Saturday, March 14, 2009

In Othello, Oroonoko, and Paradise Lost, how are globalism, exploration, travel, and/or colonization significant to the plot or theme? What do...

In a way, the plots of each of these texts deals with how people from different cultures interact (successfully or unsuccessfully) with one another as a result of how they view each other. It could be argued that each of these cultures viewed the other negatively, either as inferior or superior, and this caused the relations between them to be violently destructive in all three texts.


Although Othello and Oroonoko both examine differences between nations, the differences seen in all three, including Paradise Lost, could really be seen as cultural. 


Both Othello and Oroonoko (the characters) are military leaders, but neither one is white, and in the timeframe and culture each story is set, this causes problems for each of them. Othello is insecure, although he is powerful. He is a Moor and married to a white woman, and becomes jealous later in the story when he believes she has had an affair with another white man. This jealousy leads to his downfall, as he kills Desdemona. Oroonoko, an African prince who is later enslaved by whites in England and after two failed attempts at escaping, also kills his wife (in order to save her from his own fate).


The themes of both Othello and Oroonoko can be seen as a clash of cultures. The black man has a place in the white society and serves a purpose, but when he steps outside of that role, he is either punished by that society (Oroonoko) or punishes himself (Othello). Othello travels outside of his own native land to become a military leader in Italy, but he is only successful there for a period of time before everything falls apart. Oroonoko travels from Africa (via kidnapping) to England, and is kept as a slave; thus, his time there is also unsuccessful. The traveling each man did was at the direction of whites and in both cases these men were seen as outsiders in the white culture.


In Paradise Lost, Milton provides us with a battle between Heaven and Hell. Lucifer is cast out of Heaven (again, being directed by someone else). Technically, Heaven and Hell are two different cultures. The two races, if we want to classify them as such, are God and his angels against Lucifer and his fallen angels. This story could be seen as the very first clash of cultures, as the angels above and the demons below existed prior to the human race. In this epic, God is all-powerful and everyone else has their own role. When Lucifer rebels, he sets up shop in Hell and works against God and his angels. These two worlds could not be more different, and again, we see a clash of cultures. The two have very little they can agree on because of the power relationship that exists between the races. Lucifer is the outsider in this story as well.


In each of these pieces one group is clearly in power and the other group is reacting to that power.


In Oroonoko and Paradise Lost that reaction comes out as rebellion.


"Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?" (Paradise Lost)


In Othello it comes out as insecurity, which leads to violence. 


So, what do these texts say about relations between people of different national or cultural origins? That successful relations cannot be based on a belief in the inferiority of one group and the superiority of another.

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