Shakespeares Othello: Is Jealousy the Cause? Essay examples -- Othell

The hero in William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello is guided to murder by his passions. Which passions? Jealousy? Sexual jealousy? In this paper let us look into these questions. In the volume Shakespeare and Tragedy John Bayley denies that jealousy is a major causative factor in the play: The play eludes with ease any attempt to pin it down to a solution: why it happened, what caused it, what weakness in Othello was involved? Even jealousy as such is not the reason. Jealousy is a long-term affair, with its own rules and customs, its own subterranean animosities and grudges. (204) Contrasting with this critical opinion is that of another esteemed critic. Lily B. Campbell in Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes definitively categorizes Othello as a â€Å"study in jealousy†: Othello has suffered less in its modern interpretation than any other of Shakespeare’s tragedies, it would seem. So insistently did Shakespeare keep this tragedy unified about the theme of jealousy and the central victims of the passion, so obviously did he mould his plot about the black Moor and the cunning Iago and the victims of their jealousy that no interpreter has been able to ignore the obvious intention of the author. Yet if we study the contemporary interpretations of the passion here portrayed, we find that Shakespeare was following in detail a broader and more significant analysis of the passion than has in modern days been understood. The play is, however, clearly a study in jealousy and in jealousy as it affects those of different races. (148) Can we narrow down the concept of jealousy in this play to a specific type? Helen Gardner in â€Å"Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune† sees this play as a study in sexual jealousy: Othello is not a study in prid... ...vington, David, ed. William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies. New York: Bantam Books, 1980. Campbell, Lily B. Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes. New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1970. Ferguson, Francis. â€Å"Two Worldviews Echo Each Other.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Shakespeare: The Pattern in His Carpet. N.p.: n.p., 1970. Gardner, Helen. â€Å"Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from â€Å"The Noble Moor.† British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955. Jorgensen, Paul A. William Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.      

Gender Identity Essay

There are many factors that can determine gender identity. There is continuous research comparing the affect of both biology and environment on gender identity. Gender identity is almost always chromosomal sex although that isn’t enough to rule out the affect of environment. Intersexuals are rare individuals who posses the typical external genitalia while possessing ambiguous sexual organs of the other sex. There are also hermaphrodites who possess both testicular and ovarian tissue. These two factors that determine gender identity are caused by hormonal factors in prenatal development. Hermaphrodites usually assume the gender identity of the sex assignment at birth. A sex assignment is the process of determining the sex of a child at birth. Intersexualism has given scientists a chance to compare environment and biology. Intersexualism means a person possesses a whole, either male or female reproductive organs. They also possess internal or external tissue of the other sex. Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia is a form of intersexualism in which a genetic female has internal female sexual structures but masculinized external genitals. Androgen-insensitivity syndrome is a form of intersexualism in which a genetic male is prenatally insensitive to androgens such that his genitals are not normally masculinized. Dominican Republic Syndrome is a form intersexualism in which a genetic enzyme disorder prevents testosterone from masculinizing the external genitalia. CAH is caused by exposure to androgens which are produced naturally through adrenal or mothers may have received synthetic androgens to prevent miscarriage in women who have a family history of miscarriages. Research has been done on CAH and results have shown that girls with CAH act more like a boy. They are more interested in masculine toys such as trucks while girls without are more interested in playing with dolls. Girls with CAH show more aggression in play and tend to have more male friends while girls without CAH play with other girls. There are many kinds of androgen-insensitivity syndrome. One involves a male having a sensitivity to prenatal androgen due to a mutated gene. At birth, their genitals are feminized and can even include a small vagina. This insensitivity causes male internal reproductive organs to remain undevelo ped. Girls can have partial androgen-insensitivity syndrome or complete androgen-insensitivity syndrome. Girls with CAIS develop typical genital external organs but their internal reproductive organs to  not function properly. Girls with PAIS are usually raised as boys but sometimes as girls. Research results show that women with PAIS have no difference in gender identity in comparison to women without although they are born with external masculinized genitalia. Three things that have effected the gender identity of my own are very simple and generic. Of course, I have external male genitalia which in turn makes the perception I have of myself lean more towards being a man. I was raised by mom and only my mom so being the man of the house was always being presented to me because I was also an only child. This masculinized my attitude overall and gave me an alpha male self-esteem at an early age. I played a lot of sports which exposed me to aggressive play and taught me how to play hard. One of my reasons is backed by biology and the other two are backed by environment. This doesn’t mean that environment has a larger affect on gender identity but it is the direction I chose to go when analyzing my own factors of determining my gender identity. In conclusion, there is still no real answer when the question is asked: nature or nurture? Gender identity is largely influenced by biology and prenatal androgens but parenting and encouraging by a primary caregiver can influence gender identity greatly. Many factors can determine gender identity and prenatal conditions can cause internal and external differences in genitalia which will affect both sex assignment and gender identity.

Teaching English Reflective Journal Essay

In TESOL class, I have learned that listening is a very important aspect of study of any language.   One way through which a second language learner learns a new language is by listening.   When they listen to the language above they use their â€Å"present linguistic competence†, to figure out the meaning of what they hear real time (Nunan 26).   Immediately, they connect the input information to their experience or something that they already know.   Using the cues in the situation, they then process the information to create â€Å"the meaning behind the words† (Nunan 24).   From this process, the language learners acquire language beyond their current level. Stephen Krashen has written many articles on second language acquisition and he describes listening as â€Å"a major source of comprehensible input† for second language learners (Nunan 25).  Ã‚   Stephen’s research has been very helpful in improving the way, a second language is taught today.   Teachers have applied different principles to improve their student’s listening skills in the classroom. In TESOL class, the bottom-up and top-down processing were discussed. The language teaching book by David Nunan defines them this way. The bottom-up processing emphasizes on details.   It focuses on â€Å"using component parts such as vocabulary, grammar, and the like, to process meaning† (Nunan 329).   And top-down processing focuses on â€Å"the general knowledge† and â€Å"life experience known as content schema or textual schema† (Nunan 27).  Ã‚   Basically, top-down processing activates learner’s background knowledge. In my opinion these two processes can be used interchangeably, if applied correctly, in accordance to the understanding of a student’s English language skills and needs.     I think either processes can work out to benefit all learners.   However, I think the bottom-up process can be more beneficial, especially for ESL learners considering that they are already learning about grammar, vocabulary and pronunciations. Their learning approach is similar to bottom-up processing, that focuses on details.   To start with, students can better approach basic foundation of the language from the bottom-up style and be able to gradually build their language skills like â€Å"building blocks† of language (Nunan 43).   This approach can give an upper hand to the teachers involved in language teaching, as they can teach many things like grammar rules, vocabulary, pronunciation, and intonation to students. It is important to know that focusing too much on details can lead stu dents to ignore the grammatical patterns, usage of the language and the meaning of lesson while they learn. I think top-down processing is more appropriate for someone who is proficient in language.   Those students are more likely to search for meaning of the language as a whole rather than looking at detail of the language.   It enables students to focus more on the larger and general information of the language (Nunan 27).   Looking at it globally, learners are able to remember the general information better and longer than dealing with specifics.   They can also easily relate the information to their past experience and knowledge (Nunan 26).   They will be able to easily activate information processing from top-down approach.   One disadvantage of the process would be that there is no time for students to review the details of the language while they process information. Given the limited benefit of each own process, I think both processes should be used in teaching so that the learners are able to see the information from bottom-up or top-down perspective. In TESOL book, the combination of the process is described as Interactive processing.   The interactive processing occurs when the top-down and bottom-up data are combined during the information processing (Nunan 29).   It activates the students to acquire language from the top and bottom approach. Teachers should use interactive processing as a teaching technique to complement their communicative teaching method.   If that learning strategy works out, students can become more proficient learner and can benefit their language fluency and accuracy skills. Reference Nunan, David. â€Å"Practical English Language Teaching.† First Edition. McGraw-Hill Companies: New York, 2003.