Marxism is a socialist concept thought out and laid out as a plan by Karl Marx. Marxist criticism can be approached two ways. The reaction to the oppression of the ruling class and their power over lower class peop

le meaning this criticism challenges the dominant power. Not only can we see this physical oppression but also the psychological oppression and the methods of enforcing this, such as the text itself and its reflection of the dominant ideology and social system. The theories specifically analyse the functions of society through times of constant change and upheaval. The traditional Marxists such as Adomo and Jameson favoured realism and realist literature as this represented the people and their struggles with the real world against the Bourgeois world. According to Marx, “It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness”. That is, the social class and the context in which they were born, reflect their views and outlooks on life. From this, Marx expands this to the theory of the “base and superstructure”. This is where the base is the economic system in which the society runs, and the superstructure the cultural activities including philosophy, arts and literature. This is the relationship between determining the base and the superstructure, which is central to Marxist theory; that is, the societies economic base is what determines the interest and styles of literature.

“When devils will their blackest sins put on, They do suggest at first with heavenly shows As I do now. For while this honest fool plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor, I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear: That she repeals him for her body’s lust”. (Act 2, Scene 3, lines 334-340)

Some topics in this essay:
Othello Shakespeare, Iago Othello, Karl Marx, According Marx, Act Othello, Othello Othello, Marx Marxist, Throughout Shakespeare’s, Moor I’ll, Othello Shakespeare’s, karl marx, upper class, scene 3, iago othello, racial backgrounds, scene 3 lines, 3 lines, break barriers, 2 scene 3, othello shakespeare, white society, position white society, character iago, act 2 scene, break barriers class,