The Psychological Journey In Shakespeare's Othello

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The statement “The only journey is the one within” accurately depicts the demise of a character’s psychological development. The play Othello by Shakespeare (1603) and the short story Death by Landscape by Margret Atwood (1990) both display their character’s inner journeys through a single experience to develop their characteristics and their psychological development. Paranoia and obsessiveness are the catalyst of their demise and inner journey. Throughout the play, Othello’s characteristics and mind-set alter causing him to question his morals, thus beginning his inner journey. During the play, Iago continuously pesters Othello about his morals on marriage and women, this causes Othello to become manipulated by Iago’s ethics and causes …show more content…

In the short story Death by Landscape, Lucy’s parents’ divorce leads to her inner journey and causes her mental health and life to collapse. During the three years at camp Lucy’s attitudes change as she becomes depressed with her life “she wants to run away from home” and begins to value Lois’s life more than her own “you’re so lucky,” Lucy tells her a little smugly.” During their time at camp Lucy becomes consumed with the idea that her life is falling apart compared to Lois’s life. This causes Lucy to think rationally, leading to her demise and caused her to jump off the cliff. Thus, Lucy’s parents’ divorce causes her mental demise and her inner journey. Throughout Iago’s second soliloquy he expresses his paranoia through his inner journey and the assumptions he makes without knowledge. Iago’s revenge plot is based on irrational thoughts “for I fear Cassio with my night-cape too”. Iago’s obsessiveness over an alleged plot to get revenge on Othello escalates into believing that Cassio is also guilty of these phantom actions. Iago’s obsessiveness over getting revenge causes his own inner journey, through his mental wellbeing and demise. Iago also enforces his belief about not taking ownership over the deaths of others “Demand me nothing. What you know, you know. From this time forth I never will speak word.” This emphasises Iago’s demise through his …show more content…

In Othello both Iago and Othello use dialogue and emotive language to show their negative journey. These techniques were used to develop Othello and Iago’s characteristics, these characteristics included paranoia and obsessiveness. In Death by Landscape Lucy and Lois’s characteristics develop throughout the short story depicting their psychological growth. Although Lois’s inner journey concluded with a positive development, Lucy’s inner journey caused her demise due to her irrational thoughts. Hence Both Shakespeare and Atwood work accurately depicts their character’s demise through a singular psychological development to progress their character’s

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