Critical Lens
Alex Ryder English 10A
November 20, 2012
“In this world goodness is destined to be defeated.” According to Walker Percy, in our society, good will is compelled to be desolated. This is proven true through William Shakespeare’s playwright, Othello and William Golding’s novel, Lord Of The Flies. William Shakespeare uses foreshadowing and characterization and William Golding utilizes symbolism in their stories to aggrandize their literary works. In William Shakespeare’s playwright, Othello, there are many characters that were destined to be defeated. Some of the characters destined to be destroyed are Othello and Desdemona. Shakespeare utilizes foreshadowing to show the relationship between Othello and that goodness is destined to be destroyed. Othello is destined to be defeated because he cannot see past “honest” Iago’s lies. When Othello keeps giving his speeches about his love for Desdemona, it foreshadows disaster. Othello obliviously thinks Iago is telling the truth because he is his third in command, and does not think twice to question what Iago says after Iago’s persuasion. Also, Othello’s description of his past and his wooing for his wife foreshadows his suicide speech. The lack of communication between Othello and Desdemona foreshadow tragedy between them. Othello eventually does get suspicious because Iago cannot prove his accusation with some hard evidence, but Iago says he saw Desdemona’s handkerchief in Cassio’s lodging, which throws Othello off the deep end and he has an epileptic fit. Shakespeare uses characterization to show that Desdemona is fated to be destroyed. Desdemona is very passionate with her marriage and is good when her husband is abusive and accusatory. She is very naive and innocent. She is so naive and innocent that she doesn’t even believe that there are such women in the world that actually cheat on their husbands. Because she is so naive and innocent it is obvious that Desdemona’s fate
November 20, 2012
“In this world goodness is destined to be defeated.” According to Walker Percy, in our society, good will is compelled to be desolated. This is proven true through William Shakespeare’s playwright, Othello and William Golding’s novel, Lord Of The Flies. William Shakespeare uses foreshadowing and characterization and William Golding utilizes symbolism in their stories to aggrandize their literary works. In William Shakespeare’s playwright, Othello, there are many characters that were destined to be defeated. Some of the characters destined to be destroyed are Othello and Desdemona. Shakespeare utilizes foreshadowing to show the relationship between Othello and that goodness is destined to be destroyed. Othello is destined to be defeated because he cannot see past “honest” Iago’s lies. When Othello keeps giving his speeches about his love for Desdemona, it foreshadows disaster. Othello obliviously thinks Iago is telling the truth because he is his third in command, and does not think twice to question what Iago says after Iago’s persuasion. Also, Othello’s description of his past and his wooing for his wife foreshadows his suicide speech. The lack of communication between Othello and Desdemona foreshadow tragedy between them. Othello eventually does get suspicious because Iago cannot prove his accusation with some hard evidence, but Iago says he saw Desdemona’s handkerchief in Cassio’s lodging, which throws Othello off the deep end and he has an epileptic fit. Shakespeare uses characterization to show that Desdemona is fated to be destroyed. Desdemona is very passionate with her marriage and is good when her husband is abusive and accusatory. She is very naive and innocent. She is so naive and innocent that she doesn’t even believe that there are such women in the world that actually cheat on their husbands. Because she is so naive and innocent it is obvious that Desdemona’s fate