A Comparison of East and West

Paper Summary:

A study of these two plays, Kalidasa's "Shakuntala" and Shakespeare's "Othello", reveals that there are more similarities than differences between attitudes towards love, duty, women, and society. It explains that in the East all aspects of social behavior are more deeply associated with religion and spirituality than the West. It points out that Asian cultures have always emphasized the importance of family, clan, caste, and community, as compared to the more individual and independent view of existence taken up by Europeans.

From the Paper:

"Both cultures encourage a submission to the conventions and rules of society, the difference lying in the intensity of this conviction. At the core however human emotions and behavior remain similar as do most of their motivations. Love, honor, duty may have different nuances in both cultures but they have comparable aspirations. Thus a king in India and a General in Venice may both aspire for love and marriage but one will be ruled by complications of caste, religious niceties and family honor while the other controlled by the concept of self and role in society."

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