JC H2 Lit Group (with Cheryl and Nathan) paper on Comparison questions - Othello X WW

Qn: Discuss the presentation of aspirations in the two texts you have studied (in two formats)

Introduction:

Text A → manifestation of idea + significance

Text B → manifestation of idea + significance

UTF (only if relevant) 

Format #1 :

First manifestation: 

• Similarity + (significance)
• Difference + (significance)

Second manifestation: 

• Similarity + (significance)  
• Difference + (significance)

Third manifestation: 

• Similarity + (significance) 
• Difference + (significance)

Format #2: (one pair of characters)

Cause 

Process

Results/Consequences

aka:

Text A cause

Text B cause

Text A Process

Text B Process

Text A Results/Consequences

Text B Results/Consequences

Format #1:

OI: Regardless of the nature of aspiration possessed by the characters, as long as they are useful to the society at large (in which society benefits from it), they will not suffer the consequences of being unable to fulfil their duty because of society's rejections.

Othello and Maxine

a) Similarity: Both characters are not accepted into society but still seek to establish their own identities, against societal norms. 

Othello:

• “The Moor” + “thick lips” → denouncing him to only his skin colour and (racially distinctive) characteristics instead of his name or position
• “To fall in love with what she feared to look on?” → uses Othello’s race as an argument point against the marriage
• “To vouch this is no proof” → Duke wanted proof, showing that Brabantio’s racially charged grievances against Othello is unjustified, thereby showing Brabantio’s racism against Othello (not accepted into society)
• “Most potent, grave and reverend signors, my very noble and approved good masters” → eloquence of speech is different from what society perceives what a black man should be (barbaric)
• “Or with some dram conjured to this effect” → Believing that Othello used supernatural ways to woo his daughter as the only explanation for Desdemona falling for him
• “She loved me for the dangers I had passed” → Proving that Othello does not conform to societal expectation of black men

Maxine:

• Pg 48. “nobody supports me at the expense of his own adventure. Then i get bitter: no one supports me; i am not loved enough to be supported” lack of acceptance even from her family. 
• Pg 47. “I refused to cook. When i had to wash the dishes, I would crack one or two” as opposed to being “a wife or a slave” → Maxine’s personal ideals do not match what is expected of her from her family, representative of the immigrants?. Reinforced by “even now, unless i’m happy, i burn the food when i cook. i do not feed people. i let the dirty dishes rot.” Absolutes plus brevity of sentences highlights Maxine’s resoluteness in wanting to be different from the norm. 
• Pg 46. “I’m not a bad girl… not a girl” indignance. association of “bad” with “girl” and her refusal of this belief again highlights that her mindset is dissimilar to her parents’
• Pg 47. “And all the time i was having to turn myself American-feminine” 
• Pg 52 “ When i visit… fundamentally”, Pg 53 “ make this concession” 
• Pg 53. “ I refuse to shy my way anymore through our Chinatown, which tasks me with the olds sayings and the stories”
   

b) Difference: Society's disapproval of Othello is not explicitly said (until he breaks social norms because of his usefulness in the military) whereas the disapproval of Maxine is explicitly told to her. Fundamental difference here is that Othello's aspirations are driven by Desire to fit in (influenced by society) whereas Maxine's is for personal gain.

Othello:

• "Let him do his spite my services which I have done the signiory shall out-tongue his complaints" pg209
• “my parts, my title, and my perfect soul shall manifest me rightly”  pg210
• Duke says: “I think this tale would win my daughter too”
• “Your son-in-law is far more fair than black” pg233
• Desdemona: “I saw Othello’s visage in his mind, and to his honours and his valiant parts did i my soul and fortunes consecrate”
  → Highlights the initial respect of Othello in Venice because of is usefulness in protecting Venice. However, this desire to fit in is ultimately undermined through the manifestation of his jealousy and insecurities.
• “"Haply, for I am black and have not those soft parts of conversation that chamberers have, or for I am declined into the vale of years,--yet that's not much-- She's gone" pg298
  
• “ look on the tragic loading of this bed: This is thy work. The object poisons sight”
  → Shows how Othello once again loses his place in Venice after losing his usefulness

Maxine: 

• the whole of page 46: “You know how girls are… I stopped getting straight A’s” The idea of EDUCATION here is PARAMOUNT to understanding the difference in reaction. As in, why is her Education and its reception so different to that of her mother’s? (maybe can ask the class this question?) Idea of American success vs Chinese Success?
• Pg 52. “I live now where there are Chinese and Japanese, but no emigrants from my own village looking at me as if i have failed them” implying that her existence/choices have failed her society?
• “But i am useless, one more girl who couldn’t be sold” - no distinction between herself and other women → her success are American. She is not a wife or a slave. Her aspiration are incongruent to (chinese) societal norms. 

Significance:

Although both characters are shown to be excluded in their society due to societal norms (Othello in a predominantly white Venetian society and Maxine in a society where it is “better to raise geese than girls”), their usefulness and therefore aspiration determines if society implicitly or explicitly rejects them. Outcasts in society who aspire to serve their own purpose are more likely to be further ostracised from society, whereas the aspiration to serve the society mostly results in their less explicit rejection of the character, showing that their desire to serve either themselves or society is the determining factor for societal acceptance and thereby showing the pragmatism of society. 

Iago and No-Name-Woman

a) Similarity: Both characters are fueled by intentions of revenge. Their aspirations are self-serving and detrimental to the stability in society. (Assumption here is that NNW’s death was a spite suicide, as Maxine said). Ultimately, they are both punished in some form- Iago in his torture and NNW in erasing her from the family history.

Iago:

• “His Moorship’s ensign” + “By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman!”

• “Whether I in any just term am assigned to love the Moor?”
• “I hate the Moor, and it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets he’s done my office”
• “Dull not device by coldness and delay”
• “The Moor already changes with my poison”

NNW:

• “she was too shortsighted to see that her infedelity had already harmed the village, the waves of consequence would  return unpredictably” pg13
• “They’ve hurt me too much,” “This is gall, and it will kill me”
• “an agoraphobia rose in her, speeding higher and higher, bigger and bigger; she would not be able to contain it; there would be no end to fear”
• “I am telling on her, and she was a spite suicide, drowning herself in the drinking water

b) Difference: Their aspirations were manifested in different forms and impacts other characters differently. Iago’s revenge manifests itself by manipulating Othello to go mad using speech and theatricality. NNW physically drowns herself after the house has been raided. She evokes a sense of righteousness in Maxine through her defiance of social norms in a final rebellion to society for punishing her unduly. However ultimately, it is Iago’s utility to society that allows him to succeed, whereas NNW’s visible disruption of the village’s “roundness” results in her being forgotten. 

Iago:

• “You have done well, that men must lay their murders on your neck!”
• “You told a lie, an odious damned lie, upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie”
• “Let him not pass, but kill him rather”
• “The woman falls: sure he hath killed his wife”
• “O thou, Othello, that was once so good, fallen in the practice of a damned slave”
• “Demand me nothing: what you know, you know”

NNW:

• “Don’t tell anyone you had an aunt. Your father does not want to hear her name. She has never been born”
• “The real punishment was not the raid swiftly inflicted by the villagers, but the family’s deliberately forgetting her”
• "I alone devote the pages of paper to her"
• "Don’t humiliate us. You wouldn't like to be forgotten as if you had never been born. The villagers are watchful"
• "Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one"

Significance: Both characters retain a usefulness to their society, albeit a low one (Iago- Ensign, NNW is a female). However, their actions before their demise differentiate the societal reactions to the manifestations of their aspiration. Despite Iago’s capture and implied torture, for most of the play, he is successful in his goals and even in destabilising society. whereas for NNW, her story continues as a cautionary tale, but in doing so, she is labelled an outcast in society. Her aspiration of revenge is not exacted since the family has deliberately chosen to forget her, limiting the amount of influence she can exact on society. Hence from this comparison it is evident that utility in the eyes of society is essential in furthering the manifestations of personal aspiration. 

Fa Mu Lan and Desdemona

a) Similarity: Both characters’ aspirations are driven by their duty to society

Fa Mu Lan:

• pg 23: “You can avenge your village,” “You can recapture the harvests the thieves have taken. You can be remembered by the Han people for your dutifulness” 
• “We didn’t work this hard to save just two boys, but whole families”pg32
• “Now my public duties are finished,” “I will stay with you, doing farmwork and housework, and giving you more sons”
  → Fa Mu Lan is driven by her duty to protect her village and once those duties have been fulfilled, she is able to return to her family and fulfil her role as a housewive 

Desdemona:

• “Out of my sight!” + “I will not stay to offend you” (“Truly, an obedient lady”)
• “Whate’er you be, I am obedient”
• “A guiltless death I die” + “O banish me, my lord, but kill me not!” + “Kill me tomorrow, let me live tonight!” + “But half an hour? But while I say one prayer?” → She has done nothing wrong and yet still begs for forgiveness and begs to delay her death, showing that to fulfil her duty, Desdemona is even willing to die despite being “guiltless”
• “Commend me to my kind lord” → even when near death, she fulfils her duty as Othello’s wife by lying hiding the murderer’s identity from Emilia, insisting that it was not Othello who had killed her when it was clearly the case.

b) Desdemona’s duty is to fulfil her goal (ie finding a husband) but only in its bare minimum form. Once she attains this, her aspiration freezes/is non existent. whereas for FML, her aspiration for improvement to society continues even after she has overthrown the emperor. (ie she was expected to be a wife and a slave and she fulfilled that but ALSO was a national hero) she fulfilled both the duty to herself and to her society. 

FML:

• Pg 45. “Now my public duties are finished...more sons” 
• Pg 23. “You can avenge your village… remembered by the Han people for your dutifulness” 
• Pg 45. “They would sacrifice a pig to the gods that I had returned”
• Pg 45. “The villagers would make a legend about my perfect filiality”

Desdemona: 

• “Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?”
• “Your wife, my lord, your true and loyal wife”
• “I never did offend you in my life; never loved Cassio, but with such general warranty of heaven as I might love”

• “No, by my life and soul - Send for the man, and ask him.”

• “A guiltless death I die”
• “My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty. To you I am bound for life and education.” 

Significance:

Despite having the same aspiration - to fulfil their duties, both characters encountered different outcomes. Desdemona was met with death while Fa Mu Lan was praised and honoured, showing again that regardless of aspiration, as long as the characters’ actions are benefitting society as a whole and not just the individual, society will not harshly condemn the character, displaying the logical and realistic point of view of society.

Format #2:

Maxine’s mindset diverges from that of the society whereas Desdemona’s expectation of herself fulfils the Venetian Societal norms for a woman. Their shared aspiration to pursue their own forms of happiness leads both to deviate from the norm. However, Desdemona’s rash and explicit rejection of society eventually leads to her demise, whereas Maxine’s decision to develop her mindset under the guise of adhering to expectations of the community allows her ambition to slowly shift as her society does, ultimately resulting in her acceptance in society. 

→ ( continuous and shifting aspiration vs a short-term goal?)

Maxine + Desdemona

Cause: desire to be different from the norm (similarity)

Woman Warrior: 

• “I will - I must - rise and plow the fields as soon as the baby is out”
• “If i took the sword, which my hate must surely have forged out of the air, and gutted him, I would put colour and wrinkles into his shirt.” 
• “I would find a way out; I had to learn about dying if I wanted to be a swordswoman.”
• “I refuse to shy my way anymore through our Chinatown” vs “I minded that the emigrant villagers shook their heads at my sister and me”
• “A husband may kill a wife who disobeys him. Confucius said that.” Confucius, the rational man.” (pg 193)

Othello:

• “And she, in spite of nature, Of years, of country, credit, everything, To fall in love with what she feared to look on?” plus what follows which reinforces it. Establishes that Desdemona’s choice of a husband is not the norm. Allusions to hell illustrate the extent of its unnaturalness
• “She loved me for the dangers I had passed,And I loved her that she did pity them.” Desdemona does not despise the norm. She marries for Love, rather than status/money. Pure intentions? (eg she doesn’t marry to spite her father)
• “My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty. To you I am bound for life and education. My life and education both do learn me How to respect you. You are the lord of duty. I am hitherto your daughter. But here’s my husband.” Recognises that her decisions have an impact. Personal aspirations (of love) override/supersede those of society (ie to marry a rich WHITE man). Perhaps link to societal goals like utilitarianism and white supremacy (Iago’s mentality)

Significance: it is possible deviate from the norm and still be accepted as a member of society. However, the extent of this acceptance varies according to the physical manifestations of aspiration in terms of status in the social hierarchy. 

Process: Desdemona married Othello, Maxine uses other ways to express her disdain towards society (difference)

Woman Warrior:

• You must not tell anyone” (pg 3) + “Don’t tell anyone you had an aunt. Your father does not want to hear her name. She has never been born” + “I alone devote pages of paper to her”
• “I refused to cook. When I had to wash the dishes, I would crack one or two”
• “Even now, unless I’m happy, I burn the food when I cook. I do not feed people.”

Othello:

• “It was his bidding. Therefore, good Emilia,Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu.We must not now displease him.” remains Mentally subservient still, adhering to the norms in terms of Mindset. 
• “My lord shall never rest, I’ll watch him tame and talk him out of patience.” Desdemona attends to Othello and bases her actions from him, letting him guide her, as opposed to Bianca and Cassio

Significance: 

The manifestation of their deviation from the norm is different with Desdemona refuting the societal norms by marrying Othello despite objections from her father while Maxine does her job poorly to show her disdain towards societal norms. The explicit retaliation of Desdemona will lead her to her demise, showing that society does not tolerate blatant abandonment of societal norms.

Consequences: Desdemona dies, Maxine’s viewpoint of society changes (attains maturity?)

Woman Warrior: 

• Last chapter “A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe” features a shift in Narrator’s voice from 3rd person to 1st person, suggesting that Maxine managed to find her personal voice (link to tongue-cutting, the silent girl and no-name woman ie the fact that Maxine retells the story despite being told not to) (maybe even discuss the irony in tongue-cutting itself)
•  “Walking erect (knees straight, toes pointed for ward, not pigeon-toed, which is Chinese-feminine) and speaking in an inaudible voice, I have tried to turn myself American-feminine)(?) vs “I’ll send the relatives money, and they’ll write me stories about their hunger” and “I’d like to go to China and see those people and find out what’s a cheat story and what’s not.”

Othello:

• “A guiltless death I die.” Death without a cause. 
• “Nobody. I myself. Farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. Oh, farewell!”Desdemona’s death arises from her own lack of independence. Her aspirations as an individual become inhibited when she marries Othello and indirectly submits her (freewill) to him. Iago’s machinations highlight these to Othello but ultimately it is Desdemona’s own deeds (losing the handkerchief, begging Othello to reinstate Cassio) which result in her destruction. 

Significance: the appearance of adhering to the norm is what allows Maxine to fulfil her aspirations. In contrast, Desdemona’s rebellion against the norms, and the intentions derived by Iago to Othello (that her infidelity risks the balance in Venetian society) leads to her death. Here it is evident that Societal agendas do not have to be aligned with personal aspirations, however the diverging of the two (or the knowledge of it) is what inhibits the success of Aspiration.