Truth Flashcards
(20 cards)
thesis
In Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, truth is manipulated into a weapon of harm, sharpened by societal standards and personal doubts.
intro critical quote
Hazlitt -> a “tragedy of perception”
intro Shakespeare intention
- society - blame for
- unreachable, limits ability to exist as true, honest self. play reflects tragedy of life
- we will continue to be deceived by the truth as Iago doesn’t die – so evil doesn’t die.
argument 1:Iago
Iago utilises Venetian gender roles and racial discrimination to manipulate the truth into a weapon that he can use to execute the downfall of his (superiors as?)‘puppets’ (Cox, 2010)
argument 1 critic in point:Iago
Iago makes his superiors his puppets - cox, 2010
argument 1 quote 1:Iago
“O will I turn her virtue into pitch / And out of her goodness make the net / That shall enmesh them all.”
argument 1 quote 2:Iago
“Her will, recoiling to her better judgement, / May fall to match you with her country forms, / And happily repent.”
argument 1 critic 2:Iago
“narrative self-fashioning” – Greenblatt
argument 1 critic 3 :Iago
“Iago is more a catalyst that precipitates destruction than a devil that causes it.” – Adamson (society and insecurities already there)
argument 2 point
The downfall of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship is due to Iago’s (exploitation of the truth? and society? weaponisation of lies and social standards.
Argument 2 quote 1:Othello and Des
“I took you for that cunning whore of Venice that married with Othello.”
argument 2 critic 1: O and D
“the metamorphosis of Desdemona from a virginal angel to a villainous whore” - Arthur J Little
argument 2 quote 2: O and D
“Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.”
argument 2 critic 2:O and D
“male characters reveal a deep seated fear of women deceiving them and thereby gaining supremacy” – Cox
argument 3 point: women
Shakespeare’s use of dramatic irony in how the women of the play retain the strongest sense of the truth, despite being the muses of manipulation, suggests that he encourages Jacobethan society to reconsider their attitudes towards female stereotypes. However, the death of these women does leave some ambiguity regarding this final message.
argument 3 quote 1: women
Your wife, my lord: your true and loyal wife.”
argument 3 critic 1:women
“Desdemona becomes a stereotype of female passivity” – Jardine
argument 3 quote 2
“you told a lie, an odious, damned lie! / Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie!”
argument 3 critic 2/3: women
“the female is doomed never to be believed” – Mack
Emilia “awakens too late to resist the patriarchy effectively” – Neely
