Othello Video

I decided to try and make my video a little more "education-oriented" by using a bulletin theme. You can view it here.

Story of My Research Paper

This research paper has been a process definitely. :) I chose to research Othello because it is a play that is commonly taught in high schools. Since I am planning on teaching in high schools, it seemed like a natural fit. As I started to research, my ideas were very basic. I was dealing with the themes of the text, but it wasn't anything extraordinary. My updated "proto papers" lacked "pizzazz."

This is when social proof became very applicable (read my post about social proof here), and one thing that an old English professor said really struck me. She talked about Shakespeare as a great psychologist. Then Ian made a comment on one of my blog posts that encouraged me to address the needs of my students through Shakespeare. 

I started thinking that the characters in Othello go through similar situations (although to varying degrees) as high school students, and so I started to explore psychology as an avenue to Shakespeare. This was something that I was a little nervous about at first, because I have a very limited knowledge of Shakespeare, but it became very exciting. 

I went through all the normal stages of revision, a working draft, realizing that I needed more critical sources, and lots of edits. Then I arrived at what I thought was a work of art. When I met with Dr. Burton, he alerted me to some flaws in my paper that needed to be fixed. "Fixing some major flaws" turned into cutting over three pages of my paper. I realized that I was trying to address too many things at once, and so I focused my thinking and ended up with a much better paper. 

I am planning to submit my work to an Undergraduate Shakespeare Conference. I was in contact with the organizers a few weeks ago, and I am planning to do some follow-up with them and get my paper submitted. And like the rest of the class I will be submitting my paper to BYU's Scholar's Archive.

Learning Outcomes

Gain Shakespeare Literacy
I think the class structure contributed to gaining a breadth of knowledge. The plays we read as a class were good, and I think it was a good idea to have each member of our class read a different play for the research unit. Although I wouldn't consider myself an expert on each of the plays my classmates read, I have definitely been exposed to more than I previously had been, and I have an interest in furthering my study through more extensive reading. The research paper helped me reach a greater depth of understanding of Othello, and see its value in multiple venues (just for pleasure reading for educators, for psychology, for students, etc.). I appreciated being able to watch multiple films during the course of the semester, because I think that I understand plays more easily when I am seeing them. This class also gave me an opportunity to view other adaptations of plays I had previously seen. The large focus on digital literacy has also helped me to see the huge impact that Shakespeare has had on popular culture. It was fun to see Shakespeare references appearing on Facebook once I started looking for them. His influence is everywhere!

Analyze Shakespeare Critically
I think the research paper obviously was meant to address this Learning Outcome, and I feel like it fulfilled its purpose doing that. My research paper helped me look at major themes in terms of my English Education major, which was something I have never done before, but I think it was applicable and useful for me. It also allowed me to look at criticism in other fields that can be applied to Shakespeare.
I also think the film adaptations we watched helped. I have been asked to do a film analysis on a play in previous classes, but it was helpful to receive specific guidelines on what to look for when analyzing film.

Love's Labour's Lost: Live from Shakespeare's Globe

I love that the library has the "Films on Demand" resource available to us! I also am glad that the Globe makes these recordings available. I now have a very strong desire to visit the Globe. It was so fun to see the theater in person instead of just described. I loved all the interaction between the actors and the audience. I knew that there would be some interaction because of what I had already heard, but I underestimated the extent. I loved the deer especially. When the deer was shot and the actor carrying the puppet made it fall down, it was funny to watch the reactions of the audience members who were close by. The actors were constantly running in and out among the audience members and it was fun to watch.

I also loved the arrangement of the stage. It is a very unusual shape and at one point there were two actors who were standing on either side of the little gap talking to each other. It was so funny to watch the audience members go back and forth watching. I think that if I ever go to the Globe I would rather be on the ground than in a box. I think the experience would be much more rich.

This play is hilarious. The actors do a great job at sticking to the original language, but also keeping the performance current. Their movements/dances were current (as Jessica mentioned in her post) and their use of the stage was so entertaining! The stage had very little on it, and so it was left to the performers to create the environment and feeling. They did a great job and had great movement on the stage. Their movements were very large and expressive, something that you have to do on a stage like that (and in a venue like that). I also really loved the different accents of the performers. I was expecting everyone to sound British. :)

I think watching this play gave me a better appreciation for the play than I would have gained just reading it. I will definitely be using this website to watch more Shakespeare films in the future!

Othello Paper (finally)

I feel like this final paper should he heralded by trumpet fanfare. If you feel the same way, please celebrate with me and the London Fanfare Trumpets... :)

I have two avenues that I am working towards with my paper. They are both conferences. One is the Undergraduate Shakespeare Conference that I mentioned in a previous blog post under the potential venues section. This conference would take place at Holy Cross University in Massachusetts next spring.

Another option is the Wooden O. Symposium through the Utah Shakespeare Festival. There are several levels of presentation, including an undergrad section. Although Othello is not one of their featured plays, they still accept work on some of Shakespeare's "classics."

And in case you were dying to read it, which I know you are, you can read my paper here.

What I Needed Most to Make My Paper Great

So this post is supposed to be about whatever it is that we need most to get our papers to where they need to be. I feel really good about my use of social media (comments are still coming in occasionally) and although I am still waiting for a response from the conference directors, I feel good about that avenue.

Most of the work that I have been putting in over the last few days is to find scholarly research that supports what I am doing. I found a few articles that are about adolescent psychology. One of them is about how the way teachers perceive students can affect their behavior. I thought that article was interesting and could tie in to what I am researching. Just as teachers can affect their students, those in authority positions affect the characters in the play, whether those authority figures are parents, rulers, etc. Another interesting article I found tied in psychology to Macbeth. I haven't finished reading it yet, but I have high hopes!

Making Progress with Othello

Response to the initial draft

One thing that was consistent in several comments on my draft was that I would do well to get input from students who are currently studying Shakespeare. I am thinking about how I will do that, but I am going to try and solicit help from my younger sister and her friends who are in high school. Several people commented on my social proof aspect, and I am going to continue to work that in. Dr. Burton suggested that I look more into if any research has been done (for example, the Ophelia Syndrome). I have narrowed my research problem down to be looking at the extent that the study of Shakespeare deals with adolescent psychology. I am really excited to see where this goes.

I was talking to one of my friends today and bouncing my ideas off her. We started talking and she asked me (in a very surprised way), "Wait, you're a Shakespeare enthusiast?"and then we just started talking. Even though she didn't give me specific ideas, it was fun to see her get excited about my topic. I expected her to be less than interested than she was. Before today I definitely felt more comfortable sharing my ideas with people in the class, because I knew that it was safe. Everyone else was doing the same thing, and so I wasn't hesitant to seek feedback. But talking to Karen gave me a new sense of excitement. If someone who isn't interested in Shakespeare thought my ideas were interesting, I bet other people will too!

Social Proof

I was very surprised at the amount of feedback I received when I posted my ideas. My Facebook post about my thesis received a like and three comments, which was fun. I was also pleased to see that the people who responded to my post were engaging with each other. My cousin and my friend were validating each others' ideas through likes and comments, which was fun to see. Also, thanks to Jessica from our class. :)

What I was really excited about though, was the response I received from my old English teacher from high school. I was a little worried that I wasn't going to get a response, but I have been able to share ideas with her. One thing she said changed my research question a bit. She was writing to me about how Shakespeare is one the best psychologists. When she said that I thought that psychology was interesting and so I changed my research topic to focus a little more on how Shakespeare's works can apply to adolescent psychology. This is an angle that I was not planning on taking, and it is moving into a realm that I am unfamiliar with, but I'm excited. Any tips would be appreciated!

I messaged my teacher back to see if I could post our conversation on the blog, I will keep you all updated. Meanwhile though, I have enclosed a funny conversation I stumbled upon that illustrates the importance of teaching Shakespeare. We need to have a basic knowledge of Shakespeare if only so we can understand pop culture. My favorite though, is the comment that talks about the importance of "Shakespear." Oh no...

Making Shakespeare Appealing

This is the working draft of my paper. As I continue to work, I am hoping to bring in more textual analysis and also some psychological studies about the research that is being done on the psychological and social needs of adolescents. I know it isn't perfect, but it provides a decent framework of where I want to go as I continue to research and write.

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Mallory Brugger

Dr. Burton

English 382

5 November 2012

Making Shakespeare Applicable

            Shakespeare’s Othello contains many lessons that are applicable and important for secondary students to understand. Lessons like trust, honesty, and communication are important at every stage of life, and especially important during the formative years of middle and high school. As well as being valuable and instructional to students, educators would do well in becoming comfortable with these themes and the emotional needs that their students have.

            Teaching Shakespeare in schools is important for many reasons. One reason is because Shakespeare is so prevalent in pop culture. I was on Facebook the other day and witnessed the following conversation: “Dad: ‘To be or not to be; that is the question.’ Zach (little brother): ‘Wasn’t that Yoda who said that?’” This conversation alerted me to a disconnect that exists between these “mysterious words” and their source. At least the younger brother was aware that there was some significance to the words. That’s a start. And if the disconnect wasn’t bad enough, the first comment is, “oh sad day… need to set that kid down with some Shakespear!” “Shakespear” without an “e.” It seems like the woman who commented also could have used some Shakespeare knowledge under her belt.

Revised Thesis Statement and Annotated Bibliography

Thesis Statement:

In his works Othello, Hamlet, and _______, Shakespeare addresses universally applicable themes such as communication and trust that are important for secondary students to understand.


After some thinking and reading comments on my last post, I have decided to focus my research on teachings secondary students about honesty and communication by using Othello and other Shakespeare plays. I am not familiar with many of Shakespeare's works however, and so would love feedback and some guidance from those who read plays with themes that could apply. I also am struggling a little bit to make my thesis argumentative, and would love to hear any thoughts/ideas. I want to explore these themes in two or three (I think too many more than that would be too large of a task) of Shakespeare's plays as well as explore the concept of how things are not as they seem ("honest Iago," for example).

Annotated Bibliography:
Social Graph
There are a few people that I think would be good to keep in contact with as I move forward on my research. One of them is my brother, Steven. We are close in age, and so have grown up together and have always bounced ideas off of one another. Another person is my friend Emily, who is an English major at another university. A third person is one of my favorite high school English teachers Dianne Madsen. She might be hard to get a hold of, but she would be a great resource.

I am on both Facebook and Twitter. I don't use Twitter as much, but I think I can work harder on that network because it is such a good way to reach out to a wider audience than Facebook.

"Honest" Iago

My paper is on Othello. I am going into English Education, and so I want my paper to be on something that will be applicable as I try and teach Shakespeare to secondary-age students. Othello obviously deals with themes that I don't necessarily want to discuss in my classroom, but I think that there are points that I can draw out that could be helpful. Below are a few ideas that I have been playing with.

1: With few exceptions, Iago is always referred to as "honest Iago." Using this phrase is an act of justification for the characters, as many times the characters refer to Iago this way they are involved in some action that they are unsure about. This mentality is a "Freudian slip" of sorts, and the characters are looking for a way to view their own actions as honest.

A few potential passages to look at: (pages referenced are from the Dover edition)

• pg. 36 Cassio is concerned about his good name, Iago refers to himself as honest
• pg. 26 Cassio decides to go to Desdemona and says "I will beseech . . . [her] to undertake for me
• pg. 40 Iago says he will get Othello "out of the way" so Cassio can be with her

• It also could be worthwhile to look at some psychology studies and find information on the "Freudian slip" idea.