Othello Essay Research Paper free essay sample

Othello Essay, Research Paper # 8220 ; I am non what I am. # 8221 ; An essay on Othello, inquiry No 4. I will discourse this quotation mark in relation to Lacan # 8217 ; s thoughts approximately linguistic communication as the symbolic order. My purpose is to demo how Othello finds his individuality threatened by Desdemona # 8217 ; s reaction to his narratives. In order to explicate Lacan # 8217 ; s thoughts really briefly I will cite from Pam Morris: Literature and Feminism, ( Blackwell, 1993 ) where she discusses the declaration of the Oedipal crisis. For Freud the result of the kid # 8217 ; s fright of emasculation is its entry to the world rule and hence its entry into the societal order. For Lacan this must co-occur with the kid # 8217 ; s entry into the linguistic communication system # 8230 ; ..Language is therefore the Law of the male parent ; a lingual system within which our societal and gender individuality is ever already structured. ( p. 104 ) Othello # 8217 ; s individuality in the Venetian society is his function as # 8220 ; the Moor # 8221 ; . We will write a custom essay sample on Othello Essay Research Paper or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Few people use his existent name when speaking about him. When talking the given quotation mark, Othello is stating the Venetians how he won Desdemona # 8217 ; s bosom by stating her the narrative of his life, and he now retells it to the Venetians. This tale-telling is a manner of using the lingual system to reshape for himself a new individuality with more positive intensions than # 8220 ; the Moor # 8221 ; can offer. # 8220 ; The Moor # 8221 ; is an look the Venetians connect to other looks in the lingual system which all have a negative value. Examples are such looks as # 8220 ; old black random-access memory, a Barbary Equus caballus, lewd, and a devil. # 8221 ; The negative overtone of these words will reflect back on Othello. He can # 8217 ; t alter his beginnings but he can seek to alter the intensions of # 8220 ; the Moor # 8221 ; . He can make full the look with a new content and thereby give himself an individuality he can be more comfy with. This is what Othello is making when he is reciting his history. Othello is evidently a good storyteller ; Desdemona can # 8217 ; t acquire adequate of his narrative. Expressions like # 8220 ; earnestly incline # 8221 ; , # 8220 ; with hastiness # 8221 ; and # 8220 ; greedy ear # 8221 ; show Desdemona # 8217 ; s avidity for his storytelling. # 8220 ; And of all time # 8230 ; ./She # 8217 ; ld come once more # 8221 ; shows that this has been go oning over a period of clip without Desdemona turning tired of his narratives. The given quotation mark implies that Othello feels he has been excessively cagey for his ain benefit. Desdemona # 8217 ; s hungering for his autobiography is felt as a menace ; it may endanger his new individuality. Othello says that she would: # 8220 ; Devour up my discourse # 8221 ; . It is in this discourse that his individuality exists. If she devours up his discourse, she devours up his individuality and leaves him where he started ; as # 8220 ; the Moor # 8221 ; . Desdemona may stand for the all-engulfing female parent of the pre-Oedipal phase. This is a phase without construction, linguistic communication or individuality, an antonym to the lingual system, the Law of the male parent. It is with a # 8220 ; greedy ear # 8221 ; she # 8220 ; devours up my discourse # 8221 ; . An ear is sometimes used to typify female genital organ and will here stress the fact T hat Othello feels the menace to be feminine. That he, through his discourse, is devoured shows that this feminine menace is all-engulfing. If Othello garbages to accept his old function as # 8220 ; the Moor # 8221 ; he will either be without an individuality or be dragged by his self-fashioned individuality back into the pre-Oedipal phase. These options are two sides of the same coin, he will lose himself either manner. To give up one # 8217 ; s self is the same as self-destruction. Both decease and the pre-Oedipal phase are domains without linguistic communication, construction, purpose or individuality. To give manner to the one or the other will hold the same consequence for Othello ; he will no longer be a witting being. To salvage himself, Othello must acquire control over this # 8220 ; greedy ear # 8221 ; . Female gender was considered something chilling which could best be controlled through matrimony. A loose lingua was a mark of loose gender. Othello extends this impression to include Desdemona # 8217 ; s # 8220 ; greedy ear # 8221 ; . He marries Desdemona and all is good until Iago implies that Desdemona is unfaithful. Infidelity in a adult female will reflect back on her hubby. A cuckold is a pathetic figure in other people # 8217 ; s eyes. He must be earnestly missing in individual for his married woman to run after other work forces. Othello sees himself in the same state of affairs as before the matrimony. Alternatively of utilizing her ears she is now utilizing her gender to destruct the individuality he has built up for himself. I have already pointed out how ears and gender are connected in Othello # 8217 ; s head. Either manner the consequences are the same for Othello # 8217 ; s individuality. He sees his positive image of himself stealing off: # 8220 ; Farewell the plumy military personnels and the large wars/ That makes aspiration virtuousness! # 8230 ; .Farewell: Othello # 8217 ; s business # 8217 ; s gone. # 8221 ; ( III, three, 352-353+360 ) The one manner to command this menace is to passivize Desdemona wholly by killing her. He realizes excessively late the consequence this action will hold on his ain state of affairs. She was the lone individual who would accept the individuality he had been looking. He even had troubles believing in it himself, which made him an easy victim for Iago. So when he killed Desdemona he killed the positive image of himself. The individual he saw as a menace to his individuality was the merely individual who really sustained it. Because he had such troubles in believing in himself he found it impossible that anybody else should make so. This insecurity proves his undoing. His positive self-image gone, he is left a pick between # 8220 ; the Moor # 8221 ; or void. The minute Emilia realizes Othello is the liquidator she reverts to naming him looks connected to the negative image of # 8220 ; the Moor # 8221 ; : # 8220 ; And you the blacker Satan! # 8230 ; thou art a devil. # 8221 ; ( V, two, 129, 131 ) He can # 8217 ; t base being this individual, the lone one society and the symbolic order can offer him. To build his ain individuality has proven impossible. To be without an individuality, a non-personn implies decease. He chooses to liberate himself of this unwanted individuality by stepping out of the societal order and the linguistic communication system by agencies of self-destruction.