Dramatic Suspense

While this play does not contain much dramatic suspense, I found some in the scene with Laura and Jim O'Connor. I thought suspense was created when Laura is finally speaking to Jim and beginning to open up to him. Finally, when Jim leans in to kiss Laura, the suspense reaches its peak. As a reader, I was believing that Laura had finally found someone who accepts her and will eventually marry her. If this was a fairytale, this probably would have happened. Instead, the suspense is built even more when the audience is informed that Jim is engaged and will never be speaking to Laura again. In some ways, this leads to a tragedy for Laura, but as a reader, I believe that this encounter with Jim has helped Laura to come out of her shell. Jim taught Laura to open up and to accept herself for who she is. Whether she took this lesson and applied it is unknown, but I like to think that she did.

Othello #2

There is some dramatic suspense in this play and it is created mostly through Iago. The audience constantly knows Iago's plans, but the suspense is created in not knowing whether or not his plans will work out. The audience also constantly knows that Iago's ultimate plan is to kill Cassio and suspense is created here when the audience does not know if it is Roderigo or Cassio whom is going to die. While the audience may know Iago's plan the whole play, the other characters have no idea. Throughout the play, they refer to Iago as the most honest person they know. They seem to worship him in some ways and nobody sees past his facade. Not even his own wife knows the full extent to his plan. He pretends to be kind and truthful and this provides suspense because the audience knows that at some point in time, his plan will fall apart and he will be discovered.