Q- Analyse how justice is represented and understood in two of the

works you’ve studied?

Thesis- The novel “The boy in stripped pyjama” by John Boyne and the play “Othello” by
William Shakespeare depicts justice and injustice in its own different way, presenting this
through the main characterization and by the setting of the novel.
Introduction- Justice is a powerful force that is used by the authors to control the action
and decision of a character, it can be presented in the settings or in the theme. The
understanding of the text provides reader with as to what is considered as justice or
injustice in today’s society. In the play “Othello”, William Shakespeare focuses on how
one man can convince other man who loves his wife dearly, that she has been unfaithful
to him which she hasn’t. This manipulation of her being unfaithful causes a load of
misunderstandings between Othello – a black military man and his wife – Desdemona,
that results in the death of both the characters. Justice here was furnished by Othello
taking the decision in his own hands after killing his wife who was innocent and loved him
passionately. In the novel “The boy in stripped pyjamas”, John Boyne presents social
injustice through the point of view of an 8-year-old boy – Bruno, who became friends with
a Holocaust prisoner of his age on the other side of the fence where his parents always
told him not to go to, the innocence and confusion of Bruno leads to unexpected
consequences. Both the novels have their own different ways to present justice in diverse
manner because of their themes and plot being very different from one another.
However, both the novels convey how an individual can go to extremes in order to attain
justice, whether it’s a social justice or the justice for their own rightful acknowledgements.
Paragraph- Both the texts show justice with the help of characterization and representing
a strong plot that can be related or understood by the readers. In the novel by John
Boyne, he showed injustice through a point of view of an eight-year-old boy – Bruno, who
was the protagonist for the novel. In addition to that the second main character was
Samuel, showing the deadly and horrifying injustice which took place with him and his
family. When they both became friends because of how much they had in common, Bruno
came to know that Samuel and his family was forced to move here in the remote part of
Poland, to this Bruno could slightly relate as he didn’t want to leave berlin but had to
because of his father’s job. Injustice was followed with Samuel but Bruno tried to provide
social justice by how he had a slightly same situation as him. On the other hand, the play
by William Shakespeare, the protagonist - Othello and the antagonist - Iago, Othello was
the general of the armies of Venice, he was a Christian moor and had a white wife –
Desdemona. Iago on the other hand believed that moors were below him and how could a
moor be his general, despite that he didn’t make him the lieutenant of the army, giving
that position to Cassio – a young inexperienced soldier. This injustice betrayal felt by Iago
led to a devastative plan he had made in order to attain justice from Othello and as well as
Cassio.
In Othello, this social injustice of moor being considered as lower than the whites by Iago
and Brabanzio - Desdemona’s father who didn’t want her daughter to marry Othello, went
to duke for the justice where the justice was in court of Othello and Desdemona’s love, as
Desdemona truly loved Othello and their marriage was now considered official. Here the
justice was presented by the duke, not considering moor as an outcast like others did. On
the other hand, Bruno in the novel encountered injustice towards the people on the other
side of the fence where Shmuel lived. He saw soldiers and the Germans treating people
badly and not even considering them as people, as his father said “don’t worry about
them, they’re not people at all”.
In order to attain justice Iago goes to such extent that backfires him after the plan being
successful at end. Othello on the other hand falls into the trap of Iago and the fake
rumours with evidence of his wife – Desdemona and Cassio dating leads to Othello
providing injustice to Desdemona and killing her, which he was unaware of until Iago’s
wife Emilia told him about the truth. Othello felt devastated and was a strong believer
that whatever he did was fairly injustice and in order to provide justice to that he killed
himself too, to run away from the guilt of injustice which he did to her wife and Cassio.
While Bruno’s innocent mind did not understand the reason behind his father and the
soldiers treating the people at other side of the fence badly. Bruno felt bad for Samuel
and gave him food as he started noticing that he has become thinner and weaker than
usual, he showed empathy and justice with him regardless of how others were behaving
with him. Bruno’s last day there in “Out-with” was the day his innocence left his family
shook and terrified. Shmuel and him decided to play together and find Shmuel’s dad as he
has been missing and Shmuel seemed very sad about it, as a true friend Bruno went to the
other side of the fence where he was frightened about the situation of the people there
and how unjustly they were treated but he didn’t left him and they both later on after
attempting to find his father everywhere and him not being seen, they were took by a
group of soldiers and forced them to move to a tall dark building where they were locked
and terror erupted around two boys with thousands of the other people from the fence,
Bruno took Shmuel’s hand and told that he was his best friend and no one heard from
Bruno again. Justice was a part of Bruno’s innocent mind, where he sacrificed his life to
make Shmuel feel that he was not alone and was a part of the community to the other
side of the fence and mainly as a “person”.
John Boyne in the novel aims to convey the horrors of the holocaust and how Bruno was
treated unjustly and was not told about the situation just because he was young. He stood
up against justice for his friend, where his father told him that those people weren’t
people at all. In Othello, he takes justice in his own hands and tries to justify killing his
wife Desdemona who was not in the accuse and was faithful to him the entire time.
Unjust here was also towards Othello thinking that he owns her and he can literally decide
whether she lives or dies, unjust towards women leaving them vulnerable to false
accusations and violent actions. Thus both the authors want the audience to be aware of
injustice that is being practiced in today’s society and how it’s affecting the others as well
as them as an individual itself.