Ethical Conduct and Othello

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Ethical Behavior, Habits and Customs

In order to behave ethically, one must first understand ethics -- what the concept signifies and entails. Broadly, ethics is differentiating right from wrong, and ethical conduct is acting in keeping with ethics. According to Anderson, ethical conduct involves applying reflective intelligence for revising one's judgments, considering the ramifications of one's action. Habits, meanwhile, refer to socially-influenced inclinations towards specific ways of reacting to the context or specific kinds of activity. Habits direct impulses along specified pathways, towards particular goals, by engraining application of specific means and prescribing particular behavior in particular situations. Although we all have our own unique habits, customs or habits we share as a community or population are most salient. These customs are transmitted from one generation to the next via socialization. Customs result from activity. Although habits encompass socially-significant notions and purposes, they work beneath an individual's consciousness. Habits recede from our awareness, thereby conserving our reflective resources, rendering fluidity to our actions and allowing us to dependably generate particular anticipated outcomes (provided the context doesn't change). Hence, our habits symbolize our character, and are typically self-preserving and hard to alter, as we get attached to them. When habits are disrupted, people express annoyance, apprehension, unhappiness, and even rage. Prevalent ideologies depict existing customs as correct and unbreakable.
This poses a barrier to intended transformations to the society (Anderson).

When Should Ethical Behavior Defer to Habits or Customs?

A Study of Othello

According to Mohamad, Shakespeare's "Othello" represents a tragic hero's tale. Othello is a character attempting to fit into a racist European society. The author has endeavored to reveal the importance given to color, and the associated racial discussion, by dealing with several sensitive concerns. Europeans' suspicion of what they labeled "alien cultures" wasn't a new thing in 1604. Their attitude is portrayed using the following words: "alien, barbaric, and demonic" Turk, who was "in contrast to the Christian's civil and moral rightness." This Eastern Other sparked fear and hatred, common themes which haunted the Western Christian world. The reaction of the Venetian society to the "turbaned Turk's" elopement with the fair Desdemona is a telling example of racism in those days.

The hero of the tale is introduced using the usual stereotypical and racial remarks from Iago who refers to him as a "Barbary horse" and "old black ram." The tale ends with more racial slurs (Emilia's cry of "ignorant and dirt"). Throughout the tale, the dominant theme is the abnormality of a marriage between a black Moor and white….....

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"Ethical Conduct And Othello", 14 September 2016, Accessed.16 May. 2025,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/ethical-conduct-othello-2162251