We Cannot Make Judgements About Those in Another Time and Place

I often find myself judging other people. I always think that I can do something better than another. I think that in a situation where someone failed to do something, I on the other hand would have got it done. When someone may have had a lapse in ethics I always think that I would have done the right thing. This may be true, but it is highly unlikely.

When we are in the heat of the moment and making a decision a lot may be going through our minds. We may think how it impacts our family, our friends, our morality, our grades, and many other spheres of our life. In addition to these conflicting influences, emotion plays a huge role in our decision making process. Feelings can overwhelm a person and cloud any moral faculties or prudence that he or she would have in any other less stressful situation. This is why it may be unfair to judge someone based on their conduct in a situation unless you have known everything that was going through that person's mind.

I think this definitely applies when judging the actions of Othello in murdering his wife. In a time when women receive more respect, and chastity is no longer seen as an essential virtue, cheating on ones husband may not be looked at as a terrible crime as it was in Shakespeare's time. Othello says, " Heaven stops the nose at [her unfaithfulness]...Impudent Strumpet" (109)! Obviously from his rant we see how serious an offense unfaithfulness is. Heaven cringes at it. Now, women are not stoned for cheating on their husbands. Because they receive more respect than they used to, women are seen as an essential part of the family. Husbands are much more forgiving in modern times. In the time of Shakespeare, killing was wrong, but if a man killed his wife for cheating on her, it would not be that much of a crime. Being a part of this culture, Othello would feel no shame in murdering his wife. In fact, he would probably feel justified for doing so. The thought of this may make us shudder today, but 300-400 years ago there was a different culture and way of life. I really don't think anyone can look at another person's actions in another time through the thin scope of morality in the modern Western world. Morality is relative.