An Actor's Guide to "But I do think it is their husbands' faults" | Emilia monologue - Othello

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Breaking down the meanings, context and acting choices for Emilia's "But I do think it is their husbands' faults if wives do fall" monologue from Othello by Shakespeare - Act 4 Scene 3
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[@ShakespearewithSarah]

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[@crystaljeffbabeeey]

i'm not interested in acting at all but this is a really interesting breakdown and it's going to be helpful for my alevels. emilia is my favourite character in othello and zoe wanamaker's portrayal is my favourite one from what i've seen.

[@rosie6]

Is there a source to see her performance? Thanks sm

[@crystaljeffbabeeey]

@@rosie6 she's in the 1990 3hr Othello movie with Ian McKellen and Imogen Stubbs.

[@marinarogozheva8242]

You are doing a great work! I’m really grateful💖

[@elinaellinis696]

This is a very helpful video!Thank you so much!!!

[@emmamarsh2370]

This was so useful for me! Thankyou so much. I have a recall for drama school and this is one of my monologues

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

I did this for my drama school recall too! It is such a powerhouse monologue. Break a leg for your recall!

[@issyanderson]

SO HELPFUL!!!!!

[@francescagalla-taylor8553]

Thank you so much, this is so helpful and insightful, so many things I hadn't considered! So glad I found this channel!

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

Hurray! That's awesome. Glad it helped. 😊

[@hotenglishprof]

Thank you Sarah :) I love the questions you ask along with the analysis you offer!!

[@hotenglishprof]

Also~ I don't know if you've done any Portia from Merchant of Venice yet, but I'd be interested in your take on "I pray you tarry"!

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

Oh yes that’s on my list! ALL THE PORTIAS!!! 🤣 Also I thought I’d mention - when I tried this as a self tape, I found it way more powerful to work with the idea that Emilia had cheated rather than just keeping it all theoretical. That was just my own personal experience but I think a lot of actors would feel the same when it’s an audition situation. If it’s a production I don’t think you need such a powerful motivator, but for an audition or exam I think it helps.

[@Nancenotes]

Great work! Emilia is such a great character. I’m glad you led me over to your channel! I look forward to watching more!

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

I’m just reading through all your comments! Thanks for watching.

[@Nancenotes]

@@ShakespearewithSarah Sorry if I went overboard--you just have so much great stuff to talk about! I've enjoyed everything.

[@aliciajoof9392]

this was so helpful thank you so much!!!

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

Hurray! You’re welcome. Glad it helped. 😊

[@emmagillan3121]

absolutely loved this! thank you xxx

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

Hurray! So glad you found it useful. Such an amazing monologue.

[@AlexiaK7]

Can you please do a more in depth analysis of Emilia? I didn’t get into the drama school I wanted but have another audition coming up and want it to go well. Thank you!

[@allisonwelch5507]

Love this monologue. Men have no idea...it's like she is saying, let the men know what they don't know so they don't get too comfortable and lazy otherwise we will stray just like they do...haha

[@lindagreene6379]

Really great thank you so much.

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

You're very welcome!

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

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[@samanthapotrykus9610]

Love this! Super helpful. Would you ever post yourself doing a reading of it? Would love to see your interpretation.

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

Yes I definitely will! I actually did a self tape of it a while ago but took it down because I wasn't happy with it. I'll put it on the list. Might be able to do it in the next few weeks.

[@Aja79Baja]

Your channel is amazingly helpful! Coming from someone who focused about a quarter of their Lit Master's thesis on this character, I love your read and tips for playing Emilia. Given that, I'd love your advice on something. I'm getting back into live performance (vs teaching Lit then directing Animation) after a long hiatus, and I'm trying out for Emilia. I'm having a very hard time deciding on a monologue for the audition. I see her as a rather singular character in his tragic works. As such, it's been hard for me to locate a monologue that has enough emotional and personality overlap with her to feel like it would help a director imagine me in the role. Maybe I'm just too close to her, given how closely I analyzed her. Any suggestions would be immensely appreciated! [Also, if by chance you've haven't read or seen Paula Vogel's 'Desdemona: A Play About A Handkerchief,' I highly recommend it. It gives a very interesting take on both Emilia and Desdemona, and every other character, that provides even more potential choices possible to take into monologues...albeit in very specific audition circumstances haha.]

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

Argh sorry I missed this! Hope I catch you before your audition. Yes, Emilia is quite unique. For me, the closest is Paulina in the Winter’s Tale. So you could look at “What studied torments” or “I dare be sworn”. Or slightly off the beaten track, Pisanio from Cymbeline’s “How? Of adultery?” It’s more naive than Emilia but there’s room to explore some of the themes and some elements of characterisation.

[@margheritamartinelli5022]

hi! thank you for the video, it is really useful! I was wondering: how would you differentiate the three questions 'is it sport?', 'doth affection breed it?' and 'is't frailty that thus errs?'? I have found the idea of thinking about different women experiencing different types of jealousies did the trick well enough with the previous list ('say that...', 'or...' or say they...'), but this one with the three questions comes off a little flat. any advice? thank you so much!

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

Hmmm. Good question. I think for me it's about how I personally relate to each of those things, and/or how I think the character would relate to it. So for sport, I'm thinking about the "thrill of the chase" at the start of a relationship, which is something I think most people get a kick out of. For affection, I think about my own personal need to have variety in my life, which Emilia might feel as a frustration of her own if she's in a relationship where she feels under appreciated. For frailty, I think about the mistakes we all make when we're acting from a place of brokenness, the wounded inner child that we all have. Those are things that make sense and feel specific to me, but you might need to find your own! Hope that helps.

[@shannonongyijie4496]

I'm not sure if you'll read this but I'm about to perform the jailer's daughter monologue from "Then I loved him, extremely loved him, infinitely loved him..." and I'm struggling a lot with the different meanings of the piece as it feels as though I'm performing the monologue the same way throughout and am struggling with finding that love... do you have any advice for this monologue?T-T If you read this thank you so much!!!

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

Hi! Are you starting from ‘Then I loved him’? If so, do you have to do it from there or could you do the whole thing? That’s quite far into the monologue so you’re definitely missing a few opportunities to get variety. There are things you can do to mix it up but it’s trickier when you’re jumping straight into the middle.

[@shannonongyijie4496]

@@ShakespearewithSarah yes I’m starting from there and that’s because there is a 2 min time limit 😭

[@baileegull8022]

Hi! I'm applying for a summer acting internship (I'm 20 for reference and a sophomore in college). They asked for a classical monologue and a contemporary one that are age appropriate. Do you think this would work for my classical piece? Would it be considered age appropriate? Thanks so so so much!! You're so helpful!!! :)

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

Hmmm… possibly, but Emilia is traditionally a bit older, I’d say 30 or 40+. If they’ve specifically asked for age appropriate then I’d look for something closer to your age. What did you like about this monologue? I can try to suggest something similar.

[@baileegull8022]

@@ShakespearewithSarah Thank you so much for your help! Shakespeare has always seemed really daunting so I was looking through all of your talk throughs to try to find one I connected with. I just want one that will be powerful and not too overdone (I know all of them have to some extent, but not one that everyone will use). I liked how this one is dramatic. I'd like to play with that a little because it's one of my strengths. My other monologue is pretty angry so I wanted to showcase another idea if possible. :)

[@ShakespearewithSarah]

@@baileegull8022 Hey hun, maybe DM me on Instagram if you still need help choosing. It's a bit tricky on here because there are a lot of factors that go into choosing. There are heaps of dramatic ones to choose from! @shakespearewithsarah on IG