Shakespeare's England was not a very accepting society when it came to foreigners. Shakespeare, through the captivating play Othello, addresses and reflects these racist issues during the 1600s, while Good Will Hunting reveals the inherent human condition. Both texts highlight the fact that our fear of change, our fear of threats cause us to alienate outsiders. In Shakespeare's England, racially different people challenged the status quo and thus were seen as a threat that must be resisted. Shakespeare reflects this as Othello's and Desdemona's marriage, black man and white woman, is seen as “against all rules of nature” although it simply is just a change in tradition.
Aeschylus (Greek tragic dramatist, 525BC-456BC) said, “For this is tyranny’s disease, to trust no friends”. This is exactly what Julius Caesar should have done; not trusted his friends. In Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare, it is often debated who deserves the role of the tragic hero is this tragedy. Caesar’s tragic flaws do lead to his death, but Brutus is the obvious tragic hero. Although Brutus has the characteristics of a great man such as; nobility, idealism and honesty, what makes him the tragic hero of Julius Caesar is his unassuming sincerity and trust.
What do other characters, besides Othello think of him? Othello was one of William Shakespeare's greatest plays ever written, and arguably one of the greatest stories ever told. While having many parallels to Romeo and Juliet, another of Shakespeare's great writings, they couldn't be further apart in terms of characters. One character in particular , Iago who is the antagonist of the story plays a very important , sinister role in the lives of Othello and Desdemona. Iago who many people perceived to be an honest man when it couldn't be further from the truth and in Othello's cased it proved to be a deadly mistake for trusting him.
Othello wounds Iago, and then kills himself. In response to Othello, there are three different authors who have analyzed the tragedy and each provided their own insight to further explain the play. A.C Bradley wrote “The Noble Othello’ which discussed Othello and explanations to his actions. Millicent Bell wrote “Othello’s Jealousy,” which discusses the racial dynamics of Othello’s character and struggles that he ultimately suffers from his inability to completely conform into a community that deems him a racial outsider. There is also the essay by Jeffrie G. Murphy’s “Jealousy, Shame, and the Rival” which discusses the jealousy that was expressed between each character and how it led to the outcome of the tragedy as exposed through tragic flaws.
Module A: Comparison of Texts Individuals challenge the values that permeate time, in a manner that is relevant to their society. This rebellion is evident in William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew and Gil Junger’s film 10 Things I Hate About You whereby Katherina and Kat initially disregard the social expectations for women of their context. The composers portray this comparably, using textual integrity so the women’s misunderstood, shrew-like behavior is suited to their culture and society. This in turn, provokes both characters to experience a transformation of self and their values. In The Taming of The Shrew, Katherina challenges the values and themes of courtship and marriage, dismissing the female etiquette when meeting her suitor.
Racism: Othello and LWT Film One of the main overarching themes in both Shakespeare’s original play of Othello and the LWT modern film appropriation is of racial discrimination. During the Elizabethan era, which is the context that the original play is set in, black people were considered to be alien to white society and were thought to be driven by passions and emotions instead of reason and intellect as white people were thought to be. They were believed to be imbalanced and dangerous and were hence labeled second-class citizens. Othello is a moor and is therefore an exceptional example of the discrimination black people received during this era, however is an unusual instance due to his high rank in the army. Throughout the play, animal imagery such as “an old ram”, “Barbary horse” and “beast with two backs” is used to describe Othello, which portray the racist attitudes held by society of the time and highlights the belief that black people were animalistic and therefore acted on emotions, lacking rational thought, like animals.
the mass of the Northern community, whose timidity had been startled at Brown's rash attempt, whose, sympathy had been more or less awakened by his bearing and his death, but who were and are in a painful state of perplexity, in the endeavor to reconcile their abhorrence, or at least their disapproval of his attack on Virginia, with their sense of the admirable nature of the qualities he displayed.... [But the tone of this biography is] . . . so violent, so extravagant, that it will offend all right-thinking men. ".
Shakespeare creates this jealousy to show the audience the racism in most of the characters speeches about and towards Othello and also to show the audience the types of characters Cassio and Othello could be before we have met them in Act 1, Scene 1. It is important to consider what the key reasons are for his jealousy and to think about how an original Jacobean audience would have responded to the way Iago talks about Othello and Cassio. Iago’s jealousy of Cassio is first suggested to the audience in Act 1, Scene 1 when Iago is talking to Roderigo about Othello making Cassio lieutenant and not him. It is clear to an audience that Iago is envious of Cassio because he is talking about him and saying he is a ‘counter-caster’ and ‘Nor the division of a battle knows more than a spinster—unless the bookish theoric’. Iago is saying these things because he is outraged at the fact that Othello didn’t make him lieutenant even though three of Venice’s most important noblemen took their hats off to him and asked him humbly to make Iago his lieutenant, the second in command.
Arthur Miller’s writing of Death of a Salesman does correctly fit the title of a tragedy because his main character, Willy Loman, does possess the qualities needed to be considered a tragic hero according to modern-day tragic heroes. Hamlet and Oedipus are the well-known tragic heroes from the past. They relate more to Aristotle than Willy Loman does and that is what causes the controversy in these tragedies. Aristotle had written down some of the common tragic hero characteristics for Greek tragedies, but those do not relate to more modern tragedies that have been written. Miller’s main character Willy Loman does deserve to have the title tragic hero.
Slavery was so victimized that it still affects the society to the extent that black people blame the whites , and white people still agree that black people need to be slaves. Until this day there is some sort of prejudice and rivalry due to different