The Theme of Self Esteem in Othello

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Recommended: Othello as a Tragedy of Character

The Theme of Self Esteem in Othello

For the theater-going people of the Elizabethan age, there were many hardships. Many of them experienced poor living conditions and treatment. All of them faced the dangers of a comparatively underdeveloped medical knowledge which often left the young and elderly to die of common diseases. The magic of Shakespeare is not only that historians can learn of otherwise undocumented details of the 1500's, but also that all readers can discover the many similarities between Shakespeare's day and now. These similarities reside heavily not only in speech, but also the human condition. When compared with the people we know today, Shakespeare's characters exhibit only skin-deep differences. Some identical language expressions may owe their modern existance to Shakespeare's presence in literary education, but identical emotional reactions surely cannot stem solely from the lecture hall. The English inhabitants of the 16th century, as seen through William Shakespeare's eyes, experienced the same love, hate, and jealousy that we do today. Just as our modern films and music often include implied moral lessons, so too does Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice. All its primary characters and themes of unstable love and exploitation culminate into one simple message about the key importance of loving oneself.

Iago, the villian of the tale, is responsible for initiating most of the turbulence found in the plot. Essentially, Iago chooses two insecure individuals on which to work his exploitation: Roderigo and Othello. Othello, arguably the main character of the play, is Iago's primary pawn. Roderigo becomes a secondary card in Iago's deck, as well as his source of money. Blinded by his lo...

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...ny sort of hardships such as financial difficulties or emotional manipulation just like that exercised against Othello and Desdemona. Even today, similar messages about self empowerment are widely seen in popular novels, films, and television programs. Contemporary examples include Harry Potter, "28 Days", "Sesame Street", and many others. One can almost imagine an unwealthy villager emerging from lengthy stay in a packed theatre making a firm resolve to finally regain the strength to sever ties to an untrustworthy and treacherous acquaintance.

Works Cited

Myers, David G. Psychology, 6th Edition. Holland, Michigan: Worth Publishers, 2001.

Dolezal, Timothy William. Moor Impotency: Othello's Powerlessness in Sexual and Social Relationships.

14 Dec. 1998. University of Notre Dame. 23 June 2003

<http://www.nd.edu/~frswrite/mcpartlin/1999/Dolezal.shtml>.

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