Violence in the World – Author’s GVV - "Othello" , "The Book Thief" and "The King's Speech"

In William Shakespeare’s play “Othello” , Marcus Zusak’s book “The Book Thief” and the director Tom Hooper's "The King's Speech", violence plays a central role. All of the authors and the director seem to believe that violence is human nature and that violence in the world is inevitable. 

For example, Zusak’s “The Book Thief” is set in Nazi Germany during the height of World War 2 and the Holocaust, when Germany was steeped in warfare. Zusak uses violence to shape his characters lives and impact their choices. For example, Liesel, the main character in the text has her whole life molded by the violence in the world. Her mother, a communist, is taken away from her by the brutal Nazi regime of World War II Germany and her new family. the Hubermanns, are taken away from her by violence as well, when Allied bombs are dropped on Himmel Street. Like wise in the other text that I studied, "Othello" , Shakespeare uses violence to shape all aspects of the plot and character development in the play. Othello, the titular character is a renowned Ventian general and his whole life revolves around violence. When he is corrupted and lied to by Iago, his speech goes from being very poetic and full of images of love to being very animalistic and full of images of death.
Zusak also uses Death , the narrator of the story as a way of voicing his own opinions on violence in the world, which shows Zusak's distaste for it but offers no alternatives in situations such as World War 2 where the Allies were forced to use violence in order to end the war and the Holocaust. Zusak realizes that war is inevitable and that violence is human nature. I believe that Shakespeare had the same view on violence in the world that Zusak which is very clear to see in his play “Othello”.

In the play, the premier character Othello, is introduced to us as an honourable and poetic man but he leads a very violent life as a general of a Venetian army. He manages to keep his violent tendencies at bay and he runs away with Desdemona, the most beautiful woman in Venice. But as the play progresses and as Othello’s descent in madness also progresses because of Iago’s lies about Desdemona’s infidelity, Othello’s true violent nature is revealed. I think that Shakespeare believes that humans are violent by their very nature and this is why Othello's inner animal instincts take over. William Shakespeare's Othello conveys the cycle from mental violence to physical violence on several different occasions. The mental violence in this story led to the physical deaths of Emilia, Desdemona, Othello, and eventually Iago.

In "The Kings Speech", violence plays a central role in the importance of Bertie or King George VI in his role as king of Britain. The violent brutality of Hitler's Third Reich is spreading over Europe and Bertie feels inadequate to Hitler when he sees him in a clip after watching his coronation. Hitler is everything that Bertie is not, a charismatic strong leader which sharply contrasts with Bertie's own opinion of himself, a stammering fool like "Mad king George VI"

This shows how Shakespeare, Zusak and Hooper all used violence in such a way where it plays a central role in their respective pieces of work.