Gallinero, Alexander Dominic O.

Philosophy
G-11 ICT 2 12/03/2018

Reflection for the Shakespearean Play

1. What is the significance & relevance of the play in our contemporary time?
Both Othello and Hamlet explore themes very much relevant to events today. One
of the important themes in Othello is racial prejudice. Meanwhile Hamlet’s most important
theme is revenge.
Throughout the Othello play, we witness most characters use openly racist language
to describe Othello just because he is black. Today, racism is still present. In the
Philippines, although we are not openly racist, but you would notice in ordinary Filipino
terms traces of racism such as calling dark-skinned Filipinos “nog-nog” or “negro”. Case
in point is Senator Nancy Binay who is openly mocked in social media for her dark skin.
On the other hand, Filipino TV commercials also subtly endorse racism with the emphasis
that light skin is more preferable than dark skin.
In Hamlet’s play, we see Hamlet plotting revenge against his uncle. Hamlet uses
various attempts to murder King Claudius. Even to this day, all of us still had a feeling of
injustice that the world has done to us. We tend to seek revenge against the injustice done
to us. However, in the end, even though if we did get sweet revenge, you would still suffer
the consequences (and it is very bitter).
In conclusion, Othello and Hamlet’s themes of prejudice and revenge still play a
large role in the people today. For example, in Philippine society, fairer and lighter skin is
still more preferable. Skin tone preference indicates that Filipinos still have racist
tendencies. What is wrong with being “moreno” or dark-skinned? Meanwhile, if we let
vengeance take
2. What is your philosophical understanding of the play?
Aristotle said all poetry is mimesis or imitation where the play or poetry imitates
real life. Aristotle explained that this imitation stemmed from human instinct to learn
through imitation and to take pleasure in representations of the world they perceived.

The plays’ heroes struggled between good and evil. In life, we all struggle in
making decisions knowing that our decisions have consequences. Unfortunately, there are
times that even with our best intentions or feelings of justification (like Hamlet and Othello
who initially felt justified for killing King Claudio and Desdemona respectively), our
actions will lead to negative consequences.

However, in Othello and Hamlet, no matter how bleak the events of our lives have
turned there is always a lesson to learn either a personal lesson or for other people to learn
from.
Gallinero, Alexander Dominic O. Philosophy
G-11 ICT 2 12/03/2018

Reflection for the Tourist and the Two Farmers

Here we see two farmers, one digging a hole in the dirt, the other covering the hole right
after. Their actions seem futile and perplexingly stupid. However, they only do this because it is
their job. They’re supposed to be three of them, but the farmer who supposed to plant the seed
inside the hole is absent, so they just do what they’re hired to do. Dig a hole, then cover it right
after.

The farmers’ seemingly stupid act actually reflects towards doing something without
actually knowing why they are doing it. The farmers in the story know how to dig, what to dig,
but they do not know why they dig. By questioning ‘why’ things happen and ‘why’ we do it, we
would try to consciously making sense of things, establishing and verifying facts, applying logic,
and changing or justifying practices, and beliefs based on new or existing information. The
purpose of Philosophy is to find reason on why things work. If we apply Philosophy in our lives,
we are able to understand our surroundings and ourselves even more. However, “what” and
“how” are still very important questions as it would give us a bit of sense and an outline towards
things. However, if you want to go deeper and find the reason of such things, you would ask
“why?”

In Conclusion, our actions should not just depend on “what” and “how”, but should also
have a reason “why”.