Introduction
Characterization
of the literary protagonists depends on many factors such as the power they
occupy and the way they are using this power in society, there are also other
factors that examine the dynamics of protagonists' powers such as gender, race
and others, this is going to be discussed in the current paper through
investigating how Shakespeare presented the character of Othello in his play
with reference to the ways Othello as a protagonist was affected by and related
to the nature of his position in the play, this will also be applied on the
protagonist of Webster's The Duchess of Malfi.
Discussion
Othello's
power is marginalized as a result of his precarious nature presented by
Shakespeare in the play, Othello's powers were considerable as he was the
leader whom everybody respected but factors such as his race, his age and the
life of soldiers he lived worked against his powers when Iago felt the
insecurity Othello suffered inside his soul, he used them to pressure on
Othello and raised his jealousy against his wife Desdemona to turn the powers
of Othello into destructive ones. (Oza, 2019) Othello's powers were compromised by his race and the
color of his skin which represented difference in a society that regard
difference as a reason for manipulating others who are different and may have
powers they don't deserve from the society point of view, Shakespeare presented
this through the figure of Iago and how he made bad use of the naïve nature of
Othello and played tricks to deceive him. Power of Othello was compromised
through many ways such as his ability to love and feel jealous as Iago had
power desire and tried to stress the dynamics of power in Othello to maintain
such power, Iago tried to get dominance over Othello making use of his
complexity that is based on his nature as a black hero whose psychological
condition can be easily turned in the passive attitude of love. (Ji and Alkoli,
2018)
Shakespeare
tried to present a different black character than others in the seventeenth
century literature as he was presented with considerable powers as the Moor of
Venice but the author tried to leave a special effect on the readers about
Othello from the very beginning of the play as he is presented as being totally
isolated and that his race played a great role in managing his powers with
special language that is offensive and represents sexual coarse as this makes
him feel that he is less than others in the white society and this factor
helped in compromising his powers and helped Iago to calculate the feelings
inside Othello's subconscious and succeed in turning them against Othello's
powers. Shakespeare presented the Moor with many powerful characteristics such
as courage, love, pride and guilelessness but with other mixed feelings such as
fear and strangeness in the society which led to a sort of hostility that as
encouraged by Iago who focused on undermining Othello's faith in Desdemona by
playing on his trustfulness nature, for example:
"The Moor is of a free and open nature That thinks men honest that
but seem to be so."
II. iii. 399-4001
This shows
how Iago's cruelty focused on the naïve nature of the black hero and played on
his weak nature that came from his race to lead him to doubt his wife and
revenge her. (Held, 2014)
The Duchess of Malfi was written by John Webster in the seventeenth century presenting a
different protagonist whose power was compromised through her life's fact that
marginalized her powers in many ways as because of her gender as a female, the
dynamics of her powers were affected by the nature of her position as a widow
whose brothers took precautions to forbid her from remarrying the steward who
is at lower class then them. The Duchess had a problematic position that
related to her powers as being a female made her brothers force her not to
marry the man she loved bearing their reasons as keeping their heritage. (Luckyj,
2011)
Her powers were almost reduced and her virtual
nature couldn't stop her brothers who were different from her to the extent
that they rejected her powerful sexual desire and made her elope with Antonio
giving birth to three children secretly which raises issues about the
Elizabethan era attitudes towards women desires and powers that were opposed by
the male elements in her life represented in her brothers. Being the head of
State, the Duchess's life and desire for remarriage turned to be a tragedy as
the young widow lived in patriarchal order with the two harsh brothers one of
them was corrupt who was the cardinal and the other who was her twin through to
be a wolf, the Duchess made a decision to get marry to faithful Antonio which
should have been considered a usage of her powers as head of the state as she
decided to be independent from the male dominance on her life but her gender as
a female made her implement the decision secretly which was considered a crime
from the point of view of her brothers, this also may represent the society
opinion of such decisions in that age as even Duchesses were seen as mere
females at many times. As a female ruler, the Duchess was socially regarded as
inferior to her brothers who regarded her as immoral, weak minded and
over-sexed, her decision to remarry from a steward without the consent of her
brother was low esteemed in the society but she also resisted and insisted
being the Duchess of Malfi presenting a complex character who still felt great:
"The misery of us that are born great–
We are forced to woo, because none dare woo us"
(1.1.431–32)
This makes
readers realize that the Duchess tale was not a mere seduction story but a
tragedy between virtue and vice, power and oppression and that her death being
killed by her brother represents killing virtue as the cardinal who at last
confess to his mistress that he killed his sister also kills the mistress and
when the Duchess eldest son be a heir gives some hope for struggling souls
whose gender or any other difference led them to be fought only because they
wanted to use their nature powers that they only compromised for social or
other precarious nature for their positions. (Shangeetha and.Manikandan, 2016)
Conclusion
In
conclusion, it is necessary to refer to the literature of the seventeenth
century and how the authors tended to depict their protagonists in order to
avoid stereotypes common at that age as Shakespeare tried to present Othello in
"Othello" as the man of powers who suffered many differences
related to color and race which resulted in compromising his powers and led to
dramatic ends whereas Webster presented the Duchess in "The Duchess of
Malfi" as the powerful women who struggled to get her love and desires
in spite of the inferior stigma of her brothers and the society as a widowed
who wanted to remarry and although her end was dramatic but she stayed strong
till she met her end in courage.
References
1. Held, G. (2014). 'Othello's
Disenchanted Eye.' Lulu Press. Inc.
2. Ji, S. Alkoli, H. (2018). 'An Analysis of
Power Desire of Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello From Psychological Perspectives.'
Journal of Literature and Art Studies, March 2018, Vol. 8, No. 3, 417-421
http://davidpublisher.org/Public/uploads/Contribute/5a9677fe7fb75.pdf
3. Luckyj, C. (2011). "The Duchess of
Malfi, a Critical Guide.'' Bloomsbury Publishing.
4. Oza, P. (2019). 'Shakespeare's
'Othello'-Perspectives of Power and Knowledge in the Text and the Cinema.'
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335219606_Shakespeare's_'Othello'-Perspectives_of_Power_and_Knowledge_in_the_Text_and_the_Cinema
5. Shangeetha, A. Manikandan, S. (2016). 'The
Theme and Morality, Ethics of the Duchess of Malfi‘s Tragedy.' International
Journal of Trend in Research and Development, Volume 3(6), ISSN: 2394-9333
http://www.ijtrd.com/papers/IJTRD4333.pdf
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