Othello

Racism, love, betrayal, and jealousy are feelings that happen all the time in todays society, many people do not know how to handle it sometimes, and they get emotionally hurt for a long time. Othello is possibly the most famous literary exploration of the warping powers of jealousy and suspicion. At the same time, it 's among the earliest piece of work that deals with race and racism. With Othello being a supreme commander of the Venetian army, he never felt like he fit completely in, and the girl he loved, her father never liked him because of his race, when Brabantio told Desdemona “She, in spite of nature, Of years, of country, credit, every thing To fall in love with what she feared to look on! It is a judgment maimed and most imperfect That will confess perfection so could err Against all rules of nature,” this statement means Desdemona dad does not like him because he is of a different skin color. Othello loves Desdemona and he shows us this by saying, “Haply for I am black, And have not those soft parts of conversation That chamberers have; or for I am declined Into the vale of years—yet that’s not much— She’s gone. I am abused, and my relief Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage, that we can call these delicate creatures ours And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad And live upon the vapor of a dungeon Than keep a corner in the thing I love For others’ uses. Yet ’tis the plague of great ones; Prerogatived are they less than the base. ’Tis destiny

Lord Tennyson’s view on what Odysseus would do after his return to Ithaca in his poem, “Ulysses” is unique. In his view, Lord Tennyson asserts that Odysseus, after returning to Ithaca would feel the need to leave again and continue journeying the seas. Although logical in its own regard, it does not reason with the events in the book, where Odysseus states his need to return home. A more logical standpoint would be that Odysseus would stay in Ithaca and give Telemachus his position as king.

William Shakespeare’s Othello would not be a dramatic tragedy if the smiling villain, Iago, were a deaf mute. There is no doubt that the destruction of each character can be blamed on jealous Iago. The theme of jealousy helps propel the plot naturally and demonstrates the consequences of being morbidly jealous. The circumstantial evidence Iago provides acts like a lethal poison, which surrounds Othello in suspicion and envy but also turns him into an inhuman murderer. Jealousy is the ‘monster’ that unresonably conducts the great suffering in the story.

Shakespeare 's complex play Othello holds numerous pressing issues within its intricate layers that seem to leap out to modern society. One such issue seen by many is the representation of women. Women within the play can be characterized as submissive possessions and temptresses. This ideology, though commonplace in this time period, appears controversial to the modern eye as we deconstruct the characters of this play. This dominate patriarchal society present within the setting merely conditions this belief further as it is prevalent within the characters dialogue.

In Shakespeare’s Othello, the nominal character, an honorable Venetian general, is driven to madness through the deceptions of his honest right hand Iago. Iago plots to ruin Othello and through his deception, he drives Othello’s insecurities by implanting the idea of infidelity of his beloved wife Desdemona. Othello goes on to murder his wife, and after he discovers Iago’s plot, he kills himself. In a time when women were looked down upon, Shakespeare crafted a drama in which women took part in major roles. Modeled by Elizabethan England the women in Othello were portrayed in a light justified by society as in Othello, these women were nothing more to than objectified possessions, forced to submit to the ever dying will of their husbands. This is displayed by Desdemona and Emilia’s and relationships with their husbands.

A society consists of diverse cultures, looks, values, and beliefs. In a world with one predominant culture, those perceived as different from the norm are associated with negative images and treated inferior to the superior culture. The negative images associated with color, specifically blackness, has a detrimental effect on the victims who are racially stereotyped. The character Othello is a unique character in English literature, because unlike the other members of society, Othello is an outsider in Venice. He is a black man living in a white world, married to a white woman, and a leader of white men in battle. Othello is persuaded that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him, leading him to murder her. Some argue that because Othello was the typical black stereotype he killed Desdemona, but evidence suggests that Othello viewed his own racial identity as undesirable for Desdemona and killed her out of honor and self-hatred. Henceforth, the long-term psychological effects of racism affects an individual’s self-identity and his or her relationship with others.

William Shakespeare’s 16th century play Othello is a duplicitous and fraudulent tale set alternatingly between Venice in act 1, and the island of Cyprus thereafter. The play follows the scandalous marriage between protagonist Othello, a Christian moore and the general of the army of Venice, and Desdemona, a respected and intelligent woman who also happens to be the daughter of the Venetian Senator Brabantio. Shakespeare undoubtedly positions the marriage to be viewed as heroic and noble, despite Othello’s hamartia and subsequent downfall that inevitably occurs. Their marriage is then sabotaged by the jealous Iago, Othello’s ensign and villain of the play. While Iago’s ostensible justification for instigating Othello’s demise was his failure to acquire Othello’s position as lieutenant, Iago’s motives are rarely directly articulated and seem to derive from an obsessive, almost aesthetic pleasure in manipulation and destruction. Through the genre of the play, being a Shakespearean tragedy, and the structural devices employed by Shakespeare such as plot development, exposition, foreshadowing, dénouement, dramatic excitement, and catharsis, the key ideas of jealousy, appearance vs. reality and pride are developed and explored.

Another trait that Odysseus demonstrates repeatedly throughout the story is his loyalty. In various situations he never gives up on his crew, even when he has reason to. During an episode in the epic, Odysseus travels to the underworld to receive a prophecy. He meets his great friend Elpenor, who has died earlier in Circe’s hall. Because he is unburied and unmourned he asks Odysseus to build a cairn in his honor. Odysseus replies, “Unhappy spirit, / I promise you the barrow and the burial.” (Homer, lines 609-610). Although Odysseus is preoccupied with finding Tiresias, he shows loyalty to his crew mate by spending time with his spirit, and carrying out the spirit’s request. It could have been easy for Odysseus to ignore the spirit of Elpenor, but Odysseus shows a real emotional reply to this meeting. Not only does he show loyalty to his crew but his homeland as well. Although he could have given up during the ten year span Odysseus wandered from home, he persisted even though giving up would have been easier. At one point Odysseus is detained by the enchantress, Circe, but remains determined to reach home:

First, there were many people by Odysseus’s side through his journey. Poseidon, who was the god of the sea, had a big effect on Odysseus, but his actions were mostly negative toward Odysseus. To begin, Poseidon was the main reason it took Odysseus so long to get home. He messes with Odysseus and makes him suffer for blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus. Although, Poseidon does eventually help Odysseus on his journey. After Odysseus suffers through a terrible storm caused by Poseidon, his raft gets destroyed, and Poseidon washes him upon an island called Phaeacia. There the Phaeacians helped Odysseus get home by giving him their best ship with food and supplies on it, plus their best men to help him. Finally, Odysseus reaches Ithaca but, his plans on seeing Penelope when he get’s there aren’t going as he thought. He then faces multiple issues before seeing the love of his life.

Next, this theme includes Odysseus as he is eagerly fighting to return to his family, however he is unaware of their current predicament. Odysseus was his shipmates were time and time again led astray by the thought of being treated with hospitality. An example of this would be when the landed on the island of the cyclops, Polyphemus. As new arrivals to the island they made themselves comfortable inside a cave, where Polyphemus trapped them and killed two of his men. In the following exert from the book we see Odysseus trying to sympathize with Polyphemus.:“We are Achaians coming from Troy, beaten off our true course by winds from every direction across the great gulf of the open sea, making for home, by the wrong way, on the wrong courses. So we have come. So it has pleased Zeus to arrange it.

However, Odysseus was consumed in the thought that he had failed as a leader and a warrior because of his inability to protect his comrades. As such, Odysseus became much less confident in his abilities to lead and protect his crewmembers and their journey, which caused him to deliberate his personal value in the eyes of the Gods. Homer describes the disastrous situation through the fearful, petrified tone that also conveys the intimidated emotions of Odysseus. Furthermore, Odysseus’ overwhelming self-doubt portrays a human characteristic of the hero, which is a severe lack of confidence in particularly dire circumstances. Thus, the Cyclops’ vicious actions highlight the role of fate in the unforgiving brutality of human nature. After the encounter with the Cyclops, a tremendous storm attacked Odysseus and his small raft as he ventured from Ogygia to Phaeacia. As he was tormented by the unrelenting waves, Odysseus exclaimed, “’Wretched man – what becomes of me now, at last? […] What monstrous clouds – King Zeus crowning the whole wide heaven black – churning the seas in chaos, gales blasting, raging around my head from every quarter – my death-plunge in a flash, it’s certain now! […] Would to god I’d died there [at Troy] and met my fate […]” (Homer 161-162). Poseidon uses his influence over the seas to unleash his relentless fury at Odysseus for stabbing the eye of Polyphemus. Odysseus’ extreme anguish led him to question the level

Throughout Othello by William Shakespeare, Othello makes numerous poor decisions due to his jealousy. Hitting Desdemona, trusting Iago, and killing Desdemona are among a few of the poor decisions that he makes. The word jealous can be defined as feeling or showing suspicion of someone's unfaithfulness in a relationship. Othello feels suspicious of Desdemona’s and Cassio’s relationship because of the lies that Iago tells him. Many people try to tell Othello the truth but he only believes the words of Iago. Even Emilia, Iago’s wife, tells Othello that Desdemona and Cassio are not having an affair and their interaction is business only, however; he does not trust her. Without Othello’s jealousy he would not have made these horrible decisions.

"Othello is set in a world and focuses on the passions and personalities of its major figures." (Thomas). Othello is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The work revolves around four central characters: Othello, Othello's wife Desdemona, his lieutenant Cassio and advisor Iago. The play appeared in seven editors between 1622 and 1705. The themes of the story are racism, love, jealousy, and betrayal. Othello is a black soldier who is accused of stealing his wife Desdemona. Although Desdemona's father dislikes his daughter's choice, Desdemona loves Othello very much and the two are married. Othello’s right hand man is angered at the fact that Othello picked a man named Cassio to be more important than him and he also feels that he is messing with his wife. Iago plans to manipulate Othello but his plan eventually causes more hurt to most of the characters. Iago tries to use the meeting between Cassio and Desdemona as a way to make Othello believe she was cheating on him. Iago goes on with his manipulative plan by planting a handkerchief in Cassio's room, and goes and tell Othello about what he has seen Cassio do. Othello becomes jealous throughout the story and begins to believe that Cassio is talking to his wife. Iago persuades Othello to come up with a master plan to kill Cassio and Desdemona. As Othello tries to kill Desdemona, Emilia, Iago's wife, comes in to tell Othello the truth about Iago. Unfortunately it is too late. Othello had already suffocated her. When Othello

Although Ulysses and Odysseus share similar traits, Homer would not agree with Tennyson 's portrayal of Odysseus in the poem "Ulysses". Whereas Odysseus wishes to complete his journey and find relief, Ulysses seeks to continue on a never-ending one.