How the Death of the Author Helps Illuminate the Themes of Goodnight Desdemona - Good Morning Juliet - Essay Example

How “The Death of the Helps Illuminate the Themes of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) Reading two books concurrently, a reader has the ability to draw references of the two. If the audience does not properly understand a particular text, referring to another text can help in understanding the various concepts in the other text. Additionally, a reader can compare the two texts, and arrive to a concussion. How effective one author is in passing the intended message to the audience is yet another way that reader can use two texts together. The method of writing the texts used by the authors, the style of writing as well as the message the author wanted to pass to the audience are examples of elements that can be compared and contrasted from two different texts by totally different authors. It does not have to be necessary that both texts are in the same category or addressing similar subjects. The most important thing to note is that they give the audience the ability and opportunity to understand various concepts better than if they did not bother reading them both. Ideas of two authors can be either similar or contracting with each other, but still, drawing reference between them remains a good reason why two texts can be read together. The advantages of reading two texts together and drawing references cannot be underestimated, as revealed by two texts, Barthes’ “The Death of the Author” and “Goodnight Desdemona (good morning Juliet)”. This paper will look at the extent in which “The Death of the Author” helps to illuminate the themes in the book, “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) because of the similarity in the issues discussed and the closeness of the thoughts of both authors.” In the play, “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)”, the theme of reading is addressed by the author, whilst Barthes too talks about it in the text, “The Death of the Author.” In the play, the character of Constance is portrayed as a widely read and researched reader, currently working on her doctoral thesis. In the thesis, she theorizes that none of the two tragedy works by Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet and Othello, in their very origin were comic works by the some unknown author, but rather extractions from the Gustav Manuscript. She came into this conclusion after she realized that if wise fools had been used in the plays instead of the real fools who had been used, they would automatically lose their tragic element. Although she is clever enough to realize the fools in both the two texts, she does not realize the fool in in the death of the author, the author points out that there are those readers who will properly understand the every word and the duplicate as well as hear the voice that the characters are speaking in the text. By this he meant that the most effective leaders are those that can read in between the lines and understand the hidden meanings of the author without any hardship. An effective reader can make out the culture of the characters, their behaviors and the kind of relationship that they exhibit even without these details having to be revealed in open by the text. This definition perfectly suits the character of Constance, who deductively comes into a conclusion that the characters in the two tragedies by Shakespeare were fools (Barthes web). In drawing her conclusion therefore, she feels that a change of the characters would significantly change the type of the texts. From this analysis, the definition of a reader by Barthes effectively helps in the illumination of the theme of reading my MacDonald. Another theme that can effectively be illuminated by the text the death of the author is the theme of criticism. Criticism can be defined as positive or negative close scrutiny of a text or a book to reveal the effectiveness of the author in addressing the particular topic in his mind. Positive criticism looks at the positive side of the text and where the author successfully tackled their point while negative criticism seeks to point out the various mistakes and gaps left by the author addressing the issue under discussion. In her thesis dissertation, Constance had criticized the characters by Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet and Othello. She held the opinion that the characters were rely foolish, a reason why both works were tragedies. In trying to prove her point, she indicated that in case the characters were given some brains to reason, the two works would lose the tragedy in them. She even goes ahead to point out that Shakespeare was not the author of the works, but rather somebody else. Interestingly, Constance is served with a similar judgment by her supervisor Professor Claude Night, who criticizes her dissertation topic without a close scrutiny. He goes ahead to break her heart further by revealing that he was about to take a job at the Oxford University, the very position she had hoped to acquire. The Professor’s criticism is a negative criticism of the work that Constance had so much put hope and ambitions in. she had hoped to have a good dissertation, one which she would see her being awarded a doctorate degree and win her the job in Oxford University. Interestingly, Constance is criticism from the play is seen by Constance herself with her thesis which she points that the character in Shakespeare’s books are foolish (Barthes web). Again, the text “The Death of the Author” helps to shed more light on the theme of criticism, which has been discussed in the play. The theme of author identification is illuminated by the text, “The Death of the Author” which is also discussed in the play “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)”. Constance in her dissertation had sought to argue out that Shakespeare was not the original author of the book Romeo and Juliet. She believed that the original author was an unknown person from a manuscript called Gustav. More so, she had hinted that the characters in the book were fools. Her dissertation was rubbished by her supervisor even before she could defend her thoughts and ideas. This deeply wounded her, as she felt that she was absolutely right in the dissertation and the thesis. This prompted her to seek the original author of the book as well as the character fool. There are a series of events that follow this decision, as she tries to seek the real author of the book. She joins into the lives of the characters of the Romeo, Juliet and Othello. At the end of the play, she realized that she was the original author of the book and still the foolish character. Successfully, she had managed to prove that was both the author and the unnamed foolish character in the book. Barthes points out that the death of the author in a text is revealed at the very end of the text and is successfully proven through the words in the text. Moreover, he points out that the explanation of a work is searched in the particular person who originally produced that piece of work. He quotes that the person who produced is always found closely at the end. Throughout the text, the revelation of the author who dies is revealed to the audience at the end of the text. Likewise, in the play, “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)”, the unknown author of the book whom Constance is desperately seeking is revealed. However, in this case, the author turns out to be Constance herself. In conclusion, while trying to analyze the themes in the book, “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)”, this paper drew its reference to the text, “The Death of the Author.” Various similarities in the description of the themes have been cited. While ideally the context of their description and thinking is quite different, they portray a similar meaning. The various themes that have successfully been illuminated in the play, “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)” by the text, “The Death of the Author” include the explanation of the reader and the how they are involved in the text, the theme of criticism and the theme of author identification. With the support from “The Death of the Author”, “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)” clearly outlines the themes in a clear manner. In summary, “The Death of the Author” in this case has helped to illuminate the themes in the book, “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) because of the similarity in the issues discussed and the closeness of the thoughts of both authors.” Works Cited Barthes, Roland. The Death of the Author. Athenaeum Library of Philosophy, 1977. Web. http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/barthes06.htm Read More