Power Of Shakespeare 's Othello And The Tempest

The Tempest was Shakespeare’s last play that was written shortly after England colonized Virginia in 1609. Throughout the play, there are many different references to imperialism and colonialism within the characters. The Tempest analyzes the imperialistic relationships between England and America but applies it to personal human interaction between the central characters. The island gives newcomers a sense of endless possibilities like claiming the land for themselves because of the belief in the Great Chain of Being and the seventeenth century being an age of exploration. The idea of ruling a colony lured many people into the idea that having that kind of power over a large group of people is attainable. Master-servant relationships are

In Shakespeare’s time, women didn’t have as much freedom as they do now. Instead, it was a time that they ought to behave in a certain way in response to their family’s honour under a strict social hierarchy and rules. However, Shakespeare gave three women power in Othello. Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca, although they are from different social classes, are able to use their power to successfully resist male authority.

The nature of Othello's character is of a dark man. Not only because he is black, but also because his whole person is very mysterious. He is mysterious in that he believes there is magic everywhere. With this dark side, he is also very outgoing, and not very bright. He is not observant and the schemes of Iago work well on him. For all the dangers and encounters he has been involved in, this man is still naive of the corruptness of other individuals. Othello has a trusting nature in which he gives it all. He put all his trust in Iago during times of war and during Othello's marriage to Desdemona. Everyone considered Iago as honest, and it would be out of character for Othello to believe any different. For example, Othello had told Duke:

To some people, power is authority, and to some, it is capability. To all, it is a metaphorical concept that is individually assigned by one's own view of a situation. George R.R. Martin targeted this concept precisely in A Clash of Kings when he wrote, “Power resides where men believe it resides. No more and no less.” This quote ties in nicely to Othello by William Shakespeare. Power seems to be a relevant theme in this story, although the question of who help the power is also very prominent. The insightful quote from Martin helps us determine this. To defend this quote with evidence from Othello, one must first understand how to obtain ‘power’, then understand why the characters thought Othello was the one in power, furthermore, one may

Iago, being remarkably wise, understood this, explaining to Roderigo: “If the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions” (Shakespeare 1.3.322-25). People require balance in their life in order to maintain stability, and therefore maintain their sanity. In the same way balance provides structure in one’s life, imbalance can also bring about one’s undoing. Iago was not traditionally at the apex of power in the Elizabethan triangle of power, but every character was still a pawn in his scheme. His manipulation over each character truly put him as the most powerful character, at least until his true intentions were later revealed. Iago deliberately offset the balance in Othello’s life, and manipulated his jealousy in such a way that allowed him to succeed in all that he had planned. His plan would not have otherwise come to fruition had Othello not allowed his emotion to overpower his logic. Iago was able to simultaneously accomplish every goal in exploiting Othello’s jealousy. Iago painted Cassio, the lieutenant, to be Desdemona’s lover behind Othello’s back. In doing this, he won Othello’s trust, ruined Desdemona and Othello’s relationship, as per Roderigo’s payment to him, and eventually became named lieutenant after Cassio’s demotion. Being the cunning manipulator ultimately brought Iago was success in

Aime Cesaire’s A Tempest is a ‘new world’ response to Shakespeare’s The Tempest. In Cesaire’s adaptation, the characters and plot are generally the same. However, there are a few small deviations from Shakespeare’s The Tempest that make a significant impact on the play as a whole, and lead the play to illustrate important social issues occurring in the time of the adaptation.

In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Othello, Iago demonstrates a mastery of manipulation over people who had previously trusted and confided in him. His sudden turn from Othello’s loyal ensign to rage-filled villain seems indicative of a man who can no longer accept his position in life. Iago’s plotting of Othello’s demise starts as idle talk of a disgruntled 28 year-old career military man passed over for promotion. Iago believes that such a promotion may never come after Othello rejects his candidacy and makes it clear that he did not believe him suitable. He sees Othello is only concerned with personal and political gain with his choice of Cassio as lieutenant. When Iago teams with love-scorned and desperate Roderigo, he begins

The play, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare is a very cleverly thought out piece of work. Shakespeare very deliberately inter-relates several different forms of power during the course of the play. There is political power, shown through the plethora of political characters and their schemes, while at the same time parodied by the comic characters. The power of magic and love, and its ability to reunite and absolve also plays a major role in the play. Throughout the play, Prospero, the main character, takes great advantage of his power and authority, both properly and improperly. The epiphany of this however, is realized at the end of the play.

Othello, the principle character, at the beginning seems to have power- whether it is physical, psychological, political or military. He is portrayed to the audience as a symbol of power and strength. As an experienced soldier, a General to be precise, Othello has had little experience with women. Even though he is a high ranking military official, he is less respected because of his dark skin and being a foreigner. His stature and tone of voice, along with his self-confidence and belief, lead the audience to think of Othello as the main representation of power in the play. However, further into the play, Othello's power seems to diminish, revealing his insecurity and susceptibility. He is very naive and

In the novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding and ‘The Tempest’ by William Shakespeare, power is a main theme throughout both texts. Both represent microcosm of outer society at the time the text was written. In Lord of the Flies it was a time when the world’s dominant countries were struggling for power over Germany which was known as the Cold war. The capitalist American’s wanted democracy where as the communist Russians desired a country which was run by dictatorship. The Tempest by Shakespeare is set in a time when England was colonising the globe and was building the start of the British Empire. People at the time were highly religious, superstitious and believed in witchcraft and spirits. This is evident in the play as Shakespeare often refers to magic, mythical creatures and the expansion of the empire.

In William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, power, commonly defined as the ability to control and influence other people, plays an integral role in the relationships between each of the characters. Prospero, the comedy’s protagonist, establishes power based relationships with his slave Caliban, his daughter Miranda, and his spirit helper Arial. Prospero’s ambition is to regain his former position as the Duke of Milan from his treasonous brother, Antonio. To achieve this goal he uses a variety of manipulation devices on each of the characters. Prospero uses manipulative language to maneuver the marriage between his daughter and Ferdinand. The Tempest illustrates that language operates as a means of violence.

Throughout Othello, the dramatic irony of “Honest” Iago is detrimental. Iago serves as Othello’s main attendant and is expected to get the promotion to lieutenant. Unexpectedly though, Othello gives the promotion of lieutenant to Michael Cassio. In all, this catalyzes Iago’s plot for revenge and destruction that will destroy every

Othello gets most of all his orders from the duke and the senate of the lands. Iago job is less complex to where he is called to do small jobs in the military. While the commander (Othello) sets the rules, the strategies, and the vision. Iago by natural humanism is forced to be the servant of the “moor” hating him and feeling the sense of humiliation.

The similarities and differences between Aime' Cesaire's ATempest and William Shakespeare's The Tempest gives the reader an idea that it is a political response. From the way that both of the titles of these works of literature differ, an idea of concept is offered. They share a similar story line yet, after some one has read A Tempest : a different perspective is gained. A Tempest is actually considered a post colonial period piece of writing and one can acquire and prove this by the forms in which Aime' Cesaire portrays the characters and switches around their personalities and their traits,the time periods and the acquisition of language, and the ways power is used reveals that it is indeed a political response from a post

Both plays are about the ultimate struggle for power. Power can be shown in many ways such as race, gender, ‘others’, social class, and most importantly through use of language. Power can be shown in both plays through the use of ‘otherness’. This can be associated with power as characters such as Othello or Caliban are ‘others’ because they are from ‘elsewhere’. One such character who could be described as an ‘other’ is Othello. Bill Bryson suggested that ‘before he reworked it ‘Othello’ was insipid melodrama’ and perhaps it was the addition of ‘others’ by Shakespeare that added to the drama. Characters such as Othello and Caliban were considered dangerous and unnatural because they