Compare and Contrast the Ways That Shakespeare, Ibsen and Mc Ewan Present Possessive Love in ‘Othello’, ‘a Doll’s House’ and ‘Enduring Love’.

Compare and Contrast the ways that Shakespeare, Ibsen and Mc Ewan present possessive love in ‘Othello’, ‘A Doll’s House’ and ‘Enduring Love’.

Although all three of the texts we have studied are written in different time periods and social contexts, possessive love is a major theme throughout them all. ‘Othello’, is a tragic, Jacobean play written by William Shakespeare in 1603, and is described as ‘one of the most famous literary works that focuses on the dangers of jealousy’. The possessive nature of Othello drives him to murder and to the brink of insanity by the end of the play. This links with ‘Enduring Love’ a 20th Century novel by Ian McEwan. Joe Rose, the protagonist is experiencing the possessive love of Jed Parry, a de Clerambault sufferer, who is positive Joe is in love with him. Possessive love is also presented in Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House,’ which is ‘a scathing criticism of the traditional roles of men and women in Victorian marriage’.

The possessive nature of a father’s love for his daughter is shown at the beginning of ‘Othello’. Roderigo and Iago plot to awaken Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, to “poison his delight”. The use of the word ‘poison’ shows Iago’s manipulative character. He knows that Brabantio is not going to be happy about Desdemona’s marriage to a black man and uses this to his advantage. When Brabantio has been awoken, Iago uses the word ‘thieves’ to anger Brabantio as it implies Desdemona is one of his possessions and she has been stolen away from him. “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe”. Again the use of the word ‘your’ suggests that Desdemona is nothing more than one of her father’s belongings. This is in line with the social issues at the time the play was written. Women belonged to their fathers until they married and then they were their husband’s possessions. When Brabantio finds Othello, he accuses him of using magic to get Desdemona to marry him. “O thou foul thief,...