Comparison between Lives of the Saints and Othello
Lives of the Saints is a Novel by Nino Ricci in which he has created both sinners and saints. The villagers, through their actions in the novel, are seen to have a destructive power towards Vittorio and Cristina. Villagers tend to believe that Vittorio is cursed by the evil eye after her mother is beaten by a snake while committing adultery. This destructive power makes villagers alienate Cristina, who interacts with Vittorio. Cristina is also ridiculed by the villagers as she refuses to follow their superstitious beliefs that the curse can only be lifted through burning a chicken carcass as a sacrifice to God or going to confession. According to the community in Vale del Sole, Cristina fails to live up to her saintly name by failing to confess or offer a sacrifice to God, while Vittorio’s character showed that she followed Christianity. Cristina also becomes violent as her heart is filled with hatred towards her society while Vittorio remains positive through the hardships and pushes forward. The unforgiving actions of the villagers lead to Cristina and Vittorio, leaving the village for Canada in search of a better life.
The novel also shows struggles between society and individuals. Cristina is ridiculed as her ideas are different from those of the other people in Valle del Sole. The differences between Cristina and Vittorio and the rest of the villagers make the two flee as the situation becomes unbearable for them so they can have a more productive and tranquil life in Canada. The novel also shows the essence of one leaving their homeland in search of a better life. It is a representation of the situation faced by many immigrants in Canada who leave their homeland in search of a better life. It also indicates the dreams and hopes that many immigrant families have.
Othello, by Shakespeare, can be compared to the lives of saints as they all suffer similar tragedies. Just as the villagers in the lives of saints ridiculed Cristina and Vittorio, Lago becomes jealous of the success achieved by Othello and plans for his downfall by implicating that his wife, Desdemona was having a love affair. Othello was a successful black general who served Venice and had recently appointed Cassio to be his successor. Lago gets help from his wife and Roderigo to carry out his plan. Lago accuses Desdemona of having an affair with Cassio and gives him a handkerchief belonging to Desdemona and claims that it had been awarded to Cassio as an award from Othello’s wife.
Eventually, Othello kills his wife after she is convinced that she was cheating. He later learns that it was all planned by Lago, making him kill himself. This is similar to the destructive power in the lives of saints, which is led by other people having a negative attitude towards an individual. Eventually, Othello falls from grace just as Cristina failed to live a saintly life. Othello also receives accusations of practicing witchcraft from Brabantio, but he faces the Venetian senate with carriage just as Cristina faced the villagers. Othello later becomes irrational, abusive, despondent, and kills himself after learning that his wife was innocent. Cristina similarly becomes hostile to the villagers and later flees to Canada to live a better life but dies a painful death. In both novels, problems are created by the failure of people to consider the consequences of their actions. Had there been the use of conscience, the tragedies would have been avoided.