Othello (New York 1975 Version)

It is the year 1975 in the midst of the Cold War. Nicholi, a Crimean Tatar has relocated to the United States in order to avoid persecution in the Soviet Union. To put food on the table, Nicholi recently became a baker in the Little Russia district of New York City. Nicholi is very poor and has been living paycheck to paycheck for the last three months. He is currently rooming with his Ukrainian friend Joseph in order to save up some cash. Life has been rough and bleak for the two friends because they are considered outcasts in the eyes of the American people. Both friends are under constant surveillance by the United States Government because there has been speculation that they are spies for the Communist Regime. Life, however, begins to look up for Nicholi when he meets the love of his life Deja.

Deja, like Nicholi, is also a recent immigrant to the United States. She is African American and calls Jamaica her home.  Deja is a phone operator who calls the Little Jamaica District of New York City her new home. Two months ago, Deja and Nicholi meet at a Colombian bar known as Coca Cabana. The couple has hit it off from the start and they see each other nearly every day. Deja is the sun in Nicholi’s life that keeps him living day to day. Nicholi truly believes that Deja is the one for him and is planning on asking Deja to live with him in Miami Beach, Florida.

Joseph is distressed by Nicholi’s plans on relocating to Florida because Nicholi is the only friend that Joseph has ever known. In order to foil Nicholi’s plans, Joseph comes up with a lie that Deja has been sleeping around with gang leader OG Bobby Johnson. After hearing the news from Joseph, Nicholi become enraged and storms off to Little Jamaica to confront Deja about Joseph’s accusations. Deja is distraught by the horrific accusations that Nicholi has presented her with. Deja pleads with Nicholi for hours on end that she is faithful to Nicholi and has not been sleeping around with OG Bobby Johnson. Nicholi, now torn between his best friend and the love of his life does not know what to do. Nicholi goes into a depressed state for two weeks until Deja comes to him pleading for her man back. She points out that OG Bobby Johnson has been on the run from the law for the past month. Nicholi realizes that this means that Deja has been faithful to him and that his best friend has been lying to him. Disgusted his revelation, Nicholi moves to Miami Beach with Deja.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe is a love story. The poem is about a proposal a shepherd makes to his girl lover and contains the theme of love. The shepherd woos his lover by offering her and idealistic life in the countryside surrounded by nature. People who are in love buy gifts or make gifts for their lover and the shepherd is no different. The shepherd starts out by offering her a scenic life full of “Shallow rivers” and “Melodious Birds”. His promises to his lover are obtainable at first when he offers “thee beds of roses, And a thousand fragrant poises” but they start to become unrealistic when he begins to offer “buckles of the purest gold”. It is extremely unlikely that a shepherd, someone of a poor economic standing, has the resources to offer gold. As the theme of love progresses throughout the poem the shepherd seems to become more desperate as he offers things outside of his control realm as he promises “shepherd swains shall dance and sing”. Finally as the poem closes he promises that all of these extravagant things will happen if she lives in the countryside with him.

The theme of The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is created through Christopher Marlowe’s use of imagery. The imagery that Marlowe employs appeals to the readers smell, hearing, and touch. The imagery appeals to smell because the reader is able to get a sense of what the countryside smells life when “a thousand fragrant poises” is stated. The shepherd gives a sense of peacefulness when he appeals to the reader’s sense of hearing when the promise of “Melodious birds sing madrigals” is stated. Finally the sense of touch is appealed to when “a gown made of the finest wool” is promised. Appealing to the readers sense of smell, hearing, and touch all go together to form a theme of love.

The theme of love in The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is a theme that is shared by many other sonnets during this time period. All of Shakespeare’s sonnets contain the theme of love. Like Shakespeare’s sonnets, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love contains unrealistic expectations that almost certainly can’t be met. The sonnets of this time period show the romanticist attitude of other sonnets during this time period through the use of nature. This sonnets theme of love is different from other sonnets of the time period because it only talks about obtaining love, it does not mention the responsibilities of love or the process of preserving love.

Sonnet 18- Preserving Beauty Through Poetry

Sonnet 18 fully captivates its audience and exemplifies the poetic genius of William Shakespeare. This poem is fixated on the theme of time preservation. The poem opens up by contrasting a young man’s beauty to summer by saying that he is mild and temperate and not harsh like the summer months. Throughout the poem Shakespeare presents the problems of life by saying that it is temporary and too short. Shakespeare is saying that life, like summer, is temporary, similarly to a short lease of the house. Shakespeare wants to permanently preserve the beauty of the young man by captivating the beauty of him in his poem. Shakespeare eternalizes the young man’s beauty by saying that “so long as men can breathe, or can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee”. William Shakespeare is saying that the young man’s beauty will live on as long as man is alive and able to read about his beauty in his poem.

William Shakespeare creates this eternal theme through the use of literary devices. In the fourth line of the poem Shakespeare uses personification to describe beauty to the shortness of summer. Shakespeare says that “summer’s leases hath all too short a date”, to show that summer is a renter of months who has put down a temporary lease on a home that will soon run out. The lease of the house will run out when death comes in line eleven. “Death brag thou wander’st in his shade” is used as a metaphor for the afterlife. Shakespeare is saying that the lease of the house will run out when summer ends and the shade of the winter months come but the eternal beauty of the young man will live on forever in poetry. The house may not be permanent but the description of the house will live on.

William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 has the common theme of love that many other sonnets share. The Sonnet is a description of the love for a young man’s beauty. The poems theme is similar to other poems because it focuses on preserving love. Other sonnets of this time period also describe love as being permanent through time. Sonnet 18  focuses on preserving love through the permanence of written works. The boy’s actual beauty will fade away when he dies but his true beauty will always be remembered through poetry. Sonnet 18  also different from other poems because it does not describe the dangers of love and the responsibilities of love.