Othello and Crescent Essay

Introduction baffle es vocalise provides a comparative depth psychology of Shakespe bes Othello and Abu-Jabers crescent(prenominal) in terms of locating similar and diametric themes. The theme that was chosen is re sitation of Arabness as social, individual and cultural category. There is no denying the importance of the situation that both works soak up the fate of Arab bulk in western sandwich shade, including westbound attitudes to them, their own light of Hesperian way of life and traditions and their traffic with other people.Moreover, both works distri scarcee as the instruments for revealing negative contours of Western societies, including racist prejudices, which is especially evident in Othello. Based on the last mentioned reservations, present essay defends the thesis, which may be conjecture as follows Shakespe atomic number 18s Othello and Abu-Jabers lunate have more in habitual due to the fact that beneath continual symbols and themes, much(prenomin al) as love, betrayal etcetera lies the central theme of Arabness, reflected finished the optical prism of shades turn over, conflict and contradiction.The comparative analysis of Othello and semilunar Both Othello and Crescent have Arab people, make themselves in certain roles within Western civilization, as their briny relay stations. The conflict betwixt them and Western civilization takes place on different thematic levels, explained by the end in plans and historical surrounding. Sirine, the important protagonist of Cresent, is a chef at Lebanese eatery in Los Angeles with Middle-Eastern cuisine. Her surrounding consists of the Arab people, many of whom were transportd or emigrated from Iraq due to governmental repressions.Sirines Arabness is constitute by her sentimental intimacy to Iraqi uncle and a great interest in Iraqi history, culture and Muslim traditions in general. Notwithstanding the fact, that Sirine is successful in America, she is earlier lonely and still feels herself an immigrant, living in alien and unfriendly culture. The last mentioned effect of loneliness is well exposit by the friend of Sirine, called Um-Nadia The loneliness of the Arab is a wondrous thing it is all-consuming.it threatens to swallow him whole when he leaves his own country, tied(p) though he marries and travels and talks to friends twenty-four hours a day. (Abu Jaber,78) Hence, it is historic to note that Sirines Arabness and conflicting berth within Western civilization argon not constitute in draw a bead on terms and notions, bearing on designate political connotations. As Nouri Gana rightly suggests roughly Abu Jabers novel, perhaps one of the near glowing virtues of the novel is that it awakens the political in the reader by craftily present how it bears on the individual and communal on a day-to-day basis (Gana, 237).The analogous may be said rough Shakespeares Othello, where Arabness is to a fault not address directly, scarcely essentially mediated finished thematic, symbolical and cultural discourses. Unlike Crescents where the contradiction mingled with cultures and civilization is depicted as the difficultness of adaptation, acculturation and longing for native country, Arabness in Othello is constituted mainly in racist terms. However, the latter racism should also be soundless as the instruments by means of which Shakespeare debunks aggressive, brutal, coward role of such members of Western civilization as Iago.The Arabness of Othello is initially constituted by means of the machine of exoticization, when he is named not by name, but as Moor and extravagant quaint, which immediately creates mental border between civilizations. (Othello 1. 1. 58 and 1. 1. 37). Here, the direct distinction in representing Arabness may be traced at the report level of Crescent. Unlike Othello, Hanif Al Eyad, who is an exiled Iraqi professor, does not experience direct racial prejudices, but problems of adapting to American society.What is more than important, he has significant problem of integrating in Arab American community, which is already assimilated into the wider American culture. In fact, Hanif decides himself in a difficult perspective of finding new contours of his Arabness, as he meets with new conditions of its existence in the American society. In the same vein, Sirine reconfigures her identity, when she starts working at Arab restaurant. Her lost Arab roots come to existence, when she delves into her parents, archaic recipes and to begin cooking the favoritebut almost forgottendishes of her childhood (Abu Jaber, 22).Finally, when Hanif and Sirine meet, they are engaged in cultural interchange Sirine educates him about American and Hanif opens the culture of Iraq and the Arab human macrocosm to Sirine. In this way, the Arabness is constituted in the confounding multicultural way, when it becomes a mixture of American way of life, its contradictions, immigrants cultur e and post-9/11 anti-Muslim syndrome, negatively experienced by Arab people, living in the US.Therefore, the Arabness in Crescent and Othello are constituted in distinctively different ways. Othellos racial and cultural going is the main source of legitimization for brutal behavior of Roderigo, Iago and others, who press the traffichips between Othello and Desdemona. In fact, Desdemona is the only protagonist, which opposes particularisation of cultural differences and represents universality of human relationships. She sees in Othello neither Arab, nor exotic man, but a man, whom she loves.The narration in Othello is abundant with racial prejudices, which function as the markers of Arabness. At the startle of the play, Iago wakes Brabantio up and tells him that an old b wishing throng / Is tupping your white ewe (1. 1. 89-90), referring to Othello. The relations between Othello and Desdemona are also presented by Iago through racist discourse, your daughter covered with a Bar bary dollar bill (1. 1. 112), and reminds Brabantio of genetic consequences for his family, youll have your nephews neigh to you, (1. 1. 112-18). early(a) features of Othellos Arabness are reproduced mainly through the characterization of his temperament and here we find Shakespeares critical edge, which uses then preponderating racial prejudices of English aristocracy to depict their defected nature. Othello is depicted by Shakespeare as scatty Western (Iago-type) virtues as cunningness, meanness, egoism, rationality, calculation, but endows him with trustful, kind, busy temperament. The latter positive constitution of Arabness serves as the critique of Western society deficiencies and problems.Eventually, such features of Arabness result in tragic goal of Shakespeares play (Bartels, 458). Othello as Abu-Jaders protagonists also seems lonely in the Western piece, where all are against him. Pain of loss, exile and loneliness, however, is presented in Crescent in more sentimen tal quotidian way. For instance, it is evident when Sirines Iraqi uncle asks the Italian waiter in a restaurant Wouldnt you say that immigrants are sadder than other people? To which the latter responds, When we leave our home we fall in love with our sadness. (Abu-Jaber, 78).Another important theme, which runs through Abu-Jabers novel is difficulty of being Arab. This idea is mainly propagated by Sirines uncle and defended through telling mythical stories from Arab history, interpret the suffering of Arab people. The difficulty of being Arab is also presented at the level of racialized and politicized metaphors, which represent Arabness in Western world and in fact distort real culture of Arab people. In this way, Arabness is constituted as the ideological category, which has goose egg to do with real life of Arab people (Gana, 241).The latter contradiction may be traced in Othello, when in fact our survey of the main protagonist is constituted by Oriental discourse. One of t he major differences clever to the analyzed works is general tale tone in which the latter discussed contradictions are presented. The contradictions of being Arab in the Western world in Cresent are presented through the depiction of Arab community daily life. The experience of Sirine and Hanif is characterized by sentimental feelings, loneliness, psychological trauma etc.The conflict between cultures and civilizations is presented as the quotidian difficulties of communication, adaptation and active life. The romantic ties which join Sirine and Hanif may be described as the part of sentimental representation of Arabness in Abu-Jabars novel. However, as it was noted above, even such approach to narration reveals much of the tensions and contradictions, experienced by immigrant Arabs. Unlike Crescent, Othello represents the shew of contradictions between Western and Eastern civilization, which results in tragic implications for the destiny of individual people.racial prejudices against Othello function as the legitimization of Iagos plot against him. The differences between temperament and culture of Othello and his possible rivals, hence, should be understood as the main driving force of Shakespeares tragedy. expiration To sum it up, Arabness may be described as the central theme in both Shakespeares and Abu-Jabers works. It is represent on the level of human relations and is not directly interpreted in political manner, however, certain ideological and political interpretations may be found.Racial prejudices in Othello serve as a jibe for debunking negative features of Western civilization and human/universal features, reflected in Othellos temperament. In Crescent, the Arabness is presented through the prism of immigrants difficulty of adaptation, permanent feeling of pain, loneliness and lack of identity. In this way, the discussed theme has both similarities and difference in the discussed novels, explained by their distinct genres, historical and cultural surrounding.Works CitedAbu-Jaber, Diana. Crescent. New York Norton, 2003. Bartels, E. C. do More of the Moor Aaron, Othello, and Renaissance Refashioning of lead. Shakespeare Quarterly vol. 41 454, 1990. Gana, Nouri. In look of Andalusia reconfiguring Arabness in Diana Abu-Jabers Crescent. comparative degree Literature Studies. Vol. 45, no. 2, 2008. The Pennsylvania deposit University, University Park, PA. Shakespeare, W. Othello. The Complete Works of Shakespeare, ed. David Bevington, 3d edition. Glenview, IL Scott, Foresman, 1980.