Power In Othello And Toni Morrison And The Bluest Eye

As dynamic as the human condition, power vacillates in accordance with the whims of those who seek it. As such, much of humanity itself is tarnished or embellished by the pursuits of those who sought power and, more importantly, those who ultimately failed to grasp it. In literature, that notion is encapsulated at the individual level so as to resound with readers. William Shakespeare in his play Othello and Toni Morrison in the novel The Bluest Eye provide insight into the amorphous nature of power by drawing together three main themes: first, how race is a static and perennial constraint on power; second, how power itself operates at the behest of beauty, which has the power to enchant and to distract; and, third, how jealousy can catalyse …show more content…
Claudia exists in a world that has effectively agreed “that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured”, tricolon heightening the oppressive qualities of a blanche beauty. Where Claudia’s observation is marked by naivete, Pecola’s views are tarnished by her age, whereupon she has observed outside influences and internalised a deep ugliness. Morrison’s references to eyes throughout the novel are synecdochic of white beauty and if Pecola were to have blue eyes, she would be “beautiful, she herself would be different." The effects of obsessing over physical beauty spillover for Pauline, who “in equating physical beauty with virtue, she stripped her mind, bound it, and collected self-contempt by the heap”, where metaphor again harnesses the raw power of beauty to deconstruct meaning in life, where it is held out as being incomparably important. For Shakespeare beauty was again connected with the notion of race, where the Elizabethan concept of ‘the other’ drew out comparisons of foreigners to ugliness and ill-repute. However, where beauty was impliedly depicted by Morrison as having a force of its own and diminishing one’s internal power, Shakespeare reveals the …show more content…
Iago’s jealousy and hatred of Othello are motivating factors for Iago 's quest to rob Othello of his power. Iago engineers the jealousy of other characters, harnessing Rodrigo and Othello’s weaknesses to mislead and manipulate them. Iago recognises that insubstantial evidence “are to the jealous confirmations strong”, taking advantage of Othello’s “free and open nature” and plays him "by th’ nose," to believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. Despite Desdemona 's reassurances to Emilia that Othello is “made of no such baseness As jealous creatures are”, Othello accepts the circumstantial evidence of the handkerchief as "ocular proof." Jealousy is a major contributor to his decline and loss of power. Conversely, feelings of jealousy and envy are also evident in the The Bluest Eye. Pauline’s jealousy towards snobbish black women who cast her “goading glances and private snickers” at her appearance “developed in her a desire for new clothes”. This jealousy is the driving force that makes her “came into her own with the women who had despised her, by being more moral than they.” Pauline’s adaption to her communities standards earns her a form of standing within the Church and among her peers. However, while jealousy can be a motivator for Pauline, it ultimately leads to Pecola’s demise. Pecola’s