Although adversity create a disadvantage in most people's lives, it builds character and makes an individual stronger. For instance, William Ellery Channing states, “Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict” (Steen “Struggle”). In other words, mental, social, emotional, racial, religious/spiritual, and family adversity are examples of hardships throughout the literary devices such as The Scarlet Letter, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men, and Othello.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, he reveals the difficulties of Hester and Dimmesdale such as with society, family, religion, and themselves. For instance, Hester struggles to fit into society since she
For instance, Steinbeck mentions, “Ya see the stable buck's a nigger...Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him” (Steinbeck 15-17). Throughout the novel, the farmhands exclude Crooks from everything and seclude him to live alone because of his skin color and physical disadvantage which results to his struggles of loneliness and racial discrimination. Racial prejudice causes those who have a different skin color to become outcasts and viewed as less and unimportant. In addition, Steinbeck includes George's statement, “That mouse ain’t fresh, Lennie; and besides, you’ve broke it pettin’ it” which indicates Lennie’s struggles such as not realizing his own strength and depending on George (Steinbeck 76). Although the farm workers racially accept Lennie, his innocence and mental challenges isolates him from the others because they do not understand his differences which causes the workers to view him as uneducated and child like. Understanding someone's disability may create a better interpretation of their lack of independence and behavior in which may help with the strengths and
For instance, he includes the result of Othello’s struggle of “Fall’n in the practice of a cursed slave...I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this, Killing myself, to die upon a kiss” (Shakespeare 5.2. 304-376). Consequently, Othello, who struggles with low self-esteem, identity, social acceptance, epilepsy, and jealousy, crumbles to Iago’s manipulative schemes by believing Iago’s lies of Othello’s wife running off with another man, thus resulting in the destruction of Othello’s virtue, including him killing his wife and himself. Jealousy causes emotional pain that may lead to self destruction. In addition, Iago faces troubles throughout the novel such as insecurities and resentment towards Othello. For example, Iago’s jealousy towards Cassio’s promotion provoked him to have “made him Brave me upon the watch, whereon it came That I (Cassio) was cast...Iago hurt him, Iago set him on” (Shakespeare 5.2.341-345). In other words, Iago decided to get revenge on both Cassio and Othello by having Roderigo kill Cassio since he did not receive the promotion and cause mental destruction towards Othello since he did not consider Iago as his second in command. Iago’s struggles revolved around hatred. Therefore, anger blinds an individual to lash out in order to gain
Discrimination was one of the issues that caused conflict in the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. One example of discrimination in the novel comes in the form of racial discrimination against Crooks, as he is an African American. Another example of discrimination is gender discrimination against Curley’s wife. Finally, there is discrimination against mentally disabled people, which is evident in Lennie’s character. The ranch hands' actions and conversations demonstrated the racial discrimination against Crooks for his skin colour, gender discrimination against Curley’s wife for her gender, and prejudice against Lennie, who was a mentally disabled individual.
Iago’s actions were caused by his greed and envy of Cassio and Othello. His greed motivated him to use his wife Emilia and Roderigo and his envy towards Cassio and Othello cause Othello to murder his wife as well as commit suicide. Roderigo’s envy allowed him to become of use towards Iago’s greed. Envy blinded Roderigo of Iago’s action and motivated him to believe in Iago. This made Roderigo almost into a potential killer. Othello’s vanity deprived him of judgment on Iago. He believed Iago upheld to his name of “Honest Iago” and disregarded the fact of someone betraying. However, that was a lie and Iago abused Othello’s pride in his servants, and confused him into believing his wife of cheating. Othello, now blinded by his wrath, kills his wife due to his vanity and wrath. His vanity also leads him to suicide. Shakespeare shows to the readers of this play that sins of the Seven Deadly Sins can manifest within
Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale in the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, struggle to go about life. The characters Hester and Dimmesdale both are ostracized in the story and run into complications with the puritan society and how its morals affect them. The literary elements symbolism, imagery, and setting emphasize the motivations and reactions with the conflict of individual vs. society.
The old cliché "One bad apple ruins the bunch" is what enters one's mind when discussing the villainous, deceitful, protagonist Iago in Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello." It is amazing how one person alone can completely destroy, or deteriorate a group of good natured, trusting, loyal peoples' lives in a matter of days- three to be exact. What is the motive behind Iago's heinous, selfish acts, one may ask? A rather obvious theme in the Shakespeare's tragedy, "Othello", is that of the many facets of jealousy, which instigate the evil-doings of protagonist, Iago. Jealousy can be best defined, in the thinking of Renaissance, as a derivative or compounded passion. It is a species of envy, which is in turn a species of hatred. Hatred finds its opposite in love and is opposed to love. Envy is opposed to mercy. Yet while jealousy is opposed to love, it often rises from love. Like envy, it has something of the grief or fear that comes from seeing another in possession of what which we would possess solely for ourselves. Though jealousy is compounded, it still partakes in the nature of hatred, and hatred brings in its wake anger and revenge (Nardo 122). This could not be more accurate in the horrid actions Iago resorts to in his insatiable desire to get what he feels is rightfully his, regardless of who he hurts along the way. Iago serves as a prime example that keeping your enemies closest does not always work to your advantage. Let us now examine the heights of deceit to which Iago rises in his selfish, tactless rage to acquire what he wants. The best demonstration of Iago's jealous ways are shown through his twisted motives and his strategically planned out course of action in which he...
Shakespearian tales always leave us with a plethora to ponder about the Elizabethan age and Shakespeare himself. “Othello” is no break in this mold, leaving us to ponder the roll of Iago within the harsh tale of love and murder. Iago is the one to tell Othello of his wife’s betrayal with Cassio, hence making up a story that will work to his favor yet betray those around him. Iago betrays his wife, Emilia, but not only her as he drags Othello, Desdemona, and Cassio into the mix of lies and the hatred he is spreading to improve his rank with Othello. But were Iago’s acts unjust and done for the sake of it? Is he a heartless man who’s only happiness is to bring sorrow upon others? No, Iago has a just reason for what he does, even though he causes the deaths of Cassio, Emilia, and Desdemona in his search for revenge; Iago is not a heartless fiend, just a man wronged.
Human nature, while impressively complex, also has various poor qualities. Often these imperfections result in conflicts which are in turn depicted in works of literature. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, set in an old Puritan community, is centered on several conflicts of human nature that result from the adultery and punishment of Hester Prynne. There are three major conflicts each for which Hawthorne created a specific main character to illustrate: Pearl, Hester's illegitimate daughter, depicts the conflict purity versus sin, Roger Chillingworth, Hester's former husband, depicts good versus evil, and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, who sinned with Hester, depicts the conflict love versus hate. Each of these characters has distinct qualities and actions that Hawthorne uses to establish and elaborate conflicts of human nature in The Scarlet Letter.
The play “Othello” by William Shakespeare was written in 1604 during the Elizabeth era. Othello is one of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare’s dramas. He enjoyed unheralded success in the combat zone, which gave him the reputation as one of Venice’s most competent generals. Even though he has great success in the battlefield, he has a dramatic flaw that causes a downfall in his life. The dramatic flaw that causes his downfall is jealousy. This was brought on by a simple persuasion of Iago, the evil character in the play. Even though Iago used extreme manipulation to get Othello to be jealous, Iago did not really have to try very hard to get Othello in a jealous state of mind. Othello was blinded by his jealousy which led him down a path of constant questioning of his wife and his friend Cassio. Throughout the play we see his dramatic flaw sink him deeper and deeper into a cloud of doubt which eventually leads him to kill not only his love of his life but also himself.
Do you ever feel resentment towards a rival, or bitterness against a person enjoying great success or an advantage? Jealousy is a very dangerous sentiment; it clouds the judgment of its victims and can often lead to some poor actions by those engulfed by it. “It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.” (III.iii.195-197) In The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare, Iago, Othello’s ensign (standard-bearer)’s bitterness towards Othello for passing the lieutenancy to the inexperience Michael Cassio over he Iago causes him to manipulate his friends and family with the intention of ruining Othello. Iago manipulates other characters using their weaknesses to facilitate ruining the General Othello.
In Othello, Iago, Othello's dear truthful friend, wants to ruin Othello's life by "plaguing" his mind of depressing thoughts. He plans to tell Othello that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him with his ex-lieutenant, Cassio. "At least jealousy so strong that judgment cannot cure." (p. 79, Iago) Othello being passionately in love with Desdemona begins to believe the rumors he is told, and it breaks his heart. He is not only envious that his beloved wife would cheat on him with Cassio but that idea of her not loving him, troubled him the most. "By heaven, thou echo'st me/ As if there were some monster in thy thought/ too hideous to be shown." ( W.S, 3.3; 121) Othello's emotions begin to grow from jealously to anger. He has never been heart broken before and now all his emotions of melancholy is running through his mind. "How shall I murder him, Iago?" (p. 171, 4.1) Already Othello had sunken in everything Iago had said. Not thinking straight and letting his emotions run untamed, he can only think of death as a way to resolve everything. He soon pays for his jealousy rage by taking both his wife and his own life.
A.C. Bradley describes Othello as "by far the most romantic figure among Shakespeare's heroes"(Shakespearean Tragedy, 1). This is an unusual description of a man who murders his own wife. However, Othello's feelings of hate for Desdemona started as an overwhelming love for her when their relationship began. This transformation from love to hate also inflicted the characters Iago and Roderigo and like Othello their hatred resulted in the murder of innocent people. Roderigo's love for Desdemona was transformed into hate towards any man that he thought was loved by her. Iago's love for his job and his wife, Emilia changed into a destructive hatred of Cassio and Othello. As a result of their hatred Cassio, Emilia, and at the end themselves were killed. The connection between love and hate in William Shakespeare's "Othello" is the ugly feeling of jealousy that caused such transformations. Jealousy can be described as a fear of losing something or someone that is valuable (Godfrey 2). As minor as this feeling appears to be by that definition, it can take on varying degrees of damaging behavior. Othello, Roderigo, and Iago became paralyzed by jealousy. Their thoughts, actions, and behaviors were ruled by it. Jealousy caused their inability to the act rationally. They became paranoid and unable to love. This paper will examine the jealousy that caused love to turn into hate for Roderigo, Othello, and Iago.
Unlike Iago, Othello was not aware of the jealousy that was inside him; therefore, he was not able to control it. Iago exploits this opportunity to reveal Othello’s inner jealousy and guide him into tragedy by manipulating the other characters. Jealousy controls almost every character from the beginning of the play. Roderigo is jealous of Othello because he has Desdemona, and to the end, when Othello kills his faithful wife because he believes she was having an affair with Cassio. Much of the jealousy in the play is at the hand of Iago by lying, controlling, and misleading people masked by his honesty.
90) and “(For I fear Cassio with my night-cape too)” (2.1.301). According to Jonathan Lear, Iago exemplifies “a hatred that cannot be rationalized, an evil not based on reason” (Schapiro 483). Knowing he cannot support his claims, Iago still insists on revenge against the Moor, using Cassio to wreak said revenge; however, it is not because of a supposed infidelity with his wife that seeks revenge. His sole purpose is to get vengeance on not receiving a position he believes he earned, he would care nothing about Emilia having an affair. Iago’s envy of Cassio comes from his intolerance of Cassio and Othello’s relationship. He simply cannot handle Cassio being the Moor’s Lieutenant, while he has nothing-not the position he wants, not the power he craves, and not the woman he desires (Desdemona) (Segan 4). Iago also projects himself onto Othello and evil forms. Harold Bloom insists that the shock of rejection is what truly makes Iago. He becomes the evil presence that is Shakespeare’s own creation (Schapiro 486).
In chapter two Hawthorne writes, “It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and inclosing her in a sphere by herself” (Hawthorne 480). The scarlet letter “A” is like magic and it takes Hester out of this world and places her in her own world where she is alone. From R.V. Young’s “Individual and Community” he writes “Hester's story shows that the longings of the heart will inevitably conflict with the order of society—even a society established to resolve such conflicts” (Young 39). Hester is set apart from the rest of society and has her own longings and wants such as a family with Dimmesdale and Pearl. Hester’s longings go against the colony and their morals. Young goes on to say “that tension between the individual and the community can never be resolved, nor should it be” (Young 39). Young is conveying his thoughts that there will always be individuals in communities, because it is those individuals that set themselves apart from the norm of society. Hester is the individual in this novel who sets herself apart from the rest of the characters in the novel. Hawthorn writes it this way because Hester’s life reflects his own personal life. During the preface of the novel Hawthorne discusses his time at the custom house in which he later loses his job. Hoffman analyzes this and argues that “[t]he publicly punished Hester plays out this aspect of the author's life”
Everyone experiences emotions such as anger and jealousy, though acting upon these emotions doesn’t happen as often. We as humans will generally suppress thoughts of acting upon emotions to avoid consequences. Instead, most fantasize about what they would do if they could get away with it. When we read of evil characters in literature, although we may not agree with their actions, part of us envies them for acting upon their emotions despite the consequences. Iago is one such character. Iago is jealous that Cassio is promoted over him, and he also suspects that Othello had sex with his wife. Iago does not suppress the urge to act, and he devises an evil plot against Othello which he does carry out successfully. While readers may not agree with all of Iago’s actions, they can still admire his willingness to
While Iago’s hatred towards Othello is firm, the reason for so is not. A controversial topic that is often brought up, is the motive Iago had to have such hate towards Othello. Leaving the audience with little evidence towards a motive, viewers have theorized some motives that Iago may had. Some of the theories are: Jealousy, betray, and an attractiveness towards Othello. Starting with jealousy, Iago may be jealous of Cassio. Cassio received the role of lieutenancy by Othello. Being Othello’s right hand man, Iago may feel jealous and betrayed by Othello. Secondly, Iago may feel betrayed by Othello, as shown in the following statement by Iago, ”it is thought abroad that [Othello] twixt my sheets.” pg. 20 Supporting this theory, is how Iago gets