Shakespeare: Unrealistic is Profound - Essay Example

Shakespeare: Unrealistic is Profound Introduction The hunt for realism in the plays written by Shakespeare can be difficult mainly due to the very nature of the work Shakespeare was focusing on. Simply put, the theatre is not real and even though the audience engages in the illusion of reality, they know that what they are seeing on stage is essentially the work of a master craftsman which is being presented by an artist. While we can seek out elements of realism in terms of Shakespeare’s representation of the human condition, these elements are often blended with fantastical imagery and ideas which only add to the story and often give profound meaning to the words and the play itself. Many of the plays such as The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet speak to us about human emotions and feelings that push us on to greatness yet they are full of absurd twists which may not appear in real life and defy belief. On the other hand, tragedies such as Hamlet or Macbeth show us the darker side of human nature with elements of jealousy, blind ambition and revenge but are based on unrealistic ideas like prophecies from witches or visitations from spirits. At the same time, it must be noted that such ideas were not very far fetched fro the audience of the time who were culturally adapted to believe in witches and ghosts. In terms of contemporaneous meaning, some have sought to look at the profound homoerotic meanings in plays where male actors dress as women characters pretending to be men. Of course, even when Shakespeare does not include the supernatural into his plays, the beauty of the plots and the way the story line takes shape in plays such as Othello and the Merchant of Venice is not diminished. In essence, as with other forms of art, realism within the plays is a reflection of what a reader or viewer may feel within. The plays are for us and the words written by Shakespeare appeal to us even if we do know that witches and ghosts are unreal. Of course we might be able to enjoy plays such as Julius Caesar or Macbeth more if we firmly believe in the predictions made by soothsayers or witches but even if a person does not believe in them, it does not take much away from the value inherent in the play itself. To better understand the relationship between the play being unrealistic yet profound, it would be essential to examine some of the plays in detail. Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous and most performed plays of Shakespeare. To examine this play in depth would be quite difficult therefore we can look at one scene i.e. Act 1 Scene 5 which is one of the most important scenes in the play since it lays the foundations of love between the star crossed lovers. Before this scene, the basic premise of the play has been laid out since we know that the house of Capulet and the house of Montague are at war. This is certainly realistic since knowing how Italian families were at war with each other for centuries could be important as historic background but Shakespeare lays down the foundations of this meaning without pushing us towards making the conclusion on our own (Holderness et. al., 1988). We also know that Romeo and Juliet are both somewhat restless souls looking for love. Finally as the scenes up till Act 1 Scene 5 have shown the viewers, the hatred between the houses runs deep and the tension of the play is building. However, the profound nature of love and the play itself is made clear as soon as the lovers are put into contact. Romeo seems to fall truly in love as soon as he lays his eyes on Juliet and declares that he “neer saw true beauty till this night”. He also thinks that she will be able to help him in his sorrow since just by touching her she could “make blessed my rude hand”. However, when he does find out that she belongs to the house of his foes he is stunned but not exactly in despair since the feeling of love is still too great. His life has become his foe’s debt but he does not back down from the love he feels for Juliet. This is a primary example of an unrealistic situation which has profound meaning since love is able to overcome family feuds. Clearly, the idea of love being greater than enmity is a meaning which can be profound for anyone and not just those seeking realism. Juliet presents similar emotions when she is courted by Romeo since she too feels love for him and their verbal sparring in the scene certainly provides the audience a good enough reason to smile. She kisses Romeo as he kisses her and wishes to do the same because she says to him that “Then have my lips the sin that they have took”. Moreover, the reaction to knowing that Romeo is from a house that is the enemy of her house is similar to Romeo’s since she says that, “My only love sprung from my only hate!” yet she does not forsake her love which is another unrealistic but profound approach to loving one’s enemies. As the case of Romeo has been accepted by the audience even if it is not real, the profound words of Juliet also have to be accepted. At the same time, the audience is presented a negative character in the shape of Tybalt who is a member of the Capulet family and he makes no effort to hide his anger and hatred as soon as he recognizes Romeo’s voice in the party. In fact, he calls for his sword to be brought to him so he can assault and kill Romeo since he sees no sin “to strike him dead”. This realistic approach of his is based on his profound respect for the values and the honour of his family and his idea of revenge against Romeo certainly stands out as something which might be seen later in the play. At the same time, the audience can expect Tybalt to react very negatively when and if he discovers that Romeo and Juliet are in love with each other since his words foreshadow his intentions (Sanders, 1968). The only reason he did not attack Romeo immediately was because the master of the house i.e. Capulet, held him back. Here another profound meaning could be derived of being a gracious host to the guests of the house even if they are uninvited enemies (Brown, 1981). Capulet certainly seems like a wiser and more civilised version of Tybalt since he does not allow Tybalt to attack a Montague in the house. He also knows that Romeo is well known and well respected in Verona while the Duke has made it clear that any violence between the two houses will not be tolerated. Additionally, the character has already displayed his joviality and ability to understand the demands of civility. His advice to Tybalt is certainly useful since he tells him to ignore the presence of Romeo and “Show a fair presence and put off these frowns” since they are not fit for a feast. While Capulet represents the profound as a kindly father figure, the nurse is shown as a realistic mother figure that treats Juliet much like her own child and is quite proud of her. She informs Romeo that Juliet is a Capulet since “Her mother is the lady of the house” and that her husband would be a lucky man since “he that can lay hold of her/ Shall have the chinks”. She also acts as the bearer of sad news for Juliet since it is through her that Juliet finds out that Romeo is a Montague and it seems that the audience will continue to see her passing messages between Romeo and Juliet while the nurse acts as a doting mother figure for Juliet. Such profound relationships can be understood by those who do not need to take any other realistic meanings from the play itself. Othello Othello: The Moor of Venice was written by Shakespeare around the year 1603 and it is one of his most famous tragedies and ranks with Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth in terms of its popularity. The play was first performed on the first day of in November 1604 at Whitehall Palace in London (Hadfield, 2003). The story itself revolves around the seeds of doubt and jealousy placed in Othello’s mind by Iago which eventually lead to the destruction of Othello’s love and life. For our purposes of understanding the idea of unrealistic situations as profound, there are several characters and situations which can be discussed as a part of the storyline. In a rather strange way, even though the play is based on Othello, the central character of Iago stands out as more important than Othello himself. This is because Iago has the ability to make people perceive reality as something he has created, not what actually is. At several locations within the play, Othello addresses Iago as “honest Iago” which leads a reader to believe that Iago has Othello completely convinced about his honesty (Weller, 2000). While Iago appears to be honest to Othello, he certainly is not and there is a profound meaning in him being addressed with an honorific title of being honest in his dealings and sayings. In reality, he is completely dishonest and deceptive but the characters do not catch on to that fact until the play has almost come to a close. Iago lays the scene for his own appearance quite clearly when he says, “I am not what I am” (Act 1, Scene 1). This contrast is a direct placement of Iago as the villain of the story since those familiar with biblical traditions can accept the representation of Satan as something he is not. The audience of the time would have clearly understood the idea that by presenting himself as something different, Iago has plans in place to act as the villain of the story and will bring harm to other characters. Clearly, it can be expected that a person who is as good as Othello in terms of military strategy and seeing through the plans of the enemy might be able to see what is happening around him when he is being led astray by his friend. However, as unreal as it seems, it certainly can happen because Iago’s will is certainly stronger than Othello’s. Not only is Iago able to distort people’s perceptions about himself, he is able to distort people’s perceptions about others. He is never in any doubt about his own abilities to deceive Othello and says in act 1, scene 3, “The Moor is of a free and open nature, that thinks men honest that but seem to be so, and will as tenderly be led by the nose as asses are.” In this instance, Iago lets the viewers know that Othello has a trusting nature and will be easily led into the trap set for him. Iago even uses Desdemona’s appearance of love to delude Othello when he suggests that she loves Othello only because she was having unnatural thoughts about his appearance (Floyd-Wilson, 2003). Desdemona had confessed her love to Othello and shown him how much she loved him in reality. However, the unrealistic ideas planted by Iago give more meaning to how Othello reacts to Desdemona and how his love ironically turns to rage and hated. From the study of this and other plays of Shakespeare, it would appear as if he loved irony. Of course in those times the roles of women were played by men or young boys so in the case of Bianca it was a young boy pretending to be a woman who appeared to be a harlot by her words but who was not so in reality. Bianca in Italian means white but as Iago tells us she is white in name only since he considers her to be a whore. In the course of the play, as Desdemona pleads her innocence so does Bianca. In fact we have nothing more than Iago’s word which accuses both these women (Hadfield, 2003). As we know Iago to be a liar when it comes to Desdemona, so the reality of Bianca can also be discerned from her situation. In fact, Iago’s words make everything else look false and in terms of appearances and reality since he is always the master of the situation. He says “So will I turn her virtue into pitch, and out of her own goodness make the net that shall enmesh them all” (Act 2, Scene 3). He certainly lives up to his prophecy and gives another case of things seeming to be what they are not and not seeming what they are. Again in Act 3, Scene 3 he says quite innocently, “Men should be what they seem; or those that be not, would they might seem none.” The profound meaning behind these words is only made clear to the audience once they realise that it is Iago who is responsible for creating a profound meaning while distorting reality. Iago compares himself with the present lieutenant (Cassio) and shows that he is more battle ready while Cassio is nothing more than a womanizing mathematician who can not be expected to hold his own in any battle. Additionally, Iago says that he has proven himself to the chiefs of the city several times over while Cassio has done nothing which is worthy of praise. Although Iago thinks highly of himself, in reality, it is Cassio who gets the glory while Iago is left in the shadows. When it comes to shadows, in scene 2, there is an interesting meaning of being in shadows which is shown as a comparison between Othello and Iago. When Brabantio and his men are approaching Iago and Othello, Iago asks Othello to go into the shadow yet he refuses. This shows the character of Othello that he believes he has done nothing wrong in marrying the person he loves. On the other hand, the character of Iago prefers to remain in the shadows and casts doubts as well as creates schemes while being in the shadows. A particularly strange comparison is made by Iago concerning the features of Desdemona and Othello when he calls them a white ewe and an old black ram respectively. This comparison works on several levels since Iago is accusing both the lovers of bestiality, he is comparing Othello’s old age with Desdemona’s young age and finally, he is comparing their colors to show the difference races these individuals belong to. All three are negative comparisons and serve to only heighten the indignation Brabantio feels at the disappearance of his daughter. When Brabantio confronts Othello, he makes several comparisons between Othello and Desdemona where Desdemona comes out to be the better of the two. This situation clearly signifies that the father of the bride thinks of the relationship as nothing more than a creation of sorcery. He further accuses Othello of practicing magic and using charms to seduce his daughter while we know that Othello used nothing more than the power of love. An important comparison in terms of how important things are reversed for Brabantio and the Duke is reflected when they meet for the first time during the course of the story. In Scene 3, as soon as the Duke sees Brabantio he says that there were important matters discussed tonight and his council would have been greatly appreciated. Brabantio replies in kind and presents his own important matter for discussion. While the Duke is worried about all of Italy and the adjoining states as well as the threat from the Turks, Brabantio is worried about nothing more than the relationship between one Italian woman and one Turk who is actually an Italian by nationality. Perhaps the most important situation where profound meanings are hidden behind unreal situations is the contrast between black and white as represented by good and evil. Traditionally, in those times good was white and black was evil, but as it becomes obvious during the play, the white Iago is more or less the personification of evil while the black moor is the true Christian and a good person at heart. The white Bianca appears to be evil while she really isn’t and the white Cassio is made to appear evil while he is not so in reality. This juxtaposition of reality and meaning is often seen in other plays of Shakespeare and in the context of Othello it is even more striking since the words themselves are often laden with profound meanings. Finally, the last deception comes from Othello himself. He is a military man who is supposed to be trained in the art of deception when it comes to laying stratagems against his enemies. It is conceivable that he has to occasionally deceive the enemy to conquer by other means instead of brute force and while the audience expects him to see things for what they are, he instead sees them as they are depicted by Iago (Hadfield, 2003). Othello is supposed to uphold justice and fair play but he gives vigilante justice when he kills Desdemona without a deeper inquiry acting as judge, jury and executioner. While we expect him to be a strong man, when everything collapses around him, he kills himself, unable to bear the truth and his own weakness in falling prey to Iago’s scheme. The reality of losing his love brings profound meaning for the audience since the man who could not be defeated by any other means was eventually killed at his own hand through the manipulation of who he trusted most. The play also makes the viewers and readers wonder about their own reality as to how they would react in such a situation. Would they (unlike Othello) be able to see reality for what it is without being beguiled by Iago? This is indeed a difficult question to answer for Othello was placed under a lot of stress due to the jealous ravages of his mind. His act of murder was a crime of passion indeed and it is difficult to say what someone would do given the same circumstances. Perhaps the only character which comes out with some grace through the play is Emilia, who on the surface may appear to be weak and subservient to Iago (her husband) but she becomes the one who actually unravels the mystery and tells the truth about all the lies Iago delivered. Another case of an unreal situation of a weak woman rebelling against her husband but a situation which holds profound meaning for the audience since it is the moment where the truth comes out and all is revealed. Once the audience have considered appearances, reality and the meaning behind the reality which is presented to us, they can certainly come to the conclusion that things may not be as they seem. As Hamlet said to his mother that he did not know what appearances were, neither do many of the characters in this play mainly due to the manipulations of Iago and their own insecurities about themselves. Foe example, Othello does not know the appearance and reality of Desdemona, she does not know the appearance and reality of Othello and none of the characters find out about the reality of Iago until the play fulfils its promise of being a tragedy. Even though the situations are very unrealistic, the profound meanings behind the situations are all too clear. However, the genius of Shakespeare is not limited to such representations in tragedies alone since unreal situations can have profound meanings in comedies as well. Twelfth Night As a comedy, Twelfth Night takes an interesting approach to presenting situations which are unrealistic but still hold profound meanings. The first instance is the case of love between Orsino and Olivia and the development of love between various characters as a source of joy as well as incredible pain. In reality, they are lightened by their burdens of daily life if they can find themselves to be in love with someone yet it is the same love which hurts them a lot. Love is supposed to be a beautiful thing for all of us yet all the characters who fall in love on a very deep level have to go through the anguish of love. The triangle of love between Orsino, Cesario and Olivia is quite unrealistic since it is very unlikely that a person would not be able to tell the difference between a man and a woman to the extent of doting on them and loving them. Such situations even today are the subject of third rate television shows where a man discovers that he is actually in love with another man or that a woman is actually in love with another woman. However comedic, the profound meaning of love as a source of joy and pain is only made clear in between the lines various characters say. A large part of the plot is devoted to a trick played on Malvolio in which he is given to think that the lady of the house is trying to woo him with hints and signs of her love. The reality in this situation is simple since Malvolio is led to believe that such a social mismatch might be possible indeed. However, the profound reality in this case is that Olivia barely tolerates his actions and is actually quite irritated by many others. In essence, Malvolio is not seeking love but seeking a better position since he wants to have beautiful jewelled watches and other things which servants of the times would hardly be able to afford. It is not very clear if he actually is in love with a woman who has a better station than himself but it is certainly clear that he will not be able to woo her by his charms. Social hierarchies, even though they might be changing in the times the play was written, still stood strong and simply wishing to obtain a better station in life through noble marriage would have been a comedic concept indeed. More importantly, these ideas bring nothing but suffering to Malvolio since he is eventually imprisoned as an insane man and once the trick is revealed he storms off in a rage. This action of his shows that he is little more than an egoist who did not actually love the lady of the house but only wanted to be in her social circle. Such clarifications and deeper meanings in the summation of the play only produce more realism in an unreal play which can deliver profound meanings for all audiences across the world (Brown, 1981). In conclusion, I believe that realism, unreal ideas as well as profound thoughts often coexist in Shakespeare’s plays and the combination is often sufficient for the readers to enjoy the play. I believe that is one of the reasons why the translations and adaptations of the plays have been critically accepted by viewers in other countries where Shakespeare may not be an influence in English alone. The universality of Shakespeare and his plays are evident when we consider how the plays have been acted out in countries undiscovered and accents unknown. Word Count: 4,023 Works Cited Brown, J. 1981, Discovering Shakespeare, Columbia University Press. Cartwright, K. Shakespearean Tragedy & Its Double. Pennsylvania: Penn State Press, 1991. Floyd-Wilson, M. 2003, English Ethnicity and Race in Early Modern Drama, Cambridge University Press. Hadfield, A. 2003, A Routledge Literary Sourcebook Sourcebook on William Shakespeares Othello, Routledge. Holderness, G. et. al. 1988, Shakespeare: The play of History, MacMillan. Sanders, W. 1968, The Dramatist and the received Idea, Cambridge University Press. Thompson, A. and Thompson, J. 1987, Shakespeare: Meaning and Metaphor, Prentice Hall. Weller, P. 2005, ‘Othello Navigator’, [Online] Available at: http://www.clicknotes.com/othello/ Read More