Literature is very often written to create, describe, or maintain a dynamic between the insider and the outsider. In order to make the reader aware of who is an insider and who an outsider, writers use various strategies to exclude and other certain characters and character traits. In the writing of John Leo Africanus’s A Geographical History of Africa, he describes the Africans as having both virtues and vices in very extreme measures. For example, Africanus frequently uses absolute words like “always” and never”, which intensify his statements. Moreover, he often emphasises his descriptions with “most” or “utterly”. The African people he writes about are not just “destitute of the use of reason”, but are “utterly destitute”. While slight,
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Although the true villain of the story is unquestionably the devious Iago, and Othello is the heroic, tragic figure brought low by Iago’s machinations, the extremity of Othello’s actions and emotions render him a type of villain in his own right. In the final act of the play, Othello kills his wife Desdemona, because he believes, falsely, that she has been unfaithful. While this act in and of itself is certainly unjust and unreasonable, there is an extra layer: Othello’s evidence for believing this crime rests on his discovering a handkerchief he had given his wife in the hands of Cassio, the man he believes to be her lover. For an item that ultimately leads a man to murder, the handkerchief seems insufficient, which I believe to be the point. The fact that the handkerchief is so insignificant, as well as having the qualities of a handkerchief- small, flimsy, and replaceable, indicates the insubstantial nature of Othello’s justification for killing Desdemona. The handkerchief’s flimsiness therefore serves to emphasize Othello’s outsize reaction and the extremity of his feelings, leading to him commit the most extreme act possible, murdering his wife. That disparity between the cause and the effect make it harder to sympathize with Othello and casts him as a villain, rather than the tragic hero he might have …show more content…
Harriot writes: “Their manner of wars among themselves is either by sudden surprising one another...or else by ambushes, or some subtle devices. Set battles are very rare” (Harriot 4). While less explicit that the writing of John Leo Africanus, this quote reflects the same trope. The use of the words “sudden surprising” and “ambushes” creates in the reader the sense that the Native people’s capacity for violence is more spontaneous and more emotional than that of the white Europeans. Harriot directly contrasts the ambushes with “set battles”, which supposedly indicate a measure of staid collectedness. As a result, like John Leo Africanus and Shakespeare, Indigenous people are painted as being more emotional, more violent, in direct opposition to Harriot and his companions. This contributes to the enduring stereotype of Native people as savages, the “villains” of the English narrative of invasion and
Although the true villain of the story is unquestionably the devious Iago, and Othello is the heroic, tragic figure brought low by Iago’s machinations, the extremity of Othello’s actions and emotions render him a type of villain in his own right. In the final act of the play, Othello kills his wife Desdemona, because he believes, falsely, that she has been unfaithful. While this act in and of itself is certainly unjust and unreasonable, there is an extra layer: Othello’s evidence for believing this crime rests on his discovering a handkerchief he had given his wife in the hands of Cassio, the man he believes to be her lover. For an item that ultimately leads a man to murder, the handkerchief seems insufficient, which I believe to be the point. The fact that the handkerchief is so insignificant, as well as having the qualities of a handkerchief- small, flimsy, and replaceable, indicates the insubstantial nature of Othello’s justification for killing Desdemona. The handkerchief’s flimsiness therefore serves to emphasize Othello’s outsize reaction and the extremity of his feelings, leading to him commit the most extreme act possible, murdering his wife. That disparity between the cause and the effect make it harder to sympathize with Othello and casts him as a villain, rather than the tragic hero he might have …show more content…
Harriot writes: “Their manner of wars among themselves is either by sudden surprising one another...or else by ambushes, or some subtle devices. Set battles are very rare” (Harriot 4). While less explicit that the writing of John Leo Africanus, this quote reflects the same trope. The use of the words “sudden surprising” and “ambushes” creates in the reader the sense that the Native people’s capacity for violence is more spontaneous and more emotional than that of the white Europeans. Harriot directly contrasts the ambushes with “set battles”, which supposedly indicate a measure of staid collectedness. As a result, like John Leo Africanus and Shakespeare, Indigenous people are painted as being more emotional, more violent, in direct opposition to Harriot and his companions. This contributes to the enduring stereotype of Native people as savages, the “villains” of the English narrative of invasion and