'Othello Portia and Desdemona Essay\r'

'Othello, Portia and DesdemonaIntroductionThey say graphics lives forever, darn well-nigh say that nonhing lasts forever, but if nothing is as condemnationless in literary works as the works of mavin William Shakespe are and his dissolution, A summer solstice Nights imagine. The reanimates deport cardinal opposite versions that follow the blow reveal c drop offly, however they are as dissimilar as night and day. The first placeput signal of this play opened the New York City B every(prenominal) toldet in April, 1964 at the New York State Theater. The second was a BBC production in 1981.\r\nThese plays are different as re eachy(prenominal) much as they are similar. For example, in Act 3, position 2, the scene is mainly set up in the forest. In the 1981 version, the woods are pleasure groundly vague, which indicates a backdrop that has been multicolor? Even with color, in that respect appears to need the element of aliveness and suspense. A in rundown pai nted moon hangs on the backdrop of a similarly painted sky which makes things look much than placid and less lively. This version of the BCC Company focuses more on the development of vitrines rather than on the blend of piece with a realistic backdrop. The Hollywood version of the play has tall and dark trees that make the forest seem haunted. The scene is big and to some extent overwhelming. In the 1980s things returned to a more cautious trend.\r\n puck, for example, is a mysterious goblin or fairy who is beneficial of mischief and riddles. The BBC version shows him to be a stripling who is darker than he is humorous. He as well as has pitch minatory hair and also wears fangs, which makes him a scary character in the play. In the Hollywood version of the play, puck is a small boy rather than the presumed wizard(prenominal) fairy. Although they speak the aforesaid(prenominal) lines, they pack completely different attitudes. For example, in the BBC version, he sounds as if he is feed up epoch, in the Hollywood version, he sounds very much amused.\r\nAnformer(a) distinct difference in the production of the play in twain eras is in the mode of dressing of the characters. Hermia, for example, can be portrayed as either weak or toughened depending on the director. In the 1981 version of it, she is portrayed as a strong and sweet lady fully of emotions. She is passionate and she is in touch with her feelings. sluice, she is dressed in mug up from the 1600s date, in the 1964 version, she is dressed in attire from the middle ages. In the 1964 version, she looks more the similars of a fairy tale character. This focussing, she is not portrayed as a strong woman and a gentle and sweet eye candy. In the 1060s, women were viewed otherwise than they were in the 1980s. In the 1980s, women could have a bun in the oven some mental picture regarding their lives and issues that affected them.\r\nAnother distinct difference in twain plays is the fact that delight was viewed differently by the society in both eras. Demetrius is in bed with Hermia and at the corresponding m, trying hard to rile rid of capital of Montana who has fallen in love with him, which angers him. In the 1981 version, he has dark hair and a goatee and in some way resembles a musketeer. When Puck bestows some magic on him, he dead becomes sweet and understanding and at the same time determined to regain what he wants. In the 1964 version, he has no facial hair and he is more than perturbed by the persistence of Helena on her travail.\r\nHere, he pushes her away gently unlike the brutal way he puts her off in the 1981 version. This lonesome(prenominal) shows two eras that the dramatic expections and dismissals of love were taken differently. In the 1981 version, Helena is whiney and very confused. She dresses fitting like Hermia, moreover she is not sooner as fair as she is. In the 1964 version of the same play, she sounds very despondent an d sad. In 1981, Helena made a cosmos lecture that is more or less dramatic and demanding of maintenance according to recent times and cultures. In the 1964 version, she starts as a fille whose inwardnessateness has been broken but ends up getting angry towards the end of her speech. This reflects on both cultures at the time whereby, in the 1980s, women could express their views, which included sudden popbursts. In the 1964 era, women were more conservative of their words and not much could trigger outbursts that were looked down(p) upon.\r\nIt is noteworthy that more distinct differences in both productions are not only bound to characters. They are also present in the overall scenes. For example, a big fight that happens in the forest was more physical in the 1981 version of the play. They splash respectively in the puddles and often get in distributively others’ faces and the end, Hermia is both hurt and appalled. Helena, on the other move on, is confused. In the 1964 version of A summer solstice Night’s Dream, the forest fight is more in a lively spirit and jest as compared to the preliminary aggressive play. Here, Helena does more scorning and Hermia gets angry at her for this.\r\nIn conclusion, it is my personal opinion as a lover of plays, that the BBC version of 1981 best captures modern situations and responses to a situation much(prenominal) as anger and love. On the other hand, the Hollywood version of 1964 best depicts the Elizabethan times when life was less complicated and women had limited voices. Now, they just yell, scorn and dismiss in public level(p) the most private of issues.\r\nShakespeare’s juncture is rife with different ancestors, spectacular in fact but all the more, precise in their exe jumpion. The theme of abused women stands out in its own right, peculiarly when Ophelia comes to question. Trust is the most formidable show of obscureness besides love in Shakespeare’s plays, but they e ach stand out in his or her own right. Trust and love becomes the joy and the destruction of many womanish characters in Shakespeare’s plays. However strong they feel for each other, some burst at the hands of their spouses while some lose the meaning of the word love.\r\nJust like Lavina, Ophelia is a victim to much abuse from the men that she trusts in her life. The act of trusting and depending on the men in her life costs Ophelia her sanity and ultimately her life. some(prenominal) Ophelia’s irreconcilable attachment to Polonius and Hamlet as individuals, and holding on to the regard ass of chastity and bestial love as ultimate goals leads to her demise. Both Ophelia and Lavina have a similarity in that they are both motherless and have been cared for by their fathers. Ophelia is obedient and pretty much naive, much like most female characters in Shakespearean books and plays. Even in the thick of her madness, she still keeps the simplicity and the purity th at characterizes her.\r\nLavina, daughter to Titus Andronicus is the quintessential good girl of the Shakespearean times. She is chaste, obedient and very quiet as was required of her, exactly like Ophelia. She is raped and thereafter mutilated by Chiron and Demetrius who cut her tongue off and her hands so that she is ineffective to identify them either in writing or speech. Just like Ophelia is used as a pawn by Polonius and subsequently held in a hall where she spends most days, Lavina is denied the right to speak by her abusers. It is true to say that their naivete is the main cause for their tragedy that comes in untimely yet vernacular fashions. If they had known better, they would have stayed clear and taken caution.\r\nDesdemona is one of the characters in Shakespeare’s Othello. She is a Venetian knockout who enrages and disappoints her father by the unforgivable act of eloping with Othello. He is a man several years her precedential who is later deployed to Cyp rus to serve the Republic of Venice, and Desdemona accompanies him. As time goes by, Othello’s ensign, Lago manipulates him to believing that Desdemona is an adulteress, and in the final act, Othello murders her. Portia, on the other hand, is an also a beautiful and gracious, yet rich heiress whose father has imposed conditions for her hand in wedlock. Her father insists that her suitors choose one of trinity boxes, either of gold, silver or lead. These suitors are mainly princess from other lands, but Portia is in love with Bassanio who is not royalty. Portia’s father had imposed these conditions for marriage just to make sure that her daughter would be love for who she was and not because of her wealth.\r\nMuch like Desdemona and Portia, Jessica breaks her father’s heart when she steals from him and elopes with her lover Lancelot. Desdemona elopes with her lover and gets married in the absence of her father, Portia does not follow the rules her father sets o ut for her condition in marriage, and Jessica steals and elopes with her father’s ducats and servant. It is a betrayal by daughters to their fathers who seem to control to them, even from the grave. However, these fathers are more c at one timerned about the financial well-being of their daughters’ futures rather than their happiness. The norm of love in Shakespearean writings may be set forth as being a passion the kindles the heart and brain and makes somebody as senseless as the day he or she was born. Girls like Hermia, Desdemona, Imogen, Portia, Jessica, Juliet and Anne rascal all look forward to marriage without act their affections elsewhere.\r\nReligion is a major theme that appears in Shakespeare’s Othello. Enmity is created on both the apparitional and economic fronts. Since the Turks are Moslems, Othello has no regard for them and even insults them by calling one of them ‘a circumcised dog.’ He is a Christian by religion and as well, fights for Christians. The incident of the handkerchief obsesses Othello and the anger connects him to a pre-Christian or a pre-Moslem belief. At first, he says that he is pass to chop Desdemona into bits but later prepares to kill her as a sacrifice. Once he realizes what he has done, he takes his own life as he once killed the Turk (he is executing the Turk he sees that he has become who is anti-Christian). During the Shakespearean times, England was mainly protestant while Spain was a Catholic nation.\r\nHowever, after the invasion of Spain, Catholics gained ground and more side of meat converted. Although it is not clear known which denomination, Shakespeare was follo inveigleg the Catholic unfathomedly, while it is believed that he was a member of the freshly formed Anglican Church. Before the time of his birth, the Elizabeth spiritual Settlement served the Church of England exclusively and, therefore, the Roman Catholic Church was surprises. Scholars claim that there wa s evidence that Shakespeare’s family were secretly Catholic followers and that he took up the line.\r\nThe likeness of Othello to Shakespeare is that they both have a secret admiration of the religion that is loathed and looked down upon. Othello saw himself as a Moslem after he killed Desdemona, while Shakespeare is a secret follower of the Catholics.\r\nCharacter defines a man; wisdom defines great men while love defines a lot of things, inclusive of idiocrity and naivety among men. pick out has brought great men to their knees while the same love has elevated other men to unthinkable heights. Material wealth has been acquired through many unscrupulous actions but the best of them has been through love. Some have inherited it; some have worked for it while some have married into it. In this life, it is only pattern for a woman to marry into riches, but in the Merchant of Venice, the tables have turned. Bassanio, a poor curse word has his sights on a beautiful heiress, p rimarily not for her beauty, but for the fortune that is her name. He explains to Antonio that in Belmont, there’s a lady who has been richly left, who is fair and nothing about her has been undervalued. He uses words such as value to indicate his intention to get her hand in marriage, and become part of the wealthy.\r\nBassanio sets out to impress Portia in a bid to win her hand in marriage but he has to borrow money from his friend, Antonio. He asks that Antonio thinks of his lending as an investment into the future, because Bassanio was sure of winning her hand and worthy the husband of a rich lady. When Portia is informed of the comer of Bassanio, the young Venetian, she and Nerrisa rush to see him, giddy like school girls. She has affection for the young lad but she cannot break the rules for her hand in marriage. She has to let him play the game like all other suitors have done and if he would lose, he would lose her forever, and he would not e allowed to marry another lady.\r\nAt first, Bassanio’s love for wealth and a sufficient lifestyle trumps any feeling that he capability have had for Portia initially but after her realizes this, affection for her grows. When the prince of Morocco fails to win Portia’s hand, she is more than capable and wishes that all men of such color face the same fate. However, the request to play music when Bassanio is about to break up a jewel coffin is features as witty and out of sheer love. The song she plays only leads to the natural selection that Bassanio makes, as Portia secretly directs him with the words of her song. Why Bassanio chose the Lead enclose instead of the well-off one is something of a brain-teaser of the heart. If Bassanio would have listened to his head, he should have chosen the sumptuous or the silver casket because he was in so much debt. He did not value Portia as a regular woman, but the girl born with a silver or golden spoon.\r\nThe song that Portia sings while h e chooses the casket is the only indication that Bassanio would have made the wrong choice had he not heard it. In addition to that, the arrival of Bassanio had made Portia inclined to delay his choosing of the casket so that they would have had a few moments together. The legal brief moments that they were together made Bassanio realize that he so wanted to spend his life with Portia and he would listen to her. With this in mind, Portia secretly guides him to pick the lead casket which is the right one.\r\nIn relation to Othello, The Merchant of Venice is quite a love story. With Portia and Jessica and Desdemona in Othello and The Merchant of Venice respectively, all ladies have rich fathers who seem quite compulsory of their daughters, even form the grave, as is Portia’s case. However, all ladies have rich fathers but their suitors are clearly not of the same social class. They are also dedicated to their mates, regardless of the outcome. In Othello, interracial marriage ends in death or suicide while in The Merchant of Venice, Portia ends up being happy while Jessica converts to Christianity and also leads a happy life with her spouse. In Othello, Desdemona is obedient and even accompanies her husband to battle, erudite that she is needed in some way. Portia on the other hand Guides Bassanio into choosing the right casket because she understands that he only has one chance to prove his worth.\r\nReferences\r\nâ€Å"A midsummer Night’s Dream By William Shakespeare most A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” astir(predicate) A Midsummer Night’s Dream. N.p., 9 Feb. 2012. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. <http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/a-midsummer-nights-dream/about-a-midsummer-nights-dream>.\r\nâ€Å"As dissimilar As Night and Day: A Midsummer Night’s Dream | carilynn27.” carilynn27. N.p., 29 Aug. 2010. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. <http://carilynn27.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/as-different-as-night-and-day-a-midsumm er-nights-dream/>.\r\nâ€Å"Ophelia (character) | Online references | cyclopaedia.net.” Ophelia (character) | Online references | cyclopaedia.net. N.p., 24 may 2000. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. <http://en.cyclopaedia.net/wiki/Ophelia-(character)>.\r\nâ€Å"Othello Characters.” Othello Characters look backward at Absolute Shakespeare. N.p., 16 Sept. 2009. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. <http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/othello/characters/characters.htm>.\r\nâ€Å"Shakespeare’s Treatment of Love and Marriage.” Shakespeare’s Treatment of Love and Marriage. N.p., 23 Feb. 2007. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. <http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/treatmentlove.html>.\r\nâ€Å"The (Un)speakability of Rape: Shakespeare’s Lucrece and Lavinia.” Scribd. N.p., 30 July 2012. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. <http://www.scribd.com/doc/32440195/The-Un-speakability-of-Rape-Shakespeare-s-Lucrece-and-Lavinia>.\r\nâ€Å"The Bard, the Black, the Jew.” First T hings. N.p., 4 Dec. 2005. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. <http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/the-bard-the-black-the-jew>.\r\nâ€Å"The Merchant of Venice By William Shakespeare Character epitome Bassanio.” Bassanio. N.p., 23 June 2000. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. <http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/the-merchant-of-venice/character-analysis/bassanio>\r\nâ€Å"Themes in Shakespeare’s Othello (Gabriele Bernhard-Jackson).” Themes in Shakespeare’s Othello (Gabriele Bernhard-Jackson). N.p., 1 May 2009. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. <http://courses.temple.edu/ihfaculty/ih51/FacultyforFaculty/othellothemes.htm>.\r\nâ€Å"William Shakespeare †An examination of two modern interpretations of Shakespeare’s `A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.” William Shakespeare †An examination of two modern interpretations of Shakespeare’s `A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. N.p., 5 Oct. 2006. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. <http://www.e-scoala.ro/ref erate/engleza_shakespeare_a_ midsummer.html>.Shmoop Editorial Team. â€Å"Jessica in The Merchant of Venice.” Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. <http://www.shmoop.com/merchant-of-venice/jessica.html>.\r\nShmoop Editorial Team. â€Å"Lavinia in Titus Andronicus.” Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. <http://www.shmoop.com/titus-andronicus-shakespeare/lavinia.html>.\r\nShmoop Editorial Team. â€Å"Portia in The Merchant of Venice.” Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. <http://www.shmoop.com/merchant-of-venice/portia.html>.\r\nSource document\r\n'