Shannon Champagne Mrs.

Mazany AP Lit 1/10/14 Compare/Contrast Essay: Othello and Macbeth Macbeth and Othello are two of the most famous playwrights from the early seventeenth century. They both were written by the brilliant William Shakespeare. The characters Macbeth and Othello both have a tragic flaw that will lead to their downfall, and they both showed how easily people are influenced by words. Both of these novels share themes of manipulation, revenge, and jealousy. These two plays are Shakespeares most famous tragedies. He uses Macbeth and Othello to show kindness and loyalty, but also dishonesty and cruelty. These two Shakespearean tragedies share more things than just the author. The characters Macbeth and Othello both have been manipulated by someone, and that manipulation ultimately ends in murder. The throne is the central theme of both plays; Macbeth wants to be king and Iago wants to be lieutenant. They both use their power to get the things that they want. Another common theme in these plays is ambition and revenge. Iago and Macbeth use their ambition to get revenge and get what they want. Macbeth and Othello both start out as being well respected soldiers, known for their bravery and honor. Women play a major role in the turn of the story in both plays. Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth to kill King Duncan But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we will not fail (Shakespeare I.vii.). In Othello, Iago leads

Champagne 2 Othello to believe that Desdemona is unfaithful. These events helped lead up to the ultimate tragedy of murder. Although both of the stories share many things, they also are very different. Macbeth is a good man that was troubled by his conscience and was too ambitious. He was led to evil by his wifes goading, I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on the other (Shakespeare Ivii). This quote shows that Macbeth is being forced to kill Duncan by his wife. He is a Scottish general and the three witches tell him that he will be king someday. Macbeth let his ambition get the best of him, and killed King Duncan and took the throne for himself. He then feels guilty and paranoid, so he becomes a tyrant. Macbeth is forced to commit more murders to protect him from suspicion. This and the civil war lead Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to madness and death. This story shared an idea that one character can be both a victim and a villain. On the other hand, Othello is a black Moor and the greatest army general in Venice. He is self-controlled, intelligent, courageous, honorable, and loves his wife, Desdemona, dearly. Othello is led to evil by jealousy and Iagos revenge. Iago was upset with Othello because he did not choose Iago to become the lieutenant. He also believes that Othello has slept with his wife, Emilia. Iago then decided to ruin Othellos life. He persuades Othello to be suspicious that Desdemona was having an affair with the lieutenant, Cassio. Othello saw Cassio with a handkerchief that he gave Desdemona as a sign of his chastity. When he sees Cassio with it, he automatically believes that the allegations are true. Othello decided that he was going to kill his wife for being unfaithful. He smothered her to death, and the proceeded to kill himself after Emilia exposes Iago and confesses Desdemonas innocence.

Champagne 3 Othello and Macbeth both have close bonds with their wives. Both women are significant to the choices that their husbands make and they helped bring their husbands tragic end. Desdemona is a well-rounded figure that is seen as stereotypically weak. She is beautiful, young, sexual, and recently married. Desdemona is one of the characters that change the most throughout the course of the play. Desdemona refuses to marry any of the rich, handsome white men; instead she marries an older black man, Othello. This enrages her father. In the first act Desdemona was very adventurous; she begged Othello to let her go to Cyprus with him because she cannot stand the thought of being away from him. At one point Desdemona asks Emilia if it is possible for a woman to ever cheat on her husband, this shows the readers that she has no idea that Othello thinks she is unfaithful. He physically and verbally abuses her, by slapping her and calling her a strumpet. Othellos actions caused Desdemona to become beaten down and feel as if she is nothing. Desdemonas loyalty to Othello is shown when Desdemona says Nobody, I myself, Farewell. (Shakespeare Vii124) to Emilia, when Emilia asks her who killed her. All of these things helped lead up to Othello killing himself and Desdemona. They also show how Desdemona played a huge role in the tragic end of the novel. Lady Macbeth, on the contrary, is charming, attractive, and entirely devoted to her husbands career. She is stronger, more ruthless and more ambitious than Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is worried that her husband is not man enough to do what it takes to be king and she knows that she will have to push Macbeth into murdering King Duncan. At one point, she wishes that she were a man so that she could kill King Duncan by herself. This is shown by when she says Too full o the milk of human kindness (Shakespeare Iv). Because she believes that Macbeth is not capable of doing the job, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Macbeth implies that she is a male soul in a female body. The play implies that women can be as cruel as

Champagne 4 men. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by overriding all of his protests. When he hesitates on the murder she questions his manhood and wants him to commit the murder to prove his self. Lady Macbeth played an enormous role in the fate of Macbeth and herself. Her power and manipulation led the death of herself and her husband. Gender is a common theme found within Macbeth and Othello. However, both plays have a different spin on this theme. Gender is very important in Othello because most of the male characters in the story assume that all women are promiscuous. This explains why Othello is easily convinced that Desdemona is cheating on him. The women in Othello are seen as stereotypically weak and are looked upon as objects. The men seem to have power over the women. In fact, two of the three women in the play are killed by their husbands. The other woman, Bianca, was a prostitute. This goes to show exactly how the women are portrayed, as possessions. Othello and Iago both accused their wives of committing adultery. Iagos desire for revenge on Othello is, in part, dictated by his view of women as possessions ("The Role of Women in Othello"). Iago believes that his wife, Emilia, slept with Othello. However, it could be argued that Iago shows little affection for Emilia. He insults her in public and ultimately murders her. Iago shows the he has possession over Emilia when he says the lusty Moor hath leaped into my seat (Shakespeare II.1. 286-7). He refers to her as a seat and is angry because Othello has used something that belongs to him. On the other hand, the story of Macbeth portrays women as dangerous forces that can ruin men. It shows that females can be manipulative, violent, and evil. This story breaks away from the stereotype that men are the malicious ones, and shows that evil can come in all forms. Lady Macbeth is the wicked character and is the mastermind behind all of her husbands actions. Even though Macbeth physically committed the crimes, his actions show that he does not want

Champagne 5 to. He shows regret after he kills Duncan by saying Macbeth does murder sleep, the innocent sleep. (Shakespeare IIii). Macbeth knows that King Duncan was innocent and he feels guilty for killing an innocent man. He does not want to return to the scene of the crime to return the dagger because he does not want to relive what he has done. Nevertheless, Lady Macbeth angrily returns the dagger and calls her husband a coward. This displays how evil she really is; she shows no shame for pressuring Macbeth into killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth is also very greedy, which is another sign of maliciousness. When she hears of the witches prophecy, she immediately forces Macbeth to act on it ("The Role of Women in Shakespeare's Macbeth"). Lady Macbeth pressures her husband into doing things that he normally would not have done so that she could become the queen of Scotland. She wanted King Duncan dead very badly, but because she was a woman and women were believed to be innocent she could not do the deed herself. Lady Macbeth resembles the exact opposite of how Desdemona is portrayed. Macbeth and Othello take place at different times and in different places. Macbeth is set in the dark, dreary Scotland, in the eleventh century and Othello starts in the quiet civilized, Venice, but then moves to Cyprus when the Turks invade. Although they take place in different countries, Shakespeare still used some historical accuracy in both of his works. The history in Shakespeares plays was not perfectly accurate. For example in Othello, he uses the Venetian War as a reason for the characters to move away to Cyprus. After the characters got to Cyprus, Shakespeare did not care about what happened during the war. Just because these two exquisite plays have the same author, does not mean that they are exactly alike. Sure they have their similarities, but the storylines are completely different. A few things that William Shakespeare shared between these two plays are the theme of the throne, women influencing men, and both characters having a tragic flaw that stimulates their downfall.

Champagne 6 On the other hand, they are different because the role of women is different, they tell two different stories, and they take place in two different countries.