Week 3 Blog

To begin, I chose a quote from the Stallybrass Intro, pg. 21:

"Clearly, as often as they are able, 'high' languages attempt to legitimate their authority by appealing to values inherent in the classical body."

My reading from the primary work, come from Othello, Pg 6 I.1:

"Zounds, sir, you are one of those that will not serve God, if the devil bid you. Because we come to do you service and you think we are ruffians, you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse. You’ll have your nephews neigh to you. You’ll have coursers for cousins and gennets for germans."

Here, Iago and Roderigo are trying to convince Brabantio that his daughter has run off and married Othello, a lowly Moor.

The parallel that I drew between these two, is that in the case of Stallybrass, they are commenting on how high languages (which I inferred to be Shakespeare, Austen, Hardy, etc.) contribute to their agency by sticking to classic themes that have stood the test of time.  In the Shakespeare example though, it's more in keeping of what some come to expect of 'classic' novels through no fault of their own. They adhere to rigorous wording because that was the style, but here, Shakespeare is using far too many words and in a confusing way.  All of this rhetoric contributes to confusion among readers and I think that this is part of the reason that it can be so hard for people to digest. This passage is used to convey how "low class" they consider Othello and people like him to be. However, most of this passage is contrived of translations and dead analogies that a modern reader needs to perpetually refer back to.