Othello and Desdemona Emotional Strangers

In William Shakespeare’s play Othello, the main character is a man named Othello. He is a Moor, a man with dark skin, who has earned his way to the rank of commanding general in Venice. The play opens with Othello, appearing in nightclothes before an angry mob, trying to defend himself against the accusation that he has shamed the daughter of a wealthy Venetian merchant by joining her in bed.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Othello and Desdemona: Emotional Strangers specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Iago, another character, helps to incite the mob, but Desdemona appears next to Othello, telling them that she is absolutely devoted to Othello and the two of them are married. It is one of the things that Shakespeare is praised for that these two characters are able to demonstrate such strong emotion. Their love for each other is seen in their unwavering devotion in this first test of their relationship as they face down the town. However, even this intense emotion, perhaps especially this sort of intense emotion, can easily work against itself. This is demonstrated throughout the play as Iago carefully manipulates Othello’s perceptions, playing off of his insecurities and enflaming his jealousies to the point of violence. Unaware of what is happening, Desdemona continues to show her fierce devotion to her husband which both blinds her to the truth of Othello’s murderous emotions and feeds them. In the end, both Desdemona and Othello are blinded by their emotions, preventing them from seeing reality which leads to their deaths. Even before Desdemona appears in the play, it is clear to the audience that she loves Othello beyond all reason. Although much of this idea is perhaps lost on a modern audience, Shakespeare’s audience would have been shocked at the idea that a young girl of good breeding would think to marry someone without her father’s approval or knowl edge and that she would marry a man of a different race at a time when that was rare. She is not a bad girl, though, as she shows her father sincere devotion as soon as she comes on stage. She tells him, â€Å"To you I am bound for life and education; / My life and education both do learn me / How to respect you: you are the lord of duty; / I am hitherto your daughter† (I, iii, 182-85). In these lines, she recognizes the care and devotion he’s given her, acknowledges the gifts he’s bestowed upon her and admits that up to this point, she belonged entirely to him. However, she then says that her duty has been transferred to Othello, who she has taken as her husband. If it is thought that perhaps race didn’t mean anything to the people back then, Desdemona’s father’s reaction to her marriage removes any doubt. This is something Desdemona apparently doesn’t feel is important even though it will limit her social circle. These consideration s continue to illustrate the degree of dedication Desdemona feels for Othello.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As Othello begins to express his jealousy, Desdemona does nothing to condemn his behavior. Instead, she agonizes trying to figure out what she might have done to upset him. She never thinks perhaps he is acting unjustly, irrationally or improperly nor does she think that her promises to Cassio might have a role in Othello’s strange behavior. Because her love for Othello is so strong, it doesn’t occur to her to consider he might suspect her intentions regarding Cassio. Knowing him to be a just man and a capable leader, she cannot believe he would think such things of her or of his once-favorite. This strong emotion for him coupled with her puzzlement over his recent behavior makes it impossible for her to realize the dangerous state of Othello’s emoti ons or their nature. However, even in the final moments before she dies, Desdemona continues to express love for her husband and satisfaction at her choice for marriage. Unlike Desdemona, who seems to have a pure and innocent nature, Othello allows jealousy and suspicion to rule him throughout most of the play despite his own innate innocence. In the opening scene, Othello shows why he was able to achieve his high rank even though he was a stranger to the Venice society. He is a strong adherent to the military code of honor. This code of honor meant strong adherence to a specific set of expected behaviors which included honorable combat among matched foes, adherence to home society laws, fundamental trust of fellow soldiers and an action-oriented approach to life. In defending Desdemona and his marriage, Othello shows his appreciation for this code in his willingness to argue and defend his position while refusing to take up arms against a man vastly inferior in fighting ability and family by marriage. The higher a person’s rank, the more he is expected to honor the code and, as seems the case with Othello, the harder it is for him to conceive of someone else breaking it. Whereas Desdemona starts the play arguing for their love, Othello receives the first blow to his faith in his wife. This blow comes from her father as he expresses his own fit of rage. He warns Othello, â€Å"Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see: / She has deceived her father, and may thee† (I, iii, 292-93). Iago exploits Othello’s soldier’s code after hearing the father’s word as he talks about Othello’s â€Å"free and open nature / That thinks men honest that but seem to be so; / And will as tenderly be led by th’ nose / As asses are† (I, iii, 393-96). Thus, Iago uses this moment of doubt and suspicion and his own knowledge of Othello’s inner beliefs and insecurities as a means of poisoning the newlyweds. Rather than unde rstanding Desdemona’s attempts to reunite him to his friend for what they were, Othello hears the ideas that Iago has put in his head about a possible relationship between Desdemona and Cassio. When he sees Desdemona talking earnestly with Cassio, he assumes the worst even though her words, â€Å"Do not doubt, Cassio, / But I will have my lord and you again / As friendly as you were† (III, iii, 5-7), reveal her pure intentions and Othello’s central role in their minds.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Othello and Desdemona: Emotional Strangers specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Despite the nobility and command Othello demonstrates at the beginning of the play, his emotions regarding Desdemona are too overpowering for him to see clearly. Not until his rage is worked out in action does Othello calm down enough to start thinking again. As he learns of her true innocence and his own foolishness, he understands that he cannot live with the tremendous guilt at having killed his love and he runs himself through with his sword. Both Desdemona and Othello are too blinded by their emotions to be able to see truth. Desdemona tries to demonstrate through her words and actions that she loves Othello and only Othello, but she is unable to see that her attempts at reassurance are only making the misunderstanding deeper. Othello, because of the way in which Iago has painted the scene, is only capable of seeing the ugliness that Iago has suggested. He accepts it because he has survived by listening to his men before anyone and believing Iago has the same fierce loyalty to his captain that Othello feels for his superior. Had Desdemona not been blind to Othello’s doubts of her love, she might have found a way to reach him. Had Othello not been blinded by his complicated emotions forcing him to fall back on his soldier’s code, he would not have reached the point of violence Wor ks Cited Shakespeare, William. â€Å"Othello.† The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Alfred Harbage (Ed.). New York: Penguin Books, 1969. 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St. Joan of Arc essays

St. Joan of Arc essays History is a great part of culture and a form used by people to define themselves. History can vary from its time period and setting or his hero or heroin. A great time period was the Medieval Europe Ages. Many in the past have contributed to the Medieval European history in various ways. European history consist of many contributors whose various achievements and stories are intriguing and interesting. Among these contributors Joan of Arc has enticed and captured many with her courageous life-consuming story. Joan of Arcs strong commitment and devotion to her country and faith lead her to become the most remembered heroin in Medieval European history. She is recognized as the patroness of France for her strong patriotism she showed in her battle against England. Joan of Arc is also honored as a saint because of the sacrifices she made for her belief in God and Christianity. Her determination also helped her to achieve her goal to unite all of France under one king, Charles VII, and defeating Frances enemies at the time, England. Joans leadership in the war against England led to many victories for the French. She succeeded in achieving all her goals. Joan of Arc was born to pious parents in the obscure village of Domeremy, near the province of Lorraine. She heard the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret. At first the voices she heard were personal and general. Soon afterwards she finally heard the crowning order given to her by the voices. The crowning order was a mission given to her to go to the king of France and help him reconquer his kingdom. At then time she received this message and request the English king was after the throne of France. The chief rival of France, Duke of Burgundy was forming an alliance with the English king and conquering more French territory. After she overcame an opposition from churchmen and courtiers, the 17-year-old girl was given a small army ...

EWaste Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Dual Authority in Matrix Organization - Essay Example further research 135 References 136 Appendix 144 Introduction Overview: Nowadays many organizations are adopting and are making changes in their structural form in order to survive and cope up with the uncertainties that are usually coming because of competition going on around the world and changes that are coming in the shape of environment and technological advancement. However in order to manage and control these changes various important developments were made over time so that these changes can be turn into planned changes. Keeping this consideration in mind a new concept emerged known as Matrix. Trailing history, in 1950 United States aerospace industry is considered to be the one who first used the term â€Å"Matrix† in their setting and which later was use by various business circles and in education sectors as well. However in 1960s at some places there was this common understanding and practices that matrix was considered as a prime alternative in dealing with vario us important business management issues related with communication, co ordination and control (Davis and Lawrence , 1977). Moreover in 70s and 80s various researches were carried out regarding matrix in an organizational settings, though matrix organizational structures flourished while researches that were going on were not that much in numbers. On the other hand if the matrix is considered with reference to business environment than organizations in this era were opting matrixes as a viable alternative in dealing with different issues related to complex business environment (Sharma, 2010). Moreover different companies around the globe have applied the matrix structure some examples from the recent past companies who were using matrix structures in order to deal with complex business environment are Zurich, Asea Brown Boveri, Sinclair Knight and Merz etc. In order to achieve worldwide economies of scale these companies adopted matrix structures in addition with responsiveness and f lexibility (local) (Gottlieb, 2007). Research Background: Organizations in need of a matrix structure: Conventionally organizations use to follow simple structures in order to achieve their goals however this culture has been changed mainly because of globalization. Nowadays concept of multinational organization is very common as these organizations have captured a fair amount of market share around the globe. Initially starting from a city then going nationwide and later worldwide these organizations have adopted various organizational structures in between. As the spam of control of these organizations grew which resulted in creating complexities in organizational st

Psychology textbook Essay Example for Free

Psychology textbook Essay I didn’t know that psychology actually had a goal until I read the introduction to Psychology textbook. I am learning a lot of new things on this subject. For instance science of psychology has four main goals and they are as listed, described, predict, understand, and mental process and influence behavior. In my own words here they are. Describing: collecting information from the population by certain targeted people. The prediction goal is self explanatory it’s mostly meant for making assumption or predictions of what will become of your study before you actually know what will happen. The third goal of psychology is Understand, in this area you never really know when the information that you learn will change the next day or even within the next year. Psychology is a continuously growing field and the information that is gathered is only considered as theories and always changes, sometimes without knowledge or notice. Lets move on to influences which in my opinion one of the most used in everyday life . for instance a toddler is encourage to learn how to walk and talk. And a teenager can be pressured into doing things and making choices that they wouldn’t originally have made without the influence from their peers. Influencing people can be good too. For instance you can be influenced by coworkers and supervisors to take an open position that they feel you would get with no problem. Another example is to get the influence to do better than you are currently doing whether it be work, school, or making a better relationship with you family. The Biology and behavior was hard for me to decide what section to write about because there were so many to choose from. I didn’t want to be wrong about this section so I decided to pick the part that stood out the most to me. I am going talk about the Nervous System. It’s a really important part of the body because it helps you maintain consciousness and your behavior. The nervous system has billions of neurons. They are too, a very important part in the body because they do things such as sending messages from one end to the other end of the neuron. They are also called wires. To show why the nervous system is a really important part of the body, I will use the wires in a radio for an example. The wires in the radio are the main connection for it to provide power to send to the wires that go throughout the radio in order to hear the sound and in for it to recognize what needs to be done when certain buttons are pressed. Without the power cord the radio would really have no use. When the power cord is plugged into a power outlet the power cord provides the ability for the radio to produce sound from the speakers. It enables the buttons to work properly so that you can press the play button on the radio and hear the tracks on a CD. The wires also give you the ability to actually hear the music that comes out of the speakers. The next topics I will mention are sensation and perception. First I will mention what sensation is, it allows your brain to connect with the outer part of your body and transfer it to the inside of your body to your brain. For example, touching things with different temperature let’s say you touch or hold ice. If you hold it the ice long enough you may begin to feel a numbing sensation and you may start getting cold or experiencing the chills or goose bumps. Another example would be touching something hot. Due to the high degrees in the object you may experience pain or even have burn marks on your skin. Now lets move on to Perception which n my words mean, getting information and making images of them. There are a few different types of perception for instance â€Å"constancy† this also has different types. But for now we will use size constancy. When you look at the very same object from different angles and distances, it may appear smaller or bigger than it really is. Picture looking at a large building out of a window on an airplane before it takes off of the ground and try watching it until you get in the sky. It will appear to be much smaller than it did when you were viewing it at a closer distance but you know the actual building didn’t get smaller, it was the distance that you were viewing it at that made it look a different size. We all must know that perception is just about the same in everyone and that’s the reason we are able to communicate with each other.

Burning Out in Tom Stoppards Arcadia :: Stoppard Arcadia Essays

Burning Out in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia Humanity has no intention of fading away, but rather has designed, by its nature, a flash before death, a burning out, if you will. Inherent in the human character is a desire to fight until the end, whether it be physically, or intellectually. In Arcadia, Septimus describes life as a processional march, telling Thomasina, "The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march" (Stoppard 38). But as we die, we don't simply allow ourselves to pass into the distance. We push our muscles to the limit, breathing harder and harder until we fall. The people of this earth do not follow the uncomplicated universal pattern of slowly giving up hot for cold. Despite human understanding of this pattern, and the ultimate fate of ending up cold even after the flash, our "noise," as Valentine calls it, love and sex and other various distractions, affects our life equation, and makes Thomasina's death in a fire all too appropriate. As Hannah and Valentine discuss the mysteries of Sidely Park, Valentine argues that everything in the universe progresses from heat to cold. He illustrates, "It's a one way street. Your tea will end up at room temperature...[it] is happening to everything everywhere. The sun and the stars...we're all going to end up at room temperature" (Stoppard 78). Hannah, appearing to support Valentine's statement, recites a section of Lord Byron's "Darkness": I had a dream that was not all a dream The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars Did wander darkling in the eternal space, Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air... (Stoppard 79) Hannah, however, is refuting Valentine's statement, not supporting it, as is evidenced by the rest of Byron's poem, which goes on to say: ...all hearts Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light And they did live by watch fires... The habitations of all things which dwell Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed, And men were gather'd round their blazing homes To look once more into each other's face... Forests were set on fire - but hour by hour They fell and faded - and the crackling trunks Extinguished with a crash - and all was black... (Byron 31) Â   "Darkness" implies that as the universe gets colder, humanity, in an effort to stay alive, burns the earth for warmth.

France and French culture Essay

Despite the recent backlash against France and French culture in the past few years, as well as there being no shortage of jokes on television and on the radio at the expense at the France, the truth is that if it were not for the French and their involvement during the American Revolution, America would not have gained their independence from Great Britain. This assertion, despite the fact that historians do not like to play the game of â€Å"what if,† the large majority agree on this point. Historians from Gore Vidal, Stephen Ambrose and David McCullough all agree that had it not been for the assistance of France, America would not gave gained their independence. The â€Å"bear† is Great Britain. An aggressive pursuit of imperialism on behalf of Great Britain in the late 18th and throughout the 19th centuries had not been seen since the end of the Roman Empire. The reasons for France’s involvement in the American Revolution might have been more a question of revenge against Britain than the involvement of spreading democracy throughout the world as France itself would experience only 10 years after their initial entrance into the war with their own French Revolution. When the French entered on the side of colonists, the war was going badly in general. There had been a number of victories for the Colonists but America’s only hope that a sustained war, brought on by implementing guerilla tactics would eventually lead to a tiring of the British troops. Also, it was the entire motivatation of the Colonists to get France on their side. Ben Franklin was pressing the French constantly for their help during this time. Also, it was not out of a coincidence that Franklin was chosen and not others since Franklin were adored by the French. Thomas Jefferson also was instrumental as well in getting France involved on the side of the Colonists. It is also not a coincidence that France was being targeted for their help. They, along with Great Britain, were the powers in the world at that time. That is why such a statement as â€Å"Daddy and I killed the Bear† is accurate and correct. The bear is Great Britain. They did not conquer 1/3 of the world by being nice. â€Å"Daddy† is France and the child is America. â€Å"Daddy† is usually the stronger of the two and is more established. He is responsible for the care and well being of the child and helps the child to grow and to mature until eventually, the child exceeds the father in stature, independence and strength. However, the child would not be allowed to grow if not for the effort exerted on the part of the father. A father who neglects his son and does not raise him up in a proper way and the chances increase exponentially, for that child to fail to fully realize his full potential. The very same occurred in this instance and therefore, the aforementioned statement is accurate and carried a great deal of weight and validity.