Destruction is defined as ‘Causing great negative and irreparable injury or harm. ‘1 But so on the other manus love is defined as ‘a strong positive emotion of respect and fondness ‘ . 2A Based on merely the definition of both words the phrase ‘destructive love ‘ is an oxymoron ; how can love perchance be destructive as its negative and love is defined to be ‘ a positive emotion ‘ ; since both words contradict each other, if love becomes destructive was it existent love to get down with?
A In all three texts, the authors explore the impact of a parental relationship holding an impact on destructive love ; In Plath ‘s ‘Collected Poems ‘ she explores the influence of parental love on her ain relationship and going a female parent herself. In ‘Morning Song ‘ she portrays an fond parental love between a female parent and a kid. The beginning of the verse form starts with “ Love set you traveling like a fat gold ticker ” The gap line has a combination of personification, metaphors and a simile ; ab initio the usage of love being ‘set ‘ portrays a more negative response to the reader as love can non be set which suggests that the parental love shown has to be simulated. The birth of the kid is equated to ‘gold ‘ , the usage of ‘gold ‘ could intend the kid is difficult to love as it ‘s difficult and cold to touch or else it could propose that the kid is cherished and is valued in the eyes of the parents. Plath uses a corporate pronounA ” our ” A to foreground that it is the engagement of the parents in the construct of the babe and that it is the duty of both the female parent and male parent to value and expression after the kid when it is born. The first stanza is in the past tense and the remainder of the verse form is in the present tense, Plath does this to associate that when ‘love ‘ is supposed to be at that place ab initio it is all in the past and one time the babe is born the love between the female parent and male parent alterations as the male parent and his love is ne’er mentioned in the present tense foregrounding how parental love could be efficaciously destructive.
In add-on, Plath uses the talker who has merely given birth to get down to experience less attached to its kid, “ Than the cloud that distils a mirror to reflect its ain slow/ effacement at the air current ‘s manus. ” The kid is a ‘mirror ‘ image of the female parent, but she wants this image to be lasting and knows that she ca n’t keep onto this for long, the talker realises that the kid will bit by bit get down to set up independent personhood accordingly feels less expressively attached to the kid which so causes a destructive love between the female parent and kid. The simile, “ clear vowels rise like balloons ” A suggests the feeling of the babe turning up and distancing off both physically as they grow older but besides in footings of her parental love towards the babe. Throughout the poem Plath uses the talker to use a assortment of gloomy images including a statue-like description of her kid and a comparing of maternity to the “ slow effacement ” of a cloud to demo the talkers parental love. The usage of ‘new statue ‘ emphasizes that the kid has no feelings and that the talker can non give any love towards it due to it being exanimate. This point closely links back to the description of the term ‘gold ‘ earlier which could ‘ve either meant the babe was being described as cherished or a cold, difficult, unloving object as such.
The verse form ‘Daddy ‘ by Plath is a psychotherapeutic text which reveals the nature of her parental relationship with her male parent. As the verse form seems to foreground facets of Plath ‘s life we can presume that it is about Plath herself. The footing of this verse form is so that Plath can eliminate herself of these over-whelming emotions as she feels abandoned by her male parent after his decease proposing a parental destructive love influenced in her poesy. Plath uses the verse form ‘Daddy ‘ to symbolize the ‘Nazi ‘ in the verse form to be her male parent because he is German. The ‘Jew ‘ being her which consequently relates back to her ain personal life experiences as she states “ Daddy, I have to kill you ” proposing that she has to eliminate his control that he has over her. There are strong metaphors conveyed throughout the verse form as ‘feet ‘ and ‘shoes ‘ are invariably being referred back to ; “ Any more, black shoe ” . The shoe could stand for a defender over the pes, where the shoe could be a metaphor for her male parent and the pes being the speaker.. The adjectival ‘black ‘ links to a different reading because it suggests the thought of the pes being trapped and the coloring material associates to decease which means due to the thought of smothering the ‘foot ‘ could do a destructive parental love.
In the verse form ‘You ‘re ‘ , Plath once more shows parental love but addresses an implied hearer ; it ‘s in the signifier of a dramatic soliloquy which makes the reader understand the she is turn toing her unborn kid. There are 9 lines in each stanza which links back to the 9 month gestation period proposing the verse form is about parental love. The rubric, ‘You ‘re ‘ is the conveying together of two words which could associate back to the verse form and the love between a female parent and kid. Destructive love about this? ?
In contrast to Plath ‘s personal poesy Shakespeare dramatizes the relationship between male parent and girl to research issues of gender and societal position. In Othello destructive love is straight influenced by external factors such as Desdemona ‘s male parent, ‘Brabantio ‘ as he is against their love and matrimony. The ground why her male parent is against it is influenced by the attitudes of the Elizabethan epoch ; where witchery was common and accordingly he accuses Othello of witchery: “ Thou has practic ‘d on her with foul appeals, /Abus ‘d her delicate young person with drugs or minerals ” . At the clip during the Elizabethan epoch, inkinesss were considered to be savages, and homicidal pagans. It is a really rare thing that a black adult male would be able to obtain the rank of general in a preponderantly Caucasic ground forces. It caused rather a spot of green-eyed monster among the other officers functioning under Othello. 3 However, Desdemona ‘s male parent, Brabantio and the mainstream of Venetians found it unbearable for Desdemona, a white adult female of high category to get married a black adult male. Piddling credence was given to Othello because of his headship as the Moor. Brabantio stated that Othello had a “ coal-black bosom ” , a “ disgusting stealer ” and a matrimony “ Against all regulations of nature ” . This is grounds to turn out his racism towards him that merely because “ he hast thou stow ‘d ” his girl he does non like him proposing Brabantio being a parental influence to their destructive love.
Desdemona says she has a “ divided responsibility ” toward Othello and as her male parent says “ he would instead of adopt ” due to him being embarrassed she has fallen in love with a ‘black ‘ Moor. “ Divided responsibility ” highlights the fact that during the Elizabethan period, adult females had a responsibility towards work forces ; they had to look after and be obedient towards them. Besides, position played an of import function within society as obviously portrayed by Brabantio proposing how he would hold instead adopted after he finds out Desdemona has fallen in love with Othello which literally means he would disinherit his ain girl due to her loving Othello. Even after naming Othello a “ disgusting stealer ” suggests further how people within society cause love to be pressurised ; giving a bad image to the Protagonist which in this instance is Othello taking him to devastation by lending influences and attitudes of characters within the drama.
In Romeo & A ; Juliet to an extent, parental love can be seen as the chief cause of their destructive love ; the Capulets and Montagues bring about devastation in the love between ‘Romeo & A ; Juliet ‘ . Escalus, Prince of Verona says “ See what a flagellum is laid upon your hatred, that heavens happen agencies to kill your joys with love ” . The hatred of the two households resulted in the deceases of the two lovers. Due to both households non stoping their fuel finally consequences in them paying a monetary value ; the love of Romeo and Juliet to finally stop in destructive love and a calamity.
However, parental love in Romeo & A ; Juliet could arguably merely be a little factor lending to the destructive love because from the really beginning of the drama, destiny is continuously referred to by Shakespeare. Opening with the prologue where the audience are told, “ A brace of star crossed lovers take their life ” Shakespeare references that Romeo and Juliet were meant to die together merely because it is their fate ; ‘death grade ‘d ‘ agencies that their destiny will be tragic. Consequently this is what destiny had deliberately mapped out for their lives, as it was ‘crossed ‘ through the stars. As a consequence the audience recognises that the tragic decease of Romeo and Juliet was inevitable. Throughout the drama Shakespeare puts the audience in a supreme, god-like place from the start promoting them to believe about destiny and to what extent our actions are free. During the Elizabethan epoch this political orientation of was non something new ; that destiny overrides and if it ‘s meant to go on in life it will. The people during the Elizabeathen epoch were chiefly Protestant and followed the Bible ; the thought of destiny is written in the Bible in Jeremiah 1:5. It says ‘ before I formed you in the uterus I knew you, before you were born I set you apart ; I appointed you as a prophesier to the states ‘ . Proposing that God has set their waies before they were born proposing that the calamity in Romeo and Juliet was traveling to finally be a destructive love since it is fate.
The friar responds to Juliet merely after she awakes in Act 5 Scene 2 by stating “ A greater power than we can belie Hath thwarted our purposes: semen, come off. ” This suggests that he has stated to her that luck has non endorsed them to be, as destiny even stopped him acquiring at that place on clip. Shakespeare uses Fate to act upon the audience to see how the way of love in the drama and is the base of the secret plan. Having one little alteration in the manner destiny had acted towards Romeo & A ; Juliet ‘s love would hold wholly changed the result of their destructive love.
In Othello Shakespeare besides uses the subject of ‘Fate ‘ to portray a destructive love ; Throughout the full drama destiny travels with Iago ; Emilia is killed by Iago after she has realised that he has manipulated everyone and negotiations about his dishonesty in forepart of him to Othello. Othello commits suicide after he realised that Desdemona was in fact inexperienced person and he murdered his love for no ground. destiny, grounds? ? ?
Throughout the continuance of the drama, Othello ‘s relationship alterations vastly due to the use of the external influence Iago. This alteration can be seen by the audience ; the malicious effort in flim-flaming his married woman about the “ hankie ” as she is non able to bring forth is makes Othello ‘s seed of jealously grow. When Othello confronts Desdemona about the hankie he uses words with ambiguous significances. While he is proposing one thing, Desdemona thinks he is speaking about something else. “ This argues fecundity and broad bosom. Hot, hot, and moist. ” In this instance, Desdemona turn a blind oculus non believing much of his statement. Othello nevertheless, is mentioning to her improper, lecherous nature as he begins to talk harshly to Desdemona as he inquiries the whereabouts of the particular hankie. “ It is words that shakes me therefore. Pish! Noses, ears, and lips. Is’t possible? – Confess? Handkerchief? Oh Satan! ” . The rhetorical inquiry which Shakespeare uses makes it look as though Desdemona can non hold a word in, that she has to be obedient and listen as Othello has already made up his head in what hes traveling to make which adds to the fact that due to this scene being a dramatic soliloquy Shakespeare allows the audience to hold an penetration into the destiny of this twosome and what is traveling to take as being a destructive love due to the external influence being Iago.
The usage of “ Oh Satan ” links back to the Elizabethan epoch where people believed in witchery and therefore holding an influence on the manner in which the drama was seen. In this dramatic soliloquy, the usage of exclaimings, inquiries and repeat of words link to the tenseness in this scene ; Othello clearly has fallen in Iago ‘s trap of use of how Cassio was purportedly touting about kiping with Desdemona maintaining in head that the audience knows the truth of Iago and his secret plan due to his monologue explicitly foregrounding that he will “ set the Moor/ At least into a green-eyed monster so strong/ That judgement can non bring around ” . This dramatic soliloquy indicates and brings about tenseness in the audience, that Othello ‘s destructive way of his love was predetermined as we can see what Othello is really believing and the audience can experience a sense that this is Othello ‘s destiny ; to fall in his trap.
On the contrary, Possessiveness over loved 1s can besides do or take to destructive love. Othello ‘s matrimony to Desdemona shows that while one can truly love a individual, the demand for human control can be destructive to a relationship. Othello faces a quandary from the really get downing because of his matrimony. ‘Eldred Jones ‘ has concurred saying that ‘Othello made himself available to public unfavorable judgment and assaults on his character by get marrieding a immature white girl’.5 This suggests that jealously is besides another factor ; Rodrigo is a chief cause of this as he besides is in love with Desdemona and due to Othello get marrieding this ‘young white miss ‘ he is opening himself up for an even bigger autumn as he becomes covetous of Othello.
Furthermore, the brace ‘s changeless brush over power and control makes them vulnerable to devastation of their contentment. Even so, Othello pursues to hold complete control over his married woman, Desdemona. Othello claims this as he says, “ O expletive of matrimony that we can name these delicate animals our and non their appetencies. ” This highlights the fact that he believes ‘marriage ‘ should enable him to command her. During the period of clip when the drama was written adult females were portrayed to be work forces ‘s ownerships ; the first Senator, wishing Othello good when he gets married to Desdemona says ‘use Desdemona good ‘ . The word ‘use ‘ seems to imply the phrase ‘look after ‘ , but besides supports the Venetian outlook of adult females – which they are to bow to the volitions of their hubbies who may use them as they wish.
In Romeo & A ; Juliet, Shakespeare besides represents the thought of ‘agreed matrimonies ‘ through the actions of Capulet, as they treat Juliet like they have ownership over her as they want her to get married a affluent adult male named Paris. Shakespeare portrays Romeo to be a good person as he shows Romeo handling Juliet as an equal and on occasion as a superior. Therefore demoing the different attitudes to what Shakespeare has portrayed in Othello, as the Capulet ‘s are genitive over Juliet instead than it typically being Romeo. At the beginning of the drama Shakespeare shows the audience that Capulet seems to be really genitive over Juliet, this is revealed when he states ‘My kid is yet a alien to the universe ‘ . The term ‘my ‘ is a first individual pronoun that exemplifies the fact that Juliet is Capulet ‘s ‘possession ‘ , that he does non desire her to be taken off from him. This besides reminds us of the audience during the Shakespearian clip those kids more specifically adult females are the belongingss of their male parent ‘s until after matrimony. It was their male parent ‘s duty to take when and whom their girl would get married as Capulet says ‘woo her soft Paris, acquire her bosom ‘ demoing he wants Paris to get married his girl Juliet. The consequence of the household ‘s possessiveness on Juliet builds up the force per unit area on her ; Capulet references ‘If she agreed within her range of pick, there lies my consent. ‘ That he would still be at that place for her whatever pick she was to do but he begins to supercharge her farther as he begs for her to get married Paris, ‘to beg your forgiveness, forgiveness I beseech you. ‘ Finally even with all the pleading by Juliet her parents genitive nature of coercing her to get married Paris finally leads her to forge her ain decease as they say, ‘I ‘ll hold this knot knit up tomorrow forenoon ‘ which leads to the destructive love between both Romeo and Juliet as she is being forced to run off and arise from what her household wants.
The possessiveness of characters besides links to ‘Selected Poems ‘ by Sylvia Plath ; in the verse form ‘Daddy ‘ her male parent is symbolised as a Nazi as she says ; “ Daddy, I have to kill you ” explicitly demoing that she has to kill his control, his possessiveness over her. By stating “ have to kill you ” besides shows that the lone manner to travel or to be free from this authorization is to do devastation ; therefore demoing a similar destructive love as shown in ‘Romeo And Juliet ‘ between Lord Capulet and his girl Juliet.
In add-on the symbolism of the shoe of the talker stand foring their male parent as we shortly realise the verse form ‘Daddy ‘ to be a confessional of Plath ‘s life narrative. “ Any more black shoe, In which I have lived like a pes. ” Plath uses the visual aspect of pess and black places to get down to uncover the image of a genitive relationship with her male parent. The pess here represent that of the talker, which is surrounded and held in a shelter by the shoe which symbolises her male parent. The color black depicts that this possessiveness is a destructive love ; at the terminal of the verse form the talker uses opprobrious linguistic communication, “ you bastard, I ‘m through. ” which adds to the tenseness of how she is seeking to allow travel of that possessiveness that he has over her which is destructing her love between them.
In decision I believe all three texts show assorted factors similar and contrasting positions on destructive love through ; parental love, possessiveness and jealouslyaˆ¦aˆ¦. ? ? ?
1http: //dictionary.reference.com/browse/destructive
2 wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
3A hypertext transfer protocol: //www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-women.htm
4The Tragedy Of A Black Man In A White World
5Jones, Eldred. “ Othello- An Interpretation ” Critical Essays on Shakespeare ‘s Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. ( page 39-55 )
