The Lost Identitiy of Othello Essay -- GCSE Coursework Shakespeare Oth

The Lost Identitiy of Othello Othellos identity in the Venetian society is his spot as the Moor. Few people use his real name when talking about him. When speaking the given reiterate, Othello is weighty the Venetians how he won Desdemonas center by telling her the story of his life, and he now retells it to the Venetians. This tale-telling is a way of employing the linguistic system to reshape for himself a new identity with more positively charged connotations than the Moor can offer. The Moor is an expression the Venetians connect to other expressions in the linguistic system which all have a negative value. Examples are such(prenominal) expressions as old black ram... The above excerpt is provided as reference only. The complete essay begins below. When considering the identity of Othello, in Shakespeares play Othello, it is beneficial to ponder the quote I am not what I am.. Perhaps Othello finds his identity threatened by Desdemonas reaction to his tales. In order to unde rstand this better, it is useful to note a quote from Pam Morris Literature and Feminism, (Blackwell, 1993) where she discusses the resolution of the Oedipal crisis. For Freud the outcome of the childs fear of castration is its submission to the reality principle and hence its foundation into the social order. For Lacan this must coincide with the childs entry into the language system.....Language is thus the Law of the father a linguistic system within which our social and gender identity is always already structured. (p. 104) Othellos identity in the Venetian society is his role as the Moor. Few people use his real name when talking about him. When speaking the given quote, Othello is telling the Venetians how he won Desdemonas heart by tel... ... in himself he found it impossible that anybody else should do so. This insecurity proves his undoing. His positive self-image gone, he is left a alternative between the Moor or nothingness. The moment Emilia realizes Othello is the m urderer she reverts to calling him expressions connected to the negative image of the Moor And you the blacker devil...thou art a devil. (V, ii, 129, 131) He cant stand being this person, the only one society and the symbolic order can offer him. To construct his own identity has proven impossible. To be without an identity, a non-personn implies death. He chooses to free himself of this unwanted identity by stepping out of the social order and the language system by means of suicide. Works CitedShakespeare, William. Othello. The Complete. Moby (tm) Shakespeare. Online. Mass. Institute of Technology. Internet. 16 Nov. 1996