Society dictates the way people live. It determines how they interact, their position in life, and the standards uphold themselves to. John and Othello, the main characters of Brave New World and Othello, begin to have their lives shaped by the society they are now immersed in. John and Othello have one thing in common: they both have set high moral standards, for themselves and others. But as the pressures of society begin to increase, the differences between these two men become more and more apparent. It was these moral standards, coupled with their roles in society, that identified them as outcasts and ultimately led to their suicides. The moral code that people establish for themselves reflects the environment that they grow up in. For Right before their suicide, they had caved into the way of society and abandoned their own moral standards. Othello, believing that his love, Desdemona, had made him into a cuckold, decides that the only way to handle the situation is to kill her. He would let no woman make him a mockery to society, but shortly after her death, his mistake is brought to light. This mistake goes against the moral standards that he holds himself so highly accountable to and in just that one action he robs himself of all that he believes to be important, Desdemona and his moral code. Since she had died for breaking his moral code, the only punishment he considers to be fit is to die maintaining the very same code. It was his final act of control over society since he was robbing them of what was vital to their army, in order to restore what was vital to himself. He displays control by doing what’s important over doing what’s important to society. John, on the other hand, believes the ways of society are something to be avoided at all costs and to give into them is the worst act committable. He has no intention of ever taking part in their society, deliberately isolating himself for that very reason, but people come to watch the savage anyway. He becomes so riled by the people that when he sees Lenina, all the John is supposed to be the hero of the Brave New World, he should be the one that restores freedom for the people and provide them with the knowledge they’ve been denied, he should be the victor at the end of the story. But he isn’t, instead he dies because society had changed him, not him changing society. Aldous Huxley purposely wrote his novel this way to create a satire of a utopian future. To demonstrate that a society completely controlled by the government, like the society of the Brave New World, would lose all the characteristics that make it human. It was a warning to take precautions of where the world was headed scientifically and otherwise. Othello’s death was part of a tragic tale meant to entertain, whereas John’s death was meant as a warning of the real-life events occurring then and
John and Othello are physically and socially isolated from society. John is a self-imposed outcast because he doesn't want to
The World State is filled with essentially clones; no one is truly a free thinker, which is why Huxley writes in John. John is the purest form of individual that is present in Brave New World. John Savage is viewed by the society as this sort of animal, untamed and different. John is enthralled by how the ‘civilized’ world views life. The simplicity of life sickens him.
Nick Potter states: “Othello is a tragedy of incomprehension, not at the level of intrigue but at the deepest level of human dealings. No one in Othello comes to understand himself or anyone else.” Within Shakespeare’s Othello, no character fully understands themselves of one another. This is especially true in human dealings, where the intentions of characters and how others interpret them are often misaligned. Conflict, and eventually, tragedy arises in Othello due to the incomprehension between characters, as well as within the characters themselves. From the reader’s perspective, it is tragic to understand the reality behind all the incomprehension, since the characters are oblivious to what the readers are aware of.
...Gardner, Helen. “Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from “The Noble Moor.” British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955.
Through studying Shakespeare’s and Cinthio’s Othello, I explored the concept of ‘The Moor’. ‘The Moor’ is a disrespectful and racist term , often used by white Europeans referring to arabs and blacks, and people of other races with relatively dark skin, such as Othello. During Shakespeare’s time, blacks are considered to be outsiders and are inferior to white people. In Cinthio’s work, it stated that moors are hot-headed as evident in this quote ‘you moors are of so hot a nature that every little trifle moves you to anger and revenge’ which is evident that moors are hot-headed. In scene 1 of the play, Iago told Desdemona father that his daughter was robbed by a thief, Iago uses metaphor to describes Othello as a “black ram”. Desdemona’s father was shocked that his daughter will fall in love with a black man. He believed that Othello must have use some magic to make his daughter fall in love with him; as there is social class difference at that time and it is unimaginable that a white woman will love a black men.
Texts and their appropriations reflect the context and values of their times. Within Shakespeare’s Othello and Geoffrey Sax’s appropriation of Othello, the evolution of the attitudes held by Elizabethan audiences and those held by contemporary audiences can be seen through the context of the female coupled with the context of racism. The role of the female has developed from being submissive and “obedient” in the Elizabethan era to being independent and liberated within the contemporary setting. The racism of the first text is overtly xenophobic and natural, whilst the “moor” is unnatural whereas the updated context portrays Othello’s race as natural and racism as unnatural. Therefore these examples show how Shakespeare’s Othello, and it’s appropriation, Geoffrey sax’s Othello, reflect the context and values of their times.
The European Renaissance forever changed the life of the contemporary individual. Explosive advancements in education, technology, and trade broadened geographic and mental horizons; however, in England these developments were paired with population crises of poverty and unemployment. In addition, the increased interaction with foreign cultures fomented by various commercial and diplomatic engagements gave rise to apprehension in English sensibility. Eventually, Christian England would attempt to reshape these ‘strangers’ in their image and modern racial tensions sprung forth. Recursion of the trope of race, under the guise of blackness, heathenry, or even femininity occurs extensively in literary tradition, and especially within Shakespeare’s oeuvre. “There exists in all literature an archetypal figure who escapes both poles of the classic definition – appearing sometimes as hero, sometimes as villain, sometimes as clown…[he] has been named variously the ‘shadow,’ the ‘other,’ the ‘alien,’ the ‘outsider,’ the ‘stranger.’” It is with this borderline figure, mired in ambiguity, that this investigation is concerned: primarily with the stranger as the Moor in Othello, the Welsh in Henry IV, Part 1, and the woman in both.
Dual Nature of Characters in Othello Many of the characters in Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, are duplicitous to the extent that how. they are perceived in public is not how they behave in private. The perception of the public plays.
Desdemona is a victim of both Othello’s jealousy (the ‘green-eyed monster’) and Iago’s malevolence. However, as a literary construct, she is unable to prevent herself from falling victim to the hamartia of Othello and his hubris, an essential flaw in the tragic hero according to Aristotle. His pride is wounded by the idea that society would consider him emasculate due to having been cuckolded – in this sense, her fate was inevitable. Another of Aristotle’s theories purports that catharsis (often experienced following the death of the tragic victim) is a vital component of tragedy; as a great tragedy, catharsis must certainly be felt by the audience of Othello. However, the purging of emotions should surely only be felt towards characters which are genuinely liked, demonstrating the intricate link between pity and likability and highlighting the paradox in Auden’s statement: the audience must like Desdemona to some extent for her death to have a dramatic effect. Regardless of personal opinions on Desdemona, it is an upsetting final thought for the audience that there seems to be little hope for their own lives if evil can prevail over someone so good and taint something as beautiful as Othello and Desdemona’s love.
Othello's reputation also plays a big role in this play and the outcome of it. He has the reputation of a no nonsense military general. This status in fact partly causes Desdemona's death. He becomes so distraught when he hears from Iago that Cassio and Desdemona and cheating on him he becomes angry and wants to kill her. "I will chop her into messes! Cuckold me?" He is surprised and astonished that she would go behind his back and do this. His reputation doesn't allow him to confront her with the situation and talk things over. He is also angry that his reputation would be tarnished when found out that he is a cuckold. He proves that his reputations means a lot to him when he says, "For nought I did in hate, but all in honour." Othello believed that reputation was everything, because of his status as a general and the fact that those under him and above him respected him. Othello's reputation played a big role in the outcome of the play and in part caused Desdemona's death and his own.
Of Shakespeare’s five greatest tragedies, Othello is by far the most passionate and gripping. It is a tale of love, deception, evil, honesty, and virtue. Othello himself is set apart from other Shakespearean tragic heroes by the absolute feeling of affection the audience feels for him even unto the very end of the play. Any discerning reader painfully recognizes the virtue and goodness of Othello throughout the entire play, in contrast to the general degeneration of character so typical of a tragic hero. It is this complete pity that makes the death of Othello so tragic as the audience lends their full support to the inevitable and unavoidable fall.
The Development of the Character of Othello as Shown by his Use of Language and Imagery in William Shakespeare's Play
Othello’s speech to Brabantio and the Duke in Act 1, Scene 3 is of major importance in describing Othello’s personality. This long speech, found in lines 149 to 196, shows Othello for the first time as a person with depth and less as a soldier. This speech is important to the book as a whole because it is a testimony to the strength of the love between Othello and Desdemona, which will later play a major role in the plot. It is also one of the first times that we see Othello trying to influence his audience with his words. The speech given by Othello is intended to convince Brabantio that Desdemona is with him willfully, and not by “spells and medicines bought of montebanks” (line 74).
Shakespeare has created the character of Othello to be a ‘hero of the ancient world‘ (Helen Gardner,1995), in spite of this there are certain circumstances beyond his control that contribute to the downfall of Othello. Othello proves to himself and everyone around him that he is a noble warrior that deserves a certain level of respect. Society doesn’t have a problem with Othello leading the Venetian army but does oppose to the marriage of Othello and Desdemona.
Shakespeare wrote different types of plays such as comedies, tragedies, and historical plays. The play Othello is one of his tragedies. It is about a character named Othello who is a Moor, in the service of Venice. Throughout the play Iago, Othello's lieutenant, manipulates Othello to believe that Desdemona, Othello's wife, is cheating on him. Various characters in the play Othello appear to be virtuous, upstanding individuals, but their actions reveal that they are not as they appear to be.