Epicureanism In Othello

In William Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello is the tragic hero. He is a character of high stature who is destroyed by his surroundings, his own actions, and his fate. His destruction is essentially precipitated by his own actions, as well as by the actions of the characters surrounding him. The tragedy of Othello is not a fault of a single villain, but is rather a consequence of a wide range of feelings, judgments and misjudgments, and attempts for personal justification exhibited by the characters. Othello is first shown as a hero of war and a man of great pride and courage. As the play continues, his character begins to deteriorate and become less noble. Chronologically through the play, Othello’s character

The first four Principal Doctrines, deal with anxiety in people’s lives, and how they should think. Epicurus, is telling people not to fear death, God, nor pains in one’s life because they do not last long and they are for the week. The problem with this way of thinking, is that it removes the true God from the person’s life. But, that is not what he is saying. He, “believed that the true life of pleasure consisted in an attitude of imperturbable emotional calm which needed only simple pleasures, a healthy diet, a prudent moral life, and good friends” (pg. 342). This is quit opposite of what people say of Epicureanism in today’s time.

“Othello” is a Shakespearian tragedy set in sixteenth century Venice during the Turkish and Venetian Wars. The story follows the powerful Moor of Venice, Othello, and his tragic moral, military and marital downfall due to the corruption instigated by his jealous ancient, Iago. Throughout the play, the themes of womanhood, appearance versus reality, as well as prejudice in identity are explored. Further, contemporary responders can extract individual meaning through applying the literary criticisms.

Epicurus believes pleasure is the greatest good because it is the only way to completely fulfill ones life on this earth. Epicurus is inclined to philosophize in this way as he believed that there was no after life or immortal soul, leading pleasure full self-fulfillment to be the only rational conclusion for the greatest good on earth. To comprehend Epicurus’ pursuit of pleasure one needs to understand that his version of hedonism is not full of lavish indulgences that have

Epicurus’ views are the views of a hedonist; the only thing that is intrinsically good is pleasure. By pleasure, Epicurus does not mean a sexual pleasure, but the “absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul” (Epicurus, n.d., p. 3), which means that pleasure is the absence of pain, so removal of pain equals pleasure. Epicurus believes that living a calm life is better than living a thrilling life. However, a calm life would be boring and without purpose compared to a thrilling life. A thrilling life does not necessarily mean creating excitement in everything you do, but living a meaningful life without being too precarious to avoid pain. Epicurus believes that we should live a calm life to avoid pain and therefore

Can one ever know what truly makes them happy? Is it one particular item or person responsible for one’s happiness or is it a variety of people, places, or things? Happiness is a state of well-being, which results in living a good life. Even though there’s a definition of happiness, people still have different opinions on how we reach happiness. Epicurus tackles the questions, “what is the key to being happy?” and helps one understand how we ought to understand happiness. Epicurus agree that happiness is the ultimate life goal and the reason for human existence. In this essay, I will view and discuss Epicurus’s thoughts on happiness and also share my thoughts on his views.

Epicurus empathizes being just does not disrupt the aim to maximize pleasure by defining justice and thus claiming that lack of restriction would increase suffering and outweigh the good so, in order

Othello, a Moor, is a soldier, a military leader, who, after much battlefield experience, is currently employed by Venice as the Governor-General of Cyprus. He is both a captain and a general. He holds a high position and is greatly respected. In Act I, he is sent by the Venetian government to defend Cyprus against and impending attack by the Turks. The play is vague about Othello's exact origin. He displays heroic qualities of courage and strength. He is physically impressive and passionate. What set him apart is that he is dark-skinned, a foreigner, a stranger and outsider. He doesn't belong in the society in which he lives. He stands apart from everyone else as a man of another race, from another country and much of the conflict that he faces is because he doesn't belong and fit in with Venetian society.

Epicureanism is a religion that was formed in Ancient Athens from 307BC that followed the teachings of Epicurus, an Ancient Greek philosopher born in 341BC. His teachings focused the pursuit of true happiness and a content life. Epicurus rejected fear of the gods and any belief of the after world. Epicurus’ Philosophy’s taught that all matter is made up of atoms, they can’t be seen or felt but they do however have a shape size and weight. He believed and taught that there is no purpose in nature and that the soul was also made up of atoms, but of a different kind to the atoms that make up the body. According to Epicurus’ theory because the soul is made up of atoms so it decomposes with the body

During Epicurus’s early years he looked towards other philosophers as an inspiration. Epicurus first discusses the idea and “importance of sensual pleasure” (50). To express these teachings Epicurus created a place where people could go to “study [the] pleasure” (51) that he preached about in his teachings. Many found this type of study to be morally uneasy, however, it consistently gained support, to many especially the wealthy. After some time, these places of study began to disappear. Epicurus then began to look at how one can achieve a happy and healthy life. To do this one must originally look towards what makes them unhappy and “dissatisfied” (54) in their lives whether that be their job or something else. Therefore, through Epicurus’s teachings one should not act “on first impulse” but look towards what our desires are telling us that we want in life. Epicurus looked at friendship to achieving a happy life. One must have a connection to others in order to feel complete in the world. Therefore, Epicurus lived amongst many friends where he noticed and expressed that “we don’t exist unless there is someone who can see us existing” (57) therefore, by having friends in our life we always feel that we are part of something in the world that is larger than ourselves. Epicurus also expresses that our friends “do not evaluate us… to worldly criteria” (57). Once one has friends who accept them and show unconditional love, one many look towards Epicurus’s view of freedom in finding happiness. One needs to be free of “everyday affairs and politics” (58) to live a happy life. From giving up these mundane affairs, Epicurus and his friends were able not be reliant on a “material basis” (58) but could find happiness on the simplicity of life. The next

Epicurus was one of the major philosophers of the Hellenistic time period. He helped to start the foundation for modern science and also human psychology. His main focus was that one should have happiness and can achieve this by not fearing death or even the gods. Epicurus made many different claims of ideas that were followed by many. His followers were known as Epicureans. They believed that there were three things that motivated people to be unhappy. These three things were hatred, envy, and contempt. Epicurus advice was to avoid these feelings as much as possible, but also knowing that this wasn’t always ideal.

Epicurus was a revered philosopher in ancient Greece during the late 4th century bce with his teachings focusing on living simply and without vanity. Epicurean philosophy is a way to approach life and learning with Epicurus believing “The aim of knowledge is freedom from fear and mental uncertainty” (Hibler, 21); to achieve this freedom Epicurus said a person needed to, “live pleasurably…prudently, honorable, and justly” (Letter to Menoeceus, 4).

For Epicurus, happiness was the complete absence of bodily and mental pains, including fear of the Gods and desires for anything other than the bare necessities of life. Even with only the limited excesses of ancient Greece on offer, Epicurus advised his followers to avoid towns, and especially marketplaces, in order to limit the resulting desires for unnecessary things. Once we experience unnecessary pleasures, such as those from sex and rich food, we will then suffer from painful and hard to satisfy desires for more and better of the same.

Epicurus considers the goal of living to be is happiness, resulting from absence of physical pain and mental disturbance. Epicurus believes that please an pain measures of what is good and evil, death is the end of the body and soul and should therefore not be feared and the events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.

In my opinion, it is not so easy to agree with everything that Epicurus mentions about his notion of “the good life”. For the most part, I like the rational that a simple life is a happy life and I believe that is the message he is trying to convey. Epicurus says “thanks be to blessed nature because she has made what is necessary easy to supply, and what is not easy unnecessary”. I like the philosophy that all the good things in life are free. Sometimes in life, we as people forget that we just need the basics to be happy.