The importance of love and affection in literature is permanently reinforced by secondary ideas that emphasize the eternal influence of higher feelings on the human race. The idea of pure love has been investigated by many authors, and Shakespeare’s Othello and Kalidasa’s Shakuntala may be considered rather similar in terms of the ideas that they promote, despite the evident differences in the contents of both plays and personal qualities of the main characters. The current essay aims to prove that both Shakuntala and Othello explore the notions of love and conflict, but the ultimate lessons learned to differ significantly because of the main characters’ actions.
The first idea that has to be reviewed is the representation of love in Kalidasa’s play. His drama underscores the strong connection between duty and desire and shows that physical passion and self-control are too close-knit to be perceived as completely alienated. The presence of such tensions allows the author to show how the King, Dushyanta, and Shakuntala are fighting their way through to restore their love and overcome the hardships of magical spells. Shakuntala knows that her actions have led to the loss of her love interest, but she does not yet dare to approve of her mistakes and forgive herself:
Shakuntala (to herself). Oh, oh, oh! He even casts doubt on our marriage. The vine of my hope climbed high, but it is broken now. (Ryder 57)
Dushyanta, on the other hand, is blinded by his feelings and does not manifest any compliance with the relatives to prolong his stay with Shakuntala. The concepts of desire and passion are also shown when the King sends his buffoon back to the palace to spread the news while remaining near Shakuntala’s place to pursue her and disclose his feelings.
When outlining the concepts of love and passion in Othello, it may be important to remember that Othello is a soldier and not a king. It is his career that affects his personal life, not the throne. Even though Dushyanta and Othello are a bit similar in terms of their physical affection, Shakespeare displays the latter as a tyrant, and Kalidasa describes Dushyanta as blinded by Shakuntala’s beauty. Othello’s wife, Desdemona, accompanies her husband everywhere, even though she is not always contented with the accommodation. She is a curious woman that, nonetheless, remains loyal to Othello and tries to do everything to maintain the image of a fair warrior:
OTHELLO. O my fair warrior!
It gives me wonder great as my content
To see you here before me. O my soul’s joy!
If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have waken’d death!
And let the laboring bark climb hills of seas
Olympus-high and duck again as low
As hell’s from heaven! If it were now to die,
’Twere now to be most happy; for, I fear,
My soul hath her content so absolute
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate. (Shakespeare 57)
Accordingly, Othello’s love first comes through the military filter and then reaches Desdemona, but the latter is still happy to have her husband around because she respects him both as a soldier and husband.
The fact that Shakuntala and Othello are love plays also leaves room for conflict. In the former drama, the conflict revolves around the King rejecting his love interest due to the curse that forces Dushyanta to disdain his duties and step away from governance due to the inability to love his significant one. As the conflict develops, Shakuntala also gives up on her responsibilities because she realizes that she is genuinely in love with Dushyanta. Still, he ignores her as if nothing had happened between them before:
King (listening with anxious suspicion). What is this insinuation? You cannot mean that this young woman is my wife. (Ryder 56)
The separation that the two have to get through serves as a means of reuniting the main characters a bit later, promoting the idea that some leave-takings are inevitable and have to be experienced to make love stronger. As the tension increases toward the end of the story, Kalidasa outlines the characters’ personal growth and how they learn to balance their duties and desires to achieve love and overall equilibrium.
The concept of conflict in Othello stems from the main character’s jealousy, as his uncontrollable suspicions of Desdemona ultimately lead to the death of the latter. Even though Othello is revealed as a jealous individual immediately during the first scene of the play, there is still hope that such behavior does not have any impact on his personal life. The proof of infidelity is not required for Othello, as he always believes that his view of the situation is the universal truth that everyone around should support unanimously. Instead of remaining calm and making sense of his duties and affections, Othello chooses to seek revenge and kill Desdemona for her potential infidelity:
OTHELLO. By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in’s hand.
O perjured woman! thou dost stone my heart
And makest me call what I intend to do
A murder, which I thought a sacrifice:
I saw the handkerchief. (Shakespeare 191)
This is what separates Othello and Dushyanta and makes the former look like an unstable character who is unsure of himself and does not know what true love is.
It may be established that the differences inherent in Othello and Shakuntala represent an ultimate reflection of how love and conflicts are perceived by different authors that come from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds. Through a detailed representation of conflict, both Shakespeare and Kalidasa were able to reinforce an immortal idea that love is timeless and cannot be exterminated, even though the endings in Othello and Shakuntala are diametrically opposite. The value of love should never be discounted, as it serves as one of the strongest connectors in the world that has a deep impact on human lives. Based on Shakespeare’s Othello and Ryder’s translation of Shakuntala, it may be concluded that the notion of conflict is a persisting catalyst for human relationships that leads to both tragic and happy closings. At the end of her story, Shakuntala learns that the love that she has for the King is the most important thing to consider. On the other hand, Othello realizes that his jealously (not love but its heavily damaged twin) was unnecessary, and his inability to put the trust in the loved one took Desdemona from him forever.
Works Cited
Ryder, Arthur. Shakuntala. Dutton, 1959.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Classic Books Company, 2001.