Isolation in Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper shows how the theme of isolation is presented both as a corrupting influence and as positive influence by eminent authors. It analyzes William Shakespeare's "Othello", Homer's "Odyssey", and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", and compares how the three different stories treat the concept of isolation in different manner. It demonstrates how isolation has the capacity to create different responses from people because, in "Othello", it creates mistrust and fear, while in the "Odyssey", it creates the deepening of love. It also shows how, in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", the power of isolation to lead oneself to sin is depicted very clearly.

From the Paper:

"Shakespeare uses isolation to heighten the difficulties of a man who mistrusts his wife. In Othello, isolation is a theme that is used to show that self isolation is often dangerous than useful. In Othello, the central characters after moving into Cyprus are isolated from the rest of the world. Perhaps Shakespeare could have used this isolation of the characters to highlight only the main characters who could play important roles till the end of the play. We can however find the widening gap between Othello and Desdemona in the play and it happens when they are isolated and do not have any peacemaker amidst them. Shakespeare uses the physical distance between Othello and his wife to highlight the fact that differences in opinion, if not attended to, would snowball into bigger issues that would be difficult to handle eventually. "

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