Literature and Public Life: Using
Definitions:
Wiktionary: “The aspects of social life which occur in public, as opposed to private interactions within families, private clubs, etc.”
My syllabus: “anything in the public realm that affects us personally and any aspect of our personal lives that can have social ramifications. This would include our ideas about individual and collective rights and responsibilities as well as gender, religion, race and war. This semester we will focus our attention on how literature gives voice to issues of race and ethnicity. As we work through the readings we will look at how literature expresses important truths about human experience and also how it can reflect the relationship of the private lives of individuals to the public life of a society and vice versa.”
Stephen Greenblatt: “…if an exploration of a particular culture will lead to a heightened understanding of a work of literature produced within that culture, so too a careful reading of a work of literature will lead to a heightened understanding of the culture within which it was produced.”
(Note: could include an approach informed by New Historicist, Marxist, Feminist, Post-Colonial Theory, etc
A word about Critical Thinking and the effects of Bias:
Connection to Lonergan’s Generalized Empirical Method:
Development of Self
- Self-Appropriation — “to discover, to identify, to become familiar with, the activities of one’s own intelligence”.
- Authenticity: “becoming more fully oneself”, becoming your best self, seeking truth above all else, promoting the common good
- Self-Transcendence: the objective of this development
Effects of Bias
Group Bias: group egoism, loyalty, insularity; power of group shields members from qualms of conscience; tend to overlook key facts, resist the truth
Our biases are:
- A hindrance to the development of our intelligence (Self-Appropriation).
- An obstacle to Authenticity (being our best selves, seeking truth and the common good).
- Always related to a process of decline (individual and societal)
Problems Students typically run into when writing the Lit and Public Life Research Paper
- Understanding the framing text
- Understanding how to apply the framing text
- Finding a “Public Life” connection
- Integrating discussion of the story with discussion of non-literary research (biographical, historical, political, etc.)
- The So What Factor: what are the larger implications of this analysis?
Questions to consider when doing a Literature and Public Life analysis:
- Dates: When was the piece written? What was the culture like? What were the key issues of the time?
- Public Reception: How did the public react to the piece? What does that tell us?
- What Social attitudes / cultural practices were prevalent at the time?
- Power Relations: What power relations are implicit in the piece?
- What Historical Documents / Cultural Artifacts can be used to frame an analysis of the piece?
Example: Race as Subtopic
Framing Texts:
“Stranger in the Village” by James Baldwin
“Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples
Literature: Shakespeare’s Othello: The Moor of Venice
Synthesis Essay:
- Students uses one of the framing texts to help them talk more effectively about the play.
- The framing text should provide the concepts by which she can analyze Othello.
- Talk about both texts in every paragraph.
Research Paper:
- Students will write the research paper on the play with an eye toward interdisciplinary research. The framing text must be used in the research paper as well.
SYNTHESIS ESSAY
Othello of the Swiss Village
Throughout the history of literature, racism has implemented itself into the basic nature of many prominent works. The majority of this literature has had racism incorporated into it as a means to show the way of life during the period of time in which it was written, intentionally or not. With the realization and institutionalization of civil rights, however, racism began to be written about in a new light, from the perspective of those experiencing it, rather than its perpetrators. For example, in his essay, “Stranger in the Village,” James Baldwin speaks of the relationship between the white and black populations in America specifically, along with its dynamics and European roots. He sets up a comparison between his experiences as an African-American and the experiences of white American or European people. In a sense, the tale of Othello, by William Shakespeare, tells a similar tale, despite it being significantly less explicit in its manner of depicting racial disparities. In multiple ways, Othello mirrors the concepts which Baldwin speaks of in his work, including the idea of white supremacism and the feeling of having humanity stripped from one’s identity.
Out of all these concepts, white supremacism is the one that is the most prevalent in American (and not necessarily solely American) white-black relationships, as well as the underlying cause of many of the other issues related to them. Baldwin describes white supremacism as, “rest[ing] simply on the fact that white men are the creators of civilization… and are therefore civilization’s guardians and defenders” (Baldwin 6). That being said, Baldwin argues that, for a white person to fully accept a black person as equal to themselves would mean to potentially endanger and risk the loss of their own position of power. In Othello, this is demonstrated in the white characters of the play viewing and treating Othello as somebody less than human. In the beginning of the play, Brabantio exhibits such a perspective in his reaction to Othello marry his daughter Desdemona behind his back. He seems to be unable to accept the fact that Othello, as a human male, could possibly have wooed Desdemona with only his human qualities, and, instead, becomes convinced that the only way Othello could have won over Desdemona was through witchcraft (Shakespeare 25). When Othello married Desdemona, he took a part of Brabantio’s power away from him, as a father’s influence over his family and especially his daughter was particularly treasured during the time period in which the play is set. Brabantio was unable to accept this loss of power, even more so because the reason for this loss was a Moor, and so made attempts to demonize and make Othello seem less human by accusing him of having, “practiced on [Desdemona] with foul charms [and] abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals” (Shakespeare 26).
Othello’s experience of dehumanization shows itself both within the aforementioned instance with Brabantio and throughout the rest of the play. Similarly, Baldwin describes his own experiences of dehumanization through his anecdote about his life in the Swiss village. He states of his experience: “the first summer I was here… a wind passed with me – of astonishment, curiosity, amusement, and outrage” (Baldwin 2). Essentially, Baldwin is making the point that he was being viewed as a novelty, something interesting to look at and sometimes interact with, rather than being recognized a human being. Othello’s experience in Venice is undeniably similar, as seen most clearly in Desdemona’s “love” for him. Desdemona’s main reason for falling for Othello was his tales, which, for her, were full of adventure and wonder, as they were experiences she herself could not even imagine having. The Venetians’ overall opinion of Othello as an outsider and a barbarian fits with Desdemona’s amazement; Othello’s stories depict the barbaric side of him and his life. By accepting them and viewing them as a part of Othello’s being, rather than a part of his past, Desdemona is, in a sense, reinforcing the ‘barbaric’ part of Othello and shaping it to become his whole identity. She is amused by it and finds personal enjoyment within it, therefore making Othello into somebody whose existence is meant to be enjoyed not by its very virtue, but by the entertaining effects is has on others (namely, her). That being said, she is able to revel in him and his company from a distance, knowing full well that she will never have to share his experiences. Desdemona’s mindset is alike to the behavior of the villagers described in Baldwin’s experience, which partially prompted Baldwin to come to the realization that, “the white man prefers to keep the black man at a certain human remove because it is easier for him thus to preserve his simplicity.” (Baldwin 4).
Despite being a tale of woe produced at a time when the social norm in Europe was idealized to be a racially homogenous society, Shakespeare’s Othello, in a relatively inexplicit way, depicts much of the plight that black people had to experience throughout time. James Baldwin shares his own thoughts on the aforementioned plight, as well as his experiences with it, in his essay, “Stranger in the Village.” In these works, both Shakespeare and Baldwin incorporate, whether directly or indirectly, their similar understandings of the relationship between whites and non-whites. Both the individuals that Baldwin encountered in the Swiss village and the Venetian characters that Shakespeare wrote exhibit racism as a means to maintain their own power, proving that this very aspect of power is a prominent factor in racial relations and inequality throughout history and in modern times.
RESEARCH PAPER
Othello: an Intentional Blot on the Landscape
Institutionalized racism is no new phenomenon; only recently have some countries intentionally strayed from the path of established racial discrimination within the structures of society. Despite efforts to be more inclusive in areas such as the workplace and education, one cause of institutionalized racism still stands strong – culturally accepted racism. It is, in fact, difficult to distinguish the line between institutional and culturally accepted racism, but one must keep in mind that culture is often a deeply personal experience, especially within multicultural societies, such as that of the United States, so disparities between personal beliefs and ideological demands of one’s environment may occur. This is not to imply that the impact of culturally accepted racism upon its victims can be undermined, though. Its effects are undoubtedly disastrous upon the psyches of people of color, and have occurred all throughout history. William Shakespeare depicts the impact of culturally accepted racism in his play, “Othello” upon its protagonist, the namesake of the play. Othello is pushed to view himself as the outsider, the “other,” despite his high rank in the Venetian army, which ultimately leads him to truly become the enemy that he is considered to be by his European counterparts. He becomes the, “Stranger in the Village”; however, unlike James Baldwin, the author of the aforementioned story, Othello, due to significant mental pressure and distress, falls into the trap of becoming a person defined by Venetian expectations.
Let us first consider the context in which the play takes place, along with Othello’s role as a black Northern African man in a dominantly white European society. As mentioned before, Othello holds a position of power in Venetian society, as he is a general in its army. Essentially, he is on the Venetians’ side. This implies that there is an enemy, which must be identified; Venice is in conflict with the Ottoman Empire over the island of Cyprus. Despite Othello’s position of power and possession of a title which denotes his alliance with the Venetians, his skin color places him on a very fine line between being considered an enemy or a friend. Venetian character such as Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, and Othello’s own right-hand man, Iago, make a, “salacious mix of claims about monstrous blackness and barbaric sexual conquest… [which] situate[s] Othello as the corresponding black threat within” (Smith 109). Within the context of this ongoing war, it becomes very easy for the white characters in the play to perceive and treat Othello as though he were an outsider, and, therefore, the enemy, because he is black. By doing so, they are discounting his loyalty and dedication to them and the Venetian state, and, instead, are intent on demonizing him. To do otherwise would be to relinquish a part of the social power held by their white European community, which would work against the goal of the, “white polity seek[ing] to maintain the security of its vested social and political interests in a forced agreement between races” (Smith 118).
Through personal and even systematic interactions, Othello is constantly estranged from the people to which he has given much of himself. When Brabantio is making accusations about Othello and asserting that he bewitched Desdemona into marrying him, Brabantio’s whiteness is all that is necessary for the Venetian court to consider his claims (Grady 75). Within the same scene, Othello’s own blackness is dismissed as the Duke makes the case for him that, “[Brabantio’s] son-in-law is far more fair than black” (Shakespeare 49). Here the culturally accepted racism becomes even more obvious, as it almost becomes institutionalized. Othello is only ‘excused’ because he has adopted traits which the Venetians associate solely with whiteness. This tells of a larger cultural mindset which predisposes certain characteristics to be permanently associated with certain races. Such as mindset, in turn, permits individuals who are part of the majority in society to have expectations of those who are part of the minority. Othello, in this specific circumstance, breaks those expectations, as he is perceived by the Duke to have a character associated with whiteness, rather than blackness.
James Baldwin plays a similar role where he goes against the expectations of the majority in, “Stranger in the Village,” albeit less explicitly. The Swiss village which he visits has a, “custom … of buying African natives for the purpose of converting them to Christianity” (Baldwin 2). Baldwin, as a primarily non-religious black man having grown up in the United States, does not share the same cultural identity as these ‘African natives.’ Because, in America, “blacks have always needed to know whiteness, its rules, [and] discipline,” Baldwin is aware that he himself is set apart from these ‘natives’ (Smith 108). The Swiss villagers, however, lack this awareness, and publically associate his blackness with their own experiences of blackness, that is, with the native Africans, over whom they hold a sense of superiority. Both Baldwin and Othello are held to standards which are set upon them by others, specifically the majority, yet their reactions differ, as Othello ultimately accepts these standards as his own and eventually falls to them.
By the end of the play, Othello is driven to his breaking point by his captain, Iago. Iago manages to accomplish this by taking advantage of Othello’s position as a black man in a white-dominated society, a fact that makes Othello more vulnerable and one which neither Iago nor Othello are ignorant of. As the play progresses, Othello becomes more and more aware of his role as an outsider in Venice, as Iago continuously puts ‘evidence’ in front of him to convince him that his wife is betraying him, not just with another man, but a white man. At this point, not only does Othello suspect Desdemona of adultery, but also of, “incorporat[ing] in her ‘revolt’ an element of racism” (Orkin 175). Despite Desdemona having chosen him as her lover and her husband, Othello begins to doubt that her decision was not one made out of love, but of revolution; in choose him as her partner, he believes Desdemona to be viewing his race as the factor that defines him, rather than solely a part of him. If she cheats on him, then that implies that she does not love him, and, if she does not love him, what is he to her but a chess piece in some of kind of act of rebellion against her father and Venetian society as a whole? Iago very much encourages Othello to absorb this image that he is convinced his beloved holds of him into himself, as such that is, “drawn from the discourse of racism” (Orkin 174). Iago’s manipulation of Othello’s ego also, “reinforc[es] the dynamic of power between white mastery and racialized blackness that degrades black persons at every level of social interaction” (Smith 110).
In a sense, Iago is forcing Othello to go through an identity crisis. While Othello is aware of how Venetian society perceives him overall, he is bound to believe that his love cares for him on a deeper, more profound level that includes accepting his personhood outside of common stereotypes. To be exposed to any other assumption for Othello, a man with a profound sense of virtue and honor, is disastrous. Personal identity as a concept can be defined as originating, “from a sense of connections, relationships which are real or imagined” (Fernando 118). For Othello, the most important of all his relationships is ripped from him due to Iago’s manipulations. Already, Othello has lost aspects of his personal identity, by becoming a devoted citizen and public servant of Venice. Having come from a, “racial system that privileges him as ‘noble Othello’” to one where is treated and perceived as a lesser being, Othello has made the conscious decision to surrender the parts of his identity that defined him as an almost legendary figure in his home country (Grady 78). With Desdemona, he is forced to let go of another part of himself, one which was comprised of the pure love he believed was shared between her and himself, untainted by the Venetian stereotypes of his blackness. Ultimately, these stereotypes become the only thing Othello has to fall back on, and Iago is there to ensure that he does so. Othello has neither a singular nor multifaceted cultural identity by which he can define himself, so he is forced to let himself be defined instead.
This definition can most clearly be described as Othello slowly becoming the barbarian that many characters within the play, including Iago, expect him to be. Iago himself develops a superiority complex, which is made clear through his distrust in Othello’s judgment in choose Cassio over himself to be the lieutenant, and also when he refers to Othello as having a, “free and open nature” and being easily, “tenderly… led by the nose as asses are” (Shakespeare 55). Iago is so clearly confident in his ability to manipulate Othello, because he views him as nothing more than non-European, simple-minded black man. This lack of complexity which Iago enforces onto Othello is something that Othello, with time, adopts.
After Iago tells informs Othello of Desdemona’s adultery, Othello is increasingly overwhelmed with emotions, which reach an intense climax towards the end of the play. The everyday slights, such as the ones Brabantio heaved onto him at the beginning of the play, and the implications of Desdemona’s supposed actions and Iago’s words, push Othello to experience extreme stress and exhibit symptoms of mental health issues (Rollock and Gordon 6). His stress continues to escalate and causes him to have an epileptic fit, upon which Iago comments, “he foams at the mouth, and by and by breaks out to savage madness” (Shakespeare 175). Desdemona’s death scene by far depicts the most powerful emotions felt by Othello. From his perspective, all that she says in the moments before he smothers her adds to her guilt. He believes still that she perceives and values him as a brute because of his blackness, which is further confirmed for him when she says, “And yet I fear you, for you’re fatal then when your eyes roll so… some bloody passion shakes your very frame” (Shakespeare 239). Her language shows to Othello that she fears him, because she believes he cannot resist hurting her, even though she acts as if she has no idea as to why he would want to do so. These feelings of anger and hurt on Othello’s behalf are multiplied by the thought of his wife being unfaithful to him. All of these intense emotions lead to her murder.
It is only after the deed has been done and the truth about Iago has been declared that Othello has a moment of realization of not only the consequences of his actions, but of the true of his state of mind. He becomes aware of being, “cast… in the recognizable role of a reckless black killer… but also to the perception of the black, racial stereotype of being ‘easily jealous’” (Smith 111). Whereas in the beginning of the play, Othello was partaking in the role of a Venetian in the battle over Cyprus, after his crime, he evolves into the Turk, as he inflicts, “the heinous assault on Venice in the person of Desdemona” (Smith 111). Othello realizes that he has permitted himself to be manipulated, and, therefore, to become the enemy. Had the aspect of his blackness setting him apart from the rest of Venetian society not been a factor in Iago’s manipulation, Othello’s reactions and the outcome would be drastically different.