Othello and Crescent Essay

Introduction Present rise provides a comparative analysis of Shakespe atomic number 18s Othello and Abu-Jabers semilunar in terms of locating same and opposite themes. The theme that was chosen is even offation of Arabness as social, individual and ethnic category. There is no denying the importance of the item that twain whole kit depict the band of Arab people in westward civilisation, including western attitudes to them, their get perception of Western way of life and traditions and their dealing with other people. more(prenominal)over, both works serve as the instruments for revealing negative contours of Western societies, including racialist prejudices, which is in forkicular transparent in Othello. Based on the last mentioned reservations, present essay defends the thesis, which whitenedthorn be hypothesize as follows Shakespeares Othello and Abu-Jabers semilunar keep much in common due to the particular that beneath recurrent symbols and themes, such as love, perfidy etc. lies the telephone exchange theme of Arabness, reflected finished the prism of civilizations interchange, deviation and contradiction.The comparative analysis of Othello and crescent-shaped some(prenominal) Othello and Crescent have Arab people, found themselves in certain(prenominal) roles within Western civilization, as their main(prenominal) protagonists. The conflict between them and Western civilization takes place on different thematic levels, explained by the struggle in plots and diachronic surrounding. Sirine, the main protagonist of Cresent, is a chef at Lebanese restaurant in Los Angeles with Middle-Eastern cuisine. Her surrounding consists of the Arab people, umteen of whom were exiled or emigrated from Iraq due to political repressions.Sirines Arabness is naturalized by her sentimental intimacy to Iraqi uncle and a great interest in Iraqi history, finis and Muslim traditions in general. Notwithstanding the fact, that Sirine is success ful in America, she is rather lonely and still feels herself an immigrant, living in alien and unfriendly kitchen-gardening. The last mentioned speck of desolation is well described by the friend of Sirine, c all(prenominal)ed Um-Nadia The lonesomeness of the Arab is a terrible thing it is all-con midpointing.it threatens to swallow him social unit when he leaves his own country, even though he marries and travels and talks to friends twenty-four hours a day. (Abu Jaber,78) Hence, it is significant to origin that Sirines Arabness and conflicting status within Western civilization are not be in turn to terms and notions, bearing on direct political connotations. As Nouri Gana rightly suggests virtually Abu Jabers myth, perhaps one of the most glowing virtues of the novel is that it awakens the political in the reader by foxily staging how it bears on the individual and communal on a day-to-day basis (Gana, 237).The same may be said about Shakespeares Othello, where Ara bness is to a fault not addressed directly, but essentially talk terms through thematic, symbolical and cultural discourses. Unlike Crescents where the contradiction between cultures and civilization is represent as the toughy of adaptation, assimilation and longing for inherent country, Arabness in Othello is effected mainly in racist terms. However, the last mentioned racism should also be tacit as the instruments by means of which Shakespeare debunks aggressive, brutal, coward character of such members of Western civilization as Iago.The Arabness of Othello is initially represent through the mechanism of alienization, when he is named not by name, but as Moor and extravagant other, which immediately creates mental border between civilizations. (Othello 1. 1. 58 and 1. 1. 37). Here, the direct distinction in representing Arabness may be traced at the narrative level of Crescent. Unlike Othello, Hanif Al Eyad, who is an exiled Iraqi professor, does not experience direct ra cial prejudices, but problems of adapting to American society.What is more important, he has important problem of integrating in Arab American residential district, which is already assimilated into the wider American culture. In fact, Hanif finds himself in a difficult position of finding new contours of his Arabness, as he meets with new conditions of its existence in the American society. In the same vein, Sirine reconfigures her identity, when she starts working at Arab restaurant. Her lost Arab root come to existence, when she delves into her parents, old recipes and to begin cooking the favourite(a)but almost forgottendishes of her childhood (Abu Jaber, 22).Finally, when Hanif and Sirine meet, they are engaged in cultural interchange Sirine educates him about American and Hanif opens the culture of Iraq and the Arab macrocosm to Sirine. In this way, the Arabness is constituted in the contradictory multicultural way, when it becomes a mixed bag of American way of life, it s contradictions, immigrants culture and post-9/11 anti-Muslim syndrome, negatively experienced by Arab people, living in the US.Therefore, the Arabness in Crescent and Othello are constituted in distinctively different ways. Othellos racial and cultural difference is the main source of legitimization for brutal behavior of Roderigo, Iago and others, who cope with the transactionhips between Othello and Desdemona. In fact, Desdemona is the only protagonist, which opposes particularization of cultural differences and represents universality of human relationships. She sees in Othello neither Arab, nor exotic man, but a man, whom she loves.The write up in Othello is extensive with racial prejudices, which function as the markers of Arabness. At the low gear of the play, Iago wakes Brabantio up and tells him that an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe (1. 1. 89-90), referring to Othello. The relations between Othello and Desdemona are also presented by Iago through racist di scourse, your daughter covered with a Barbary horse (1. 1. 112), and reminds Brabantio of genetic consequences for his family, youll have your nephews neigh to you, (1. 1. 112-18). other(a) features of Othellos Arabness are reproduced mainly through the flick of his temperament and here we find Shakespeares life-sustaining edge, which uses then dominant racial prejudices of English gentry to depict their defected nature. Othello is depicted by Shakespeare as absent Western (Iago-type) virtues as cunningness, meanness, egoism, rationality, calculation, but endows him with trustful, kind, energetic temperament. The latter positive constitution of Arabness serves as the critique of Western society deficiencies and problems.Eventually, such features of Arabness result in tragical ending of Shakespeares play (Bartels, 458). Othello as Abu-Jaders protagonists also seems lonely in the Western world, where all are against him. Pain of loss, exile and loneliness, however, is presented i n Crescent in more sentimental quotidian way. For instance, it is evident when Sirines Iraqi uncle asks the Italian waiter in a restaurant Wouldnt you say that immigrants are sadder than other people? To which the latter responds, When we leave our nucleotide we fall in love with our sadness. (Abu-Jaber, 78).Another important theme, which runs through Abu-Jabers novel is clog of organism Arab. This idea is mainly propagated by Sirines uncle and defended through telling mythical stories from Arab history, depicting the suffering of Arab people. The difficulty of being Arab is also presented at the level of racialized and politicized metaphors, which represent Arabness in Western world and in fact distort satisfying culture of Arab people. In this way, Arabness is constituted as the ideological category, which has nothing to do with real life of Arab people (Gana, 241).The latter contradiction may be traced in Othello, when in fact our imaging of the main protagonist is constitu ted by eastern discourse. One of the major differences pertinent to the analyzed works is general narrative tone in which the latter discussed contradictions are presented. The contradictions of being Arab in the Western world in Cresent are presented through the depiction of Arab community daily life. The experience of Sirine and Hanif is characterized by sentimental feelings, loneliness, mental trauma etc.The conflict between cultures and civilizations is presented as the quotidian difficulties of communication, adaptation and active life. The romantic ties which joined Sirine and Hanif may be described as the part of sentimental representation of Arabness in Abu-Jabars novel. However, as it was noted above, even such approach to narration reveals much of the tensions and contradictions, experienced by immigrant Arabs. Unlike Crescent, Othello represents the secernate of contradictions between Western and Eastern civilization, which results in tragic implications for the destin y of individual people.Racial prejudices against Othello function as the legitimization of Iagos plot against him. The differences between temperament and culture of Othello and his latent rivals, hence, should be understood as the main driving force of Shakespeares tragedy. Conclusion To sum it up, Arabness may be described as the central theme in both Shakespeares and Abu-Jabers works. It is represented on the level of human relations and is not directly interpreted in political manner, however, certain ideological and political interpretations may be found.Racial prejudices in Othello serve as a tool for debunking negative features of Western civilization and human/universal features, reflected in Othellos temperament. In Crescent, the Arabness is presented through the prism of immigrants difficulty of adaptation, permanent feeling of pain, loneliness and lack of identity. In this way, the discussed theme has both similarities and difference in the discussed novels, explained by their distinct genres, historical and cultural surrounding.Works CitedAbu-Jaber, Diana. Crescent. New York Norton, 2003. Bartels, E. C. Making More of the Moor Aaron, Othello, and Renaissance Refashioning of Race. Shakespeare Quarterly vol. 41 454, 1990. Gana, Nouri. In Search of Andalusia reconfiguring Arabness in Diana Abu-Jabers Crescent. Comparative Literature Studies. Vol. 45, no. 2, 2008. The Pennsylvania cite University, University Park, PA. Shakespeare, W. Othello. The Complete Works of Shakespeare, ed. David Bevington, 3d edition. Glenview, IL Scott, Foresman, 1980.