The Moor in Othello Essay -- Othello essays

The Moor in Othello  Ã‚        Ã‚   Who can resist empathizing with the unfortunate protagonist in William Shakespeare’s Othello? He is so noble, and yet so victimized by the cunning Iago.    Is it his â€Å"gullibility† which leads to his downfall? Morton W. Bloomfield and Robert C. Elliott   in Great Plays: Sophocles to Brecht posit the â€Å"lack of insight† of the hero as the cause of his tragic fall:    Othello’s lack of insight, cunningly played upon by Iago, leads to his downfall. And as the full enormity of his deed dawns upon him in the great scene of tragic self-revelation at the end, the audience may perhaps experience catharsis, that purgation of the soul brought about by an almost unbearable pity for him and his victims, and by terror at what human nature is capable of and what pitfalls await us in life. Throughout the play, the audience posses the information which Iago's victim does not have; the viewers know all along what Othello does not know. From that omniscient view, they look upon this tortured human being with a strong sense of the irony and tragedy of his position.   (39)    From the text of the play a number of clues can be gleaned which round out the description of the general. In William Shakespeare: The Tragedies, Paul A. Jorgensen describes the general in Othello:    Though scarcely the â€Å"barbarian† (1.3.353) he is called, the Moor is emphatically black, probably rough, even fearsome, in appearance, and a foreign mercenary from Mauritania in refined Venice. Though of royal blood, since the age of seven he had a restrictive, painful life, being sold into slavery and spending most of his life in â€Å"the tented field† (1.3.85). His â€Å"occupation† (3.3.357), to a degree found in no other Shakes... ...ice his life next to the corpse of Desdemona; for he â€Å"Like the base Judean, threw a pearl away / Richer than all his tribe [. . .] .† He dies a noble death, just as he has lived a noble life. Michael Cassio’s evaluation of his end is our evaluation: â€Å"This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon; / For he was great of heart.†       WORKS CITED    Bloomfield, Morton W. and Robert C. Elliott, ed. Great Plays: Sophocles to Brecht. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1965.    Coles, Blanche. Shakespeare’s Four Giants. Rindge, New Hampshire: Richard Smith Publisher, 1957.    Jorgensen, Paul A. William Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.

Reaction Paper on Acculturation and Alcohol Treatment in Ethnic Minority Populations: Assessment Issues and Implications

In the article Acculturation and Alcohol Treatment in Ethnic Minority Populations: Assessment Issues and Implications, the authors research the impact of acculturation on the drinking behavior of minorities, specifically older Latino veterans versus older White veterans. In the article, acculturation is defined as â€Å" the exchange of cultural features from the continuous firsthand contact of one group to another. † The authors conducted a study that looked at the relationship between the level of acculturation and the level of alcohol use among older White and Latino male veterans. The subjects were 55yrs of age or older there were 18 White male veterans and 24 Latino male veterans. The authors hypothesized that the higher the levels of acculturation among Latino veterans would correlate to higher levels of drinking behavior. The hypothesis was backed up with the results; drinking behavior was correlated with acculturation levels. In Latino veterans higher past drinking behavior was associated with lower social affiliation with their own group. The concept of acculturation is something that is new to me. I can imagine though that it could have a profound impact on the lives of minority individuals. In reading the article, it was linked to higher levels of substance abuse in minorities as well as stress and psychological disorders; which in many minorities go undetected and/or untreated. This is a concept that I feel should be studied more. This article deals with older subjects, but I think the impact of acculturation needs to be studied in younger minorities, males and females. I hope to have the opportunity to look into the concept, theories, and potential impacts of acculturation more thoroughly as I continue my tenure here at USC. This article stresses, just as much of the material I have read in this class and my other classes, that as mental health workers and social workers we must mind our clients cultures and the impact of their culture on their behavior. With the idea of acculturation now added, as a social worker I need be mindful of the potential set backs minority clients may be experiencing by trying to fit in to the mainstream culture.

Death of a Salesman The American Dream Theme

Some may argue that the appeal of Arthur Millers play Death of a Salesman is the struggle each character encounters as they try to pursue and define their American Dream. The rags to riches idea—where hard work and persistence, coupled with high hopes and inner and outer struggles that often accompany it, should lead to success—seems timelessly relatable and represents one of the central themes of the story. Miller fabricated the character of a salesman without an identified product, and the audience connects with him that much more. Creating a worker broken by a vague, unfeeling industry stems from the playwright’s socialist leanings, and it has often been said that Death of a Salesman is a harsh criticism of the American Dream. However, according to Miller, the play is not necessarily a critique of the American Dream as our forefathers thought of it. Rather, what it condemns is the confusion that enters when people take the material success for the end-all-be-all and elevate it above spirituality, connection with nature, and, most importantly, relationships with others. Willy Loman’s American Dream To the protagonist of Death of a Salesman, the American Dream is the ability to become prosperous by mere charisma. Willy believes that charming personality, and not necessarily hard work and innovation, is the key to success. Time and again, he wants to make sure his boys are well-liked and popular. For example, when his son Biff confesses to making fun of his math teacher’s lisp, Willy is more concerned with how Biff’s classmates react than with the morality of Biffs action: BIFF: I Crossed my eyes and talked with a lithp.​​ WILLY [laughing]: You did? The kids like it? BIFF: They nearly died laughing! Of course, Willy’s version of the American Dream never pans out: Despite his son’s popularity in high school, Biff grows up to be a drifter and a ranch-hand.Willy’s own career falters as his sales ability flat-lines.When he tries to use â€Å"personality† to ask his boss for a raise, he gets fired instead. Willy is very much concerned with being somebody and paying off his mortgage, which in themselves arent necessarily bad goals. His tragic flaw is that he fails to recognize the love and devotion that surround him and elevates the goals prescribed by society above all else. Ben’s American Dream One person Willy really admires and wishes he was more like is his older brother Ben. In a way, Ben embodies the original American Dream—the ability to start with nothing and somehow make a fortune: BEN [giving great weight to each word, and with a certain vicious audacity]: William, when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I walked out I was twenty-one. And, by God, I was rich! Willy is envious of his brother’s success and machismo. But Willy’s wife Linda, one of the characters who can actually distinguish from true and superficial values, is frightened  and concerned when Ben stops by for a brief visit. To her, he represents wildness and danger. This is displayed when Ben horses around with his nephew Biff. Just as Biff starts to win their sparring match, Ben trips the boy and stands over him with the â€Å"point of his umbrella poised at Biff’s eye.† Ben’s character signifies that a few people can achieve the â€Å"rags to riches† version of the American Dream. Yet, Miller’s play also suggests that one must be ruthless (or at least a bit wild) in order to achieve it. Happys American Dream When it comes to Willys sons, they each appear to have inherited a different side of Willy. Happy, despite being a more static and one-sided character, is following in Willys footsteps of self-delusion and pretenses. He is a shallow character who is content with going from job to job, as long as he has some income and can devote himself to his female interests. Charleys and Bernards American Dream Willys neighbor Charley and his son Bernard stand in opposition to Lomans familys ideals. The protagonist frequently puts both of them down, promising his sons that they will do better in life than their neighbors because they look better and are more liked. Willy: That’s just what I mean, Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him. That’s why I thank Almighty God you’re both built like Adonises. Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. You take me, for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. Yet, it is Charley who has his own business and not Willy. And it is Bernards seriousness about school that ensured his future success, which is in stark contrast with the paths of the Loman brothers. Instead, Charley and Bernard are both honest, caring, and hard-working without the unnecessary bravado. They demonstrate that with the right attitude, the American Dream is indeed achievable. Biff’s American Dream Biff is one of the most complex characters in this play. Although he has felt confused and angry since discovering his father’s infidelity, Biff Loman does have the  potential to pursue the â€Å"right† dream—if only he could resolve his inner conflict. Biff is pulled by two different dreams. One is that of his father’s world of business, sales, and capitalism. Biff is captured by his love and admiration for his father and struggles to decide what is the right way to live. On the other hand, he also inherited his fathers sense of poetry and love for the natural life that Willy didnt allow to fully develop. And so Biff dreams of nature, the great outdoors, and working with his hands. Biff explains this tension to his brother when he talks about both the appeal and the angst of working on a ranch: BIFF: There’s nothing more inspiring or—beautiful than the sight of a mare and a new colt. And it’s cool there now, see? Texas is cool now, and it’s spring. And whenever spring comes to where I am, I suddenly get the feeling, my God, I’m not getting anywhere! What the hell am I doing, playing around with horses, twenty-eight dollars a week! I’m thirty-four years old. I oughta be makin’ my future. That’s when I come running home. By the end of the play, Biff realizes that his father had the â€Å"wrong† dream. He knows that Willy was great with his hands (he built their garage and put up a new ceiling), and Biff believes that Willy should have been a carpenter or should have lived in another, more rustic part of the country. But instead, Willy pursued an empty life. He sold nameless, unidentified products, and watched his American Dream fall apart. During the funeral of his father, Biff decides that he will not allow the same thing to happen to himself. He turns away from Willy’s dream and, presumably, returns to the countryside, where good, old-fashioned manual labor will ultimately make his restless soul content. Sources Matthew C. Roudane, Conversations with Arthur Miller. Jackson, Mississippi, 1987, p. 15.Bigsby, Christopher.  Introduction. Death of a Salesman: Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem by Arthur Miller, Penguin Books, 1999, pp. vii-xxvii.