How The William Shakespeare's Othello Relates to The Real Life - Assignment Example

23 December In William Shakespeares Othello, how the whole act relates to the real life? Most of the plays Shakespeare has written talk of fantasies and myths. Such plays include but are not limited to The Tempest, The Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet. All of them talk about magic, spirits, and ghosts. So these pieces have minimal connection or application in the real world. Mostly, it is the relations and man’s strive for power and money that apply in the real world. For example, The Tempest criticizes people who betray their brothers to confiscate their resources. The play Hamlet criticizes the wives who are unfaithful towards their husbands and human cowardice. Othello is a particular play by William Shakespeare that is not only the closest to the real life, but also indicates several unfortunate facts of the real world. Othello does not take the audiences into any imaginary planet controlled by witches, spirits or magicians nor are there any witches making prophecies to people. Othello is all about the evils of human nature but rather the marital matters. A lot of marriages end up because of the misunderstandings between the husband and the wife. Trust between them is the most fundamental necessity of a successful marriage. Failing to do so is what Shakespeare depicts on the background of real life trifles. All characters in the play Othello are like people in the real world who betray, manipulate and use one another for personal merit. One of the most unfortunate injusticies of this world is that people are perceived not on the base of their true character, but according to their image and reputation in the society. Othello vastly describe this fact in various situations presented. For instance, everybody in the play considers Iago honest, whereas in reality he is deceitful and treacherous. Likewise, Desdemona is considered impure and disloyal by Othello, when she is innocent and faultless in reality. Shakespeare attempted to convey a message to the audience through these characters, that people may not only be different from, but also actually be opposite of the way they are regarded by others. Through Othello, Shakespeare has encouraged the audiences to not believe in appearances unless they have personally done sufficient research to find a reason to consent with them. Another very important fact that the play indicates is racism. Described society is distributed into different classes depending upon the race. Certain races in it are considered inferior, and yet there are others that are considered superior. People who are underestimated because of their race have to go an extra mile in attaining privileges that are gained without any effort and enjoyed by the representatives of superior race. Othello’s race is a matter of prime concern in the play. Othello is aware conscious of the fact that he belongs to a cast, that is considered inferior in the society, therefore he has to be extra careful in his ways and actions, so that people consider him equal to the white people rather than stereotyping him in a wrong way. One reason why Iago hates Othello is his color. Iago is white while Othello is black. It is not acceptable for Iago to have a black man be in power. We cannot say that Othello has clue about his position. Although he is not an outsider, he considers himself as one because of the mentioned issue. On the other hand Othello’s hard work and immense concern for the reputation can be mainly attributed to his inferiority complex and self-consciousness. In the start of the play, he says, “Send me for the lady to the Sagittary, And let her speak of me before her father. If you do find me foul in her report, The trust, the office I do hold of you, Not only take away, but let your sentence Even fall upon my life.” (Shakespeare 30). Othello places too much emphasis upon character because he is aware that people belonging to his race are suspected to have objectionable traits. He emphasizes upon the nobility of his character in an attempt to distinguish himself from the people of his race. He is so concerned about his image that he swears upon his most precious thing i.e. his own life to prove that he is the right person. In the everyday life, people play with words to give a meaning of their own choice to matters. A matter can be made offensive by telling it in such a manner that makes it sound offensive. It may not necessarily be offensive. Iago has the oratory skills to convince others to see things from his eyes, and his eyes only see the bad because Iago, at heart, is a bad person. Iago says to Othello, “Cassio, my lord! No, sure, I cannot think it, That he would steal away so guilty-like, Seeing you coming” (Shakespeare 97). Othello might never have thought of Cassio as a miserable character, had Iago not used such a way to tell Othello that he had seen Cassio depart from Desdemona. The same matter could have been said in a different way to keep Cassio from being suspected, but use of the words like “steal away so guilty-like” (Shakespeare 97) was not purposeless. Shakespeare has made a very good effort of making people realize how risky it is to believe others and how others manipulate us for personal gains by twisting innocent phrases into something suspicious. Just like Iago becomes successful in convincing Othello of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness towards him, he manages to convince Bianca that Cassio is involved in a relationship with Desdemona. This speaks of the fact that Iago has the talent of pushing people into believing him against their will. In the real life, such people are frequently met. We have to constantly keep in mind that Iago-like individuals would hardly make others’ life happy. Through this play, Shakespeare has warned the audiences to be watchful of such frauds. The play Othello speaks of the trust being significant in every relationship generally and in marriage in particular. Trust is the first and foremost prerequisite of love between the marital partners. In fact, trust lays the foundations of every relationship, be that friendship, marriage or any other relationship. It is that way because, in case there is trust, people have expectations from others and these expectations are to be fulfilled. When an individual has fath in someone, he/she is confident that the other person would not step out of his usual and familiar behavior and commit acts that are considered unacceptable and wrong by his partner. It will be quite hard to sustain a relationship with a person if that trust is shaken and one is not sure of what to expect from the other. As for the marriage trust enables the marital partners to connect with one another first psychologically, then emotionally and lastly physically. In the case of Othello and Desdemona, the love is reciprocated as long as both Othello and Desdemona trust each other. As soon as Othello’s trust upon Desdemona ends, their love becomes one-sided, with Othello retreating from the relationship, although he does not reveal the reason to Desdemona until her last day. Desdemona dies, bringing an end to their pact of trust, though already broken, because Othello no longer believes Desdemona. Othello not only kills Desdemona because he no longer trusts her. A more important reason for Desdemona’s demise is that she is a threat to his reputation in the society. Othello wants to maintain the image of an over the top powerful and accomplished person in the eyes of others. When he gets to learn about Desdemona’s affair, his pride is more shaken than his jealousy as well as insecurity is inflamed. Othello’s being conscious of his own weakness is a very reason that the news of Desdemona’s treachery infuriates him so much that he kills her. In a lot of cases, men kill women not because they are very hurt emotionally by the fact of unfaithfulness, but because their ego is hurt. Particularly in the more conservative societies in the underdeveloped countries, where the feudal system cultivates, the system of law and order is weak, people even kill their daughters and/or sisters if they are found to have an affair with someone. Many people even do not want to kill these women because they are their relatives, and because they feel for them at heart, yet they have to abide to the strict laws in order to sustain their pride, name and ego. Othello gets caught in the net laid by Iago partly because of his own denial of the weaknesses in personality. As human being, every individual has certain is granted with strengths and handicapped with weaknesses. This is the law of nature. However, human beings more than enough tools at hands to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses, be it imagination, willpower, luck etc. However, the first and foremost requirement to achieve anything in this field is realization. Realization of mistakes is the first stepping stone towards their eradication. An individual, that denies a certain weakness being there in him/her, deceives nobody but himself/herself and in the end digs his own grave. Although by maintaining aforementioned attitude, the individual tries to save his/her image from getting tarnished in the eyes of others as well as his own, yet it actually makes him/her weaker and provides the enemies with a way to target the individual. This is what happens in Othello. Iago inflames jealousy in Othello because Othello does not realize his own vulnerability towards this issue. Othello’s lack of ability to confess his weakness, insecurity and fragile pride makes him an easy target for Iago. Accountability is a very important theme of the play. The play Othello speaks of the fact that the evil is destined to end up and lies are to be on surface eventually. Although the murder of Desdemona is a tragic loss, yet it is followed with the murder of Iago by his own wife, that may be regarded as a symbol of retribution as well as sign of two-edged sword. In real life, every person is held accountable for his/her deeds, either in this world or the world hereafte. Othello kills himself after learning of Desdemona’s faithfulness because he cannot live with the burden of the innocent woman’s death upon his conscience. Through Othello, Shakespeare has provided us with a reason to be noble to oneself as well as others, to be aware that what is tricky from the start is destined to fall in the end. Concluding, Othello is full of lessons to contemplate and apply in real life. In everyday routine, people become to careless and hasty and therefore get influenced and manipulated by others. They act upon other’s advice without much thought, maybe because of the false trust, or because the find it easier to omit a long and troublesome part of weighing all the pros and cons. People’s actions are directed at saving their pride and appearances, rather than bringing peace to the surrounding, thinking they defend themselves in such a way. People search weaknesses and flaws in others’ characters with a view to exploit and blackmail them using the very weaknesses as a tool. The society is divided into classes based not only on race issues. There are far more classes and casts in it than Shakespeare described, however they have same old mechanism. People who become the victims of racial/class discrimination have to do a lot to keep themselves from being stereotyped negatively in the society. Shakespeare has used the play Othello as a means to open the eyes of the audiences and make them aware of the potential ways in which they can be betrayed if they are not careful enough. Every event that makes part of the story of Othello has an advice for the audiences that corresponds to real life, and though these parts are exaggerated to tragedies as a funfair mirror would, each of them is a small model of real life misfortune and unveils the underlying causes as well as factors that cause these tragedies. Works Cited: Shakespeare, William. Othello, The Moor of Venice. Plain Label Books, 1968. Print. Read More