Weekly Response Two

“The passing from excessive praise to excessive invective is characteristic, and the change from the one to the other is perfectly legitimate.  Praise and abuse are, so to speak, the two sides of the same coin.  If the right side is praise, the wrong side is abuse, and vice versa.”

-         Literary Theory page 690

IAGO: “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram

Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise;

Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,

Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you.

Arise I say!”

-         Othello (1.1.85-89)

IAGO: “Nay, but he prated

And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms

Against your honor

That, with the little godliness I have

I did full hard forbear him.”

-         Othello (1.2.7-11)

Question: Is this two sided coin, the continual change between praise and insult, always necessary in order to get where one wants to be? Can it truly be called legitimate to change from one to the other with no qualms?

The first of my quotes from Shakespeare’s Othello are said by the character Iago, the first quote speaking to Brabantio about Othello and the second speaking to Othello himself. Iago switches so easily from speaking poorly about Othello, calling him “an old black ram,” in reference to his race, to speaking to him as if they were best friends.

It’s a known fact that nearly everyone does this. People today are either naturally two-faced or just easily gain this trait through interaction with modern-day society. Either way, I think it’s despicable. Yes, Iago is the “villain” through Othello, but this isn’t a characteristic strictly pertaining to villains. Literary Theory: an Anthology calls this change “perfectly legitimate,” and thinking about it causes me to realize just how “legitimate” it has become in today’s society, and it actually disgusts me.

I see no reason for human beings not to act merely civil with those they do not like; there’s no reason to praise them to their face and then turn around and throw every nasty insult at them the moment they turn their back.