uh oh.. Othello

Shakespeare tragedies are infamous for being judged based on the body count at the end of the play. While Othello doesn't quite have the body count of Hamlet. The loaded wedding bed is still  morbidly impressive. 
Othello as a shakespearean tragedy is interesting because Othello is one of the few heroes who is not royalty. Othello was an outsider who earned his fame through hard work. I appreciate Othello as an impressive literary accomplishment because of the number of future literary stereotypes it introduced. From Greek heroes to modern heroes there have been reoccurring themes, but Shakespeare highlighted those which have become most powerful in modern culture. From race, to being an outsider, to love triangles, to jealousy, to infidelity Othello hit it all. Shakespeare pulled out all the stops which made each death in the final scene all the more powerful. While the body count wasn't as high as Hamlet, the power behind each death was ten fold what it was in Hamlet.
I find Othello as an enticing shakespearean read because the issues presented in the elizabethan play are still prevalent in modern society.

what has been missed and what will be missed

John Milton was a fascinating poet who went blind.

After Milton went blind he wrote a poem called "When I Consider How My Light Is Spent." During the Renaissance god was an important figure, particularly in government. Milton was both a religious man and a civil servant to Oliver Cromwell, however, after he went blind he questioned his faith and gods reasoning. 

I was surprised at how openly Milton questioned god. Losing his sight had to have been traumatic, however, he did not let it get in his way of having an incredibly successful career. Had Milton accepted going blind as god's will, would he have been as successful?