Othello Acts IV and V

Line 62: Iago says "lethargy must have his quiet course", but he will not let this happen.
strumpet-prostitute
bauble-showy and/or cheap piece of jewelry
plenteous-plentiful
expostulate-earnestly reason
Lodovico is disappointed in Othello because he has only heard good about him, but this was all describing Othello before he went mad with jealousy and anger.
Emilia insists Desdemona is honest, but Othello does not and is unwilling to believe her. If this is true, why does Othello even question Emilia?
Lines 86-88 describe Iago and his actions throughout the play using the metaphor of wind.
cogging-a person who plays a minor role in a bigger plot, for example, Montano and Lodovico.
Roderigo figures out Iago, but he continues to justify his villainous actions.
mettle-fortitude
Othello's dispute with Cassio finally gets a committee from Venice after the battle is over.
harlotry-prostitution
Iago wants to severely injure Cassio so he can gain his "rightful" position as lieutenant to Othello.
Desdemona values her relationship with Othello so much that she desires to be shrouded in her wedding sheets upon her death.
Barbara and her lover parallel Othello and Desdemona (lines 28-30).
Irony: Roderigo calls Cassio a villain even though Cassio did much less evil than Roderigo.
Othello's motive for killing Desdemona can be seen as unselfish. He does not want to ruin her "alabaster" skin or "shed her blood" (lines 3, 5). She must be killed so she does not betray any more men (line 6). Othello is concerned about the state of her soul and commands her to pray before she is killed (lines 33-34).
Othello, like Iago, justifies his murder by saying he is merciful and did not let Desdemona linger in pain (lines 104-105).
pernicious-wicked
Othello, like Oedipus, does not see the truth until it is too late. Oedipus killed Leius and married Jocasta before his eyes were opened, and Othello killed Desdemona before he realized that she was always faithful.
extenuate-to thin
censure-reprimand
Why does Lodovico get the last word in?

Othello Act III

boon-blessing, benefit

ruminate-ponder

leets-annual or semiannual court

perdition-damnation

seel-to close or blind

clime-climate

minx-flirtatious girl

importune-annoy

futurity-posterity

Cassio is convinced that Othello will forget his love and service soon, so he keeps apologizing to Othello through Desdemona in order to get his position back.

Scene II serves as a transition from Scene I to Scene III.

Desdemona remains loyal to Cassio's cause. Why does she say she'd rather die than give up his cause?

At line 100, Othello still loves Desdemona despite his illusions about her activities. By line 500, he completely believes Iago's illusions.

Line 144: Iago insists that men should be what they seem, but he is not a kind, honest man like everyone thinks he is.

Iago values his name above his money.

Lines 293-5: Othello does not consider himself a gentleman because he doesn't have "those soft parts of conversation". He presumes this is because he's black.

Iago feeds Othello's grief continuously and even swears to help Othello kill Cassio and Desdemona.

The handkerchief serves as the final piece of evidence to convince Othello of Desdemona's extracurricular activities, and Othello completely falls for it.

Desdemona values the handkerchief over her purse of gold because Othello gave it to her.

What purpose does Bianca serve? Is she someone's wife?\

Cassio tries to cover up the handkerchief's presence even though he has no secret actions to hide.

Othello Acts I and II

Iago presents himself as a two-faced character, creating much dramatic irony throughout the course of the play.

Cassio's weakness is for alcohol, and Iago uses it to his fullest advantage.

imperious-haughty

The drunken fight between Cassio and Montano is clear evidence that Iago's plan is starting to come together.

Iago gets called honest at least 3 times throughout Act II.

The storm foreshadows more conflict.

alarum-alarm

What is the purpose of Scene II?

lechery-unrestrained sexual indulgence

choler-wrath

Roderigo and Iago address each other in formal manners sometimes, using you between themselves.

Iago has no motive for being evil.

Why does Shakespeare switch back and forth from poetry to prose?

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Honestly, I don't understand the point of anyone or any event in the book. There were very few conflicts that all turned out ideally, and no characters had a flaw. The only exception was Gawain's slight cowardice at the end. For this reason, the book was tedious and repulsive to me, albeit the point of an Arthurian legend is to exaggerate and idealize the characters and events.

Despite Gawain's cowardice, he gains victory over the green knight, showing that repentance and sustained virtue is the key to a prosperous life.
England is exalted as the best place in the world because of Arthur's presence and deeds.
Why is everything idealized and exaggerated?
The green knight turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Gawain.
strop-sharpen, especially a weapon
486-490: Why does the narrator directly address Gawain here? No one else, even Gawain, is addressed in this manner again.
The whole book is a quest for Gawain for him to discover how much of a perfect, gentle knight he really is.
palisade-defensive fence
The author uses enjambment so the poem flows like prose.
vespers-evening prayers
942-969: This juxtaposition of the two ladies implies that wisdom comes with old age but not beauty. Beauty and wisdom cannot reside in the same person.
Gawain is tempted by the lady's beauty, but he forces himself to stay pure and resist. He is rewarded by the green knight for this.
fealty-fidelity
The whole book with the exception of the green knight's confession (lines 2337-2368) is extremely predictable, another reason I did not enjoy it.
Is Gawain related to the green knight through Morgana?

Everyman

Being a transitory being is a good thing.
Because of Adam and  Eve's original sin, Everyman must go through the reckoning.
Why are all of the characters in the play there? Why were they chosen over other qualities?
If people are not angels, they will become devils.
The people will destroy themselves if God does not call them to the reckoning. The play is a portrayal of the Last Judgement.
God made Everyman divine, but he forgets about his God.
abject-utterly hopeless
proffered-offered
The play is a quest to win God's favor and enter Heaven.
The rich are rich in order to share their wealth.
respite-delay
Everyman must die alone, and he is responsible for his own actions.
Everyman is selfish and immature. He tries to bribe Death into waiting and pleads with everyone else to come with him, but all but Good Deeds are hypocritical and abandon him at the end. Good Deeds are all that matter before the throne of God.
Death is an equalizer and does not play favorites.
Everyman has problems trusting everyone.
Everyman gives a soliloquy after every person abandons him, then he pleads with someone else, forming a pattern that is only broken with Good Deeds and Knowledge.
Everyone promises to be loyal to Everyman, but they all end up being hypocritical.
Everyman is miserly and keeps Goods stored away. Goods can only fix worldly problems, so he says immediately that he cannot come with Everyman. He is not hypocritical.
Every person tells Everyman that if he had done this or that he would not be in this situation. It is foreshadowing for a need for Confession.
vouchsafe-grant, give
Confession saves Everyman from the fires of Purgatory and grants him safe admission into Heaven.
He is forced to die, but he sincerely repents.
Doing penance is the only way to have temporal punishment relieved.
Reconciliation brings Good Deeds back to life.
behoof-benefit, behalf
699-705: Everyman's self-denial parallels that of Zaccheus. Both must repent of their sins, too.
Priests have the keys to Heaven because they can forgive sins.
881: These words parallel Jesus' last words in the Gospel of Luke.
Is the Doctor God or just a precursor to seeing God?
Is Everyman's place in Heaven guaranteed? 

The Nun's Priest's Tale

dale-valley
apoplexy-stroke, mental disorder
The widow was sane even though she had no material comforts.
Chanticleer is equated to a great king or a perfect gentle knight, but his major flaw is believing the fox.
debonnaire-carefree
affright-to frighten
Pertelote cannot love anyone other than a prefect gentle knight, so she tells Chanticleer that and gives him a sermon meant to make him submit to her will, much like the old woman does to the knight in the Wife of Bath's Tale.
ague-fever
Chanticleer insists that dreams can foretell the future and does not submit to Pertelote's will like the knight submits to the old woman.
harbourage-shelter
All of the dreams in this tale are literal and exact foretellings of the future, but most dreams are not like that if they are like that at all.
All of the dreams Chanticleer tells about and his own dream come true, except Chanticleer has the intelligence to change his fate.
Pertelote believes laxatives will fix his fright of dreams, but he does not believe her.
Chanticleer fears Pertelote's death, although it is not imminent.
The question becomes will Chanticleer die? And what do you believe about dreams after being presented with both sides of the issue?
austere-self-disciplined
fain-gladly
benefice-income, prestigious position
Chanticleer accepts the fox's challenge for him to surpass his father's abilities. Does this show that Chanticleer has hubris?
staves-plural of staff
beshrew-curse
Is this tale Chaucer speaking about believing cunning people?

The Nun's Priest's Prologue

clapper-tongue
"Fortune covered with a cloud"=tragedy (l. 16)
The group begs the monk to stop talking and for a different tale to be told, particularly about hunting.
jade-worthless or vicious horse

The Pardoner's Tale

The tale is set in the past in Flanders.
lechery-unrestrained sexual desire
unwittingly-unintentionally
behest-command
Lines 23-195 are a digression preaching about the immorality of gambling, drinking, gluttony, and swearing. Why does he spend so much time preaching about these sins, even though he does not follow his own theme?
The knave says that Death kills the roisterers' friend. It seems so obvious to us that Death would kill people, but not to the roisterers. Chaucer's diction makes it appear like the knave might be telling a trick on them, like he knows better than them (l. 213-4, 224-9).
stile-stairs over a fence
The old man is a symbol of Death, and the roisterers do not respect him. Thus, they will be punished for it. They trade their youth for the man's old age.
269: Who is Mother?
fay-fairy
The old man warned them to mend their ways, but they did not heed his advice.
They find Death, but it was not in the form they expected.
It is impossible to cheat Death, no matter what happens.-moral of the story
440-1: The pardoner implies that Jesus died for nothing because people are still greedy, gluttonous bunny rabbits.
wend-direct
This is the only tale that does not focus on married love.
Why does he offer the group a chance to repent and touch the relics?

The Pardoner's Description and Prologue

The Pardoner is rich and complies with the latest styles.
22: He is assumed to be young because he has no beard.
veronica-a veil or piece of cloth bearing the image of Christ
He carries fake relics around, the veronica being one of them, so that he can make more money through the selling of pardons.
bent-direction
parson-Protestant minister
paragon-model for excellence
He did everything he could to make money. He was especially gifted at singing, and people would listen well.
A story must be retold exactly or it is lying according to the pardoner. In a sense, it is lying, but only to the degree to which the story is distorted.
writ-law, edict
78: Is the host's wits who are not the best or the pardoner's?

exemplum-moral story
marshal-arrange
17-23: He openly admits he scams people and uses fake relics to do so.
draught-drop, dose
trow-to believe
shriven-granted penance
He continually opposes his "theme" of "Radix malorum est cupiditas" by lying about his holiness and the origin of his relics.
beck-greet
yarn-craft stories, usually false stories
He could care less about the souls of the people he preaches to on a regular basis.
He insists that he is not the only one making up sermons for money. Some even do it for vainglory, hate, flattery, or the people's pleasure.
defamations-unjustified injuries of reputation
Why does he insist that greed is the root of all evils but indulge in it anyways? Making money is a valid and motivating reason, but it cannot be enough.
109: He calls the people he preaches to vulgar, implying that he considers himself above them, the common people.
He is drunk before he tells the tale, so he must be drinking throughout the prologue.
Both the Pardoner and the Wife of Bath use other people to get rich. Although both are experienced, the Wife of Bath is old, and the Pardoner is young.

The Wife of Bath's Tale

Arthurian legend
Limiters drove away the faeries, and it can be assumed that the faeries are ungodly creatures.
motes-dust particles
copse-small thicket
maidenhead-virginity
The king is not a sucker for a weeping woman. The queen must pray for the knight's life to be spared although he is far from perfect and gentle.
purvey-provide
behest-command
None of the women he asks can agree on anything, so he thinks he will never find the answer.
Midas, because he is embarrassed about his ears, tells his wife. She then whispers it to the river, who then whispers the secret to everyone. Chaucer says through this digression that women cannot be trusted with secrets.
The 24 dancing ladies, assumed to be absolutely gorgeous, are a huge temptation for the knight.
greensward-turf
crone-a witchlike old woman
She manipulates the knight by making him swear on something unbeknownst to him. He is desperate for the answer, so he obliges.
She says that women desire most to control their husbands.
fastidious-squeamish
There was only sorrow at the wedding feast because the knight did not want to be wed to the crone, but he must fulfill his promise.
Her sermon on gentleness forces him to submit because she took him on a guilt trip.
Old people should be revered.
Poor people should be seen as manifestations of Jesus.
Ugly people should be considered faithful prospective spouses.
362-370: "'Choose, now', said she, 'one of these two things, aye,/To have me foul and old until I die,/Or else to have me young and very fair/And take your chance with those who will repair/Unto your house, and all because of me,/Or in some other place, as well may be./Now choose which you like better and reply.'"
The above lines constitute the most important question of the book because the knight could have picked like she asked, but he lets her choose, exemplifying the knightly virtues of courage and nobility. This does count for something, even though he has already ruined his chance at being a perfect gentle knight.
The transformative kiss is the magic of the story. The pathos becomes that even though the wife of bath is like the crone, she will never have that kiss in the form of a sixth husband. Her tale is based on wishful thinking.

The Wife of Bath's Prologue

nonce-the present

She insists that  since men can marry more than once, women should be allowed to do that, too.

It is better to marry and be faithful than to commit fornication or adultery.

wight-human

bigamy-having 2 husbands while both are still alive and having not divorced one of them

103-5: Not all women are virgins.

sundry-diverse

The three reasons for genitalia are urination, differentiation, and procreation.

143: Christ is described as a maid, like Theseus and Nicholas. All three of them can be considered perfect gentle knights.

thrall-slave

She has power over her husbands' bodies because she denies them sex.

The host, after hearing this, says he would rather not marry. There is a conflict because both the man and woman in a marriage desire control. He wants her to teach the young men her ways so they can gain control over their wives.

pique-to injure pride or vanity

The first three husbands were good because they were old, rich, and eventually submissive to her will.

pardie-indeed

swink-labor

The prize of bacon motivated couples to stay at peace. However, the wife of Bath never won the bacon, so it can be assumed that she and her husbands argued in their nascent marriages. It set a tone of female dominance because the bacon was a phenomenal prize to seek, and so the husbands probably would try not to argue with her.

She accuses them of sleeping around, then makes up stories that they "told" while they were drunk.

dalliance-flirting

dotard-a senile old person

She refuses to be dominated.

niggard-miser

Men believe that if their wives are dressed well and lavishly that it presents a danger to their chastity.

She uses a beautiful and ugly cat as a metaphor for cheating and faithful women.

380-3: Women destroy their husbands from the inside out.

She becomes so paranoid about Jenkin that she spies on him and eventually kills him by denying him sex and giving it to him all at once.

lickerish-greedy, gluttonous 

pith-essence, vital substance

480-1: Her virginity is gone, so all she has is metaphorical barley bread.

She loved her fourth and fifth husbands because they were good in bed, although they were hard to control.

fifth husband is young, taken for love

530-4: This passage mentions "a student at Oxford" and boarded with a woman named Alison. Are these the same Nicholas and Alison from "The Miller's Tale?"

Both the Wife of Bath and the clergy act holy without any faith. They also distort Scripture passages to fit their arguments.

She slept around while her fourth husband was in London during all of Lent.

She acted extremely sad when he died, but she was not sad at all.

Jenkin had the audacity to read to her and read about the lives of wicked wives in her presence, so she tears a page out of the book.

ascendant-position of authority

durst-past tense of dare

Jenkin and she fight, but she gets in the last punch.

wreak-cause

Jenkin submits to her will because he knows it is better than fighting her, and she has remained faithful to him ever since.

She loves him because she got what she wanted: control.