"), "An Archetype Criticism of Othello, a Play by William Shakespeare." The scapegoat is the character that gets blamed for everything regardless if he or she was actually the one who did or not (Archetypes). Myth criticism grew in part as a reaction to the formalism of New Criticism, while archetypal criticism based on Jung was never linked with any academic tradition and remained organically bound to its roots in depth psychology: the individual and collective psyche, dreams, and the analytic process. Emilia comes into the couples bedroom after Othello smothers Desdemona, but hears Desdemona cry out. Van Meurs also does a service by resurrecting successful but neglected early studies, such as Elizabeth Drews of T. S. Eliot (1949), and discovering value even in reductionist and impressionistic studies, such as June Singers of Blake. No more of that. Othello sends Emilia outside to guard the door. Essays may be lightly modified for readability or to protect the anonymity of contributors, but we do not edit essay examples prior to publication. 1. Shakespeare derived his plot from Giraldi Cinthios Tale of the Moor, in the story collection Hecatommithi (1565), reshaping Cinthios sensational tale of jealousy, intrigue, and murder in several key ways. That such a man should unravel so completely, ushered by jealousy and hatred into a bestial worldview that cancels any claims of human virtue and self-less devotion, shocks and horrifies. Each literary theory will examine the text through different lenses, resulting in different interpretations. When citing an essay from our library, you can use "Kibin" as the author. In his play, he portrays Othello like a tragic hero, a type of literary character. In addition, Othello is far from being a perfect character - another quality that meets Aristotle's requirements. No single motive is relied on for long, and the gap between cause and effect, between the pettiness of Iagos grudges and the monstrousness of his behavior, prompted Samuel Taylor Coleridge in a memorable phrase to characterize Iagos motiveless malignity. There is in Iago a zest for villainy and a delight in destruction, driven more by his hatred and contempt for any who oppose his conception of jungle law than by a conventional naturalistic explanation based on jealousy or envy. Both Desdemona and Othello defy by their words and gestures the calumnies heaped upon them by Roderigo and Brabantio and vindicate the imperatives of the heart over parental authority and custom. The term 'archetype' is taken from the Greek words 'arche' (beginning) and 'typos' (imprint). reflects the archetypal villain" (Sen, ). The play is set in Venice and Cyprus where a Moor, Othello, General of the Venetian army gets secretly married to a Venetian noblemans daughter, Desdemona. Some of these include the downfall from high position Othello goes from being the general, to being convicted of being a murderer. ("Literary Criticism.") However, in William Shakespeare's Othello, Emilia's character portrays three completely different archetypes and they all come through in strategical places. The tragic heros downfall, said Aristotle, was brought upon by some error of judgement. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. At mid-century, Canadian critic Northrop Frye (1912-91) introduced new distinctions in literary criticism between myth and archetype. At the center of the plays intrigue is Shakespeares most sinister and formidable conceptions of evil in Iago, whose motives and the wellspring of his villainy continue to haunt audiences and critics alike. Cinthios version of Iago is conventionally driven by jealousy of a superior and lust for his wife. Iago's intelligence and wit allows him to make good sport of the protagonists of the play, sending Othello to his doom and that of his family. And new theories increasingly give credence to the requirement, historically asserted by Jungian readers, that each text elicit a personal, affective, and not merely intellectual response. I will withdraw Othello is a train wreck that the audience horrifyingly witnesses, helpless to prevent or look away. After the. Aristotles second requirement for a tragedy is that the tragic hero must have a reversal of fortune. 1: 67), of the archetypes, which he described as patterns of psychic energy originating in the collective unconscious and finding their most common and most normal manifestation in dreams (8:287). Mythological Criticism and Archetypes BY: TO: AYTEKIN ALIYEVA Prof. SHAHIN KHALILLI. The tragic protagonist must make a fall from a high state of being to a low state or death. Shakespeare shifts the action from Venice to Cyprus. 1: 4), but he distinguishes his concept and use of the term from that of philosophical idealism as being more empirical and less metaphysical, though most of his empirical data were dreams. Thus, all contrastive categorization would benefit from archetypal analysis. "Now will I question assio of ianca, As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad; . Othello is decisive, confident, and secure in his identity, duty, and place in the world. : Feminist: Ex. Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory. Literary Critics on Othello. Othello is first shown as a hero of war and a man of, The extent of which Othello is a tragic hero has been open to much debate; the basis on which he is judged falls to Aristotles established view of the crucial elements that distinguish whether a person is truly tragic. An example, is that they had to overcome a huge obstacle such as love because Othello and Desdemona were in love but her father did not approve of it. Finally, Othello arrives giving him the opportunity to renew his marriage vows to Desdemona: It gives me wonder great as my content He is an individual of high stature who is destroyed by his surroundings, his own actions, and his fate. His final speech mixes together the acknowledgment of what he was and what he has become, who he is and how he would like to be remembered: I have done the state some service, and they knowt. Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand, An analysis of women being victims in Othello: Othello is a play written by William Shakespeare in the 1600s, this essay is from a feminist perspective. (2023). The critical annotations are astute and, given their brevity, surprisingly thorough and suggestive. "Othello is like a hero of the ancient world in that he is not a man like us, but a man recognized as extraordinary". What makes Othello so unique structurally (and painful to witness) is that it is a tragedy built on a comic foundation. Eliot, Samuel Taylor) characterize themselves as realists, pragmatic, practical, eschewing the supporters of the so-called weaker Othello, who conversely tend to describe themselves as somehow morally elevated, more empathetic. By the end of the play, he has brought down his world around him with the relentless force that made him a great general turned inward, destroying both what he loved best in another and in himself. He interprets literature in the light of various rituals and myths. He is a character of high stature that is destroyed by his surroundings, his own actions, and his fate. Toril Moi, trans. . Child and Youth Care and Disability CYC 3000 Assignment: Getting to Know Disability Justice A deep dive into activists introduced by L. Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha Due Week 2, Friday at 11:59p It is important that you begin to learn about the various people and organizations that are leading the conversation on disability justice. And it is thought abroad that twixt my sheets Hes done my office. The three women are Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. Ralph Manheim, 1974); Morris Philipson, Outline of a Jungian Aesthetic (1963, reprint, 1991); Annis Pratt et al., Archetypal Patterns in Womens Fiction (1981); Jos van Meurs and John Kidd, Jungian Literary Criticism, 1920-1980: An Annotated Critical Bibliography of Works in English (with a Selection of Titles after 1980) (1988); William K. Wimsatt, Jr., and Cleanth Brooks, Literary Criticism: A Short History (1957). The character of Iago is so conducted, that he is from the first scene to the last hated and despised. And will upon the instant put thee tot. But Jos van Meurss critically annotated 1988 bibliography, Jungian Literary Criticism, 1920-1980, effectively challenges this claim. Othello is generally regarded as Shakespeares greatest stage play, the closest he would ever come to conforming to the constrained rules of Aristotelian tragedy. Furthermore, they must also have a fatal flaw, that eventually leads to their downfall. As Hillman puts it, Corbins insight that Jungs mundus archetypalis is also the mundus imaginalis that corresponds to the Islamic alam al-mithl (3) was an early move toward a reappraisal of psychology itself as an activity of poesis (24). And smote himthus. The essays in our library are intended to serve as content examples to inspire you as you write your own essay. This passage reveals how much Othello has deteriorated as far as his ability to reason. Iago reviews Othellos performance as a lover by stating, O, you are well tuned now, / But Ill set down the pegs that make this music. Iago will now orchestrate discord and disharmony based on a life philosophy totally opposed to the ennobling and selfless concept of love demonstrated by the newlyweds. Othello falls in love with Desdemona and they secretly marry; later, he leaves to Cyprus to stop the Turks. The romantic climax comes in the trial scene of act 1, in which Othello success-fully defends himself before the Venetian senate against Brabantios charge that Othello has beguiled his daughter, stoln from me, and corrupted / By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks. Calmly and courteously Othello recounts how, despite the differences of age, race, and background, he won Desdemonas heart by recounting the stories of his exotic life and adventures: She loved me for the dangers I had passed, / And I loved her that she did pity them. Wonder at Othellos heroic adventures and compassion for her sympathy have brought the two opposites togetherthe young, inexperienced Venetian woman and the brave, experienced outsider. I know not ift be true; But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, Will do as if for surety (2.1. Joseph P. Strelka, 1976); Karin Barnaby and Pellegrino DAcerino, eds., C. G. Jung and the Humanities: Toward a Hermeneutics of Culture (1990); Martin Bickman, The Unsounded Centre: Jungian Studies in American Romanticism (1980); Maud Bodkin, Archetypal Patterns in Poetry: Psychological Studies in Imagination (1934); Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (1957); Albert Gelpi, The Tenth Muse: The Psyche of the American Poet (1975); Naomi Goldenberg, Archetypal Theory after Jung, Spring (1975); Julia Kristeva, Stabat Mater (1977, The Kristeva Reader, ed. - Alfredo Alvarez, student @ Miami University, We use cookies to provide the best possible experience on our site. (3.3.54) Ex. Archetypal criticism proceeds from the initial assumption that every work of literature can be categorized and fitted into a large framework that encompasses all literature. Othello, though, decides to kill her. James Baird, Jungian Psychology in Criticism: Theoretical Problems, Literary Criticism and Psychology (ed. Commend me to my kind lord. Othello must now face the realization of what he has done. Othello as a character of noble blood seems to conform to all these. Posted on . Archetypal analysis is an appropriate model for customer heterogeneity whenever the underlying structure is best defined by the extremes. Othello, a play that was written in 1604 by William Shakespeare, is an example of a type of story called a tragedy. Throughout the course of the work, Othello proves himself to be very easily misled, despite his heroic status. You know how looking at a math problem similar to the one you're stuck on can help you get unstuck? Did you find something inaccurate, misleading, abusive, or otherwise problematic in this essay example? Abstract. In Re-Visioning Psychology, the published text of his 1972 Yale Terry Lectures (the same lecture series Jung gave in 1937), Hillman locates the archetypal neither in the physiology of the brain, the structure of language, the organization of society, nor the analysis of behavior, but in the processes of imagination (xi). The play moves relentlessly from here to catastrophe as Othello delivers justice to those he is convinced have wronged him. He is the general of the Venetian army and a well respected man by the towns noble men. Frye's thesis in "The Archetypes of Literature" remains largely unchanged in Anatomy of Criticism. Ignoring her appeals for mercy and avowals of innocence, Othello smothers her moments before Emilia arrives with the proof of Desdemonas innocence and Iagos villainy. And the 1980s saw a new, suggestive, and controversial direction in archetypal studies of literature: the feminist. In this play there are only three women in the entire play. Aristotle believed that the plot is the most important element in a play and that plot also clearly points out the problem of any characters to be solved. What makes you cringe? The formerly self-sufficient Othello has now staked his life to his faith in Desdemona and their union, and she has done the same. That's a matter of opinion. Othello is decisive, confident, and secure in his identity, duty, and place in the world. The first systematic application of Jungs ideas to literature was made in 1934 by Maud Bodkin in Archetypal Patterns in Poetry: An attempt is here made to bring psychological analysis and reflection to bear upon the imaginative experience communicated by great poetry, and to examine those forms or patterns in which the universal forces of our nature there find objectification (vii). A Modern View of Feminist Criticism William Shakespeare 's "Othello" can be analyzed from a feminist perspective.This criticism focuses on relationships between genders, like the patterns of thoughts, behavior, values, enfranchisement, and power in relations between and within sexes. Archetypal criticism, then, construed as that derived from Jungs theory and practice of archetypal (analytical) psychology, is a fledgling and much misconstrued field of inquiry with significant but still unrealized potential for the study of literature and of aesthetics in general. Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture, Spring: An Annual of Archetypal Psychology and Jungian Thought, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Analysis of Stuart Halls Encoding/Decoding, Jacques Derrida's Structure, Sign and Play. However, the protagonist of the tragedy play only partially meets the definition of Aristotles tragic hero. Act 3, one of the wonders of the stage, anatomizes Othellos psychic descent from perfect contentment in his new wife to complete loathing, from a worldview in which everything is as it appears to one in which nothing is as it seems. Hillman invokes Henri Corbin (1903-78), French scholar, philosopher, and mystic known for his work on Islam, as the second father of archetypal psychology.
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