NOT ENOUGH SPACE TO PUT TITLE HERE! Essay, Research Paper

Title: Character Identities in Othello and A Streetcar Named Desire by:SG

When examining both William Shakespeare?s Othello as well as Tennessee Williams? A Streetcar Named Desire, one can not help but notice the stunning array of characters; each with their own and distinct personal identities. From Blanche Dubois in Streetcar to the evil Iago in Othello, personalities run wild and please us all with their similarities, differences, and intertwining complexities. While many of the characters in these particular plays exhibit strong differences in their identities, in comparison to other characters in their respective plays, the identity resemblance of characters from one play to the other is nothing short of astonishing. Moreover, one cannot help but feel that their personal identity correspond with those of the characters in these plays. Blanche Dubois with Iago, Stella Kowalski with Desdemona. Although the dissimilarities of their identities from other characters in their respective plays are unequivocal, when carefully examined in the aforementioned pairs, striking similarities tend to emerge.

A Streetcar Named Desire?s Blanche Dubois has a personality and identity very similar to that of Iago in Shakespeare?s Othello. Blanche?s character is one of ambition, hopes, dreams, and goals. Nonetheless, it was also one of lies, deception, and eventual tragedy. Correspondingly, Iago?s personality also displays characteristics of deception, manipulation, and lies while at the same time, also being filled with ambition and goal setting. Throughout A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche demonstrates to us just how ambitious she is and how much she is looking forward to the future. She has dreams of, one day, starting up a flower shop with her sister Stella or running away to live a wonderful life with her friend, the opulent Shep Huntleigh. She completely ignores the wants and feelings of those surrounding her and aims at achieving only the things that are beneficial to her. Blanche demonstrates, throughout the play, that her goals tend to cloud her judgement, making her egocentric qualities apparent for to all to see. Similarly, Shakespeare?s Iago, also has dreams and ambitions about, one day, becoming Othello?s Lieutenant as well as becoming successful and wealthy. Iago makes evident to us, throughout the play, that he will stop at nothing to get what he wants and, that his need for self-fulfillment, must be satisfied at all costs. Blanche and Iago also share deceitful elements to their identities which, in turn, allow them to get whatever it is that they long for. For example, Iago deceives everyone around him and cozens them into thinking that he is an honest and caring man when, really inside, he is an evil and cynical one. Blanche?s lies and deception also center on her want to attain success. Throughout the course of A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche puts on an elaborate act for her sister Stella and her sister?s husband Stanley Kowalski. By not telling them about the loss of the family estate in Laurel Mississippi and about her evident psychological problems, Blanche also tried to maintain a good and honest reputation but, at the end, similarly to Iago, she failed to do so. Aside from the obvious parallelism of Blanche?s and Iago?s identities, these two characters sustain identities containing several elements of characteristic uniqueness.

A Streetcar Named Desire?s Blanche Dubois as well as Othello?s Iago have certain elements contained within their personal identities which make them most unique. While Iago is a direct and physical man, Blanche is a delicate flower, in a sense. Iago is a violent man. Unlike Blanche who is like a fragile and delicate moth, harmless to all, Iago is a violent, strong in his ways type of man. Although Blanche exhibits the same aspirations for success, as does Iago, she never resolves to violence or to bringing others down in order to attain this success. As mentioned, she does not really care a great deal about the needs and wants of other?s around her so long as she is happy. However, she never causes anyone else any harm attempting to get what she wants or to fulfill her wish of living in her fantasy world. Iago, on the other hand, in his personality does not know when to draw the line when it comes to reaching for success. His vindictive and evil personality and identity causes him to have people fired from their jobs, humiliated, or even murdered. He does all of these things to others simply to secure what, he feels, is rightfully his, success. Another major dissimilarity in the personalities of Iago and Blanche is that, unlike Iago, Blanche holds a trustworthy quality. While throughout the play Othello Iago attempts to make everyone regard him as honest, deep inside, he is really none such man. On the other hand Blanche, with regard to honesty, has a character completely disparate from that of Iago?s. Although in A Streetcar Named Desire she does not display a completely honest image (she lies about the estate in laurel etc?), she does not try nearly as had as does Iago to maintain an honest reputation with everyone. Blanche even allowed her sister?s husband Stanley to look through all the records of her estate freely, ?go ahead, peruse them..?, she stated to him, as is finally revealing her honest nature to him. Also, near the end of the play, Blanche comes out with the truth about her estate and her many emotional and psychological problems while, throughout the play Othello, Iago never tells the truth to anyone and attempts to maintain an honest image until the very end when he is taken away to be tortured then killed. In those aspects, the characters of Blanche and Iago are truly distinct. These distinct as well as similar aspects of character identities in A Streetcar Named Desire and Othello are evident not only in the characters of Iago and Blanche, but also in those of Desdemona and Stella Kowalski.

Othello?s Desdemona and A Streetcar Named Desire?s Stella Kowalski share some very strong components to their personal identities. In fact, one can cogently argue that Stella is simply a 16th century Desdemona. Their characters are so strikingly similar that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible to find any dissimilarities among them. Desdemona who is Othello?s wife in Shakespeare?s Othello, is often characterized as being a kind woman who is honest, helpful to others and loyal to her loving husband. In the play Othello, Desdemona is one of the few ?honest? people who actually live up to their initial character. Most everyone else in the play demonstrates that they are either evil, cynical, or jealous but Desdemona maintains an honest and caring image throughout the play. When Cassio came to her for help in getting back his lieutenancy, she never even gave second though to helping out a fellow human being and, promptly, begged Othello to reinstate Cassio. Naturally, with Othello being a traditional Shakespearean tragedy, Desdemona?s kindness eventually let to her demise. Yet, aside from that fact, she still manages to make evident her compassionate and caring personality to all. Similarly to Desdemona, A Streetcar Named Desire?s Stella Kowalski is also a caring and compassionate woman. When Blanche came to her at the beginning of the play, Stella never hesitated to take her into her home. Stella knew that Blanche would likely not take well to her husband who was different from the men that they used to date in Laurel. Nevertheless, she saw a person in obvious need and, being the caring person she is, lent a helping hand to her sister. Throughout the play, Stella made sure that her sister was well taken of. She was well aware of Blanche?s many emotional and psychological problems and tried her best to make Blanche?s stay as comfortable as possible. On many occasions, she ran to the nearby drugstore to get Blanche a ?Lemon Coke? or anything else which made Blanche?s stay more complacent. Her caring and compassionate nature, like Desdemona?s was evident from the beginning of the play, to the very end.

Stella?s and Desdemona?s characters are similar, not only in their caring and compassionate qualities, but also in their constancy and loyalty to their husbands who, as it were, are both considered ?outsiders?. In Tennessee William?s A Streetcar Named Desire, Stella remains loyal to her husband throughout the play. Despite him being an outsider by Blanche?s ?high-class? ideals, Stella remains with her husband and maintains her loyalty to him. Even after Stanley beat her and humiliated her in front of everyone and after Blanche questioned how she could be with such a man, Stella still opted to stay with her husband whom she patently loved very much. Her devotion to her husband throughout the play was nothing short of remarkable and is, yet another, elucidation of her thoughtful and caring nature; a part of her whole identity. Like Stella, Desdemona also showed a strong devotion to her husband, Othello. In Venice, Othello was too an outsider. He was disliked by Desdemona?s father and by Iago (mind you Iago hated everyone). Nevertheless, Desdemona stuck by him in times of hardship. Despite what Othello believed or what anyone had advised him, Desdemona had always maintained her fidelity while with Othello. In all instances, she still believed that her husband was a kind and gentle man. This was the image that she probably took with her to her grave. Even when Othello killed her at the end of the play due to his jealousy, Desdemona still never revealed who it was that killed her. When she could have screamed out his name and incriminated him for the crime, she chose to remain silent and let free the husband who she once so loved. When examining the identities of Desdemona and Stella Kowalski, one can easily conclude that they truly represent the strongest character linkage between A Streetcar Named Desire and Othello.

Blanche and Iago in addition to Desdemona and Stella are only two of the many examples of how the qualities of fictional characters can carry over from one book to another as well as be similar to those of real-life people. By examining these characters and their identities, we can clearly understand how their omnipresence help make literature more interesting. Without characters having distinct identities to help us differentiate one character from another, entire plots would crumble. We must all be thankful for skilled writers such as Shakespeare and Williams who make their wondrous tales come alive with characters so similar yet so distinct by use of their varying identites. With that in mind, let us note something about our own identities. Like British philosopher Allen Watts once wrote, ?Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth?. Meaning that it just cannot be done.