Emotions take control over our actions. In the play, Othello, by William Shakespeare, emotions have an overcoming power over the characters ' behaviours. Set in Cyprus, the tragedy Othello is revolved around Iago, a character who is determined to achieve power through the use of manipulation and deception, targeting powerful figures such as the protagonist, Othello, his lieutenant, Cassio, and a rich soldier, Roderigo. Throughout the play, the actions committed by characters consumed by self-loathing are greatly amplified. Othello illustrates how jealousy forces the characters to go to greater lengths than one normally would to satisfy their desire for vengeance.
This essay is going to offer a postcolonial and racial outlook toward Shakespeare’s play Othello as regards its main character, Othello.A postcolonial reading of the play contains expressions of racism and discriminatory attitudes through the use of imagery and negative color connotations, which compel the character’s actions. First and foremost it will present a biography and summary of the play, clarify the definition of postcolonialism, and tries to develop this concept step by step throughout the play. 2. Biography Othello (1603) the play written by Shakespeare (1564-1616) was probably first performed soon after King James VI of Scotland acceded to the English throne in 1603. It takes place in Venice and Cyprus between 1489 and 1571.
The play Othello is, at its core, a tragedy defined by the weakness of men and their complete vulnerableness to an (imaginary) anxiety over women, the male characters presented in the play present men in a degrading way. Men in the play view women’s value as reliant on how effectively they meet gender role because of this they see women as objects and extension of themselves. When women behave in a ‘not appropriate way’, it tears away the manhood of each character. Men crippled by this fear, turn into monsters swept away by their vicious jealousy. In this day and age, these inaccurate depictions of men help to continue the cycle of sexism by telling boys that machismo and hyper-masculinity are things to be desired.
Othello (The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice) is a play written by William Shakespeare. The story Un Capitano Moro ("A Moorish Captain") by Cinthio, first published in 1565, inspires Shakespeare to write the play. Since the author never published any of his plays, it is controversially discussed when Othello was first published. However, it is believed that the play was first played between 1604 and 1605 and, first printed in 1622. The central characters in the play are Othello – a highly esteemed general in the service of Venice, and Desdemona – a beautiful young lady who enrages her father, the Venetian senator, because she elopes with a man several years older than her, who is Othello.
Using the characters’ relationships against them, the play reveals the power of deception and misinformation to destroy trust and loyalty. Othello was published in the early sixteenth century. Commedia dell’arte, a popular comedy in Italian theatres, persuaded Shakespeare’s motives when writing Othello. Shakespeare writes this play with a “disturbing, tragic ending, not the traditional romantic tragedy that has puzzled
For Shakespeare’s plays to contain enduring ideas, it must illustrate concepts that still remain relevant today, in modern society. Shakespeare utilises his tragic play Othello, to make an important social commentary on the common gender stereotypes. During early modern England, Shakespeare had to comply to the strict social expectations where women were viewed as tools, platonic and mellow, and where men were displayed as masculine, powerful, tempered, violent and manipulative. As distinct as this context is to the 21st century, the play exposes how women were victimised by the men who hold primary power in the community in which they compelled women to conform to the ideal world of a perfect wife or confront an appalling destiny for challenging the system. Moreover, Shakespeare utilises the main antagonist, Iago, to portray how men are desperate to achieve what they want and to indirectly fulfil the stereotype of masculinity and power through manipulation.
Othello is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, written in 1603. It is one of the Shakespeare’s later compositions as well as one of his most melodramatic, and emotionally filled play. It’s simplistic storyline place an emphasis on the impassioned, zealous and complex personalities each character possesses. He composed an impactful and powerful drama with the theme of marriage that symbolizes an ordinary household argument, but with theatrical adaptations, it creates a riveting, captivating and enthralling plot. Othello’s marriage between a Venetian lady - Desdemona, took place at the start of the play.
Tragedy has always been regarded a great genre portraying puzzle of human existence; demonstrating from diverse angles that both greatness and humility come from within, proclaiming free will and touching upon the delicate matters such as fate. There is no doubt that Othello was a Shakespearean tragedy . is a play written by Shakespeare, or a play written in the style and manner of Shakespeare by a different writer. Shakespearean tragedy has its own specific features, which characterize it from other tragedies. Some elements of a Shakespearean tragedy are a tragic hero: chief character cursed by fate and possessed of a tragic flaw, struggle between good and evil, this struggle can take place as part of the plot or exist within the main character.
The author uses Othello’s death to show all of the events that have led to this dramatic disaster. Shakespeare also uses Othello’s death to portray the theme of the power of vengeance. The idea that Desdemona would betray him hurt him deeply, but once Othello realizes he has killed her in vain he cannot live with the pain. After Othello’s death Cassio reminds bystanders that Othello is “full of heart” meaning he embodies love and kindness (V.ii. 776).
Bakhtin emphasises the historical, cultural and social aspects of literary texts and that texts should be read through their context. His work is important, because he argues that events should be “composited, theorised and understood”, not just seen as events (Robinson 2011). Bakhtin’s Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics is seen as one of the most important theories on the novel written in the twentieth century. In Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics, Bakhtin concentrates on the artistic thinking he calls polyphonic. Polyphony refers to the use of multiple voices or multivoicedness.