Comparison of the King Solomon Poem, a Short Story Happy Endings, and Othello by Shakespeare - Essay Example

Analysis This paper analyses and compares the king Solomon poem, a short story ‘Happy endings’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’. All these three works bear a resemblance in their thematic description on love, sexuality and death. In King Solomon’s poem he reveals his sexuality by describing the beauty of the girl he loved he says “Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies.” This sets the stage for a sexual theme in the poem. The theme of love is brought out when he refers to the girl he loves as darling. The way he describes her shows that he really loved her, “How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful your eyes behind your veil are doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from the hills of Gilead.” The theme of death comes out as the lady Solomon loved dies in the end. In the short story ‘happy endings’, the theme of love is brought out by the main characters. John is happily married to Mary, Madge is in love with John and later she falls in love with Fred. On the other hand James is in love with Mary. The theme of sexuality is depicted by all the characters. James was found having sex with Mary, her husband. They just had sex for fun because they had no intensions of marrying. Fred had sex with Madge despite the fact that she was a married woman. The theme of death is brought out when John kills James, Mary and himself. In Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, theme of love is shown when Othello fall in love with a white woman despite the opposition he received from parents and friends. The theme of sexuality is brought out when Othello contaminates his wife with the hyper sexuality character. The theme of death is brought out when he strangled and killed his wife on her bed. ‘Happy endings’ This includes six short stories where each ends with death. Margaret believes that death is the sure ending to everything. The stories are interrelated and they have same characters and actions (Atwood 32). In the first story Mary and John get married after they fall in love. The both have good jobs which they find challenging and stimulating. With time they buy a big house and eventually they get two children who they were devoted to. They live as a happy couple who are sexually active. They go on vacation together and they also have good and worthwhile friends. When they retire they discover their hobbies which kept them busy. At the end of the story they both die. In the second story Mary really loves John but john doesn’t like her. He used her body for ego gratification and pleasure. He went to her place to eat, have sex and sleep. Mary cleaned up for him but he never noticed. Mary keeps having sex with him so that he could change his mind and marry her. Her friends and workmates tried to discourage her against him but she ignored them. She kept thinking that John would change for her. In her mind she thought, “This other John will emerge like a butterfly from a cocoon, a Jack from a box, a pit from a prune, if the first John is only squeezed enough” (LLC Books 14). At the end she overdosed herself thinking John would come to her rescue but she died. In the third story John is an old man who falls in love with Mary who is only twenty two. She had sex with him though she did not love her. She was in love with James who was her age mate. John was married to Madge and they had two children. At the end he bought a gun and shot Mary, James and himself. After mourning, Madge got married to Fred. In the fourth story Fred and Madge were happy in their house by the sea shore. They survived a tidal wave that killed thousands of people. In the fifth story, Fred dies and Madge devotes herself to charity work. In the last story Margaret explains death to be the end result of John and Mary. She says it’s their authentic ending (Werlock 432). The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice William Shakespeare Play, The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice was written in the year 1603 (Mussari 10). The story circled around the lives various characters that include Othello, who was a Moorish general in the reigning army, Venetian. Another character who is prominent is his wife, Desdemona, his ensign who is trusted, Lago and his lieutenant, Cassio. There are various themes that are portrayed in this particular piece of Shakespeare’s work. The book has highlighted various aspects of betrayal, love, racism and jealousy. These themes are a true reflection of the characters’ motivations and values. Love as a theme is portrayed in many sections of the play. The play vividly depicts that love is not frustrated by the large events or happenings between the people who are involved but rather it is mainly affected by the small things that majority of the people tend to assume yet they are so vital in the existence of love (Kolin 43). The scene in the play make it clear that love may exist to eternity but it is not guaranteed full eternity since it may experience a lot of challenges along the way. It is from this statement that we learn that love did not give Othello direction but fully supplemented him with intensity. As a result, Desdemona only won the place in his heart but was not able to know what his thoughts were. Different characters portray different forms of love in the play. It later dawns to Othello that marriage is an institution that requires strength and time to build the love and trust that are required to drive the relationship ahead (Barnes & Coleman 101). However, various forces work against him so that he finds it impossible to take time to build the necessary trust that is required in his relationship with Desdemona. There is an imbalance in the amount of emotions being invested in the relationship between Desdemona and Othello. Desdemona builds on a steadfast passion that makes it impossible for Othello to reciprocate the gesture in an equal proportion. Moreover, Iago shows love in his friendship with Cassio and Roderigo but later betrays them since he was using love as a coax to lure them into something that was naturally against their wish. Iago uses love as leverage (Mussari 56). Othello interprets his wife’s love for Cassio as adulterous love because of his jealousy nature. However, there was a unique friendship that was developed in the literature work, a friendship between Emilia and Desdemona. Emilia was able to witness in the honor of her mistress who was dead, against her husband who was telling lies and was killed for that. This is a unique type of love that she portrayed, where a character has to choose between her husband and her mistress who is already dead (Kolin 110). Love is a key fundamental theme in this Shakespearian work with different angles being portrayed. Songs of Solomon Chapter 4 verse 1-7 In this poem that was written by Solomon, on the outward it portrays various praises to a lady who is not named in the text. Solomon goes ahead to attach various meanings to various features of the body of a particular woman. When this text is further interpreted, it means that a strong bond of love should exist between a man and a woman. A man should find a sense of pride and an attachment to his maiden or wife (Furey 45). It should be his source of strength since it is from such acts that the institution of marriage is preserved. In this case, Solomon attaches love to the physical attractions of the lady and says that it may also be a source of life and death. Beauty is something that attracts different men across different walks in the world but what becomes unique is the fact that a lady is able to honor her husband with respect despite her attracting beauty (Knight 201). All the texts display various thematic scenes that boost love, death and sexuality. It all narrows down to the strength, geniuses, and time that the characters used to develop their feelings for each other and their commitment to the relationship. The authors clearly bring out these themes and suggest that for love to exist, both parties concerned should invest in their affairs emotionally and physically. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Margaret Atwood, New Edition. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Books, LLC. Short Stories by Margaret Atwood: Rape Fantasies, Freeforall, the Resplendent Quetzal, Happy Endings, Unearthing Suite. New York: General Books LLC, 2010. Furey, Debbie. The Rapture: Behold, the Bridegroom Cometh! New York: Tate Publishing, 2010. Knight, George R. Exploring Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon: A Devotional Commentary. New York: Review and Herald Pub Assoc, 2006. Kolin, Philip. Othello: Critical Essays. New York: Routledge, 2013. Mussari, Mark. Othello. London: Marshall Cavendish, 2009. Shane Barnes, Aidan Coleman. Othello. New York: Insight Publications, 2011. Werlock, Abby H. P. Companion to Literature: Facts on File Companion to the American Short Story. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Read More