The paper talks about Marxist analysis of ‘Othello, the Moor of Venice’ which will reveal how this literary work mirrors all ways in which individual subjects are subjects of material/historical circumtances and of the repressive ideologies that serve to blind us to the ruling power system.
Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist,journalist and revolutionary socialist. Marx has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and his work has been both lauded and criticized.
Marx is typically cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science. Marx's theories about society, economics and politics—collectively understood as Marxism—hold that human societies develop through class struggle. In capitalism, this manifests itself in the conflict between the ruling classes (known as the bourgeoisie) that control the means of production and the working classes (known as the proletariat) that enable these means by selling their labor power in return for wages.
In Marxist theory, capitalist society consists of two parts: the base substructure and superstructure. The base comprises the forces and relations of production into which people enter to produce the necessities and amenities of life. The base determines society's other relationships and ideas to comprise its superstructure, including its culture, institutions, political power structures, roles, rituals, and state. While the relation of the two parts is not strictly unidirectional, as the superstructure often affects the base, the influence of the base is predominant.
Social norms influence social structure through relations between the majority and the minority. Because those who align with the majority are considered normal while those who align with the minority are considered abnormal, majority-minority relations create a hierarchical stratification within social structures that favors the majority in all aspects of society.
Sociologists also distinguish between:
●Normative structure – pattern of relations in given structure (organisation) between norms and modes of operations of people of varying social positions
●Ideal structure – pattern of relations between beliefs and views of people of varying social positions
●Interest structure – pattern of relations between goals and desires of people of varying social positions.
●Interaction structure – forms of communications of people of varying social positions.
In simple words Marxism is an economical philosophy revolving around who controls wealth and how to earn wealth. According to Mark, the stucture of society depends on the way production is organised, where he focused on two class groups under capitalism, that are the Proleteriant, the working class people and the Bourgeoisie, who owns the factory or the business.
How does Marxism apply to Othello:
You might wonder why it is that the older way of studying Shakespeare in terms of his play’s theme, character, plot and imagery has been superseded. The answer lies in the changes in philosophical and political viewpoints that have taken place particularly in the universities, since the late 1960s.
When we read Shakespeare play we can understand the texts only from where we are now. Contemporary criticism therefore finds its own political and social concern in Shakespeare's plays, and expresses this concern in the way it reads plays. Feminism was a powerful force for social change in the twentieth century and many criticis looks at his work with great interest at the way women are written in the plays.
The period during which Shakespeare was writing saw a great hardship for many people, but it was also a time of new social mobility. In the country side class divisions were still pronounced and many did still feel that one should remain within your social class, where God had placed you. In fact, the social mobility of those in the theatre was often use against them by their critics, along with that accusation that actors should not go on stage disguised as their social superiors.
Class Structure, where Othello, Roderigo, Brabantio, Gratiano, Lodovico, Cassio, and Desdemona, belonged to High Class, Cassio to Middle class and Iago, Emilia, Bianca to Low Class.
Here Iago is so desperate to improve his social status that he begins to manipulate circumstances to make his superior seen unfit for their posts:
“Do/ you find some occasion to anger Cassio, either by/ speaking too loud, or tainting his discipline,or from/ what other course you please” (Art II Scene I, Lines 288-91).
Iago is motivated to pursue higher rank after he is overlooked for promotion. The reason for choosingCassio over Iago can be their class difference.
The play has more examples of Classism and racism, that is When Iago informs Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, that Othello is making love with Desdemona, Brabantio argues that his house is not grange (farmhouse). In other words he perceives Othello (as a black man) to be an animal. Here, he shows his superiority as a noble and a white man. What is understood also is that, albeit Othello is a military general, he is not allowed for him to marry a noble woman because he lacks nobility, as an instinct feature.
Further Iago adds to it by saying: Iago:“…you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse…your nephews neigh to you…and jennets for germans”.
While the play suggests that Othello is a military general who is in charge of saving Venice from enemies; Marxist literary criticism suggests another thing. This is known as Patriotism. The act of sending low social classes fighting wars against the lower classes from other countries while the rich (duke, senators and nobles) rake in the profits of war time economy.
This brings us to ideology of Religion. As Marx states: “Religion is the opiate of the masses”. Marx was not debating the existence of God; rather he was interesting on how people use religion for their gain. In this respect we will see how the Venetian society utilizes religion to make women obedient and submissive to men.
At the first glimpse, we notice that only three female characters in the play act in a way which totally reflects the exact expectation of women during the Shakespeare’s Elizabethan period. During
that time people thought that women are something to possess rather than a wife. The first senator, wishing Othello, ends up saying “use Desdemona well” (Act1. Scene3. 288). Here the word “use” means “take care”.
The objectification of women in Othello is purely incarnated in this excerpt:
OTHELLO: Come my dear love
The purchase made
The fruits are ensure. (Act3. Scene8. 8-9).
This passage highlights how Othello perceives his engagement with Desdemona. He describes marriage as an affair of “purchase”. Women are like commodity that you can buy and sell. This idea of
inferiority of women and “It’s natural for men to hold leadership positions because their biological superiority renders them more physically, intellectually, and emotionally capable than women” is a
sexist ideology that sells itself as a function of nature, rather than as a product of cultural belief” (Tyson.L. 2006:56). By and large, this ideology is a belief system which is a product of cultural conditioning and when we mention culture we should mention religion which is the source of cultural beliefs. Moreover dialogues following the conversation between Othello and Brabantio, which generalises women as an unfaithful being, where Brabantio warns Othello against the unfaithful nature of a woman
by saying:
BRABANTIO: Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee.(Act I,Scene 3)
To conclude I would like to say Karl Marx was very correct with his theory on Social structure, where Rich enjoy/ feed on poor working class and poor becomes poorer. Similarly here I this play we can see Iago not been promoted because of his class, to which Iago wants to reply by taking revenge from the people who did unjust to him. To do so he uses Desdemona, Emiliya and Bibinca. Also the fact that Iago and Brabantio hates Othello for being Black and is often called as black horse. Lastly I would like to say, Othello is not considered as a Royal because he is Black, in spite of the fact that he belongs to Royal blood line of Moor, secondly all the men in the play are presuming the fate of the female characters. None of the character fills the need of asking the woman about mishappenings.
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