The Importance Of Religion In Othello

In the tragic play, Othello, William Shakespeare creates the true wickedness of the character, Iago, through his devious plans created to cause the demise of Othello. Shakespeare crafts Iago’s evil characteristic through the way he manipulates others in order to carry out his plans and his unfit motivation for his maliciousness.

The sympathy felt for a character often remains through character revelation. In spite of the change in personality and morals the first impression of the character is not forgotten. Othello who commits violent acts throughout the play ends his life with honour, reminding us he was originally introduced as a respected man of high position. A person can be manipulated by others to act outside of their character, and their emotions can blind them from making good decisions. In the end a person’s true character is reflected upon the way they react to the results of their wrong doing. It is possible to feel pathos for Othello in spite of his actions as his mistakes are a result of manipulation and do not demonstrate his true temperament, concluding

During the Middle Ages while the Roman Catholic Church was in control, literature was focused around religion, as seen in a line from Everyman, stating “For ye shall hear, how our Heaven-King calleth Everyman to a general reckoning…” (Document B) This line is referring to God and the judgement of whether a person was to go to heaven or hell. Another piece of literature by William Shakespeare praises man in several ways, writing that man is “admirable… like an angel… in apprehension how like a god!” (Document B) The first excerpt was stating how man thought of sin as a good thing at first, but regrets it later during God’s judgement. The first excerpt was written during the Renaissance, but promoted Middle Ages thinking. The second excerpt was written later on in the Renaissance, and it was complimenting mankind. William Shakespeare compared man to god and angels, highlighting the finest traits.

Stories can be used to empower, to break, and to rebuild human nature. Moreover, the most dangerous kind of story is a single story. Single stories are so incredibly dangerous because they create stereotypes and, as Adiche said, “the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but they are incomplete” (Adiche). A single story about Africa being a completely destitute and hopeless place caused Adiche’s college roommate to immediately have extreme feelings of melancholy for her; her roommate even believed she was unable to work a stove which was far from the truth. In William Shakespeare’s Othello, other characters assume Othello’s traits, habits, and abilities simply based on his single story. Othello’s single story is exceedingly normal; he is Muslim, from Northern Africa, and black. Adiche says, “a single story robs people of their dignity” (Adiche), basing their assumptions on facts they do not like, characters such as Brabantio

When you are ready to dive into the vast world of Shakespeare, you can begin by using what is known as a critical lens. The lens that may help you understand the background details of one of Shakespeare’s plays would be the Historical lens. Although there are many different lens that you can use to interpret a story, the Historical Lens is a great lens to dive into to find what really influenced the great ideas of William Shakespeare as he wrote Hamlet including the role gender plays, the comparison of Elizabeth Tudor, and the religious incorporation throughout the play.

William Shakespeare’s “Othello” was a great example to showcase sacrifices made by characters to accomplish revenge or obtain power. Shakespeare told the story of Othello, a tragic hero, who was manipulated by Iago, which motivated him to kill his own wife. From this story, Shakespeare’s main goal was to portray characters making sacrifices for their ambitions. From this play, Shakespeare puts forth the idea of sacrifice through pointing out the importance of reputation and how sacrifices must be made to silence the truth.

New Historicism is concerned with the political function of the literature and also the concept of

The first incident of this defining power of religion is in Hamlet’s first soliloquy, “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt,/ Thaw, and resolve itself into dew!/ Or that the Everlasting had not fixed/ His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!” (Shakespeare, 1.2.129-132). The pain that he is experiencing due to his father’s death and his mother’s dalliances can only be resisted by his faith and his belief in better and worse. Hamlet fears a damnation to Hell, and hopes for an easy passage to heaven, yet in a situation that many find hopeless, it is through his faith in God that Hamlet is able to resist the temptations of death. Throughout the play, Shakespeare emphasizes this intense faith that Hamlet possess and how it is a guiding force in many of his choices. Yet lack of faith can be even more telling.

When the play begins, the reader discovers that Othello and Desdemona have eloped. Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, does not approve of her marriage to Othello. Learning about the secret and unapproved marriage, he angrily declares that Desdemona “is abused, stol’n from me, and corrupted by spells…” In this outburst of passion, Shakespeare uses diction to subtly comment on the sorcerous power of love. Brabantio’s claim evokes negative connotations associated with witchcraft and black magic. Indeed it is commonplace to describe lovers as under one another’s spell. Under the influence of a spell, a lover loses all control over his or her behavior. Shakespeare observes that this characteristic of love exposes the lover to “corruption,” foreshadowing

The common aim of playwrights of any time or location is to capture and hold the attention of their audience; this is what Shakespeare has clearly done. The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, is one of Shakespeare 's most renowned plays. Through construction of intriguing characters, exploration of universal themes, use of comic relief and a well-written script featuring a compelling plot, Shakespeare ensured the tragedy of Othello would hold the interest of the audience; despite being over four centuries old. It possesses so many conditions that can be accentuated to hit nerves with both a Shakespearean and modern audience. The entire plot of Othello is very much like the attitudes and methods of our modern day society.

When people of one race believe themselves to be superior to those of another, only catastrophe can result. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, racism was extremely prevalent, and white supremacy was much more pronounced. In William Shakespeare’s play Othello, both covert and overt racism, assimilation, and jealous dispositions all foreshadow the untimely death of Desdemona and Othello.

The Power of Words is important in the play Othello. Words are used to show power in Othello, words are also used to show what the personality of the characters are and that is used to show the reader what the characters are like and lastly, words are used to have a conversation with the audience. Through the words in the play the audience can understand the play and also the audience knows most of the time what is going to happen before the characters know what is happening.

In an attempt to fulfill the incessant need for comfortable dichotomies, societies tend to be divided into two groups: the ‘in-crowd’ and the ‘others’. These strict dualities, constructed upon the inherent need for adversaries, are often as arbitrary as they are false and based on nothing but fear. Regardless of their invalidity, however, simply the belief that these divisions are warranted is enough to render them truth, having a lasting impact of the health of a society and the individuals within it. In his work Othello, Shakespeare explores this concept—focusing on the city of Venice and the prejudices against the Moor. By the end of the

Free will is the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion. In Paul Iori’s last essay, “Are We Human or Are We Dancer?” he stated that what makes us human is the ability of free will. Without free will people are puppets moping through life without any joy, happiness, or euphoria in life. But, with free will we can do whatever we want whenever we want. That seems a bit animalistic. We can choose to steal and murder if we truly desire to. The only was to be truly human is to live with free will, but with the strain that society puts on us. Without the constraints that society puts on us we would act like cavemen and go back to our most primal instincts, which is inhumane.

The religious preferences and philosophy of the English Renaissance affected Shakespeare’s writing. The battle for a man’s soul comes from the Christian idea of God in heaven conflicting with Satan in the world. Shakespeare views evil as more than only bad deeds; it breaks the holy order that God instituted to hold the universe together (Miller). Expanding