"Who can control his fate?" After Othello was convinced that Desdemona was cheating on him, Othello had started to show his disappointment with her. Evil is displayed before him, not indeed with the profusion found in King Lear, but forming, as it were, the soul of a single character, and united with an intellectual superiority so great that he watches its advance fascinated and appalled. Following his anatomizing of the painfully introspective intellectual Hamlet, Shakespeare, at the height of his ability to probe human nature and to dramatize it in action and language, treats Hamlets temperamental oppositethe man of action. An archetypal critic would suggest that all human experience is linked through literature and that this experience is expressed again and again using the same patterns throughout time and space. An archetype is the original pattern or . Carl Jungs Contribution to Psychoanalytic Theory. 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 know not ift be true; But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, Will do as if for surety (2.1. The three women are Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. His expression of his jealousy quickly devolves from the conventional"Farewell the tranquil mind"to the absurd: Farewell the plum'd troops and the big wars. Now art thou my lieutenant. The archetypal characteris a simple character template recognizable to all readers. Othello is generally regarded as Shakespeares greatest stage play, the closest he would ever come to conforming to the constrained rules of Aristotelian tragedy. 1. By speaking of soul as a primary metaphor, rather than defining soul substantively and attempting to derive its ontological status from empirical demonstration or theological (metaphysical) argument, archetypal psychology recognizes that psychic reality is inextricably involved with rhetoric (Hillman, Archetypal 19). The critic is at the center of interpretive activity, and the critic functions as teacher, interpreter, priest, seer. 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. This passage reveals how much Othello has deteriorated as far as his ability to reason. Here are some examples of archetype in Shakespearean works: Lover: Romeo ("Romeo and Juliet"), Juliet ("Romeo and Juliet"), Antony ("Antony and Cleopatra") Hero: Othello ("Othello"), Hamlet . Then must you speak 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. His imagination is excited to intense activity, but it is the activity of concentration rather than dilation. Wow! However, the Moor and Alfiero join forces to kill Disdemona, beating her to death with a stocking filled with sand before pulling down the ceiling on her dead body to conceal the crime as an accident. He suffers barbs and preconceived notions, yet Othello is esteemed and wins the love of the daughter of a nobleman. Iagos motivation is anything but explainable in conventional terms. The major work of Frye's to deal with archetypes is Anatomy of Criticism but his essay The Archetypes of Literature is a precursor to the book. Feminist archetypal theory, proceeding inductively, restored Jungs original emphasis on the fluid, dynamic nature of the archetype, drawing on earlier feminist theory as well as the work of Jungian Erich Neumann to reject absolutist, ahistorical, essentialist, and transcendentalist misinterpretations. Of all Shakespeares tragedies . But heres my husband; Literary Critics on Othello. According to Hillman, that discourse was anticipated by Evangelos Christous Logos of the Soul (1963) and extended in religion (David L. Millers New Polytheism, 1974), philosophy (Edward Caseys Imagining: A Phenomenological Study, 1976), mythology (Rafael Lopez-Pedrazas Hermes and His Children, 1977), psycholinguistics (Paul Kuglers Alchemy of Discourse: An Archetypal Approach to Language, 1982), and the theory of analysis (Patricia Berrys Echos Subtle Body, 1982). Bettina Knapps 1984 effort at an authoritative demonstration of archetypal literary criticism exemplified this pattern. James Hillman, Archetypal Psychology: A Brief Account (1983), Re-Visioning Psychology (1975); C. G. Jung, Collected Works (ed. Northrop Frye, however, further developed this theory in his book Anatomy of Criticism and later in his essay 'The Archetypes in Literature . / Man but a rush against Othello's breast / And he retires." The main ideas of Othello are jealousy and revenge. He carries out his own execution for a violation that threatens social and psychic order. Othello decides the only way to right his wrong is to take his own life. Patterns originate from the writer's . Comparing the amount written about the two plays, people find Hamlet more interesting to discuss. The tragic hero archetype is used in many different pieces of writing and with every character comes a different way of using it. Archetypal criticism is a literary approach that analyzes works of literature based on the idea that there are universal, timeless patterns and themes that recur across all cultures and throughout history. In Shakespeare's Othello, Iago is one of the most compelling villains in English literature. This scene has suggested to some critics that Iagos true motivation for destroying the marriage of Desdemona and Othello is a repressed homosexual love for Othello. First Cassio lands to deliver the news of Othellos marriage and, like the best man, supplies glowing praise for the groom and his bride; next Desdemona, accompanied by Iago and his wife, Emilia, enters but must await news of the fate of Othellos ship. Kibin, 2023, www.kibin.com/essay-examples/an-archetype-criticism-of-othello-a-play-by-william-shakespeare-yJF4zltX. In a mess of questions of good and evil, right and wrong, critical supporters of Iago (T.S. Considered according to this definition, the concept becomes a useful tool for literary analysis that explores the synthesis of the universal and the particular, seeks to define the parameters of social construction of gender, and attempts to construct theories of language, of the imaginal, and of meaning that take gender into account. Olympus-high, and duck again as low While the beautiful. Historical is basically know the background story before you making assumptions off the text, and to better understand text lookup time period close to the time like 1600's . Desdemona senses a change in Othello and she has a feeling that she will die soon due to the hands of Othello. Jung was also more preoccupied with dreams and fantasies, because he saw them as exclusively (purely) products of the unconscious, in contrast to literature, which he oddly believed, citing Joyces Ulysses as an example, was created in the full light of consciousness (15:123). In addition, he modified and extended his concept over the many decades of his professional life, often insisting that archetype named a process, a perspective, and not a content, although this flexibility was lost through the codifying, nominalizing tendencies of his followers. Categories: Drama Criticism, ELIZABEHAN POETRY AND PROSE, Literary Criticism, Literature, Tags: Analysis Of William Shakespeares Othello, Bibliography Of William Shakespeares Othello, Character Study Of William Shakespeares Othello, Criticism Of William Shakespeares Othello, Drama Criticism, Essays Of William Shakespeares Othello, Notes Of William Shakespeares Othello, Othello, Othello Analysis, Othello Criticism, Othello Essay, Othello Feminism, Othello Notes, Othello Play, Othello PSychoanalysis, Othello Summary, Plot Of William Shakespeares Othello, Simple Analysis Of William Shakespeares Othello, Study Guides Of William Shakespeares Othello, Summary Of William Shakespeares Othello, Synopsis Of William Shakespeares Othello, Themes Of William Shakespeares Othello, William Shakespeare, William Shakespeares Othello, Analysis of William Shakespeares Macbeth, Analysis of William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet, Analysis Of William Shakespeares Othello, Bibliography Of William Shakespeares Othello, Character Study Of William Shakespeares Othello, Criticism Of William Shakespeares Othello, Simple Analysis Of William Shakespeares Othello, Study Guides Of William Shakespeares Othello, Synopsis Of William Shakespeares Othello, Analysis of Stuart Halls Encoding/Decoding, Jacques Derrida's Structure, Sign and Play. The fulfillment of the wedding night that should come at the climax of the comedy is relocated to act 2, with the aftermath of the courtship and the wedding now taking center stage. May the wind blow till they have wakened death, In this essay let us examine the various themes and determine which are dominant and which subordinate. 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. His destruction is essentially precipitated by his own actions, as well as by the actions of the characters surrounding him. Shakespeare's play, Othello, the Moor of Venice, is a powerful example of a tragedy and its main character, Othello, is an excellent illustration of what Aristotle constitutes as a tragic hero. Archetypal theory then took shape principally in the multidisciplinary journal refounded by Hillman in 1970 in Zurich, Spring: An Annual of Archetypal Psychology and Jungian Thought. Even when Desdemona was found after Othello strangles her, she still believed that her death was not the fault of Othello. "An Archetype Criticism of Othello, a Play by William Shakespeare." As hells from heaven. I will withdraw 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. 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. Iago replies: Demand me nothing; what you know, you know: / From this time forth I never will speak word. By Iagos exiting the stage, closing access to his motives, the focus remains firmly on Othello, not as Iagos victim, but as his own. As in a typical Shakespearean comedy, love, tested, triumphs over all opposition. Seeing her dying, Emilia asks who would do this. 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. A tragic hero is a hero nonetheless, but it all comes down to how they hold themselves together in the face of. Even though Othello had a reputation as a hero, he ends up being one of the most gullible characters in the play when he completely falls into the evil trap that Iago set for him. Cultural criticism is exploring or examining the relationship of dominant role based on ethnicity, and sexual identity of person, also a great understanding of yourself. Archetypal critics are also interested in certain myths and rituals that recur in a wide variety of cultures. Citations Essays and criticism on William Shakespeare's Othello - Criticism . As the play progresses, and Iagos plan culminates, Othellos good fortune begins to turn. Feminist Critique of the Character Desdemona in Othello Introduction Women during Elizabethan age are assumed to have spent their lives in the service of men - prearranged marriages, child rearing, and their role as sexual objects. The concept of the archetype is a venerable philosophical principle that came into new prominence and usage in the twentieth century with the development of archetypal literary criticism through the theories of psychologist C. G. Jung and literary theorist Northrop Frye. For Jung, archetype is an explanatory paraphrase of the Platonic eidos (9, pt. Thus Jungian theory provided no clear avenue of access for those outside of psychology, and orthodox Jungians were left with little in the way of models for the psychological analysis of literature. What makes you cringe? Consistent with his role as guardian of order in the state, Othello carries out his own execution, by analogy judging his act as a violation reflected by Venices savage enemy: And say besides, that in Aleppo once, In Shakespeare?s play Othello, Othello himself is the tragic hero. In Act 2, Scene 1 of Othello, Iago formulates his plan to drive Othello mad. As scholar Edward Pechter has argued, During the past twenty-five years or so, Othello has become the Shakespearean tragedy of choice, replacing King Lear in the way Lear had earlier replaced Hamlet as the play that speaks most directly and powerfully to current interests.. 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. My life and education both do learn me Archetypal analysis is an appropriate model for customer heterogeneity whenever the underlying structure is best defined by the extremes. Iago leads Othello to suspect that love and devotion are shams disguising the basest of animalistic instincts. The direction of Othello criticism will also be affected as literary criticism's longstanding commitment to cultural historicism comes under pressure from those who argue that explorations of context often come at the expense of literature's formal properties and affective registers, and as developments in the digital humanities enable fresh After the. The essays in our library are intended to serve as content examples to inspire you as you write your own essay. On a general level, Jungs and Fryes theorizings about archetypes, however labeled, overlap, and boundaries are elusive, but in the disciplines of literature the two schools have largely ignored each others work. By trying to hide the fact that Othello had murdered her, Desdemona has chosen to put the honor of their love above honesty. William Shakespeare utilized archetype frequently as a literary device in his plays. The scene crowns love triumphant. These patterns include persistent images, figures, and story patterns shared by people across diverse cultures. Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand, As Iago asserts to Roderigo, Virtue? Even French feminist Julia Kristeva has been brought to praise a Jungian contribution to feminist discourse on the maternal: recognition that the Catholic churchs change of signification in the assumption of the Virgin Mary to include her human body represented a major shift in attitude toward female corporaiity (113). 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. Shakespeare on the other hand has portrayed women as both object and subject. To The Reader Baudelaire Analysis; Used Dudek Universal For Sale; Is Ignatius J Reilly Autistic; Spring League Football Tryouts; marxist criticism in othello act 1 . As the pair kneels together, they exchange vows: Iago: Witness you ever-burning lights above, 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). Shakespeare shifts the action from Venice to Cyprus. Othello is a train wreck that the audience horrifyingly witnesses, helpless to prevent or look away. An archetype is universal; it is generated by man's psyche regardless of time of place. In the beginning of the play, Othello is seen as content with his new bride: For know, Iago, But that I love the gentle Desdemona (1.2.24-25). Mythological critics compare one work to others with similar story . Dramatically, Shakespeare turns the focus of the play from the shocking crime to its causes and psychic significance, trans-forming Cinthios intrigue story of vile murder into one of the greatest dramatic meditations on the nature of love and its destruction. This type of criticism was first experimented by Maud Bodkin, in his book Archetypal Patterns in Poetry (1934). He is a character of high stature that is destroyed by his surroundings, his own actions, and his fate. . The story opens on Briony Tallis, a 13-year-old growing up in the upper-middle class in England in 1953 with . "), "An Archetype Criticism of Othello, a Play by William Shakespeare." The Fables of Identity: Studies in Poetic Mythology is a critical work published in 1963. Come, go with me apart. He sees it, in itself almost irresistible, aided at every step by fortunate accidents and the innocent mistakes of its victims. Having triumphantly bested the social and natural forces aligned against them, having staked all to the devotion of the other, Desdemona and Othello will not be left to live happily ever after, and the tragedy will grow out of the conditions that made the comedy. It is in Act 3 Scene 3 where Othello takes on a new persona, where his confidence and happiness is tragically replaced with jealousy and rage. What makes Othello so unique structurally (and painful to witness) is that it is a tragedy built on a comic foundation. William Shakespeare, born in the year 1564, is often considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, writer in the English language. Jungs Psychology of the Unconscious (1916, B. M. Hinkles translation of the 1911-12 Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido) appeared in English one year after publication of the concluding volume with bibliography of the third edition of J. G. Frazers The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (2 vols., 1890,3d ed., 12 vols., 1911-15). 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. Despite this, Desdemona continued to stay true to Othello. The Shakespearean tragedy Othello contains a number of themes; their relative importance and priority is debated by literary critics. Othello A Christian Moor who has earned a high reputation as a general in the Venetian army and has recently married Desdemona, daughter of the Venetian senator Brabantio. The play moves relentlessly from here to catastrophe as Othello delivers justice to those he is convinced have wronged him. Bibliography The Moor is eventually captured, tortured, and slain by Disdemonas relatives, while the ensign dies during torture for another crime. When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, The tragedy of Othello is not a fault of a single villain, but is rather a consequence of a wide range of feelings, judgments and misjudgments, and attempts for personal justification exhibited by all of the participants. 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. Archetypal criticism focuses on such things in a work. Toril Moi, trans. 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). 125-126). The term 'archetype' is taken from the Greek words 'arche' (beginning) and 'typos' (imprint). 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. Role of the Archetypal Symbols The handercheif is utilized throught Othello to demonstrate the loyalty of Desdemona, as well as Othello's love for her. In his "The . I am hitherto your daughter. Her Jungian Approach to Literature attempts to cover the Finnish epic The Kalevala, the Persian Atars The Conference of the Birds, and texts by Euripides, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Michel de Montaigne, Pierre Corneille, Goethe, Novalis, Rabbi ben Simhah Nachman, and W. B. Yeats. Further, myth critics, aligned with writers in comparative anthropology and philosophy, are said to include Frazer, Jessie Weston, Leslie Fiedler, Ernst Cassirer, Claude Lvi-Strauss, Richard Chase, Joseph Campbell, Philip Wheelwright, and Francis Fergusson. The example essays in Kibin's library were written by real students for real classes. Source: Groden, Michael, and Martin Kreiswirth. Archetypal criticism is a product of both cultural anthropology and psychoanalysis which are academic fields that might seem to be far from the concept of archetypal criticism. As the story unfolds Othellos character evolves in an extremely tragic way as Iago manipulates him and leaves him to rot in his misery. "He is, in a sense, a 'self made man', the . Of one that loved not wisely but too well, In Cinthios story, Alfiero, the scheming ensign, lusts after the Moors wife, named Disdemona, and after she spurns his advances, Alfiero seeks vengeance by accusing her of adultery with Cassio, the Moors lieutenant. Unfortunately, this got the ball rolling for Othellos inevitable downfall. Emilia comes into the couples bedroom after Othello smothers Desdemona, but hears Desdemona cry out. However, in William Shakespeare's Othello, Emilia's character portrays three completely different archetypes and they all come through in strategical places. The tragic protagonist must make a fall from a high state of being to a low state or death. Indeed, myth criticism seems singularly unaffected by any of the archetypal theorists who have remained faithful to the origins and traditions of depth, especially analytical, psychologyJames Hillman, Henri Corbin, Gilbert Durand, Rafael Lopez-Pedraza, Evangelos Christou. Another important influence was Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) who used the term archetype to what he called "primordial images". If it were now to die The tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, presents the main character Othello, as a respectable, honorable, and dignified man, but because of his insecurities and good nature, he is easily taken advantage of and manipulated by his peers and alleged friends. 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. The key to extremely detrimental jealousy lies within one's ability to recognize it or deny it. So much I challenge that I may profess This way of proceeding had the effect of putting, and keeping, archetypal criticism on the margins of academic discourse and outside the boundaries of traditional academic disciplines and departments. 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). Placing responsibility in the stars - he calls Desdemona an "ill-starred wench" - is hardly a gallant course of action. Kibin does not guarantee the accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of the essays in the library; essay content should not be construed as advice. Did you find something inaccurate, misleading, abusive, or otherwise problematic in this essay example? 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.