Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining me to talk
about a very controversial issue today! Should men and women re-take
their natural position in society? My answer to this, is no! A
natural position? Why do we even call this sexism a ‘natural
position’ anyway? The only reason that men were seen to be superior
to women is because of their body strength. And who said brawn or
brains was best anyway? Before, women were meant to stay home, clean,
cook and bring up children. And men were supposed to work, come home
and expect their dinner on the table. Still in society today there is
a barrier between men and women, maternity and paternity leave,
divorce settlements and position in jobs, are a few examples.
Where would we be today without Marie Curie who discovered the
element radium. Which opened the door to deep changes in the way
scientists thought about matter and energy and also found cures for
many dangerous diseases. Or Hedy Lamarr who was a glamorous actress,
who then went on to invent secret Military Communication Systems and a
torpedo accuracy satellite system which played an immense part in the
victory of world war 2. Without these women and countless more, many
people would be dead, and their descendants would not be here today.
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If women were to go back to working hard in the home, there would also
be a huge loss in employees. Housework can be extremely strenuous and
depressing. It has been proven in a recent study by researchers at
the University of Glasgow that the link of depression and housework is
apparent. If a mother is depressed then they will not take good care
of their children. Also now women are given the equal chance in
education, so therefore raising the standards of work in the country.
Men should also not be forgotten. They may have been in charge of the
Othello: True Love and Self-love
Othello: True Love and Self-love
The William Shakespeare tragic play Othello manifests the virtue of love in all its variegated types through the assorted good and bad characters interacting with each other.
H. S. Wilson in his book of literary criticism, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, discusses the love of the Moor for his beloved even at the time of her murder:
And when he comes to execute justice upon Desdemona, as he thinks, he has subdued his passion so that he is a compound of explosiveness tenderness. Utterly convinced of Desdemona’s guilt and of the necessity of killing her (“Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men”), he yet loves her:
This sorrow’s heavenly;
It strikes where it doth love.(55)
In the volume Shakespeare and Tragedy John Bayley explains that there is both love and self-love in the play (201). Initially the play presents a very distorted type of love. Act 1 Scene 1 shows Roderigo, generous in his gifts to the ancient, questioning Iago’s love for the former, whose concern has been the wooing of Desdemona. Roderigo construes Iago’s love for him as based on the ancient’s hatred for the Moor. Thus the wealthy suitor says accusingly, “Thou told’st me thou didst hold him in thy hate.” In order to prove his love for Roderigo, Iago asserts in detail the reasons for his hatred of Othello, who has given the lieutenancy to Michael Cassio, a Florentine.
Secondly, Iago shows his love for his wealthy friend by rousing from sleep Brabantio, the father of Desdemona. Once the senator has been awakened, Iago makes a series of loud, crude, bawdy allegations against both the general and Desdemona. David Bevington in William Shakespeare: Four Tr…
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…His Carpet. N.p.: n.p., 1970.
Gardner, Helen. “Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from “The Noble Moor.” British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955.
Mack, Maynard. Everybody’s Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.
Pitt, Angela. “Women in Shakespeare’s Tragedies.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Shakespeare’s Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.
Wilson, H. S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1957.