Literary Theory: Weekly Response 5

"Othello, like the culture that produced it, exhibits a conflation of various tropes of conversion -- transformations from Christian to Turk, from virgin to whore, from good to evil, and from gracious virtue to black damnation."
- Daniel J. Vitkus, Turning Turk in Othello: The Conversion and Damnation of the Moor, page 145

"If virtue no delighted beauty lack, / Your son-in-law is far more fair than black."
- William Shakespeare, Othello, Act 1 Scene 3

What is the most significant parallel (mentioned in Vitkus' work) exemplified in the above quote from Othello?

Vitkus, in my opinion, makes an impeccable point about Othello in that there are numerous transformations, or parallels in the play. In this part particularly, the main parallel being made is between gracious virtue and black damnation. It is explained that despite the good qualities, bad triumphs. Much like in the other transformations, everything in the story that transforms is going from a light, positive end of the spectrum to the negative side of things.

Literary Theory: Weekly Response 4

"In the peculiarly concrete vividness with which those two naked bodies on the bed are made to flash out of the darkness of uncertainty onto the screen of Othello's fantasy, this becomes a moment of rhetorical discovery -- a counterpart to the physical discovery of 5.2."
- Michael Neill, Unproper Beds: Race, Adultery, and the Hideous in Othello, page 401


"Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm!
It is hypocrisy against the devil.
They that mean virtuously, and yet do so,
The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven."
- William Shakespeare, Othello, Act 4 Scene 1

What discovery (mentioned by Neill) is made because of this scene?

This scene is basically saying that to lie naked in bed together without doing anything would be like tricking the Devil into thinking they were going to sin, but then not following through with it, ultimately tricking God too. This, along with the reappearance of the handkerchief, unravels the discovery that Desdemona has a hidden part of her symbolizing impurity and lies.

Literary Theory: Weekly Response 3

"Abuses, curses, profanities, and improprieties are the unofficial elements...such speech forms, liberated from norms, hierarchies, and prohibitions of established idiom, become themselves, a peculiar argot, and create a special collectivity, a group of people initiated in familiar intercourse who are frank and free in expressing themselves verbally."
- Stallybrass and White, The Politics and Poetics of Transgression, page 28

"'That is all very proper and civil I am sure'," said Mrs. Bennet, "'and I dare say she is a very agreeable woman. It is a pity that great ladies in general are not more like her. Does she live near you, sir?'"
- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 14

Because Pride and Prejudice exemplifies the importance of propriety as opposed to the liberated speech forms mentioned by Stallybrass and White, is its overall meaning, like the writing itself, restrained?

When the dialogue in a story is more "liberated", as Stallybrass and White discuss, the story itself is more lax and easy to read, for the most part. For many people, the easier a story is to read, the more consumed they become and the deeper the connection they ultimately make with the story is. In a story such as Pride and Prejudice, where propriety and norms are greatly emphasized, limiting the free reign of the text, readers have to strain a little harder in order to comprehend what the author is trying to convey. While curses, profanities, and improprieties liberate the text and help the reader connect to the way the story is being written, I'm not so sure an impact is really made from one extreme to the other as far as understanding the point of the story goes. For me, though the prose of Pride and Prejudice is restrained, the meaning of the story is still very clear. Despite the conviction of the composition, it is still possible (and not even extremely difficultly so) to analyze the text and form an understanding of what Jane Austen is trying to express in her story. I think that the biggest difference between writing with improprieties present and writing with a lack of them is simply the way the reader connects to the story, not the way the reader understands it.