Chapter 1. Introduction

Transcription

1 1 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1. Background of Choosing the Subject William Shakespeare is a prominent playwright who produces many works during the late 1580s in England. According to Bate and Rasmussen (2009), his career begins as an actor (playing two roles; as the ghost in Hamlet and Adam in As You Like It), but he realizes that he was never going to grow into a great comedian like Tarlton or a great tragedian like Alleyn (198). Thus, after the theatres are closed because of the plague during the seasons of , Shakespeare becomes one of the actors, writers and owners in a newly organized acting company sponsored by Lord Chamberlain, known as The Lord Chamberlain s Men, and later as the King s men (Bate and Rasmussen 149). His career evolves around the playhouses in London where people come to watch his play along the Borough of Southwark, the site of the public theatres and other popular entertainments such as bear-baiting, cock-fighting, and legal brothels (Hebron 26). Because of the absence of typewriters and photocopying machines, the company gets to know a new play through reading it aloud in which a copy would then have been taken to the Master of Revels for licensing (Bate and Rasmussen 204), and it is distributed to the actors by the theatre book holder or prompter. Shakespeare is believed by the researchers to go to a local grammar school, but he does not go to the university. Thus, he pays close attention to the work of the university-educated dramatists and starts writing his own plays. He

2 2 was the first to establish himself early in his career as an equal master of tragedy, comedy, and history (Bate and Rasmussen 199). When the compilers of the First Folio, published in 1623, came to decide on the order in which they would print the plays, they divided them into Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies (Wells 105). According to A.C. Bradley, Shakespearian tragedies are known as The Big Four: Hamlet ( ), Othello (1604), King Lear ( ), and Macbeth (1606). These stories share the same elements considered as tragedy that it is broadly applied especially to dramatic representations of serious actions which eventuate in a disastrous conclusion for the protagonist. Such a protagonist is exhibited as suffering a change in fortune from happiness to misery because of his mistaken choice of an action, to which he is led by his hamartia his error of judgement or, as it is often [wrongly] translated, his tragic flaw (Abrams ). Othello as one of Shakespearean tragedies is interesting to be analyzed, because the whole story does not only involve the formal elements of tragedy such as hamartia, peripeteia, anagnoresis, and catharsis, but also introduces a complexity in positioning the role of the characters. There are many issues that can be observed just by analyzing the characters. However, this paper is going to highlight Iago s traits. Iago is an interesting character to be investigated, because he actually drives the plot of the whole story and twists it with his revenge to Othello. Also, he plays an important role in creating problems among the characters that leads into a tragic end.

3 3 Having 272 speeches and 12 scenes on the stage (Bate and Rasmussen 23), Iago has his own charming way to hypnotize other characters and convince the readers/audiences to believe in him. He contributes to the idea of binary opposition that exists in Othello. Binary opposition is a pair of concepts that has opposite meaning and highlights the notion of otherness in Othello, such as black and white, good and evil, East and West. To some extent, Iago represents the twofaced man, a backstabber, who acts normally in front of his victims. Thus, these points are aligned with the notion of Machiavellian principles. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, Machiavel is a type of stage villain found in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama and named after the political theorists Niccolò Machiavelli, whose notorious book Il Principe (The Prince, 1513) justified the use of dishonest means to retain state power. while Merriam Webster Dictionary (2015) defines the term Machiavellian as the use of clever lies and tricks in order to get or achieve something. It is called Machiavellian, because the principles come from how Niccolo Machiavelli, a Florentine nobleman, observe people in power during Italy s downfall as a result of the invasion from France and Spain during his time of writing The Prince (Gauss 10). The main point of Machiavellian principles is it is often necessary for rulers to use supreme methods in order to achieve power and success. In this context, supreme methods serve the idea of negative senses that ignore other people s feelings. It is because the principles evolve around the idea of manipulating and corrupting others for the individual s personal gain.

4 4 Therefore, Iago and Machiavellian principles are intriguing to be analyzed in this undergraduate thesis as it indicates the possibilities of resemblance between those two. Aside from that, Iago s position and role in Othello are also analyzed to determine his traits for identifying the Machiavellian principles applied in them Objective of the Study The objective of the study is to identify the Machiavellian principles applied in Iago s traits Focus of Examination In line with the objectives of this paper, the focus of examination is the Machiavellian principles and the villainous traits of Iago in Othello Scope of the Study Since this paper examines the characteristics of Iago and his roles in Othello and analyzes the Machiavellian principles applied in them, the scope of the study covers the historical background of how Machiavelli writes The Prince where the principles come from. By examining it, the position and role of Iago can be determined. This enables the present writer to give a clear picture on how people should act to gain power and success that leads to the analysis of Machiavellian principles applied in Iago s traits.

5 Theoretical Approach Dynamic structuralism proposed by Mukarovsky (1975) is applied in this paper, as it is not only approaching the intrinsic element of the play, but also the environment of the society such as cultural and historical background that changes through times. This means that the analysis focuses largely on the primary data taken from the novel while the secondary data are also important to acquire a full comprehension of the novel; as Mukarovsky suggests it in Sastra dan Ilmu Sastra (Teeuw 190): The work of art manifest itself in its inner structure, in its relation to reality, and also in its relation to society, to its creator, and its recipient. In this context, the cultural and social background during the Italian Renaissance and Elizabethan period reflect the relation of both Machiavellian principles and Othello to society and the recipient. According to Hurley (2009), there is no evidence if Machiavelli has influenced Shakespeare. However, Hurley believes that the educated British people have read Machiavelli s book in Italian and Latin version, so they consider Machiavelli as a notion of corruption and treachery. This becomes the motivation of Shakespeare writing about Machiavellian characters in some of his tragedies. As the cultural and social background against which the artifact is perceived changes, the interpretation and evaluation of the work of art will change accordingly (Fokkema 31). The changes are caused by the literary work s function as a communication tool and cultural process that describes thoughts, feelings, and situation. Mukarovsky (1975) believes that as a piece of art, a literary work

6 6 has an aesthetic value that defines how the receiver accepts the dynamic character, leading to the dynamic value and norm. Aesthetic value is not a static concept, but a process that evolves against the background of the actual artistic tradition and in relation to the ever-changing cultural and social context (Fokkema 33). Thus, this undergraduate thesis focuses on how the literary work manifests itself to a certain layer in the society, political view in seeing how power should be gained. It highlights the historical background of Machiavelli that creates the concept of Machiavellian principles to see if they are applied in Iago s traits. Nonetheless, this undergraduate thesis is not going to identify all intrinsic area of the play. It covers only Iago s traits and their connection with Machiavellian principles, analyzing them from Iago s way to deliver his thoughts to the audience and influence other characters Method of Research The method of collecting the data in this study is a library research. The sources are not only taken from the written materials in the library, but also from online databases such as JSTOR to access journals and previous essays about the related topics. Nonetheless, the primary data of the research are taken from the literary work, Shakespeare s Othello. The secondary data are used to support and elaborate the historical background of Shakespeare s lifetime. Concurrently, the method of analyzing the data starts with understanding the position of Shakespeare and the genre of his works. Then, it is narrowed down to tragedy and Othello as one of The Big Four. Iago is taken from the story whose

7 7 traits are analyzed. His dialogues between Iago and other characters are highlighted, because it is important to see him stand out as a conspicuous character throughout the play, especially his soliloquy that invites the audiences attention. After focusing on Iago s traits, Machiavellian principles are investigated by perusing the historical background of how Machiavelli writes The Prince that represents the idea of power, known as Machiavellianism of Machiavelli and its science of statecraft. After that, the major analysis begins with matching Iago s traits and the Machiavellian principles to meet a conclusion if some of them are applied in his traits Literature Review Othello is one of Shakespeare s major works, and there are other researchers who use the literary work as their primary data. However, only a few are found to analyze Iago as a character, and his role in Othello. One of them is Iago s Profile in Othello by William Shakespeare found in Faculty of Cultural Sciences library, written by Estri Oktarena (2004). The theoretical approach is the same as this paper. Both papers are using dynamic structuralism by Mukarovsky, not only approaching the intrinsic criteria of the play, but also the environment outside. Nevertheless, Estri s undergraduate thesis focuses on Othello as a play and emphasizes the theaters life in London such as The Globe, The Chamberlin s Men, etc. She also explains the characters in Othello and reflects women s life in that era which is not discussed in this paper. When the researcher analyzes Iago,

8 8 she does not see it from the Machiavellian s perspectives like this undergraduate thesis. Another similar research done by Ken Jacobsen (2009) from the University of Chicago is Iago s Art of War: The Machiavellian Moment in Othello. He breaks down some prominent dialogues in Othello and compares them with points believed as Machiavellian traits. However, Jacobsen s focus is wider than this paper, because Jacobsen also focuses on other characters and their relation to the military skills. Karl F. Zender (1994) writes a paper entitled The Humiliation of Iago. The similarity with this paper is that it is analyzing Iago s motives from the plot. In spite of that, Zender compares the language in Othello with other Shakespeare s work such as As You Like It without mentioning any of Machiavellian characteristics. R.M.Christofides (2010), in Early Modern Literature Studies, writes Iago and Equivocation: The Seclution and Damnation of Othello. He highlights the language used by Iago as a villain and how it influences Othello as the tragic hero. Christofides analyzes the characteristics of Iago, but unlike this research, he uses post-structuralist theory as the approach. Robert C. Evans (2001) in his essay Flattery in Shakespeare s Othello: The Relevance of Plutarch and Sir Thomas Elyot mentions Iago as a satanic Machiavel (2), but he compares the play with Plutarch s Moralia, a work that is not discussed in this paper. Also, Evans does not give a deep analysis on why he

9 9 considers Iago as a satanic Machiavel. His focus is only comparing Iago with Plutarch s Moralia. Therefore, this paper is different from the ones mentioned previously, because its focus is narrowed only to Iago from Othello as a villain and analyzes the Machiavellian principles applied in Iago s traits Presentation This paper is divided into four chapters. Chapter one is introduction. The following chapter two describes the intrinsic elements of Othello and the historical background of Machiavelli. Chapter three emphasizes on the Machiavellian principles in Iago s traits. The last chapter is the conclusion.