Crime and Punishment and Othello
            
            
            
             In both Crime and Punishment and Othello there is a theme of necessary
            
             balance. Crime and Punishment's theme that man must be balanced in order to
            
             function properly is very similar to Othello's theme that, tragically, jealousy
            
             is destructive, even to the one that holds it.
            
            
            
             In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov's extreme intellectualism caused
            
             him to stop functioning as a complete and balanced individual which ultimately
            
             cost him his freedom. For Othello, it was his extreme jealousy that caused him
            
             to become emotionally unbalanced, which cost him both Desdemona and his own life.
            
             In both cases the extremes create unbalance which ends up costing a lot. There
            
             is a difference, however, and that too lies in the extremes; while Raskolnikov
            
             is too intellectual and lacks emotion, Othello is a rage of emotions and
            
             requires some intellect or rationality.
            
            
            
             One stylistic device both authors used to demonstrate this unbalance is
            
             foreshadowing. On page 84 in Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov says, "If they
            
             question me, perhaps I will simply tell. Fall to my knees and tell." This
            
             foreshadows Raskolnikov's confession to the police and his subsequent sentencing
            
             to Siberia. Raskolnikov is obviously unbalanced if he can detachedly
            
             hypothesize about his confession. Similarly, Desdemona's willow song
            
             foreshadows her own death. In this way we realize Othello must be extremely
            
             unbalanced if his wife can foresee her own death when they are still newly wed.
            
             Both foreshadowed events would usually be considered as negative. The main
            
             difference is that while Raskolnikov's imprisonment is temporary, Desdemona's
            
             death is permanent.
            
            
            
             The interesting thing about both foreshadowed events is their irony.
            
             While both events are usually construed as negative, good things come from both.
            
             Not until he has been in Sib...