Plays Othello And Oedipus Rex example essay topic

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 lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd". (I.. 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 him... Othello's visage in his mind, And to his honour and his valiant parts... my soul and fortunes consecrate... Let me go with him". (I.. 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 Shakespeare's (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 dishonour's 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. Brabantio's half warning, half curse, "Look to her Moor... she hast deceive'd her father, and may thee". (I.. 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 Duke's suggestion that Desdemona stays with her father while Othello is at war, the father responds, "I'll have it not so". People of all times can relate and empathize with Brabantio, the parent, for the feelings of betrayal he experiences and Desdemona's 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 t upping your white ewe". (1.1.

89-90), "you " ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you " ll have your nephews neigh to you, you " ll 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 Aristotle's 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 Othello's converts human nature into chaos, and liberates the beast in man... ". This imperfection that Aristotle addresses, leads to Othello's rapid downfall. As a result of Iago's own jealousy or envy of Othello's new promotion to General, Othello is made to feel his wrath. The scenario is built on the all too familiar deception and exploitation of people's insecurities and weaknesses.

True to form as a villain, Rodrigo, 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 audience's 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 a as result of the pedestal be has been placed upon and the revelry in his intelligence. He continues to search for the truth, ironically not accepting the truth of the oracle's prophecy or that of Teiresias. While playing God, he feels that he can divert his fate. Teiresias tells him "You yourself is the pollution of this country (135)".

When Teiresias asks cynically if he does not have the answer of who is his father, Oedipus's pompousness and arrogance of his intelligence becomes obvious, "Sneer at my mind. But you must face the power it won". (544). During this exchange, the prophet also warns him that it is "That very luck is what destroyed you".

(545). His pride is bruised and he is infuriated by this. His pride in his own abilities to solve problems, leads Oedipus to continue his search. Like many humans, he leans on his own understanding and not that of the gods or "hubris" a word for pride that causes one to disregard the gods. It is this common human flaw that makes this play acceptable by all times and people. Fate, an aspect of human existence, and pride are inter-woven making it impossible to separate the two.

Where fate is the catalyst for the events in human lives, there is nothing one can do to change the course of one's life. In Oedipus Rex one sees that Oedipus's pride and fate robs him of a control he thinks he has. He runs away from Corinth to Thebes to change the prophecy of the oracle only to afford him the opportunity to kill his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. In Oedipus Rex, the King and Jocasta try to ignore the prophecy of the gods.

Ironically, they like Oedipus play into fate's hands by trying to escape it. Jocasta thinks that she has killed her son which is the act that brings him to her later as her husband. When Oedipus for example, hears that his father is still alive, ironically, he like Jocasta feels that the oracle has failed and he has escaped his fate. It is his stubborn pride that evokes such strong emotions of pity and fear when fate is fulfilled and Oedipus falls. The pathos created by the Chorus when Oedipus enters blind, is almost unbearable.

"I dare not see, I am hiding / My eyes, I cannot bear... /Too terrible for eyes to see". (62). His psychological blindness that Teiresias speaks of, his inability to accept the truth, becomes a physical blindness after he digs his eyes out.

This too is a part of the prophecy as seen in, "I will tell what your eyes don't see... your eyes will see darkness that now see life". (506-518). In life, it is universally accepted that one cannot control one's destiny which creates a sense of helplessness... ". The catharsis that is achieved at the end of the play, shows a man who is a great human being but not perfect and so one is moved to pity for this broken man and fear that his tragedy can be one's own. Even though the universality of these two plays is greatly evident, to a lesser extent, there is no marked parallel between the liberated contemporary woman and the submissive traditional woman portrayed in the plays.

In "Othello" for example, Desdemona and more so Bianca and Emilia are treated with little or no respect. They do the bidding's of their men without question. Othello calls his wife a 'whore', slaps her in public based on circumstantial evidence that she is sleeping with Cassio. Her reaction is one of understanding and the making illogical excuses for her husband's actions.

Bianca is seen as a pastime for Cassio. Emilia becomes a mere pawn to her husband and is used to get the handkerchief from Desdemona. She does not question his motive. To this extent the universality comes to an end in "Othello". In "Oedipus Rex" on the other hand, Jocasta has very little involvement in her husband's public life.

In conclusion, based on the evidence presented, both of the plays Othello and Oedipus Rex, appeal to all people of all times because they touch human nature to the soul. For this reason, one is left with no choice but to hold up the mirror of life's truths that is held up for him on the stage. Aristotle sums it up aptly, "Where History deals with "particular facts' (44) that have already occurred, poetry is concerned with 'universal truths' that is 'the kinds of things a certain type of person will probably or necessarily say or do in a given situation" (44).