Military valor is a quality attributed to many of Shakespeare's male characters. Military greats such as Hotspur, Lear, Hal, and Julius Caesar share a penchant for the military arts with Othello and Mark Antony. As a superior playwright, Shakespeare uses specific literary techniques to present this type of character to the audience. They are constantly portrayed as outsiders or outcasts, even among friends and family, and essentially become threats to themselves and those around them. Hal, in Henry IV Part 1, is ultimately an outsider throughout the text. In the tavern with Falstaff, Hal is a prince biding his time to achieve greatness and plans to leave Falstaff behind, either by dying or exile. Hal does not belong in his father's presence due to his choice of exile from his duty as a prince; Bolingbroke would instead like Hotspur to be his son: Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay... Lord Northumberland Should be the father of a son so blessed: A son who is the theme of honor's tongue, Among a grove plant very straight; who is the servant of sweet fortune and her pride; while I, looking upon his praises, see riot and dishonor stain my young Harry's brow (I.1.78-85 Signet Edition). Here, Shakespeare successfully alienates Hal from his father and his country. Julius Caesar, though partly due to his own actions, is estranged from his wife Calpurnia, as well as his fellow senators, due to his rise to greatness and personal belief that he is invincible, both in body and spirit. This inevitably leads to his tendency to ignore the many omens, warnings and bad omens that afflict him, such as the following warning gesture by Artemidorus: Caesar: Who is in the press that questions me? all the music, shout "Caesar"! Speak, Cesare is turned to listen. Fortune teller: Beware the Ides of March. Cesare: What kind of man is that? Brutus: A soothsayer bids you beware of the Ides of March. Caesar: Set him before me; let me see his face.Cassius: Fellow, come from the crowd; look at Caesar. Cesare: What do you tell me now? Speak once more.Soothsayer: Beware the Ides of March.Caesar: He is a dreamer; let's leave it. Passed. Due to the character's ignorance, Shakespeare is able to successfully portray Caesar as a spectator of the events of the play instead of an active participant. Caesar's great military success over Pompey becomes a thing of the past that Caesar is unable to separate from his current obligations. Caesar's character believes that honor in battle will reign supreme over all other threats and distractions. Hotspur, perhaps the most skilled at carrying out the duties of a military man, is a stranger to his wife throughout the show. He ultimately sets himself apart from his comrades with great aspirations of glory in battle, constantly ignoring the advice of others. Examples like these demonstrate that there is a lot to be said about the meaning of such servicemen's psychosocial relationships, choices and failures based on their subconscious feeling of detachment, and how Shakespeare presents these flaws to the audience. As clear as Othello and Antonio's actions seem to be (both are outcasts or outsiders in one sense or another), there is an important aspect of the two characters that is not so obvious; how Shakespeare uses technique, be it prosody, diction, syntax, spatial geography, relationship problems, or social ineptitude, to show the inconsistencies, sensitivities, and inadequacies present in the actions, reactions, and choices of Antony and Othello. Shakespeare's final message to the audience in creating these two characters and making them falter (something thatboth have never endured before) is that military greatness does not transfer to a successful life away from the war.battlefield; furthermore, one's political self cannot govern one's private self. Furthermore, Shakespeare, in countless ways and using numerous techniques, warns his audience of the dangers of relying on military fame to achieve success in separate areas of life. This kind of immortal greatness automatically distinguishes them from the common man, causing a feeling of loneliness (Antonio) or isolation (Othello). Shakespeare, using the title "Othello, the Moor of Venice" gives immediate foundation to the idea of ​​Othello. as an outsider in Venice and Cyprus. Similar to Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, who is despised by the Venetians and treated differently by the natives of that region, Othello arrives in both Venice and Cyprus as a foreigner and finds that he is treated as an outsider. Not only is Othello a stranger in both Cyprus and Venice, but by personal admission he lacks the social skills that come with being a full-time soldier and an outsider: Maybe because I'm black and don't have those soft parts of conversation that they have the chamberlains, or for I am declined in the vale of years - yet it is not much - She is gone (III.3.262-66 Seal) This kind of geographical displacement amplifies and amplifies Othello's discomfort and isolation. Shakespeare manages to highlight the psychological flaws of a military leader like Othello by juxtaposing his highly successful military achievements with his feelings of social inadequacy, seen in his willingness to believe in Iago and condemn Desdemona. However, the question remains: why this inadequacy in addition to the sense of inaccessibility? The previous passage also questions something as simple as Othello's inability to speak in complex ways. Othello doubts himself from the moment he runs away with his wife. Shakespeare immediately turns Othello's simple and successful military world on its head, and at the same time also turns the audience's view of him on its head. Throughout the text there are countless examples of techniques like this; however, one must take a closer look at Othello's environment to recognize the skill with which Shakespeare perpetuates these feelings of incompetence and inadequacy. Othello's personal feelings of inadequacy are first and foremost caused by his race and the surrounding characters' acceptance of his blackness. Venice. Othello's journey proceeds (with the skill of a Shakespeare in full bloom) to discover the psychology of his character further isolating and alienating him from the real Venetians. As Millicent Bell says: Othello's whole life seems to be shaped by a society - like Shakespeare's England - in which self-transformation as well as transformations effected by forces of social change, or even by mere accident, operate to alter what that you live. it is moving one's individuality from one model to another. Before he became the hero who won the esteem of the Venetian state and the love of Desdemona, he had been someone we can only vaguely imagine. Throughout the text, the diction and syntax employed by Shakespeare becomes very important to the audience, as they gain insights into other characters' perspectives regarding Othello. “When Shakespeare wrote Othello, around 1604, his knowledge of human beings and his ability to dramatize them in language were at their peak.” In saying this, Alvin Kernan reminds us of the horror of Henry VI's language, in which depth of character is superficial and creativity scant. Shakespeare's need for creativity reinforces the importance of technique in creating such an unstable character, as it is the audiencethat experiences the character across space and time. Othello is removed from a situation of certain success and catapulted into a situation where failure is inevitable. Othello, however, chooses this undertaking, as does Antony when he chooses Egypt over Rome. A combination of an inferiority complex and bad circumstances that test the limits of their honor allows Othello and Antonio to isolate themselves in more ways than one. Isolation remains very important as a technique to derail Othello and Antonio. At the beginning of Othello, after Desdemona and Othello are married, they are unable to consummate their marriage due to constant interruptions. As a result, Othello feels isolated from the one person he needs to rely on for support. Once again, the comfort of success in battle parallels Othello's psychological distress towards his wife. Antony's all-important sense of honor is put to the test by Cleopatra, as she betrays him on more than one occasion. The movement from Venice to Cyprus takes Othello's isolation to the extreme and plays an important role in the psychological reasoning behind his choices. and actions. Kernan recognizes the importance of changing geography in Othello's actions and choices: "The movement of the play goes from Venice to Cyprus, from the City to the outpost, from organized society to a condition much closer to raw nature, and from life collective to the life of the solitary individual”. In a world where war is the only positive aspect of Othello's life, appearance becomes as important as honor through service eyepiece" to condemn the sins of Desdemona (III.3.365), which means that she no longer cares about feelings or instincts, but places her fate solely in the hands of logic. In a sense, Othello is an incomplete human being; her superiors and exploited by her fellow Venetians. She is unable to trust her own feelings of doubt when confronted by Iago, and instead chooses to place her trust in the legal, circumstantial, and logistical evidence Iago gives her. presents, as the following indictment of Cassio: In my sleep I heard him say "Sweet Desdemona, let us be careful, let us hide our loves!" kiss me hard, as if tearing kisses from the roots that grew on my lips; he laid his leg on my thigh, and sighed, and kissed, and then cried: "Damned fate that gave you to the Moor!" (3.3.416-423)Here Shakespeare uses diction and syntax brilliantly to create a believable scenario in which Othello is successfully deceived by Iago. Iago tells Othello of an instance in which he saw with his two eyes and heard with his two ears (forms of evidence that Othello appreciates) Cassio's dishonesty. Othello's resulting obsession with "ocular proof" consumes him, thus allowing the embarrassment of becoming a cuckold to completely devour his sense of honor. So far it has been established that Shakespeare, in composing the character of Othello, isolated him geographically on two distinct levels. First, he is isolated from his stays in Venice, where even his desire to marry Desdemona is thwarted by her father Brabanzio ("O foul thief, where have you hidden/My daughter?"), and in Cyprus, where the authority is non-existent (I.3.61-62). Othello is also isolated by his heritage and the color of his skin, both of which remain important reservoirs of insecurity throughout the text. This isolation, closeness to the rawness of nature, and the absence of a strong government essentially create a plethora of possibilities for Shakespeare to allow the character of Othello to disintegrate right before our eyes.eyes. After analyzing Shakespeare's portrayal of Othello, one must then ask how Shakespeare successfully connects Othello's psychology and isolation to Marc Antony without creating a plot that mirrors that of Othello? Shakespeare introduces Marc Antony using the same technique of geographical alienation that he uses with Othello; however, Shakespeare does not delve into the realm of race in Antony and Cleopatra, but instead attempts to create a conflict between East and West. Antony is immediately considered a stranger, both in his homeland of Rome and as a Roman in Egypt: No, but this idiot of our general goes beyond measure. Those beautiful eyes of his that shone like plated Mars in the ranks and rallies of war, now bent, now they turn the office and devotion of their sight on a tawny front [...] and became the bellows and fan to cool a gypsy's lust (io .1.1-9). Interestingly, Shakespeare does not find it necessary to use a character like Iago to manipulate Antonio into believing in his own inadequacy; he is instead compared to the character of Enobarbus, his faithful supporter and voice of true honesty without the presence of malice. As a result, Antony appears to be ruining his good name of his own accord, a fact that deepens the meaning behind his choice to remain in Egypt. Othello, in contrast, did not choose his fate voluntarily, but was rather tricked by a knave into becoming a fool. In this way, Shakespeare manages to separate Othello from Mark Antony, but at the same time bind them together in a web of alienation and isolation in which each man's only true virtue, honor in battle, is constantly tested and broken. Shakespeare uses entirely original, yet subtle, techniques to present Mark Antony as an outsider from the very beginning of the play, something Othello did not realize until his death. Antonio is not distinguished by skin color like Othello, but instead shares with him the private fear of being betrayed and being socially embarrassed by his female counterpart. Antony, like Othello, admits that "if I lose my honor, I lose myself" (III.5.22). It has never been proven that either of them are cheating, but their actions support the veracity of the rumors. Antony, like Othello, believes he can rely on his military reputation to balance his poor choice to put Cleopatra before Rome. The main conflict of this play is almost overwhelming, and Antonio's choices are placed much more dramatically due to the global consequences that arise from his actions. This is another difference between Antonio and Othello, whose problems appear trivial in comparison because they fall within a certain scope, although Othello's legacy makes the psychology of his choices global. In other words, Shakespeare, in creating Marc Antony, tried to amplify the choices and actions of the great soldier. Even more important, perhaps, than setting or tone are the female counterparts of Othello and Antonio; they are the main source of psychological changes and discomfort in plays. Both men are “feminized” by women to such an extent that their militarized way of thinking is seriously questioned. Shakespeare, in all his literary works, constantly used this technique to highlight psychological deficiencies. In both Othello and Antony and Cleopatra, the male protagonists are acutely aware of being betrayed by their significant other, even more, perhaps, than they are afraid of obeying their political or military duties. Antony, in one specific passage, discusses his intuition that Cleopatra is a prostitute who aims to humiliate him publicly, and then refers to himself as a member of the“horned herd” (3.13.128), which in Elizabethan times was a symbol for a cuckold (Sprengnether 198). Othello also refers to himself as having this horn, although he does so less directly; "I have a pain in my forehead here." (II.3.283). This becomes perhaps the most important technique by which Shakespeare portrays both men as outsiders, because its effectiveness essentially becomes the foundation of each text's main conflict. Furthermore, the audience must once again notice the similarity in the use of cuckolding references to illustrate the isolation in the minds of both characters. Neither the pressure of defending a country at war nor seeing the death of a brother consistently compares to the pressures of public perception. and the preservation of the honor gained in carrying out these duties. This fact allows the audience to see deeply into Othello and Mark Antony so that the core of each character's weakness can be turned outward and examined. So far we have seen how Shakespeare complicates each character's choices and actions by combining them with isolating geography, alienating professions, insecure personalities, and situations that don't lend themselves to success as much as failure. another significant component of Othello and Antony's unpredictable psychology that Shakespeare exploits to show the flaws of seemingly great men. Antony's Roman duties require him to act in a masculine, orderly, and structured manner, an ideology that is completely eviscerated by his female counterpart, Cleopatra. His affection for his lover becomes Antonio's greatest weakness: Oh, where have you led me, Egypt? SeeHow I cast my shame from your eyes,Looking back at what I left behind me, Destroyed in dishonor (III.11.53-56). This weakness is also seen within the walls of Cyprus, where the Roman Othello, who might normally be counted on to resolve nebulous situations, cannot distinguish truth from lies and immediately welcomes the evidence despite his wife's protests. Likewise, Antony contrasts with Othello in that he challenges others' views of his choice to remain in Egypt with his mistress, but is torn over who he really is: an Egyptian or a Roman. Both men are terrified of being made fun of, a label neither has had to deal with throughout their military careers. The geographic and mental isolation of each man breeds a panicked desperation in which each man resorts to a successful psychological tool used in the past. How, exactly, does Shakespeare deepen the audience's understanding of each man's psychology, clarifying how it is essential The components are determined by the fear of failure? With Othello, Shakespeare allows us to hear his innermost thoughts, from his soaring, self-approving speech in the Senate to his stammering madness in the final scene. Allowing outside access to the exact psychology of Othello's character - his train of thoughts and choice of words - personalizes the relationship between him and the audience on every level. A good example of this technique follows:O curse of marriage, that we may call these delicate creatures our own, and not their appetites! I would rather be a toad, and live in the steam of a prison, than keep a corner in the thing I love for the uses of others. Yet, it is the plague of adults; They have inferior prerogatives compared to the vile; It is fate as inevitable as death: Even then this forked wound is destined for us When we approach (III.3.267-75). Once again, Shakespeare is able to connect Antony and Othello in their critical contemplation of the women they love and the honor at stake.. 1998.