Perhaps Othello Essay

Perhaps Othello fanny non be regarded as the greatest of William Shakespe ars tragedies, only more than reviewers and viewers turn out found it incredibly exciting, logical, and intimately immoderate of completely of Shakespe ars be hold ups. When performed, Othello is implacable in its drive toward catastrophe, drawing spectators into the greatly shocking play of a unite man quickly pushed to murder his immaculate wife. Moreover, the Afro-Ameri whoremonger warrior Othello the only low char former in Shakespeare becomes a keep up of a white char.Thus, the tragedy also touches on grand issues that have become pressing in present period racial detriment and attraction to the Other (Othello dissect Guide). Othello also allows readers to tump over such important human issues as the nature of knowledgeable jealousy and the difficulty of pure t oneness certain somewhat everything or anyone in this world. This paper is designed, first, to draw solicitude to these rel evant issues in the play.Second, it will attempt to analyze these issues by exploring their many contexts so that it is possible to present various ways of understanding Othello from notional perspectives. Othello Shakespeares chief source for Othello was a narrative found in Giraldi Cinthio Hecatommithi, a collection of interesting boloneys where the major topic is marriage (Othello Study Guide). If one compares Italian story with Shakespeares, he or she can stick out English playw right fields incredible skills in transforming an ordinary story into logical and effective drama.Shakespeare modifies some parts of the story to emphasize prominent plot and make character presentation a good deal sharper. Further, he makes remarkable changes in the text, inserting and removing some parts, to dignify his protagonist and turn a histrionic story into excellent tragedy. Othello is not created on such a commodious scale as Shakespeares other famous tragedies. The play has uncomplet e the superhuman and magical dimensions of Hamlet and Macbeth, where the readers meet Ghost and Witches, nor fairy Lears unceasing feeling of doubt and uncertainty regarding Nature and the gods.Nevertheless, Othello is the only one of the four tragedies to present the reader with two separate countries as locations genteel world of Renaissance Venice and the island of Cyprus. A. C. Bradley (1962) describes Othello as the most masterly of Shakespeares tragedies in its construction (144). Bradley stresses the fact that Shakespeare uses virtually no delaying tactics to slow tear the action in the play, as, for example, in Hamlet where the hero delays his revenge, and no subplot to generate complicating consequences, as the reader finds in King Lear.Acts from 2 to 5, taking graze in Cyprus, form a persistent sequence without significant interruptions. Further, however, thither are some variations in pace the slower tempo of the willow scene in acts 4 and 3, where Desdemona and ge nus Emilia take stock of the situation. In this regard, Ned B. Allen (1968) arrives at a conclusion that the instances of long time, for the most part in acts 3 and 4, are the result of Shakespeares sticking to Giraldi Cinthios slow-paced tale more densely there than the playwright does in acts 1 and 2 (13-29).Arguing that double time is a skilful device to increase the credibility of the action, Ridley expresses admiration for Shakespeares astonishing skill in placing skinny unneurotic allusions to long time with a unafraid impression of a thirty-three-hour time span on Cyprus (lxx). It is, Ridley believes, a literary technique of lulling the reader into thinking that more time has passed than the action declares. In this manner, the reader does not question why, logically, Othello would be killing his wife for her supposed unfaithfulness the very night after he has brought to completion their marriage.Interestingly, among Shakespeares tragedies, Othello may be regarded as the least connected with social or political developments and transformations. The play does not appear to have been written on the topic of a specific historical event or social movement in the beginning of 1600s. Othello is a domestic tragedy. Thus, it exposes cater plays inside relations surrounded by representatives of olden society in particular, in father-daughter and husband-wife relationships.But not care King Lear, that constantly expresses uncertainty about received authority as the kings status is depreciated, Othello does not deal with the wider political branches of this social power. Nor does Othello take into servant teddys in state power that the reader can observe in Shakespeares history plays and Coriolanus. Although Othello is of aristocratic birth, he is not the real or possible leader of his realm ( small-arm Lear, Macbeth, and Hamlet are all kings), upon whose finishs and thoughts depend the whole state and its people.At the akin time, however, Othello i s touch with important cultural and social issues. Precisely, Othellos fill annotate has been much considered with references to racist issues (Shakespearean noviceism). What is important is that Othello is a black warrior, in all likeliness from North Africa, and now d well uping in a white European society. The issue of racial difference is deeply embedded in the tragedy and is very well obvious in performance. How would the character have been considered by the Jacobean public, and how is he understood this day?Does Othello make effort to integrate or refuse to accept racist stereotypes of that time? How much does Desdemona, a white upper-class representative, breaks the moral rules of her society by making decision to marry a black warrior, and finally does Othello give compliment to or reject her dedicate and bold resistance to authority and power? winning into consideration these questions, one can analyze ways in which Othello contri barelyes to the intelligence on two groups black African men and white women that were very much made seem unimportant in the beginning of seventeenth century. nonetheless though it cannot be equated with present day racial discrimination issues, color diagonal appears to have developed in England under Queen Elizabeth and King James. Black was associated with evil, Africans dark skins was considered to belong to the devil. Taking into account the racial prejudices of the time, it is unmatched that Shakespeare decides to make his tragic hero an Afro-American and his villain the white Iago.Critic John Salway, for example, considers that Shakespeare introduces the frequent preconceptions regarding Africans by means of the racist discourse of Iago and Brabantio Iago glibly utters slander about Othello as lusty Moor and devil, while Brabantio, who lovd Othello as a warrior, ascribes responsibility to him for winning his daughters adore through damned witchcraft (30). John Salway considers that the playwright does so only to explode these prejudices in the course of the play. In this respect, Othellos skid is a natural human weakness rather than a fault coming from his race.John Salway also acknowledges the long-established medieval tradition, literary and decorative, that connected the black man with lower rank in society and damnation. The author argues, at the same time, that a countercurrent of religious discourse and art, for example, the special enormousness given to inner holiness over outward appearance and the interpretation of Balthazar, one of the Magi bearing gifts for the infant Christ, as a black man, provided Shakespeare with an opportunity to develop Othello as a great Christian gentleman (45).Salway finds no prove in the tragedy that the character is really savage, since he gains his grandeur again after his tragic loss of faith in Desdemona (55-56). Martin Orkin (1987), a South African scholar keenly aware of how Shakespeares Othello gives role for racist response s, is in basic agreement with Salways statements. He believes that Shakespeare whole shebang consciously against the color prejudice that can be seen in the quarrel of Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio and denies such prejudices giving emphasis to the limitations of human judgment in general as the real cause of Othellos tragedy (170-181).All this is right from the one side Shakespeare creates his characterization of valiant Othello far beyond that of the handed-down stereotype. On the other side, however, there are situations in the play when Othellos actions do generate the sinful barbarian human body. This is specifically the case in act 4, where the character loses his mind in a frantic manic disorder of jealousy (savage madness is how Iago gives account of it), promises to chop Desdemona into messes after overhearing the confabulation that takes place between Iago and Cassio.Moreover, Othello behaves immorally by making a somatic attack on Desdemona in public. Does Shakespea re try to demonstrate color prejudice by making Othello returning again and again to the traditional image of black savage? One resistance against attack on Othellos port in the play is to claim that it is a victory of Iagos hard-hearted intrigue with him, combined with the Moors dramatic readiness to consider as true the negative, oversimplified stereotype of himself. It seems that Othellos humiliating performance is vertical about destined to cause the audience to become unfriendly, both Jacobean and present.By the concluding part of the play, Othello is divided between the individual characteristics he has seek to maintain as an honorary white in Venice where the Senate has allowed him military go and even more, in contrast to Brabantio, forgave his relationship with a white woman and his strong inner star of himself as an African Other. In being fatally overwhelmed by jealousy and murdering his wife, Othello eventually describes himself as more related by blood to the ig noble Judean and the leering Muslim Turk than to the civilized and noble Christian.Some readers and viewers may feel that Othello compensates his rank as an inspiring tragic hero in the culmination, while others may reject in opinion. And while it is right to claim that Othello does not give approval to the deeply felt prejudices of an Iago, how does the audience feel about Emilias racist comments in the final part of the play? Emilia becomes the centralize of tragic attention when she reveals Othellos dreadful mistake and dismantles any just grounds for his believing that Desdemona committed sexual intercourse with other man. thoughtless with her frank truth-telling, the spectators are encouraged to become accomplices of her views even though they are full of racial intense dislike. Emilia refers to Othello as the blacker devil describing his expression as ignorant as dirt and feels sorry that Desdemona was too tender of her most filthy bargain. These examples demonstrate the difficulty of reaching an exact decision where the play stands regarding Othellos blackamoor and racial prejudice.Because of the fact that the proportionateness of dramatic sympathies shifts from episode to episode, readers are likely to agree with Emilias angry release of prejudice while rejecting Iagos coldly malicious racial discrimination, in spite of the close relationship he has established with the reader. In this regard, one can compare Othello with Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice. Just as The Merchant of Venice may at the same time destroy anti-semitic prejudice (in Shylocks probing speech Hath not a Jew eyes? and support it (with Shylocks absurdly incongruous sort and wish that his daughter were hearsd at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin ), it can be stated that Othello stimulates discourse regarding the racist stereotypes of the sixteenth-century life even though it supports them to some extent. It should be observed, however, that to be totally free of racis m and any discrimination, the playwright would have to invent a new nomenclature with no words containing a hidden implication, no unfair treatment of a color character, and no connection in the play between blackness and evil, whiteness and good.Expressing the same idea but differently, Othello cannot go beyond the spoken communication and traditions of its culture. According to Juliet Dusinberre (1976), if black-skinned men were considered as the Other in the sixteenth-century Europe, then women could be also called as a painful Other in patriarchal communities. The Reformation in England is at times thought as a period when attitudes and views toward female roles, at least inside marriage relations, were proper more liberal and humanistic (Dusinberre 3-5).Puritans encouraged an equal marriage partnership, in contrast to the accepted without question subordination of wife to her husband, and valued unite chastity above celibacy. However, it can be supposed that this elevation of the married relationships might have served as a method to contain womens uncontrollable desire rather than to encourage a real self-dependence for them. It is lightsome to see that Desdemona is committed to the ideal of married chastity, but she is also a woman who tries to rebel.Obviously, her courageous rejection of her fathers wishes (and, globally, those of the Venetian upper class) so that it is possible to marry a black warrior and her honest desire to happen the rites for which she married Othello create behavior not conforming to accepted rules and standards in Venetia. The woman has stepped beyond the permitted boundaries of her race Against all rules of nature, as Brabantio describes this and the modesty that most people expect of female gender. Shakespeare, in spite of her faults, presents the rebellious and willful Desdemona as a character deserving admiration.Her powerful and effective language in explaining why she chose Othello despite her fathers unwillingne ss, her brave strong passion for the Moor, and her spirited and powerful (even though unreasonable) defense of Cassio are all probable to win the sympathies and admiration of the readers. Desdemonas boldness, as well as Othellos initial approval and praise of it (he describes her as his fair warrior when he comes to Cyprus), all say about a marriage with mutual love and respect for each other.When living in Cyprus, however, Desdemona becomes more isolated and open to temptation and persuasion. Once Othello incorporates Iagos views, interpreting the meaning of Desdemonas behavior as unfaithful and indiscriminate actions, the woman has no means of argue her husbands violent desire to control her life. It would seem, taking into consideration these issues, that there are contradictory messages present throughout the play about what behavior is right for women.The uncontrollable female who calls into question her place in the male-dominated community is given some capacity for independ ent action but ironically is then punished, primarily because Othello misinterprets her actions, but also, the drama may suggest, because of her desires press release beyond acceptable boundaries of taste and convention of the time. Like with the issue of racism regarding Othellos personality, Emilias role emphasizes the contradictory treatment of women in the tragedy.Her passionate defense of wives in act 4 produces the double sexual standard by which relationships between men and women are determined And have not we affections? Desires for sport? and frailty? as men have? thence let them use us well else let them know, The ills we do, their ills instruct us so. Since Emilia expresses a convinced belief that women are mens equals in desire and have the full right to live and act like their husbands, her declaration is potentially ungrounded in its denial of gender qualities that buy the farm only to the advantage of men.At the same time, however, the meaning of the speech, as wel l as what the reader knows of Emilia so far, tends to decrease the power of the statement. Emilia has the similar gender of Desdemona but not social position. As a result, Shakespeares readers might make little of the sense of her statements, justifying them as suit for serving women but not actual for upper-class women. Interestingly, Emilia has surrendered to her husbands fantasy herself. She subordinated herself to his fanciful idea and thus affirmed the oppositeness of her philosophy of independence by presenting him the gift. ConclusionRegarded by many scholars as one of Shakespeare greatest tragedies, together with Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear, Othello has a traditional tragic plot, tracing the heros fall from splendor and combining together human qualities of nobility with actins and decisions that lead to unavoidable suffering and loss. Othello is, at the same time, one of Shakespeares most emotionally touching works. The driving power with which the extremely effective but destructive series of events develops creates an exciting sense of chaotic violent and confused movement that captivates both readers and viewers closely as much as it drives the characters.Shakespeares character development and his internalisation of difficult issues in the play produced an incredibly complex play that considers a number of important moral and social questions. Works Cited Allen, Ned B. The Two separate of Othello, ShS, 2, 1968, in Honigmann, E. A. J. Othello. Cengage Learning EMEA, 2001. Bradley, A. C. Shakespearean Tragedy. London Macmillan, 1962. Dusinberre, J. Shakespeare and the Nature of Women. London and Basingstoke Macmillan, 1976. Orkin, M. Othello and the barren Face of Racism, SQ, 38. 2, 1987.Othello Study Guide. obtainable from http//www. shakespearefest. org/Othello%20Study%20Guide. htm Othello. Shakespearean Criticism. Available from http//www. enotes. com/shakespearean-criticism/othello-vol-68 Salway, J. Veritable Negroes and Circumcised Dog s racial Disturbances in Shakespeare, in Lesley Aers and Nigel Wheale (eds. ), Shakespeare in the Changing Curriculum (London and New York Routledge, 1991). Shakespeare, W. Othello, the Moore of Venice. Shakespeare Homepage. Available from http//shakespeare. mit. edu/othello/full. html