Othello Case

Explore the ways in which Shakespeare in 'Othello', Miller in 'A View from the Bridge' and Fitzgerald in 'The Great Gatsby' presents the destruction of love between their characters.

The theme of desire plays a major part in the texts 'Othello', 'A View from the Bridge' and 'The Great Gatsby'. It is evident in each text that the conflict is created due to the unwritten class code of society and strong stereotypes. The leading characters in all three texts are very different but in all, the isolation of a character leads to a tragedy through the destructive nature of desire. The women of these texts are 'romantically ready' and fall for the outsider, thus going against all expectations.

The position of each female is clearly demonstrated. They are presented as being superior, Shakespeare's Desdemona being 'robbed' by the 'old black ram' who is 'tupping' the senator Brabantio's 'white ewe'. Shakespeare's use of colour gives the audience an image of how different Desdemona and Othello are, as well as following the typical conventions of the colours, black is bad and white is good, therefore Desdemona is superior to Othello. The simplistic writing style portrays how obvious and blatant the point that is being put across is. Shakespeare presents Desdemona as an ideal woman, as innocent and good, a 'maid so fair tender and happy'. She is referred to as 'a maiden never bold' yet commits 'treason of the blood' by not conforming to society's expectations. The wording of the writer's description provides Desdemona an angelic like appearance, compared to Shakespeare's animalistic imagery of Othello. This indicates how much the Moor is an outsider. Othello himself takes on animalistic qualities, as Iago says; he "breaks out into savage madness." The animalistic language highlights Othello taking on primal form. There is a rarely direct reference to his name, showing that he is indeed an outsider of society. Desdemona is expected primarily to marry a white man of wealthy background who has received the right acknowledgment from her father. In Miller's 'A View from the Bridge' the audience sees 'romantically ready' aspects through the simile that Catherine turns heads 'like windmills'. She grips the attention of males in her community, yet she is labelled as a 'haughty, headstrong creature' nonetheless this gives a 'bold, saucy look' apprising the reader of her curiosity in love. On the surface, Daisy appears to share similarities with the other two women - like Desdemona, she is upper class, and like both other characters, she is constrained by her social circumstances. But Daisy is not as brave and she is less willing to defy her social constraints for Gatsby. She is unable to wait for him, and