archetypal criticism in othello

Earnest Cassirer, a social anthropologist was an important influence on myth criticism. This scene has suggested to some critics that Iagos true motivation for destroying the marriage of Desdemona and Othello is a repressed homosexual love for Othello. However, Othello's words give a deeper insight into how he still misunderstands the situation. Thus criticism evolving from his work is more accurately named archetypal and is quite distinct from myth criticism. In his "The . After Othello returns from war at sea with the Turks, his fortune begins a downward spiral. Van Meurs also does a service by resurrecting successful but neglected early studies, such as Elizabeth Drews of T. S. Eliot (1949), and discovering value even in reductionist and impressionistic studies, such as June Singers of Blake. May the wind blow till they have wakened death, Human emotions have a lot of power over how we react to situations in life, the trick is learning how to not let them take over. The play imitates life through basic human emotions such as jealousy and rage. Olympus-high, and duck again as low Cultural criticism is exploring or examining the relationship of dominant role based on ethnicity, and sexual identity of person, also a great understanding of yourself. Othello, though, decides to kill her. Desdemona is oblivious to what is going on around her and stays loyal to her morals but Iagos rumours lure Othello to thinking otherwise. http://www.kibin.com/essay-examples/an-archetype-criticism-of-othello-a-play-by-william-shakespeare-yJF4zltX, ("An Archetype Criticism of Othello, a Play by William Shakespeare. / Man but a rush against Othello's breast / And he retires." Further, the text offered confirmation (and poetic representation) of the only direct contribution Jung made to literary theory: a distinction between psychological and visionary texts (Collected 15:89-90). And it is thought abroad that twixt my sheets Hes done my office. The fulfillment of the wedding night that should come at the climax of the comedy is relocated to act 2, with the aftermath of the courtship and the wedding now taking center stage. He suffers barbs and preconceived notions, yet Othello is esteemed and wins the love of the daughter of a nobleman. Othello makes an error in judgement, which leads to his change in fortune, and later realizes that his actions are what caused said change in fortune. Here are some ways our essay examples library can help you with your assignment: Read our Academic Honor Code for more information on how to use (and how not to use) our library. Is Othello or Hamlet better? Indeed, myth criticism seems singularly unaffected by any of the archetypal theorists who have remained faithful to the origins and traditions of depth, especially analytical, psychologyJames Hillman, Henri Corbin, Gilbert Durand, Rafael Lopez-Pedraza, Evangelos Christou. The men of the play manipulate her image of a naive lover to being a strumpet! (V.ii.94). As mine own face. Literary Critics on Othello. A general in the army, Othello holds a distinguished place in the Duke's court due to his victories in battle, but not an equal one. Marxist criticism would also have offered a distinctive way of looking at Othello. Farewell / Commend me to my kind lord. An example, is that they had to overcome a huge obstacle such as love because Othello and Desdemona were in love but her father did not approve of it. "Othello", by William Shakespeare, is a story of jealousy's potential to manipulate thoughts and eventually lead to ultimate demise. And will upon the instant put thee tot. (3.3.54) Ex. must concern itself with the archetypal, the universal, with that which is necessarily larger, more extreme than in life. An archetypal critic would suggest that all human experience is linked through literature and that this experience is expressed again and again using the same patterns throughout time and space. Richer than all his tribe. Kibin does not guarantee the accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of the essays in the library; essay content should not be construed as advice. Iago will direct the remainder of the play, constructing Othellos down-fall out of the flimsiest evidence and playing on the strengths and weaknesses of Othellos nature and the doubts that erode Othellos faith in Desdemona. Patterns originate from the writer's . norwegian cruise line dining menus archetypal criticism in othello. Other forms previously labeled Jungian are here subsumed under the term archetypal because whatever their immediate specific focus, these forms operate on a set of assumptions derived from Jung and accept the depth-psychological structure posited by Jung. Jung and the Humanities: Toward a Hermeneutics of Culture. Having triumphantly bested the social and natural forces aligned against them, having staked all to the devotion of the other, Desdemona and Othello will not be left to live happily ever after, and the tragedy will grow out of the conditions that made the comedy. Placing responsibility in the stars - he calls Desdemona an "ill-starred wench" - is hardly a gallant course of action. Frye, then, first misinterprets Jungian theory by insisting on a Lamarckian view of genetic transmission of archetypes, which Jung explicitly rejected, and later settles on a concept of archetype as a literary occurrence per se, an exclusively intertextual recurring phenomenon resembling a convention (99). I pray you, in your letters, Feminist archetypal theory, proceeding inductively, restored Jungs original emphasis on the fluid, dynamic nature of the archetype, drawing on earlier feminist theory as well as the work of Jungian Erich Neumann to reject absolutist, ahistorical, essentialist, and transcendentalist misinterpretations. OTHELLO: Iago critics. The archetypal characteris a simple character template recognizable to all readers. Archetypal criticism proceeds from the initial assumption that every work of literature can be categorized and fitted into a large framework that encompasses all literature. Emilia comes into the couples bedroom after Othello smothers Desdemona, but hears Desdemona cry out. William Shakespeare utilized archetype frequently as a literary device in his plays. As the handkercheif is stolen from Desdemona, Othello believes that she has become unfaithful to him, which leads him down a jealous path and eventually kill her. However, for Othello this is not the case. Confirmation of this theory was Jungs reading of Faust: part 1 was psychological; part 2, visionary.. Unfortunately, this got the ball rolling for Othellos inevitable downfall. His expression of his jealousy quickly devolves from the conventional"Farewell the tranquil mind"to the absurd: Farewell the plum'd troops and the big wars. As the pair kneels together, they exchange vows: Iago: Witness you ever-burning lights above, He had even gone as far as hitting her (4.1 134). Another important influence was Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) who used the term archetype to what he called "primordial images". Further, myth critics, aligned with writers in comparative anthropology and philosophy, are said to include Frazer, Jessie Weston, Leslie Fiedler, Ernst Cassirer, Claude Lvi-Strauss, Richard Chase, Joseph Campbell, Philip Wheelwright, and Francis Fergusson. Archetypal Criticism of Othello Othello, one of Shakespeare's most popular tragedies, is full of symbols, motifs, and themes that make it relatable to people all over the world. . Othello must now face the realization of what he has done. Looking at William Shakespeare's Othello The Moor Of Venice, the central character, Othello is revered as the tragic hero. And new theories increasingly give credence to the requirement, historically asserted by Jungian readers, that each text elicit a personal, affective, and not merely intellectual response. Beat a Venetian and tradud the state, As the play progresses, and Iagos plan culminates, Othellos good fortune begins to turn. 3. Carl Jungs Contribution to Psychoanalytic Theory. Learn what works (and what doesn't) from the reader's perspective. The Moor is eventually captured, tortured, and slain by Disdemonas relatives, while the ensign dies during torture for another crime. Many fell prey to Jungs idiosyncrasies as a reader, ranging widely and naively over genres, periods, and languages in search of the universal archetypes, while sweeping aside cultureand text-specific problems, ignoring their own role in the act of reading and basing critical evaluation solely on a texts contribution to the advancement of the readers individuation process, a kind of literature-astherapy standard. He interprets literature in the light of various rituals and myths. As Iago asserts to Roderigo, Virtue? In addition, many powerfully heuristic Jungian concepts, such as synchronicity, have yet to be tested in literary contexts. Even though Othello had a reputation as a hero, he ends up being one of the most gullible characters in the play when he completely falls into the evil trap that Iago set for him. A Christian Moor and general of the armies of Venice, Othello is an eloquent and physically powerful figure, respected by all those around him. A fig! Self-interest is all that matters, and love is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will. Othello and Desdemona cannot possibly remain devoted to each other, and, as Iago concludes, If sanctimony and a frail vow betwixt an err-ing barbarian and a super-subtle Venetian be not too hard for my wits, and all the tribe of hell, thou shalt enjoy her. The problem of Iagos motivation to destroy Othello and Desdemona is not that he has too few motives but too many. At mid-century, Canadian critic Northrop Frye (1912-91) introduced new distinctions in literary criticism between myth and archetype. Othello's Integrity One of Othello's admirable qualities is that he believes that men should be transparent and honest as he is; "Certain, men should be what they seem" (Act 3 Scene 3 Line 134). The patterns are the major intrinsic aspects of a work. In Shakespeare?s play Othello, Othello himself is the tragic hero. They were built to defen the city of Nicosia during the Otto-man Venetian war. The character of Iago is so conducted, that he is from the first scene to the last hated and despised. Cinthios version of Iago is conventionally driven by jealousy of a superior and lust for his wife. On a general level, Jungs and Fryes theorizings about archetypes, however labeled, overlap, and boundaries are elusive, but in the disciplines of literature the two schools have largely ignored each others work. In the essay Frye critically analyses literature against the backdrop of rituals and myths. "He is, in a sense, a 'self made man', the . The play is set in Venice and Cyprus where a Moor, Othello, General of the Venetian army gets secretly married to a Venetian noblemans daughter, Desdemona. Eventually, this leads to Othellos suicide. Even when Desdemona was found after Othello strangles her, she still believed that her death was not the fault of Othello. Macbeth) in the essay title portion of your citation. William Shakespeare, born in the year 1564, is often considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, writer in the English language. Unfortunately, this got the ball rolling for Othello's inevitable downfall. Desdemonas true morals is her absolute devotion to her husband. Iago leads Othello to suspect that love and devotion are shams disguising the basest of animalistic instincts. The tragic hero archetype is used in many different pieces of writing and with every character comes a different way of using it. A tragic hero has many characteristics, 3 of them being that they must have an error in judgement, they must have a reversal of fortune, and they must recognize that the reversal of fortune was brought about by their own actions. The concept of the archetype is a venerable philosophical principle that came into new prominence and usage in the twentieth century with the development of archetypal literary criticism . The Women of Othello There are only three female characters in Othello, and each plays a critical role in Shakespeare's artfully crafted plot of jealousy and retribution. Mythological literary critics look for archetypes, characters and/or symbols with traits that are seen throughout literature regardless of time or place. It has been mentioned earlier that pattern in literature refers to recurrent images, forms and words. This allows our team to focus on improving the library and adding new essays. The play moves relentlessly from here to catastrophe as Othello delivers justice to those he is convinced have wronged him. The major work of Frye's to deal with archetypes is Anatomy of Criticism but his essay The Archetypes of Literature is a precursor to the book. His demise was of his own doing. His works range from ingenious poems, such as Fear No More, to plays, such as The Tragedy of Othello. Iago replies: Demand me nothing; what you know, you know: / From this time forth I never will speak word. By Iagos exiting the stage, closing access to his motives, the focus remains firmly on Othello, not as Iagos victim, but as his own. Issues of genre, period, and language were ignored or subjected to gross generalization as Jung searched for universals in texts as disparate as the fourth-century Shepherd of Hermas, the Divine Comedy, Francesco Colonnas Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499), E. T. A. Hoffmans tales, Pierre Benoits LAtlantide (1919-20), and Henry Wadsworth Longfellows Hiawatha, as well as works by Carl Spitteler and William Blake. Lon S. Roudiez, 1986); Estella Lauter and Carol Schreier Rupprecht, Feminist Archetypal Theory: Interdisciplinary Re-Visions of Jungian Thought (1985); Erich Neumann, Art and the Creative Unconscious: Four Essays (trans. A Modern View of Feminist Criticism William Shakespeare 's "Othello" can be analyzed from a feminist perspective.This criticism focuses on relationships between genders, like the patterns of thoughts, behavior, values, enfranchisement, and power in relations between and within sexes. To wronged Othellos service. To learn more, read our. I know not ift be true; But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, Will do as if for surety (2.1. With some of its advocates supported through early publication of their work in the journal Spring, feminist archetypal theory and criticism of literature and the arts emerged fullblown in three texts: Annis Pratts Archetypal Patterns in Womens Fiction (1981), which self-consciously evoked and critiqued Maud Bodkins 1934 text; Estella Lauters Women as Mythmakers: Poetry and Visual Art by Twentieth Century Women (1984); and Estella Lauter and Carol Schreier Rupprechts Feminist Archetypal Theory: Interdisciplinary Re-Visions of Jungian Thought (1985). I will withdraw Aristotles second requirement for a tragedy is that the tragic hero must have a reversal of fortune. His final speech mixes together the acknowledgment of what he was and what he has become, who he is and how he would like to be remembered: I have done the state some service, and they knowt. Citations Seeing her dying, Emilia asks who would do this. As hells from heaven. And so much duty as my mother showd Come, go with me apart. Archetypal theory then took shape principally in the multidisciplinary journal refounded by Hillman in 1970 in Zurich, Spring: An Annual of Archetypal Psychology and Jungian Thought. Iago tries to prove Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio which increases Othello's torments of jealousy. Nothing extenuate, Did you find something inaccurate, misleading, abusive, or otherwise problematic in this essay example? This book established the priority of interest in the archetypal over the mythological. "Who can control his fate?" Child and Youth Care and Disability CYC 3000 Assignment: Getting to Know Disability Justice A deep dive into activists introduced by L. Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha Due Week 2, Friday at 11:59p It is important that you begin to learn about the various people and organizations that are leading the conversation on disability justice. FREE Archetype Essay Essay - Example Essays This recurring idea of an evil witch is extremely common and archetypal. I do perceive here a divided duty: As Hillman puts it, Corbins insight that Jungs mundus archetypalis is also the mundus imaginalis that corresponds to the Islamic alam al-mithl (3) was an early move toward a reappraisal of psychology itself as an activity of poesis (24). And smote himthus. Furthermore, they must also have a fatal flaw, that eventually leads to their downfall. By speaking of soul as a primary metaphor, rather than defining soul substantively and attempting to derive its ontological status from empirical demonstration or theological (metaphysical) argument, archetypal psychology recognizes that psychic reality is inextricably involved with rhetoric (Hillman, Archetypal 19). "In Sidney's view, tragedy provokes "the affects of admiration and commiseration" and so demonstrates "the uncertainty of this world". And the 1980s saw a new, suggestive, and controversial direction in archetypal studies of literature: the feminist. In spite of his elevated status, he is nevertheless easy prey to insecurities because of his age, his life as a soldier, and his race. Twere now to be most happy, for I fear 364-367). In this play there are only three women in the entire play. Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture, Spring: An Annual of Archetypal Psychology and Jungian Thought, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Analysis of Stuart Halls Encoding/Decoding, Jacques Derrida's Structure, Sign and Play. In a mess of questions of good and evil, right and wrong, critical supporters of Iago (T.S. This causes him to lose his ability to make good judgments and decisions. Thus, with the archetypal theorists multiplying across disciplines on the one hand and the clinically practicing followers serving as (generally inadequate) critics on the other, archetypal literary theory and criticism flourished in two independent streams in the 1960s and 1970s. Kibin, 2023. http://www.kibin.com/essay-examples/an-archetype-criticism-of-othello-a-play-by-william-shakespeare-yJF4zltX. Given this background, it is not surprising to find in a 1976 essay entitled Jungian Psychology in Criticism: Theoretical Problems the statement that no purely Jungian criticism of literature has yet appeared (Baird 22). What hooks you? Jung most frequently used myth (or mythologem) for the narrative expression, on the ethnological level (Collected 9, pt. This does not stop her, though, from continuing to care for Othello. to view the complete essay. Despite naively playing into Iago's hands earlier by giving him the handkerchief, Emilia shows her earnest loyalty to Desdemona. Despite this, Desdemona continued to stay true to Othello. As Othello came to his breaking point, desdemona foreshadows her own death and he lets jealousy take over. Just another site. James Hillman, Archetypal Psychology: A Brief Account (1983), Re-Visioning Psychology (1975); C. G. Jung, Collected Works (ed. Othello is a train wreck that the audience horrifyingly witnesses, helpless to prevent or look away. Key quotation (Aside) O, you are well tuned now!But I'll set down the pegs that make this music, As honest as I am. You know how looking at a math problem similar to the one you're stuck on can help you get unstuck? Their union is opposed by Desdemonas father, Brabantio, and by a rival for Desdemona, Roderigo, who in the plays opening scenes are both provoked against Othello by Iago. Othello is decisive, confident, and secure in his identity, duty, and place in the world. The intensity and focus of Othello is unalleviated by subplots, comic relief, or any mitigation or consolation for the deterioration of the noble Moor and his collapse into murder and suicide. No products in the cart. Eliot, Samuel Taylor) characterize themselves as realists, pragmatic, practical, eschewing the supporters of the so-called weaker Othello, who conversely tend to describe themselves as somehow morally elevated, more empathetic. Bibliography The critical annotations are astute and, given their brevity, surprisingly thorough and suggestive. He is an individual of high stature who is destroyed by his surroundings, his own actions, and his fate. "Now will I question assio of ianca, As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad; . what is wrong with franklin baby on tiktok. Archetypes Archetypal criticism focuses on patterns in a literary work that commonly occur in other literary works. Othello: I greet thy love, Othello, being a hero, enjoys a good reputation and has notable qualities. Source: Groden, Michael, and Martin Kreiswirth. The young Venetian noblewoman, Desdemona, has eloped with the middle-aged Othello, the military commander of the armed forces of Venice. : Feminist: Ex. 1: 67), of the archetypes, which he described as patterns of psychic energy originating in the collective unconscious and finding their most common and most normal manifestation in dreams (8:287). Desdemona replies that it was her fault: Nobody I myself. Archetypal analysis is an appropriate model for customer heterogeneity whenever the underlying structure is best defined by the extremes. For the onlookers on stage, the final tableau of the dead Desdemona and Othello poisons sight and provokes the command to Let it be hid. The witnesses on stage cannot compute rationally what has occurred nor why, but the audience has been given a privileged view of the battle between good and evil worked out in the private recesses of a bedroom and a human soul. the characters in Shakespeare's play Othello ever challenge the right of a husband to murder a wife accused of adultery. The Shakespearean tragedy Othello contains a number of themes; their relative importance and priority is debated by literary critics. As Dian's visage, is now begrimed and black. How to respect you; you are the lord of duty; Written in 2001, this piece of British metafiction tells a brilliant story of love, war, mistakes, forgiveness, and, of course, atonement. Their discourse is conducted in poetic language; that is, their notions of soul-making come from the Romantics, especially William Blake and John Keats. To protect the anonymity of contributors, we've removed their names and personal information from the essays. The direction of Othello criticism will also be affected as literary criticism's longstanding commitment to cultural historicism comes under pressure from those who argue that explorations of context often come at the expense of literature's formal properties and affective registers, and as developments in the digital humanities enable fresh The three women are Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. Check out our Privacy and Content Sharing policies for more information.). The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. "Othello is essentially an noble character, flawed by insecurity and a nature that is naive and unsophisticated". A storm has dispersed the Venetian fleet so that Cassio arrives first, anxious for Othello's safety. In Re-Visioning Psychology, the published text of his 1972 Yale Terry Lectures (the same lecture series Jung gave in 1937), Hillman locates the archetypal neither in the physiology of the brain, the structure of language, the organization of society, nor the analysis of behavior, but in the processes of imagination (xi). : 2022625 : archetypal criticism in othello Of all Shakespeares tragedies . One excellent example of such an approach, G. M. Matthews's 'Othello and the Dignity of Man', has been referred to at the end of the section devoted to historical and social criticism. Iago reviews Othellos performance as a lover by stating, O, you are well tuned now, / But Ill set down the pegs that make this music. Iago will now orchestrate discord and disharmony based on a life philosophy totally opposed to the ennobling and selfless concept of love demonstrated by the newlyweds. Vindicated by the duke of Venice and the senate, Othello, accompanied by Desdemona, takes up his military duties in the face of a threatened Turkish invasion, and the lovers are given a triumphal wedding-like procession and marriage ceremony when they disembark on Cyprus. Van Meurss bibliography conveys the great variety of Jungian writings on literature even within one language, the increasingly recognized potential for further development and use of Jungs ideas, and the growth in numbers of literary scholars falling under the influence of Jung. Uncover new sources by reviewing other students' references and bibliographies, Inspire new perspectives and arguments (or counterarguments) to address in your own essay. Myth criticism grew in part as a reaction to the formalism of New Criticism, while archetypal criticism based on Jung was never linked with any academic tradition and remained organically bound to its roots in depth psychology: the individual and collective psyche, dreams, and the analytic process. Within these three days let me hear thee say Archetypal critics are also interested in certain myths and rituals that recur in a wide variety of cultures. Two publishing events at the beginning of the 1990s in the United States may signal the coming of age of this kind of archetypal criticism through its convergence with postmodern critical thought, along with a commensurate insistence on its roots in the depth psychology of Jung: the reissue of Morris Philipsons 1963 Outline of a Jungian Aesthetic and the appearance of Karin Barnaby and Pellegrino DAcerinos multidisciplinary, multicultural collection of essays, C. G. Jung and the Humanities: Toward a Hermeneutics of Culture. Such characters can be found in works of fiction, long or short, and in more poetic works. Archetypal Criticism Volume I. However, in William Shakespeare's Othello, Emilia's character portrays three completely different archetypes and they all come through in strategical places. 2. Jungs Psychology of the Unconscious (1916, B. M. Hinkles translation of the 1911-12 Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido) appeared in English one year after publication of the concluding volume with bibliography of the third edition of J. G. Frazers The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (2 vols., 1890,3d ed., 12 vols., 1911-15). Examples of Archetype in Shakespearean Works. : In this quote, Othello is stating that his wife's supposed infidelity has ruined his name and turned it "black" and dirty like his own face, showing that a woman's fidelity was linked to a man's honor. Thus, all contrastive categorization would benefit from archetypal analysis. First Cassio lands to deliver the news of Othellos marriage and, like the best man, supplies glowing praise for the groom and his bride; next Desdemona, accompanied by Iago and his wife, Emilia, enters but must await news of the fate of Othellos ship. In archetypal criticism, under the reductive method of analysis, a critic, while elucidating a text, moves from the particular truth to the general truth. Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand, These patterns include persistent images, figures, and story patterns shared by people across diverse cultures. Evil is displayed before him, not indeed with the profusion found in King Lear, but forming, as it were, the soul of a single character, and united with an intellectual superiority so great that he watches its advance fascinated and appalled. Thus Jungian theory provided no clear avenue of access for those outside of psychology, and orthodox Jungians were left with little in the way of models for the psychological analysis of literature. Othello is the most painfully exciting and the most terrible. Home Archetypal Criticism Archetypal Criticism, By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on October 22, 2020 ( 0 ). According to Hillman, that discourse was anticipated by Evangelos Christous Logos of the Soul (1963) and extended in religion (David L. Millers New Polytheism, 1974), philosophy (Edward Caseys Imagining: A Phenomenological Study, 1976), mythology (Rafael Lopez-Pedrazas Hermes and His Children, 1977), psycholinguistics (Paul Kuglers Alchemy of Discourse: An Archetypal Approach to Language, 1982), and the theory of analysis (Patricia Berrys Echos Subtle Body, 1982). The movie Zootopia uses animals to portray racism and sexism; predators do not like prey and vice versa. Othello assumes that Emilia is helping Desdemona in her infidelity. They also attest to his self-confessed lack of interest in literature: I feel not naturally drawn to what one calls literature, but I am strangely attracted by genuine fiction, i.e., fantastical invention (Letters 1:509). After the. O, farewell! (5. In addition, Othello is far from being a perfect character - another quality that meets Aristotle's requirements. Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory. Peopleshow more content An outburst that othello has in a crowd of his peers causes people to start to question their noble leader. When citing an essay from our library, you can use "Kibin" as the author. If Hamlet is a tragedy about youth, and Lear concerns old age, Othello is a family or domestic tragedy of a middle-aged man in which the fate of kingdoms and the cosmos that hangs in the balance in Hamlet and Lear contracts to the private world of a marriages destruction. But Jung's theory of the archetypes of the collective unconscious differs . O my souls joy, Iago: My friend is dead. BASIC PREMISES OF ARCHETYPAL THEORY: 1. To date, the British Journal of Analytical Psychology and the retitled American Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture are the best resources for archetypal criticism of literature and the arts even though only a small percentage of their published articles treat such topics.

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