In Shakespeare's Othello, psychological manipulation plays a key role in the development of the plot in the play. You have the main character and protagonist, Othello, who is eventually driven mad by Iago telling him false information and convincing him it is true. Iago is a clever man and he uses his cleverness to take advantage of a flaw that Othello has which is his jealousy. Iago's corruption of Othello plays a key part in the play because it leads to the death of himself and others. Othello had no true proof that Desdemona was having an affair but he still believes Iago. This just shows how naive Othello is. Othello also experiences seizures caused by stress and lack of sleep. He just can't believe that Desdemona would do that to him and he is embarrassed at the possible thought of being a cuckold.
On the other hand, Desdemona is going through some psychological problems as well. She lacks feeling of self-worth at this point in the novel because she doesn't known what she did to deserve punishment from Othello. It's a very rational thing to think about as a person in an abusive relationship that what did I do to deserve this? Desdemona and Othello suffer from depression right now because Othello thinks that Desdemona is cheating on him and Desdemona doesn't know why Othello is being so mean and nasty to her.

The men in Othello are more of a focus than the women. They are all, however, very different. The men in this Shakespearean tragedy are all rather powerful. Both Othello and Iago are rather naive in my opinion. Iago was willing to ruin Othello's life just because he did not get the lieutenant job and Othello was willing to kill his new wife without any true evidence of her doing anything wrong, just another man's word. I would consider the male figures in Othello "typical" males because of the way they handle verbal altercations, especially Cassio with the fight at the end of Act II. The men in Othello are looked at as greater people than the women are.
The two main women in Othello are Desdemona, Othello's wife, and Emilia, Iago's wife. I would consider these two young women foils of each other. Desdemona represents the typical wife doing whatever Othello tells her to do while Emilia questions what Iago does which wasn't typical for women of her time. I also found it interesting how when Othello yelled at Desdemona about the handkerchief, she defends him saying that he's just stressed out because of all the things on his plate kind of like what the First Lady would say about the President if they were in a similar situation. All in all, women in Othello are looked at as possessions and aren't equal to men.

Adam and Kate are a newly dating couple from Charleston, South Carolina. The only problem is that Adam is black and Kate is white. Both their parents and extended families do not approve of their relationship so they run off to Miami, Florida to get away. This story takes place back in the 1960's during the Civil Rights Movement so it's understandable why their relationship isn't approved of. David, Adam's bother, lives in Miami which is the reason why the couple moved there. David is the only family member on either side that approves of their relationship.
The problem is that both Adam and David are competing for the same engineering job at a company that makes medical equipment. The company asks the two brothers to create their own model of a wheelchair for pregnant women coming in to the hospital to give birth. Knowing it will interfere with his progress on this project, David informs Adam that Kate has been cheating on him even though this isn't true. Adam somewhat believes his brother and for the next few days, Adam spends most of his time spying on Kate secretly watching her every move. Because of the distraction, David is able to finish his wheelchair and Adam does not complete his wheelchair.
David gets the job and this makes Adam jealous and he stops talking to his brother. On top of that, Adam confronts his girlfriend, Kate, about her supposively cheating on him. In rage, Adam quickly ends their confrontation by breaking up with her. Having no one to go to now, Adam accepts an engineering job in Atlanta, Georgia where he stays and lives the rest of his life in sorrow.

The poem that I chose to blog about is "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd." Obviously by the title, we know that the narrator is the nymph and this poem is her reply to the shepherd. There are a few themes throughout the poem. First, nature is a theme that reminds us that death is all around us. Raleigh refers to flowers fading which further proves his point that death is all around us. Another theme is time. The author refers to seasonal changes multiple times in the poem to further prove his point that we only have so much time. When the nymph refers to young lasting, she realizes that you only have a certain amount of time and you aren't young forever.
This poem is organized into six quatrains for a total of twenty-four lines. Raleigh's use of alliteration really jumped out at me in this poem. He refers to flowers fading, rivers raging, corals clasping. I think Raleigh is just trying to get his reader's attention in order to get his point across. There is also some personification involved by bringing something inanimate to life like rocks and rivers. He says that rivers rage and rocks grow cold.
Starting in the fourth quatrain, Raleigh begins to repeat the word "thy." I think his purpose for doing this to just get his point across and grab the reader's attention. Her response in the end is basically that she would be with the Shepherd if youth lasted, joy had no date, and age had no need. She is trying to tell him that if they could be forever young, could always be happy, and age didn't matter, she would be with the shepherd. Because it is very hard and realistic for all these things to happen, the nymph's response to being with the shepherd is sadly no.

The sonnet I chose to blog about is sonnet 18. Shakespeare starts off this sonnet complimenting the girl in the poem comparing her to a "summer's day." In line 2, he actually says she is better than a summer's day. As the poem progresses, Shakespeare continues to compare the girl to summer. He says she is better because summer goes by fast and her beauty will last forever. In couplet, Shakespeare writes, "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee." The central theme in this sonnet is the woman's beauty will last forever and this gives life to him.
Like all sonnets, this poem is fourteen lines organized into three quatrains followed by a couplet which has two lines. In this sonnet, the first quatrain is meant to compliment the girl. She is compared to all the positive things about summer. However, in the second quatrain, Shakespeare questions summer. He says that it is often too hot and nature can sometimes be cruel. In the third quatrain, Shakespeare states that summer is not eternal and isn't something that should be taken for granted. He writes that the girl's beauty will forever be beautiful and this fuels him to live at the end of the poem in the couplet.
This sonnet is very similar to most of Shakespeare's sonnets because the underlying theme is love. In most of his sonnets, the appearance of the woman or her beauty, does not matter in order to love her. There are a few where Shakespeare does not love the girl because she isn't very beautiful but that is rare. Shakespeare says that for as long as men breathe and see, his love for her lives on forever and gives life to him.