1991 Open-Ended Question

Prompt: Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write and essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning to the work.

 Response:

            In Shakespeare’s play Othello there are two contrasting locations: Venice and Cyprus.  Venice is a major port city with it’s own government and army, led by protagonist Othello, whereas Cyprus is a small island territory of Venice that is being fought over in a war with the Turks. Each of these locations has heavily contrasted physical and societal structures that add to the overall contrast seen in the two places and what they represent.

            Venice is where the play begins and the audience is first introduced to protagonist Othello.  In Venice, Othello, head of the Venetian army, is witnessed in a dispute with Brabantio over his daughter Desdemona.  The way that Othello settles this conflict is indicative of what Venice represents in Othello.  Othello uses his superior oration and logic to convince Brabantio and the Senate that although he ran off and married Desdemona without Brabantio’s permission, he should not be punished because he and Desdemona are in love and he is too important.  This conflict is settles in a very civilized and structured manner and the outcome is decided solely based on logic and reason and not emotion; each of these aforementioned characteristics highlight what the city of Venice represents.

            Contrasting Venice is the island of Cyprus, where the majority of the play takes place. In Cyprus life is much less civilized and structured than in Venice because they are essentially under military command as opposed to Venice, which follows the lead of the Senate and government. Iago, the villain of the play, acts out the majority of his heinous plan in Cyprus. One of the most important parts of Iago’s plan in convincing Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with Cassio.  Iago’s immense trickery used throughout his entire plan causes chaos to ensue in Cyprus when he convinces Roderigo to attack Cassio, which in turn causes Othello to abandon his superior logic and reason, as demonstrated in Venice, and act solely on his emotions.  In Othello, Cyprus exists to contrast Venice and represent an unstructured, chaotic society where decisions are made based on emotions rather than the logic and reason on Venice.

            The overall contrast between Venice and Cyprus adds immense literary value to the work as a whole.  Through the lens of this contrast a reader is able to see the drastic changes in Othello that cause him to murder his loving wife Desdemona so tragically.  In Venice, using the representation of structure, logic, and reason, the reader can see how eloquent, logical, and powerful Othello is. However, once in Cyprus, using the representation of chaos and emotional decisions, the reader can see how Othello lost control of his emotions and acted out of a jealous and unwarranted rant in killing Desdemona. The character development in Othello as he moves from Venice to Cyprus highlights his loss of a balance between emotion and reason, and it emphasizes Shakespeare’s message that a balance between emotion and reason is extremely important to one’s character, and without it people risk making the same mistakes as Othello did is murdering his wife for no good reason.