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How do Othello, The Scarlet Letter, and A Streetcar Named Desire compare in their presentation of time's impact on individuals and use of irony?

Quick answer:

"A Streetcar Named Desire" explores time's impact through Blanche's struggle with aging and longing for her past, highlighting societal perceptions of her "past her prime" status. In contrast, time in The Scarlet Letter is less central, though Hester's evolution from shame to resilience over time reflects her individual versus societal conflict. In Othello, Iago's manipulation gradually erodes Othello's trust, suggesting time's subtle role. Irony is present in each work, often intertwined with characters' tragic flaws and societal expectations.

Expert Answers

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Of the texts you've chosen, the effects of time on the individual in society are most thematically relevant to A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche's age, and her desire to hide her age, play important parts in the play. That Blanche is "past her prime" is a contributing factor in the way she is perceived by society, especially by the men around her. She longs for her former youth and beauty and the simple joys of her past, before her family lost the house, before her husband's suicide, but ultimately she can't go back.

Time is a harder theme to track in Othello and The Scarlet Letter, which I imagine is where you are running into some difficulties. My first thought on seeing the titles you listed was that gender roles/attitudes toward female sexuality was a more unifying theme between all three texts.

That said, Hester's story in The Scarlet Letter is definitely one of the individual vs. society. What effect time has on this relationship is hard to say. Certainly, the puritanical time period in which the novel is set determines the town's reaction to her actions, but the passage of time itself is not something the novel is hugely concerned with. One strategy might be to compare Hester's attitude at the start of the novel to where she stands at the end and argue that it is time that has changed her.

In Othello, Iago erodes Othello's faith in his wife by planting seeds of doubt. Over the course of the play, Othello goes from a loving husband to one who lets jealousy control him. Arguing that this transformation is the effect of time might be a stretch, but Iago does note in his act 1, scene 3 monologue that his plot will take some time to carry out.

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