and delight the learners of it… [T]herein – namely in moral doctrine, the chief of all knowledges – he doth not only far pass the historian, but for instructing is well nigh comparable to the philosopher.

Sir Philip SidneyThe Defence of Poesy (1583)

Different Works, Different Plays

• Is teaching goodness/moral doctrine the only “work” that literary “play” can do?

• What other kinds of work can literature do?

Mary Poppins and Shakespeare

• How well does Mary Poppins’ theory describe the combination of work and play in poems, stories, plays, etc?

• How well does it describe Othello?• What is the “job that must be done”

in Othello?• What is the “element of fun” in

Othello?

Some Questions about Iago’s Motives and

Actions• What’s the point of trying to turn

Brabantio against Othello?• How would this help Iago displace

Cassio and rise in rank?• Does Iago only develop his plot to

frame Desdemona for adultery after his earlier plan fails to tear Othello and Desdemona apart?

Back to Bahktin:Carnival vs. Satirical

Laughter• Carnival laughter = grotesque bodily

functions are associated with fertility and the subversion of authority– Democratic, anarchic impulse

• Satirical laugher = grotesque bodily functions are associated with sterility and the breakdown of traditional moral values– Autocratic, authoritarian impulse

Could we analyze Othello in terms of carnival versus satirical laughter?

Carnival vs. Satirical in Othello

• For example, the “beast with two backs”– Rabelais uses the image to celebrate the

fertility of the relationship of Grandousier and Gargamelle• Subversion of authority?• Democratic, anarchic impulse?

– Iago uses the image to condemn the sterility of the relationship of Othello and Desdemona• Breakdown of traditional moral values?• Autocratic, authoritarian impulse?

Upcoming Assignments

• 2/7 Shakespeare, Othello, Acts 4 & 5

• 2/9 Molière, Tartuffe• 2/14 Molière, Tartuffe

World Literature IIRenaissance to the Present

Dr. Michael Broder

University of South Carolina

February 2, 2012