Blinded by Pride: A Study of Othello and Young Goodman Brown Essay

Pride cometh out front a fall according to the well-known biblical adage and the two characters about to be discussed each has ostentation powerful enough to have blurred their judgment. Therefore, excessive pride has caused irreparable damage, thus the fall, in each of the two title characters. The fall may have come in different forms except the emphasis is on isolation in twain cases. In Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown, the main character becomes isolated from his neighbors because of his pride.His suspiciousness of everyone else has led to his downfall. Meanwhile, in William Shakespeargons Othello the main characters pride is linked to his insecurities. Othellos noble self-pride is sometimes extreme that he believes Iagos whispers about infidelity on his wife Desdemonas part. The imagined infidelity is hurtful, discriminate Othello from Desdemona. At the uniform time, it confirms Othellos belief that people consider him inferior and that nobody can truly love a Moor as glowering as he.Even other people such as the villain Iago, believes that I say, put money in thy purse. It cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor put money in thy purse (1. 3. 342-344). Excessive pride can sometimes make a person feel superior to and implike towards others. Goodman Brown believes that he is chaste and good compared to his fellowmen because of what he believes he has witnessed. Because of this vision of himself being separate from the others downfall, he regards others with distrust and disdain.After all, other people are sinners in his eyes. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream. On the Sabbath day, when the congregation was singing a holy psalm, he could not listen because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear and drowned all the blessed assay (Hawthorne). It can be said, on the other hand, that in the case of Goodman Brown pride ha s been mixed with paranoia and hallucination that may have resulted from consorting with the Devil.Nevertheless, in consorting with the Devil, Goodman Brown has already demonstrated pride. He ideates that he can cross towards the dark side and come back into the light eachtime. In dealing with the Devil, he has rejected immortal and Faith in both its meanings his wife and his faith in God. Moreover, Goodman Brown must have thought of himself as special in order for him to think that when he has sinned, the reasons and consequences for him are different from those placed upon the others whom he has learned to be suspicious of.Being proud of oneself can sometimes be noble and right. However, this same pride can be twisted into something that dwells merely on self-preservation and suspicion. Hatred, suspicion and a diffident belief that nobody can truly love a Moor have resulted into Othellos self-destruction and his desire to destroy the one he believes do not really reciprocate hi s love. The loving words wind into calculating plans for murder, all because of the word of one person Ay let her rot, and perish, and be calm to-night for she shall not live.No, my heart is turnd to stone (4. 1. 178). He excessively displays pride by immediately accepting his rushed judgment. It seems to be an example of excessive pride for Othello to believe himself to be such a good settle of character that there is no need to investigate into the veracity of the accusation. This fast judgment may also have sprung from Othellos self-esteem. If there were mere suspicions before then Iagos accusation has actually become the validation that Othello needs in order to boost his self-esteem.He has find a companion whom he thought to be trustworthy because this other person is not afraid to tell him things that some people may be afraid to speak of with him because of his racy position. Othello may have believed that others are just afraid to offend him by not revealing to him that he is difficult to love. Then, here is Iago who talks about his wifes treachery. Though he initially seeks evidence that will prove his wifes adulterous liaison, when presented the alleged evidence from the very same accuser his intelligence has become readily made up.Since the presence of excessive pride in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown has been established, it is the time to look at the fall, or the supreme result of pride in the life of the main character. It must be recalled that his first move is to leave his wife Faith as well as his faith in God the night he decides to take a walk in the woods. As nearly as could be discerned, the second traveller was about fifty years old, apparently in the same rank of life as Goodman Brown, and bearing a considerable resemblance to him, though possibly more in expression than features (Hawthorne).This resemblance may be a sign that deep within Goodman Browns pious surface, there is a person who longs to venture into the dark side. It can also mean that the Devil is flattering him in order for him to succumb further into temptation. And so he does, but not in a way that is clear to him. He thinks that he has escaped evil because the Devil has let him see evil everywhere and in everyone, and he has not, from what he can remember, joined their coven. elders of the church have whispered wanton words to the young maids of their households how many a adult female, eager for widows weeds, has given her maintain a drink at bedtime and let him sleep his last sleep in her bosom how beardless youths have made haste to inherit their fathers riches and how fair damsels have dug little graves in the garden, and bidden me, the sole guest to an infants funeral (Hawthorne). Goodman Brown has no idea that the Devil has bemire his thoughts and has destroyed his faith by giving him a corrupted view of the world.He can no longer see goodness in any person and has thus lost contact with everyone else. Goodman Brown perceives even the most devout actions as mere pretense and at worse, blasphemy, performed in order to robe sin and evil. Because of this distress, he even doubts his own memories from the forest. However, unlike Kaye in the Snow Queen who in the end loses the splinter from his eye, the perception of evil has become overly strong for Goodman Brown that it has affected his relationships with everyone. When he finally dies, they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom (Hawthorne).For Othello, his fall is more tragic. It is quite unlike the quiet destruction of Goodman Browns soul. Because of excessive pride, the Moor has murdered his own wife. Instead of humbling himself and not minding the possibility of being a laughingstock and a cuckold, he should have confronted his wife directly about the matter and believed what she has to say. The marriage can still be saved but his maimed ego cannot. It is this egos demands that he has listened to along with the slander ous lies uttered by Iago, who only seeks to destroy Othello for promoting someone else not him.Meanwhile, Othello does not know that his animosity and murderous energy have been directed wrongfully. If only he has known that it is Iago who is a villainous, two-faced liar. If only he has realized this and the fact that his wife is barren early enough to save both him and his wife from the tragedy that ultimately strikes them. It is too late when he finally confronts Cassio, his wifes suspected devotee O the pernicious caitiff How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief that was my wifes (5. 2. 323-324)? The man in question has finally had the chance to explain why such evidence exists in his hands.Finally, Othello discovers his folly and how he threw a pearl away richer than all his tribe (5. 2. 352). The Moor realizes that he has thrown away a woman who loves him truly, but whose love he is suspicious of and is therefore not worthy of. In the two texts, excessive pride is shown to be an evil in itself. sooner Goodman Brown has taken a walk with the Devil he must have been a proud man already. This is the weakness that the Devil is able to diagnose and play with. This ends up into a lonely life and death for the title character.In Shakespeares Othello, excessive pride prevents the main character from thinking clearly, exploring the occurrence and saving his and Desdemonas life from the violent end they have suffered. If the moral of Young Goodman Brown is to see your own faults and weaknesses before condemning others, Othello reminds the readers of the value of lay aside the ego in order to make the right decisions. Moreover, if Goodman Brown and Othello have not isolated themselves from others, they may have seen the truth and see with the lies.