Madison's Commonplace Blog

As I was reading sonnet 116, I really enjoyed the phrase, "love is not love/which alters when it alteration finds." I am confident that I have so much to learn about love, but this  I know to be true. Real love is unconditional. Real love remains constant, even when everything around it is changing. I think that Desdemona exemplifies this well, as she continues to assert her love for Othello even as the world around them comes tumbling down and Othello renounces every bit of love he ever proclaimed for her. I think it's also important to recognize that this definition of love doesn't just apply to romantic love. In my relationships with my roommates, parents, siblings, leaders, and friends, I would do well to remember that even amid disagreements or challenges, my love for these people remains. If my love is conditional upon good circumstances or perfect everyday life, or even being loved back, then it is not true love. Real love does not ask for anything in return. R...

After reading only one scene about Sebastian and Antonio in Twelfth Night , I was able to get the sense that these are good, loyal people. A large part of that discovery comes from Antoni's final words in act 2, scene 1: "But come what may, I do adore thee so/That danger shall seem sport, and I shall go" (2.1.46-47). I love the sense of loyalty that I get from Antonio's words. If I had barely survived a shipwreck, I do not think that I would immediately decide to go marching off toward somewhere dangerous and filled with enemies. However, as the good and true friend that he is, Antonio decides to follow Sebastian into Orsino's court. I think that often, I am not this excellent of a friend. If my schedule is busy or life feels chaotic, my first inclination is not always to reach out to my friends. I am self-focused, and I do not always echo this refrain, "but come what may." I think this is a great lesson, and I want to be better about following Antonio...

 I was completely captivated this phrase Sebastian used while describing his sister: "she bore a mind that envy could not but call fair" (2.3.28-29). We live in a world that tries to convince us that looks and appearances are everything; if you are beautiful, you can have it all, and if you are not then you do not have any worth. As I read this sentence, I was reminded of something that stuck out to me while reading Elder Holland's How Do I Love Thee  speech given at a BYU devotional, which we were assigned to read for my Shakespeare class a few weeks ago. In it, Elder Holland presents the idea that because there are certain qualities we cannot control (ex, wealth or how we look), it is all the more impressive when we handle well those qualities that we do have control over (ex, kindness). I love this quote from Sebastian, because he is teaching us that beauty and outward appearances are only trifling and temporary. Rather, what matters most, and what we will be remembere...

It's always the stars that get me in poetry. Poets talk of the ocean and the mountains and forests with endless green, but the stars  always hit a little bit different. So of course, when Orsino told Viola, "I know thy constellation is right apt/For this affair," I was immediately drawn to this phrase. Substituting the definition for "thy constellation" found in the Folger edition of Twelfth Night, this phrase reads something like, "I know that the stars that govern your success have shaped you for this task." I love the imagery that this phrase brings, the idea that there is something greater watching over us. This reminded me of a quote from Joseph Smith that I love: "If you live up to your privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates." This world that we live in is so often filled with confusion and heartache and wondering why  things are so hard and  how  they could get better and when life will finally slow down...

 The first time I read this phrase, I did a double-take and look at the footnote to understand the meaning. Toby refers to the sadness that has "plagued" Olivia with the passing of her brother, and then says, "I am sure care's an enemy to life." The meaning of the word "care" here isn't the same as we might use it today; it is synonymous with "sorrow" in this case. Essentially, Toby is explaining that sorrow prevents us from the happiness that we hope to find in life. However, I have to disagree. Dwelling on sadness and sorrow is not  healthy - certainly we should do what we can to keep an optimistic attitude and look for the good things in life. However, without sorrow, we would never be able to experience the happiness and joy that we so desperately seek in this life. We learn this in the scriptures: there must  be an opposition in all things, because without the bad we would never appreciate the good. The moments in my life that have s...

 In the middle of all of the chaos of the final scene of Othello , Othello says something that I found quite profound: "But why should honor outlive honesty?" (5.2.293). Despite the fact that Othello has just killed his wife, despite all of the disorder that is surrounding him at this very moment, Othello makes this interesting observation that people are often known for being honorable for much longer than they are actually honorable. Once again, this ties into the theme of outward appearances, though in a different way. I think that I often do good things to impress people or make a nice show of being a good person, rather than out of a desire to actually love those around me. This is a good thing for me to consider when I go about trying to serve: am I doing this for their sake, or for mine? Am I doing this to be an honorable person, or to have the reputation of being honorable? It's interesting that Othello makes this observation when it is too late; after he has kill...

Before doubt creeps in. Before tragedy strikes. Before love is lost. Before any of the wreckage begins in Othello , we get one of the most beautiful lines from Othello about Desdemona: "For she had eyes, and chose me." I think this is what all of us want. We want to be seen , and not for our outward appearance, not for what makes us better or worse than other people, not for our accomplishments, but for what makes them human. We all yearn for somebody who will see us as we are and embrace and love all of it, and that's exactly what Desdemona did for Othello. She heard his tragic backstory, saw the scars on his skin, recognized the years of good and bad in his eyes, and fell in love with it all. I honestly like to picture Othello as somewhat unattractive. Not horribly ugly or repulsive, but also not somebody who would ever be expected to catch the eye of somebody as high-ranking as Desdemona. And yet, she looked past what she saw on the outside, and she chose him for what ...

There are many instances when I am grateful to be reading the Folger editions of Shakespeare's plays, such as when I have no idea what a word or phrase means, and the side notes kindly help me understand what in the world I just read. I am particularly grateful for these side notes when they help me understand a beautiful phrase which I wouldn't have appreciated otherwise. When I came across Othello's declaration (speaking of Desdemona) that, "And when I love thee not, chaos is come again," (3.3.101-02) I somewhat understood it the first time. I understood this to mean that Othello's life would be chaotic and wrong if Desdemona was not in it. However, reading the side note was what made me truly fall in love with this phrase. The side note explains that "in classical mythology, only love prevents the universe from falling back into primordial chaos." With this new understanding, I realized the depth of what Othello is saying here; his expression of l...

I guess outward appearances have been on my mind a lot lately, because that's a theme I've been noticing throughout Shakespeare recently. One such example comes from Othello , when a gentleman is reporting on Cassio's arrival to Cyprus and the hope that Othello will similarly arrive safely. He says, "But this same Cassio, though he speaks of comfort/Touching the Turkish loss, yet he looks sadly/And prays the Moor be safe, for they were parted/With foul and violent tempest" (2.1.34-37). The military has just received the wonderful news that the Turkish fleet has been sunk by the storm, and yet despite this great cause for celebration, what is on Cassio's mind? The fear that his friend might be lost to the same storm. I think that this is part of the reason why Othello's eventual distrust of Cassio is so painful; they are such good friends at the beginning of the story, friends who care about the safety and wellbeing of one another, and all of that gets comp...

By act 1, scene 3 of Othello , Brabantio's life is quite different than he probably imagined it would be when he had gone to bed that night. After waking up and finding out that his daughter had married without his knowledge, and now standing in front of the duke, trying to prove that his daughter must not have truly deserted him, Brabantio has many reasons to be pessimistic. And yet, when the duke brings up the idea of smiling in the face of something hard or tragic, Brabantio can't help but agree with him, saying, "We lose it not so long as we can smile" (1.3.242). This small exchange between the duke and Brabantio fascinates me, because both men are on the verge of losing something they value very much - the duke worries about losing to the Turks, and Brabantio worries about losing to Othello. However, despite their worry, both the duke and Brabantio agree that one who doesn't stop smiling is one who is not truly defeated. This is a lesson we hear over and over...

 When Othello arrives safely at Cyprus, his joy at seeing Desdemona, and her joy at him in return is quite a happy scene. As they call out and run to each other, Othello cheerfully says, "If after every tempest come such calms, may the winds blow till they have wakened death" (2.1.201-02). The contrast between Othello's fear during his dangerous travel to Cyprus and the joy he feels at seeing Desdemona once again is one that makes Othello appreciate his wife more than he would have if his journey had been perfectly smooth. This idea of valuing something more when it is lost (or almost lost) is found in both Othello  and Much Ado About Nothing , and yet these plays conclude with completely opposite endings. It seems almost like they demonstrate this idea in reversed ways from one another: in Much Ado About Nothing , Cassio does not appreciate his love for Hero until he thinks she is dead, but then is joyful when he finds out she is no. In Othello , Othello knows his love f...

 This line comes from dialogue between Emilia and Desdemona in Othello . They are discussing Othello's recent and unexpected anger towards Desdemona, but even as the two discuss the idea of how Desdemona might have been better off if she had never seen Othello, Desdemona expresses that she still loves Othello: "My love doth so approve him/That even in his stubbornness, his cheeks, his frowns... have grace and favor in them" (4.3.20-22). Even though Othello has hurt Desdemona for something that she is not even guilty for, Desdemona cannot forget her love for him, because she truly loves him. I think this shows a critical difference between Othello and Desdemona; Othello, believing Desdemona to be unfaithful only because of rumor, acts brashly and rudely towards Desdemona. Desdemona, on the other hand, has a substantial, tangible reason to be angry and upset towards Othello, and yet the love she has for him doesn't simply diminish as a result of his anger. I think this ...