Nature Danger

Thinking about King Lear which we recently read in class, I had an experience much like his. King Lear gets kicked outside for a night and a huge storm comes up. He almost defies nature and goes kinda crazy.

You really don't know how bad nature can get until you are stuck in it. We spend lots of time in our safe homes with heating, walls, and windows. No big deal right, man is strong enough to build those walls and keep nature out.

Last night I got to go to the Christmas Devotional of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was so cool. I love the choir, I loved the message so much. I got to go with a good friend I haven't seen much. I even got to see my mission president, mission mom, and their son. That was cool. But this isn't the story.

Driving home on I-15 there was a lot of wind and a small bit of snow, not really that bad, but to be safe we reduced our speed to about 40 miles per hour. Somewhere near Thanksgiving Point the car started swerving a little. "Mason, we're swerving!", yelled my friend. At first I thought she was playing a joke, and making the car go back and forth...until the car went sideways, and I thought, "Oh. we are swerving." It was surprising how calm we both were as the car went sideways on the freeway and headed towards the concrete median. Next thing we know we're parallel to the median, in the emergency lane, backwards. Miraculously we had not hit anything. Pretty sure angels helped us, because we were perfectly parked on the side of the road, just backwards. We almost died, but we didn't, thank goodness.

Wondering what to do we called a few people, got out and checked the car which was perfectly fine, and an off duty police officer pulled over. He made sure we were okay and then he walked into the road and stopped FREEWAY TRAFFIC (yeah, cars on the freeway!!!) so we could turn around and keep going. I was driving now, a car that wasn't mine, and the road was still very slick, very scary.

For some reason, in all of this crazy situation, all I could think of was King Lear, shouting at nature.

Othello's Regression

I was wondering what to write about, this week I have the assignment of applying the play Othello to something important to me and also to connect this to a social discovery I was to make. As I was searching for what others have to say about Othello I found something perfect.

To me, the greatest miracle, the happiest thing, that which moves me most, is the miracle of a change of heart. The miracle of seeing a person change their life completely and become new, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Therefore, one of the saddest things is to see someone throw away all that is beautiful in life and turn to base things and become despairing. This is exactly what happens to Othello.

At the start of the play Othello is a man who everyone admires and looks up to. He is calm, well-judging, full of intergrity, and good to the core. When he is accused of stealing away Desdemona he doesn't run from his accusators, but has full confidence to answer for himself saying:

Not I, I must be found:
My parts, my title and my perfect soul
Shall manifest me rightly. 

Through the play I was surprised to read as his words became harsh and hurting. He goes from loving his wife completely to physical abuse within days. In the BBC production of the play I watched as he went from being calm and collected at all times to working himself into a raging fit of epilepsy, it was somewhat disturbing.

Nothing is more beautiful than a man changing for the better, and nothing is more tragic than sin and regression to the natural man. 

deviantart.com by joshcorris

Searching for what other people have to say about this I found a website about the King James Bible. There was a post about the Bible and Othello which gave some very interesting insights. I left a comment on the post and this is what I said. 

"I really enjoy your post here. In my college course on Shakespeare I am doing a study of the play Othello right now and I am assigned to apply it to something important to me in life. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the King James Bible is very important to us. I really like the connections between Othello and the gospel.

In my blog about Shakespeare I posted about how he uses his plays as a way of teaching the masses about morality, it seems so evident because so many of his plays have such strong religious undercurrents. The ones that you found in Othello were especially intriguing. Especially the one about Iago’s play on words “I am not what I am” being a connection to God. Iago seems to think himself God in the play, judging who should be punished, what lives should be taken, and he has great power over the world of the play Othello. It shows how twisted Iago is to make that allusion. Unfortunately he is all of these without the love and mercy of our Heavenly Father.

Othello as Judas, then that would make Iago Satan who “entered into Judas surnamed Iscariot” (Luke 22:3). This is one of the greatest tragedies Shakespeare wrote about, how a pure honest love could be so tainted and then destroyed as soon as one allows Satan and his lies into their mind. Judas allowing Satan in allowed his love for The Perfect Individual, Jesus Christ, to become tainted until it led to dead, and his subsequent suicide parallels well with Othello’s. This was a very interesting connection you made as well."

Shakespeare was teaching the masses again about how we should be, and letting them learn vicariously the tragedy of sin and jealousy, letting both consume you.