Ironically also, when the curtains for this act part, they reveal the loveliest scene in the entire play: the garden of the Cyprian castle. Ironically, it is Desdemona's innocent attempt to reconcile Othello with Cassio that gives Iago the opportunity to wreak vengeance upon Othello, thereby causing the murder and suicide that bring this tragedy to its violent conclusion. In it, Iago speaks carefully and at length with Othello and plants the seeds of suspicion and jealousy which eventually bring about the tragic events of the play. This scene, often called the "temptation scene," is the most important scene in the entire play and one of the most well-known scenes in all drama. Othello wants Cassio dead, Iago agrees to do it, and then Othello wonders how to kill Desdemona. Now he swears action, and Iago swears to help him. Certainty has freed his mind from doubt and confusion. Othello dismisses love and calls for vengeance. Iago tells Othello that he has seen Cassio wipe his brow with a handkerchief embroidered with strawberries Othello recognizes this handkerchief as the one he gave to Desdemona. Cornered, Iago produces the dream story: Cassio spoke in his sleep, embraced him, called him Desdemona, and cursed the Moor. Othello then turns on Iago with savage intensity and demands to see the proof of Desdemona's infidelity. His speech is fevered, sweeping and frantic he believes that his wife has been unfaithful to him. When Othello enters, Iago sees that Othello cannot regain his peace of mind. Emilia decides to have a copy made to give to Iago, but he enters, sees the handkerchief, and snatches it from her. They go in to dinner, and Emilia picks up the fallen handkerchief, one that her husband, Iago, often urged her to steal from Desdemona. When Desdemona re-enters, Othello's aspect is changed he watches her intently, looking for signs, and brushes away her handkerchief when she seeks to sooth him. He tries to tell himself that it is not true. Iago leaves, and Othello contemplates his situation: He could be tricked, married to a woman who is already looking at other men, and he fears that he must wipe her out of his heart. Othello voices his old fears that Brabantio was right, that it was unnatural for Desdemona to love him, that he was too horrible to be loved, and that it could not last. In his denial, he shows himself most vulnerable. In a conversation with Iago, in which Iago continues to imply that he knows something that he refuses to divulge, Othello denies that he would give himself over to jealousy. Desdemona speaks of Cassio, and Othello, to please her, agrees to see him, but he is distracted by his private thoughts. Iago seizes the opportunity to make an undermining comment - "Ha, I like not that" - that rankles in Othello's mind. When Othello and Iago enter, Cassio, who is embarrassed because of his antics the previous night, embraces Desdemona and departs. She promises to speak of him with her husband repeatedly until the quarrel is patched up and Cassio is recalled. Desdemona willingly agrees, knowing that Cassio is an old friend of Othello's. Cassio speaks to Desdemona, asking her to intercede with Othello on his behalf.
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However, that didn't happen often, and that's actually a bit concerning. As much as I enjoyed it, there were times when I'd get frustrated with a puzzle and put the game down for awhile. If that doesn't sound interesting to you, the game won't be your cup of tea. The different modes add some color, but you're basically always moving this little hat through these levels. Basically, although fun, Echoes never really wowed me I'm not sure if it speaks to anyone in particular. Outside of that, the gameplay's super-simple and kind of one dimensional. The art style is a water-colored kind of simple and I really dig it, but there's this weird slowdown at times when you get the "Game Over" screen. All that said, Echoes isn't without a couple of hitches. It challenges you to think through how you're getting where. I'm sure it sounds simple, but when you have more than a dozen echoes spread across a winding, twisting maze, keeping the game going comes down to deliberate, calculated moves. To get them to move, you use the shoulder buttons to advance and rewind time. Here, you pick up crystals, but the echoes created just sit there and don't move. The key to this mode is chaining the pulses together – set it off and watch it burn from one echo to any echo that is close by. Survival starts you with 10 seconds on the clock, and you need to set off pulses – crystals that eliminate echoes – to grab more seconds and keep the game going for as long as you can. If you hit an echo, the multiplier resets. The more crystals you grab without hitting an echo, the more each crystal is worth. Jackpot gives you a little more than a minute to rush around the map of your choice grabbing crystals and dodging echoes. Echoes also packs Jackpot, Survival and Clockwork modes. Now, all of that's just the game's Arcade mode - a sampling of 22 maps that range from ampersands to blocks of cheese with individual, offline leaderboards. However, grabbing the blade crystal and getting to rip through an area packed with echoes you've been dodging for awhile is fun no matter what. Most of the arcade levels can just be run through without much thinking, and that's not as much fun. Hugging walls and creeping toward crystals just so you can have an idea of where and how fast your echo is going to be is an interesting and entertaining gameplay mechanic, but it's not used all that much. I was actually caught off guard a bit by how much I liked the title, although my enthusiasm did level out a bit. There are special crystals that freeze time and more, in-game trophies as well as different modes, but that's the gist of Echoes. You need to dodge these ghosts and keep picking up crystals and in the end, your score is posted to the in-game leaderboard and you see how you're doing. When you grab a crystal your echo - a ghostly shadow making all the same moves you just did - pops up and begins floating around the level. The concept behind this top-down title is easy to wrap your head around: you're a girl in a big sunhat who is collecting crystals while running around mazes and clearings. |