Othello

The human psyche if mysterious by nature, however it is through Shakespeare’s plays that each individual audience irrespective of time or context will be drawn to the integrity of the text. Shakespeare’s play, Othello examines the universal themes of jealousy, obsession, appearance and reality which continue to agenda a plurality of meaning from the original Aristotelian context. It is from this context that Othello can be perceived as how the marginalization of women in a patriarchal society in conjunction with the paradigm of the flawed Hero, a man who ‘loved not wisely, but too well’ which led to the fall of a great man. This concurrent with Shakespeare’s universal themes of order to chaos, harmony to disharmony and the progression to harmony, encompasses the timeless nature of the human condition, allowing for the enduring relevance throughout time.

In this 21st Century context, modern audiences may view Othello’s downfall due to the mistrust of women. Othello struggles to accept Desdemona’s fidelity. From both Elizabethan and modern context, audiences can perceive Desdemona as an independent women with a mind of her own. However an Elizabethan times she herself could not explore the world, hence she lived vicariously through Othello’s experiences. This coupled with Desdemona’s marrying with “the Moor”, a black man and the confrontation with her father ‘As much duty as my mother show’d To you preferring you before her father…I may profess due to the Moor’, which supports a femininist perspective. This perspective is influenced by the third wave of feminism which embraces a more egalitarian value. Many modern responders may believe that Othello reflects the negative ramifications of one gender being considered subordinate. This is highlighted by the critic, Fred Langman who believes that ‘patriarchal societies believe in the submission of women’, an idea represented by the paradigm of mistrust regarding female fidelity. This is evident in the recurring motif...