Othello as a Microcosm for the Human Struggle in Finding Justice
Why is it that Shakespeare’s Othello is read by high school and college English classes across the nation and John Marston’s Antonio’s Revenge is not? The answer is simply that Othello speaks to a greater human struggle that stretches across centuries and contains ideas more powerful than the literal words on the page. While reading Othello, it can be stated that the elements of the story are not innately unbelievable, suggesting that although this story likely never occurred, it plays on our understandings of our own human nature well enough to be authentic. We buy into the notion that a person could be tricked in such a way not only because we can comprehend the idea of a person …show more content…
Race is (and I have a feeling I’m not the first person to ever say this) a very difficult and complex topic. However, it is important that we study and understand this topic, particularly in the criminal justice field, so that racial bias can have as little of an impact as possible and hopefully objectivity can take its place. The topic of race in this play comes up again and again, but the racial tension is particularly palpable when Brabantio says “Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom of such a thing as thou — to fear, not to delight!” (1.2.70-71). There is a certain level of pure disgust being exhibited by Brabantio that is something we wish wouldn’t exist today, and though oftentimes it may not exist explicitly, there are still subconscious racial biases on the part of the trier of fact. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon conducted a study involving the race of jurors contrasted with the race of defendants and found, “In cases with no blacks in the jury pool, black defendants are convicted at an 81 percent rate and white defendants at a 66 percent rate. When the jury pool includes at least one black potential juror, conviction rates are almost identical: 71 percent for black defendants and 73 percent for white defendants” (Anwar, et al. 1022). Perhaps one of the most important details in Othello is simply the fact that Othello is the only black …show more content…
This lack of objectivity can often be part of a culture in both police conduct and courtroom alike, nevertheless, perhaps the most prejudicial element in the search for truth poignant power of some evidence over others, regardless of the weight of that evidence. The example I would like to give here is that Othello saw the handkerchief the same way that the jurors in the trial of O.J. Simpson saw the glove. There are significant racial elements to that trial, true, but putting that aside the fact is that the glove had a magic power, it eclipsed all other evidence. A history of violence, staggering and quite frankly damning DNA evidence, and even a picture of Simpson wearing the glove—all of this was somehow overshadowed by the phrase, “if the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” In Othello, this same power of one piece of evidence over all else is apparent in the handkerchief, as Iago states while he is putting the handkerchief in Cassio’s quarters, Trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ” (3.3.322-324). The last phrase of those lines, ‘proofs of holy writ’, is a perfect way of phrasing how some pieces of evidence can seem to be the highest form of authority, unquestioned authority. Another famous case with a similar theme, though it may have taken place in Italy (it
Why is it that Shakespeare’s Othello is read by high school and college English classes across the nation and John Marston’s Antonio’s Revenge is not? The answer is simply that Othello speaks to a greater human struggle that stretches across centuries and contains ideas more powerful than the literal words on the page. While reading Othello, it can be stated that the elements of the story are not innately unbelievable, suggesting that although this story likely never occurred, it plays on our understandings of our own human nature well enough to be authentic. We buy into the notion that a person could be tricked in such a way not only because we can comprehend the idea of a person …show more content…
Race is (and I have a feeling I’m not the first person to ever say this) a very difficult and complex topic. However, it is important that we study and understand this topic, particularly in the criminal justice field, so that racial bias can have as little of an impact as possible and hopefully objectivity can take its place. The topic of race in this play comes up again and again, but the racial tension is particularly palpable when Brabantio says “Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom of such a thing as thou — to fear, not to delight!” (1.2.70-71). There is a certain level of pure disgust being exhibited by Brabantio that is something we wish wouldn’t exist today, and though oftentimes it may not exist explicitly, there are still subconscious racial biases on the part of the trier of fact. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon conducted a study involving the race of jurors contrasted with the race of defendants and found, “In cases with no blacks in the jury pool, black defendants are convicted at an 81 percent rate and white defendants at a 66 percent rate. When the jury pool includes at least one black potential juror, conviction rates are almost identical: 71 percent for black defendants and 73 percent for white defendants” (Anwar, et al. 1022). Perhaps one of the most important details in Othello is simply the fact that Othello is the only black …show more content…
This lack of objectivity can often be part of a culture in both police conduct and courtroom alike, nevertheless, perhaps the most prejudicial element in the search for truth poignant power of some evidence over others, regardless of the weight of that evidence. The example I would like to give here is that Othello saw the handkerchief the same way that the jurors in the trial of O.J. Simpson saw the glove. There are significant racial elements to that trial, true, but putting that aside the fact is that the glove had a magic power, it eclipsed all other evidence. A history of violence, staggering and quite frankly damning DNA evidence, and even a picture of Simpson wearing the glove—all of this was somehow overshadowed by the phrase, “if the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” In Othello, this same power of one piece of evidence over all else is apparent in the handkerchief, as Iago states while he is putting the handkerchief in Cassio’s quarters, Trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ” (3.3.322-324). The last phrase of those lines, ‘proofs of holy writ’, is a perfect way of phrasing how some pieces of evidence can seem to be the highest form of authority, unquestioned authority. Another famous case with a similar theme, though it may have taken place in Italy (it