The Theme of Personal Identity in Othello and King Lear - Literature review Example

Introduction A person's identity is controlled by a number of factors that include the individual's race, gender, social status, environment, family relationships, marriage, and love. These factors are inextricably linked and work together to influence the identity of a person. Personal identity evolves over time and in most cases; the individual does not have any level of control over the factors that influences their identity. The theme of personal identity has been explicitly explored in both Othello and King Lear. In these texts, the theme of personal identity has been highlighted by the traits of different characters. These individual traits are created by the environment that the person finds themselves in or are manipulatively created by socio-cultural aspects of life. Therefore, different social factors and how they manipulate personal identity and actions of individuals in the text is an important area of study. Thesis: socio-cultural factors manipulate personal identity that influences the choices one makes in life. This paper will use the two texts that is Othello and King Lear in justifying this thesis. It will look at how each text explores the broader theme of personal identity and the supporting themes that are contributing social or cultural factors that determine the identity of persons. Discussion Socio- cultural factors are a combination of social and cultural aspects that influence the behavior of a person. The social aspects include social status, family relations, environment or society and marriage. The cultural aspects mainly deal with the ethnicity and traditional values (Seigneuret 1988). These factors are sub-themes that have been clearly portrayed within these texts In Othello, Shakespeare uses gender, race, social status, family relationships and work and love to explore the aspect of personal identity. Each of these aspects that determine human identity are themes in themselves. In King Lear, the author uses love, gender, social status, family relations and work as the major themes in creating the identity of persons. This signals a level of similarity between the two texts on the theme of identity. However, the approaches could differ when it comes to the way these aspects manipulate the identity of a person. Looking at these factors as subthemes and to provide an analysis on how each text projects the impact of each on the personal identity of individuals is therefore important. Individuals identity in the society is determined by their actions or thinking. For instance in Othello, Lago informs Roderigo that “he would not allow any slight action to betray his true identity in the plot that he is about to hatch” (Shakespeare 1996, p. 818). Analysts would argue out that King Lear is a perfect example of a domestic tragedy (Halio 2001, p. 37). The main reason for this school of thought is that the play is centered on two families, and it end up in a tragedy. King Lear's family is brought down by his decision to hand over his reign to his daughters. This leads to a civil war that eventually costs the life of all the daughters and himself at the end. The Gloucester family is no different. The tension between his sons leads to the death of one of his sons in the end and even causes his death through a heart attack. In King Lear, Cordelia, the most beloved of the daughters and the one who loved the father is misunderstood by the father for lacking an explanation (Woodford 2004). This in turn makes the father furious, and she is forced to elope with a lover. Family attachment and associations her is the driving force behind the actions of Cordelia and King Lear. The cordial relationship and attachment is seen as binding the two together and manipulating their feelings and actions that point out to their personality. The other sisters too are influenced by the family relations. Regan and Goneril both lie to their father that they love him so much but in real sense they do not. Their character is developed on the lies that they tell their father, and this is mainly due to the parent-child relationship that they had in their family. In the end, the two daughters had to scuffle over who gets to have the illicit love of Edmund. This leads the two to their death as they could not trust each other and let either of them get the relationship. To understand how each of these families' relations has either negative or positive influence on the Identity of an individual, it is also essential to look at the lives of Cordelia and Edgar in King Lear (Danson 2014). Both of these characters are well brought up with a lot of love from their parents. This shapes their Identity by giving them a similar trait of love. When Edgar meets the dad, he does not resent him and compassionately takes care of him. He even assists the dad in avoiding suicide. Cordelia too even though disowned by the father, does not despise the father when they meet again. Instead, she remains loving and understanding to the father (Shakespeare 1877). In Othello, the relationship between spouses is what determines the main identity of Othello the main character of the story. Othello's attachment to the wife Desdemona drives his fury when he is cheated into believing that the wife is cheating. It also worsens the relationship between him and his preferred lieutenant Cassio. In both plays, broken family relationships are the main course of negative behavior of individuals (Mussari 2010). It is like the author of the plays wanted to depict the fact that broken systems are the main cause of negative behavior in persons. In plays, poor relationships or Brocken relations at the center of creating a negative identity like jealousy in some characters in the plays. Gender roles also play an integral role in shaping the identity of persons (Swindall 2011). This is depicted by the societal requirements on members of different gender in the community and the requirements of complying with the expected roles. In King Lear, there was no male in the family of the king to take over the throne from the king. The absence of a male member prompted the king to take drastic measures in dividing the kingdom among his daughters. The daughters, on the other hand, had to change their personality in order to assume full authority of the kingdom while their father was still alive. To achieve this, they had to change their personality and pursue power through treachery and deceit. The king of France finds it easy to elope with Cordelia due to these actions. She simply refers to her as “the fair one and convinces her to come along” (Shakespeare, 1996, p. 900) In Othello, the society gives reputation to different genders based on different issues. To women, their reputation is based on their sexual life. Vices like promiscuity and infidelity are seen as giving the women a bad reputation but have no effect on the men whom they engage in such acts. This is evident when Lago and Cassio talk about the latter's encounter with a prostitute. They are both jovial and proud of their actions to the extent that they even laugh about it. For the women in the play like Desdemona, their strength to survive is dependent on their fidelity to their husbands. This position is well pronounced when Othello kills Desdemona for suspicion of infidelity. In both these circumstances, the author portrays gender as a possible influence to the behavior of individuals. The influence that gender had on the character of King Lear's daughters can be seen as shaping their identity, in the long run. It makes them liars in order to survive in a male-dominated society. For the women in Othello, the most that their gender can achieve is being a loyal wife or a prostitute like the case of Bianca. This is shown by the fact that some women in the play were prostitutes while the rest were married women. None is depicted as participating in the public service like the daughters of King Lear. The theme of gender has close links to traditional practices. This is evident in the position given to each gender in the two texts. In King Lear, had there been a male sibling in the family then he would out rightly be king. However, the turn of events disfavors this position. The same is projected in Othello where women's position is considered secondary to a man's in a family. These traditional practices shape the identity or traits that women have and in most cases the women tend to be submissive and resigned to fate. Social status has also been used by the two plays to indicate the personality of individuals. Within each of the plays, there is a distinct stratification of people according to class and position held in the society. The effect of this classification is that each member of a particular class is expected to behave in accordance to the present standards of each class. Both the text uses the positions held by different individuals in portraying the effect of social stratification on the personal identity of the characters. In King Lear, the king's behavior is significantly influenced by the fact that he is a ruler, and much of what he wills must prevail. At the time when he wanted to hand over power to his daughters, he commands them to tell him how much they did love him. Cordelia refuses to play along and does not say anything about how much she loves the father. To this fact, King Lear feels that the daughter has been disdainful and disowned her. Here, we can derive the fact that by virtue of the king being a ruler, his identity is manipulated by the fact that his subjects are always loyal and obedient to his orders. He is not aware that it is a family issue and should take a different approach to dealing with it. In Othello, most of the members of different classes follow suit in behavior or identity. Brabantio, Desdemona's father, is a senator and believes that his status would let him prevail in a case against Othello. This makes him disrupt the Senate meeting in order to report the fact that Othello had eloped with his daughter. He even proceeds to try and influence the decision of the Senate through lies. However, his lies are not successful because the accused also has high regard in the society and is a war veteran. Lodovico in his reference to Othello he says that “the senate refers to Othello as a sufficient man whose passion cannot shake nor graze his solid virtue in this case” (Shakespeare 1962, p. 268). Othello remains confident even before the trial that he would prevail due to his social status as a war veteran. The level of confidence exhibited by both Othello and Brabantio before the trial is an indicator of the people's belief in social class. As such, their behavior is influenced by the social status. The influence of the social status significantly alters the identity of the characters in the play (Toshack 2001). Marxist interpretation can be used to understand the influence of social stratification on the society. Analysts can argue that this work by Shakespeare is a derivation of the societal norms. Most notably how the society treats the powerful members comparatively to the poor and lowly in systems like the justice system. From this perpective, it can be understood that the work of Shakespeare here reflect the actual societal norms and status that affect human behavior and identity. It is difficult to distinguish this subtheme from the theme of work in the two plays. This is because through one's work, a person gains social status and reputation. A perfect example is given in Othello. When Othello fires Michael Cassio, his preferred lieutenant, the lieutenant complains that “his reputation has been ruined” (Shakespeare 1962, p. 332). This shows that work and social status are closely linked. Another example that illustrates this fact is that Othello by being a war veteran is reputable and has high standings in the social ranks and as such is not threatened by the elite of the society. In King Lear, the identity of different persons is influenced by the nature of the work that they do. For instance, the daughters of King Lear feared that their father would take back the kingdom from them by the use of 100 soldiers that he still had. The soldiers, in this case, are depicted as disciplined men who only follow the orders of their master. In King Lear, the loyal servant of Gloucester murdered Cornwall for blinding his master despite Cornwall being the husband of the ruler of the land. These instances show that the nature of the work of individuals had a level of influence on their personality. In this play, Gloucester informs Kent that “he has always blushed to acknowledge Edmund for the reason that the boy was conceived out of wedlock” (Shakespeare 1877, p. 6). This aspect changes the attitude of Gloucester towards Edmund and Edmunds identity is also deflected through this relationship with the father. The social status of an individual can change, and this too has an influence on the identity of persons. This change in social status comes with an equivalent change in reputation and level of respect. As such, the identity of the person changes entirely to fit within the social class that the person finds himself in. In King Lear, Edgar the son of a nobleman had to change his social class disguise himself as a beggar for purposes of hiding his identity. He changes even his name to poor Tom in order to assume a new identity. This change makes him hidden to the extent that no one including his father could identify him from even the voice. For Edmund, the gives himself a self-serving speech and asserts that “the gods have served justice to the illegitimate son” (Shakespeare 1877 ). Similarly, when King Lear becomes mad and walks the heath, his identity is changed from that of being a ruler to an ordinary beggar. From this position, he then sees the world as a place where everyone is equal and can suffer from the same vulnerabilities. Interpersonal relationship is another fact that is seen as deflecting personal identity in the two plays. This aspect of interpersonal relations covered as a theme focuses on relationships that are created within the family or at work place. These relationships are either brief in nature or last a very long time. Interpersonal relations lead to individuals deriving close affiliations and associations with other individuals that can shape the way they think and act. In King Lear, interpersonal relations cover both family and work relations. The most notable influences of interpersonal relations at work is seen when the servant of Gloucester kills Cornwall for blinding his master. The action of the servant to risk his life for the master by killing another man is an indicator of the influence of interpersonal relations at work. Here, interpersonal relationship is seen to create loyalty. Manipulation is another thematic aspect that can explain the influence of interpersonal relations on the behavior or personal identity of people. When a person tries to manipulate another, he tries to interfere with the choices that the person makes, and the actions done by these people. In many cases, the outcome of manipulation is to the benefit of the person propagating the manipulation. The outcome of manipulation is often reflected in the actions of individuals and in most cases these actions are in contradiction of what would be a norm to the person. Manipulation is common ground in the two plays. In Othello, Lago skillfully uses his wit to trick everyone into different sorts of actions. First, the villain lies to Rodrigo that he can deliver the love of Desdemona to him. Rodrigo is then forced to come to an agreement with him to pay him some money to succeed in his endeavors. The next culprit of Lago's manipulation is Othello. Othello's behavior towards the wife changes drastically due to false suspicion that Lago has manipulated him into believing. He even resorts to change his attitude towards the wife and plans to kill her citing infidelity as the cause of his actions. Apparently Lago had provided him with ocular proof of this. The moors’ response to Lago is that “he was contented with the love he got from Desdemona and she chose him despite his race. As such, he needed enough proof of Desdemona’s infidelity” (Shakespeare 1996, p. 836). In King Lear, the theme of manipulation and its effect on the personal identity is more or less similar. In this play, the daughters of King Lear that is Regan and Gornoril lie to their father that they love him. This is just to get the aging king to give them control of the kingdom. Once the kingdom was in their possession, they change their attitude toward their father and only care about their personal gains. From Cordelia's view, this manipulation that her sisters did alter the identity of their father forcing him to resent her. Edmund also manipulates the father in thinking that the son he considered legitimate wanted to kill him. The result of this action by Edmund changed the lives of both the father and Edgar. While the Edgar was forced to flee and assume a new identity, the father never gets the chance ever to set eyes on his legitimate son again. From these instances of manipulation, one can conclude that manipulation deflects the course of action of an individual. It is through the actions of the characters that we get to see their personality and identity and as such manipulation has a broader effect of modifying the identity of people (Ray, 2007). In fact in the play Othello, manipulation changes his identity from a very loving gentleman respected in most circles to a person who has very little regards for life and love. He declares in the end to kill his one and only love in the story by saying that “he would tear her apart” (Shakespeare 1962, p. 482). Various factors contribute to the formation of personal identity. The main factors that have been identified in the two texts include gender, social status, manipulation, interpersonal relations, and work. These factors are themes that have been explored by the two plays at great lengths. In this paper, the focus was to single out how each of these factors contributes to the shaping of personal identity of individuals. From the preceding discussion, each of these factors has been found to have a significant influence on the actions of individuals. To determine the personality of a character in a literature work, the actions, speech, and behavior of the person is reviewed. This will help in developing a preview of the personality of the person. Therefore, one can conclude that anything that influences the actions of an individual will have an impact on the person's personal identity. In the two plays, the factors of social status, work, gender interpersonal relations and work has been found to be the common factors that influence behavior. This paper can, therefore, reaffirm the thesis that within the two plays, a socio-cultural factor manipulate the personal identity of individuals and influences the choices they make. Bibliography DANSON, L. (2014). On King Lear. Princeton, Princeton University Press. HALIO, J. L. (2001). King Lear: a guide to the play. Westport, Conn. [u.a.], Greenwood Press. MUSSARI, M. (2010). Othello. New York, Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. RAY, R. (2007). William Shakespeare's King Lear. New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. SEIGNEURET, J.-C. (1988). Dictionary of literary themes and motifs. New York, Greenwood Press. SHAKESPEARE, W. (1877). King lear SHAKESPEARE, W. (1962). Othello. SHAKESPEARE, W. (1996). The complete works of William Shakespeare. Ware, England, Wordsworth Editions. SWINDALL, L. R. (2011). The politics of Paul Robeson's Othello. Jackson, University Press of Mississippi. TOSHACK, H. S. (2001). Othello:A study commentary. WordSmith at LitWorks.com. WOODFORD, D. (2004). Understanding King Lear: a student casebook to issues, sources, and historical documents. Westport, Conn, Greenwood Press. Read More