Universal Truth (shakespeare)
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In both “Othello” and “Oedipus Rex” to a great extent, the emotions provoked by familiar human experiences are acceptable to all people of all times. It is a fact that “Human nature remains the same (Kiernan Ryan 1989).” Both plays explore issues surrounding emotions like love, envy, jealousy and pride provoked by life experiences such as racism, fate, rifts between parent and child, a quest for position through deception or for justice or an intoxicating sense of being all powerful which transcend time. Most importantly they all are familiar to traditional and contemporary time periods.
Love, that is unconditional love, a universal emotion, is said to transcend all barriers. Desdemona falls in love unconditionally with the idea of a bold, courageous, romantic adventurer who is black and her heart fully consents. Othello confirms this, “She lovd me for the dangers I had passd.” (I.iii.167). She boldly professes her love and devotion to Othello before the Duke and an already angry father when she says, ” That I did love the Moor to live with himOthellos visage in his mind, And to his honour and his valiant parts … my soul and fortunes consecrate…Let me go with him.” (I.iii.247-258)
In “Othello” racism and inter-racial marriage have both traditional and contemporary implications. ” In loving and marrying each other, Othello and Desdemona instinctively act according to principles of racial equality and sexual freedom which are still not normative, still far from generally accepted and practiced even in our own day, let alone in Shakespeares (Kiernan Ryan 1989).” The inter-racial marriage between Desdemona and Othello the Moor is unacceptable and untraditional. In light of this fact, one can assume that perhaps this is why they eloped. Similar social pressures of our time, for the same reason of sharing their love, force cotemporary couples to elope just as these two have done in the traditional period. Any audience of any time will be willing to excuse this decision given the situation under which it is done.
Consequently, this results in a rift between parent and child. Surrounding the timeless emotion of love are feelings of pain and betrayal. Desdemona dishonours her father and risks not receiving his blessings. To this day couples elope and marriages that do not receive the blessings of the parent are still considered doomed. Brabantios half warning, half curse, “Look to her Moor …she hast deceivd her father, and may thee.” (I. iii. 293) serves a two fold purpose. It confirms that perception and alerts us of his anger and disappoint. The reaction is real and the emotions that the situation evokes are acceptable. On the Dukes suggestion that Desdemona stays with her father while Othello is at war, the father responds, “Ill have it not so.” People of all times can relate and empathise with Brabantio, the parent, for the feelings of betrayal he experiences and Desdemonas pain for the loss of the love of a father who disowns her.
The animal imagery used by the envious Iago, when referring to Othello and the marriage, carries racial undertones. Examples of these are, “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe.” (1.1.89-90), “youll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; youll have your nephews neigh to you, youll have coursers for cousins, and jennets for germans.” (1.1.111-114) and “your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs” (1.1.115-8). Iago is able to infuriate Brabantio with these racial and sexually repulsive and deliberately inflammatory terms to describe the union between Othello and Desdemona. Like this time period, during the mid- twentieth century, inter-racial marriages were still made illegal in South Africa for example and as late as 1991, a Gallop Poll showed that 42% of American disapproved of marriages between people of different races. These are the factors that enable all people of all times to relate to the themes of the play and the issues they portray and the emotions they evoke.
As pointed out in Aristotles Poetics, true tragedy evokes feelings of pity and fear for the hero. Although real life heroes may not possess such exaggerated traits like honesty, intelligence and passion found in Othello and Oedipus, anyone is moved to exhibit similar emotion of pity for that victim and fear for himself in the same way he would for the stage characters. Othello, an honourable person at the start of the play is respected for his astute leadership and shows much control over his life. The audience fears for him as he becomes consumed by Jealousy provoked by the deception of Iago. A. C. Bradley (178) “Such jealousy as Othellos converts human nature into chaos, and liberates the beast in man…” This imperfection that Aristotle addresses, leads to Othellos rapid downfall.
As a result of Iagos own jealousy or envy of Othellos new promotion to General, Othello is made to feel his wrath. The scenario is built on the all too familiar deception and exploitation of peoples insecurities and weaknesses. True to form as a villain, Roderigo, Emilia his wife and Cassio become his puppets and Desdemona, the innocent victim in his scheme to disgrace Othello. He uses timeless strategies of deception. These include the framing of Cassio with the drinking incident to get him drunk so he can be disgraced. Cassio is made to look guilty in the eyes of Othello when he speaks of his love for Bianca with the appearance of it being Desdemona that he speaks of. Also the planting of false evidence, the handkerchief on Cassio are examples of these. One cannot escape how familiar these become and even more so as the plot unfolds. The pain and tragedy that these characters face stirs up the audiences emotions of anger, pity and fear as the characters themselves portray feels that are natural to human nature in the given situation.
Similarly, Oedipus, who is intelligent and highly respected as a compassionate and reliable leader, is not consumed by jealousy but by pride. The old adage Pride goeth before fall is applicable to the drama that surrounds the central figure, Oedipus the King. Doomed even before his birth to commit the most heinous and repulsive crimes, this giant figure arouses the emotions. Here one is reminded of the timeless lessons to be learnt from the fatal flaw of pride possessed by Oedipus. That is, it can become intoxicating and thus, poses a danger to the one who becomes swept up by it.
Oedipus has shown his intelligence, is made the King of the people of Thebes and becomes the husband of their Queen for solving the riddle of the Sphinx. His inflated pride is partly