Othello Essay Outline

Thesis: Although Shakespeare generally shows some sympathy to his characters that are outsiders, the stereotypes portrayed and the harshness that they evoke outweigh attempts at sincere sensitivity towards minorities, as seen through both Shylock and Othello.

Shylock:
Instance of sympathy:
"Hath not a Jew eyes... The villainy you teach me I will execute--and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction" (III.i.48-61)

• the only sympathy that is evoked towards Shylock from the audience
• at the same time, we resent him for it
• he becomes vengeful, stating that the reason is the treatment that has been placed upon him, which seems unreasonable

Instances of stereotypes and alienation:

"The Hebrew will turn Christian.  He grows kind" (I.iii.175)

• Jews are evil and ruthless

"Certainly the Jew is the very devil incarnation" (II.ii.24)

• Jews are compared to the devil

"My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter, Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats!" (II.iix.15-16)

"I would my daughter were dead at my foot and the jewels in her ear" (III.i.75-76)

• The Jew cares more for his money and possessions than his daughter

Ultimately forced into Christianity and loses all of his possessions.

Othello:

Instance of sympathy:

"Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors... I won his daughter" (I.iii.91-111)

• calm, collected, humble, patient, and articulate

Instances of stereotypes and alienation:

"An old black ram Is tupping your white ewe.  Arise, arise! Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you" (I.i.97-100)

• not only is Iago specifying that Othello is black, but he is being vulgar and implying that he is the devil

"your daughter and the Moor are {now} making the beast with two backs" (I.i.129-131)

• Iago refers to Othello in an animalistic sort of way

"And yet, how nature erring from itself" (III.iii.267)

• Othello and Desdemona's relationship is unnatural given his skin color
• He starts to lose confidence as a result and becomes aware of how he isn't good enough for someone like Desdemona

"Her name, that was as fresh As Dian's visage, is now begrimed and black As mine own face" (III.iii.441-444)

• even Othello understands and agrees with the negative connotation put upon people of color

Henry IV's AP Prose Passage

Although Prince Harry cares for the crown more than his father given by the fact that Harry took the crown from what he thought was his father's dead body, Harry attempts to seem like an innocent, and caring son towards his dying father and as if the crown itself is killing the king.
Towards his father, Prince Harry acts innocent and as if the crown has deceived him.  He claims that the crown "Hath fed upon the body of [his] father," and so he was forced to treat the crown as an enemy.  He did so by wearing the crown.  After explaining his motives for wearing the crown, Harry continues by saying, "Let God for ever keep it from my head."  At first glance, Harry seems like he genuinely cares about his dying father and that he does not care about the power and wealth given to the wearer of the crown, though this is not the case.
Through his excessively polite speech and hyperbolic claims, Harry conveys how much he cares about the crown and how little he cares about his father.  Harry acts excessively polite by constantly calling his father "my liege."  When used so often and after such a degrading act as to remove his father's crown off of his father's corpse, such calls of respect are ironic, and Harry truly does not mean what his words would otherwise convey.  As a result, his lusting after the crown becomes evident.  He also makes hyperbolic and unrealistic claims regarding the crown.  For examples, he claims that the crown attempted to murder his father and that the only way he could face the crown like the enemy that it was would be to wear the crown on his own head.  The complete absurdity of the claim reveals Harry's true intentions when wearing the crown, and none of them were selfless or in the name of his father.

Changes in Othello

At the beginning of the novel, Othello shows patience and self control.  Regardless of the fact that he is much larger in size than the whole rest of the cast, he does not hurt anyone physically.  Even when he is trying to get ahead, and could easily do so by physically harming those around him, he chooses not to.  He remains calm and avoids physical conflict.  This part of Othello changes in Act 4 Scene 1.  The audience first sees this change when he develops elaborate and violent ways to kill Desdemona after Iago convinces him that she has been disloyal: "I will chop her into messes" (IV.i.219).  He soon after hits her.  Lodovico is very surprised about his change in character.  The audience begins to wonder whether this side of Othello is genuine to his person.  If that were the case, he would be similar to Iago in the sense that he has multiple personas, hiding his true self.  If that were not the case, this change in character would be as a result of Iago's manipulation.  Maybe Othello truly is not violent, and Iago has driven him into becoming someone he is not.  The answer might be explained in the following scenes, but maybe it will just be a mystery, like who Iago truly is.

Iago's Manipulation of Othello

Iago has a truly evil form of manipulation that he uses on specifically Othello.  He follows the old phrase "keep your friends close and your enemies closer."  Throughout the whole novel, he has acted as a kindhearted individual to Othello, but it was just that: acting.  By being a different character in his presence, Iago manipulates Othello without Othello even noticing.  For example, when Othello asks if Cassio was just talking to Desdemona, Iago says, "No, sure, I cannot think it that he would steal away so guiltylike, seeing your coming" (III.iii.41-43).  His saying this implies that Cassio did something wrong without explicitly stating so, which Othello sees as reassuring and eventually influences him.  He does this act several times, convincing Othello to believe what Iago wants him to believe by implying it subtly or pretending to avoid the subject.  Othello believes him so much to be his friend that he even says, "I am bound to thee forever," because he truly thinks that Iago is genuinely trying to help him, which further adds to the magnitude of manipulation (III.iii.249).  His meticulously planned out revenge plot and manipulation is often compared to the devil, and the trust that he creates throughout the play only strengthens that comparison.

Responses to Injustice

Portia and Shylock in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice disagree on how society should respond to injustice.  Shylock, quite frankly, has been the victim of injustice more than Portia ever has.  As a result, Shylock's heart has hardened.  He has realized that society as a whole, given that society mostly consists of Christians, causes cruelty.  More specifically, society responds to injustice with revenge: "If a Jew wrongs a Christian, what kindness does he return?  Revenge" (III.i.56-57).  Portia, on the other hand, feels that injustice should be responded to with mercy since "it blesseth him that gives and him that takes" (IV.i.185).  Everyone benefits when mercy is society's response to injustice.  The real question is, however, does everyone deserve mercy?  That would involve every single truly evil person receiving the benefit of the doubt and being treated well.  This is where religion comes into play.  Certain religious aspects might lead each individual person into believing something different about this.  Some religious beliefs cause people to strive for harsh punishments, and some for mercy and forgiveness.

Antonio

In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Antonio acts as a multifaceted character.  On the surface, or at least to his friends, he seems like a kind, compassionate being.  He treats his friends with the utmost respect and would do anything for them: "Within the eye of honor, be assured my purse, my person, my extremest means lie all unlocked to your occasions" (I.i.137-139).  In the end, when his dear friend, Bassanio, needs money to pursue his love, Antonio signs the loan.  The punishment of that loan would be losing a pound of his own flesh.  It is clear he must feel very fondly of his friends and that friendship is extremely important to him.  In fact, there is even a time when he tells Bassanio that doubting their friendship is even worse than making him bankrupt: "And out of doubt you do me now more wrong in making question of my uttermost than if you had made waste of all I have" (I.i.155-157).
Though to his friends he will sacrifice all that he has, including his life, Antonio is not accepting of others, especially Shylock and other people of the Jewish faith.  He often implies that Jews are not nice like Christians are, such as when he says, "The Hebrew will turn Christian.  He grows kind" (I.iii.175).  He continues saying that it is truly impossible for Jewish people to have soft hearts, saying that "You may as well do anything most hard, as seek to soften that--than which what's harder?--His Jewish heart," which is fairly ironic and hypocritical considering how cruel that is (IV.i.78-80).
The reader is then forced to question how nice of a character Antonio actually is.  Though he would sacrifice anything for his friends, he refuses to like Jews.  This goes hand in hand with the argument about Shakespeare himself being antisemitic; Did he view poorly of Jews, or was it just the overall societal viewpoint of the group?

Complexity in The Merchant of Venice

Shylock from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is entirely filled with complexity.  He is the embodiment of the antisemitism of the time period. The reader is made to not like him as a character since he is portrayed as a cruel brute, following different Jewish stereotypes.  First of all, he is seen as unkind and not accepting of others: "I hate him for he is a Christian"  (I.iii.36).  In addition, he stereotypically worships and loves money, especially in comparison to his daughter: "I would my daughter were dead at my foot and the jewels in her ear!  Would she were hearsed at my foot and the ducats in her coffin" (III.i.75-77).  He views his money and jewels as much more important than his daughter's life which is a stereotypical view of the Jewish people.  His complexity really is portrayed when he begins to question all of these negative views of him.  He asks questions that would even be considered relevant to Jews, or any other minority group, today: "Hath not a Jew eyes?  Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?  Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed with the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is?  If you prick us, do we not bleed?  If you tickle us, do we not laugh?  If you poison us, do we not die?" (III.i.48-54).  For simply a moment in the whole play, Shylock is seen as something other than a brute.  He questions humanity like we as a people do every day, just with different minorities.