Personal Benefits of Othering
Othering is often defined as treating a person or group unkind or differently than others. In many texts, othering has a deeper layer in which the offending individual is trying to make themself look superior through the act of othering. The individual manages to do this by outcasting or lying about a person or group that will then benefit themself. In the texts “Othello”, by William Shakespeare, Night by Elie Wiesel, and “The Dinner Party” by Mona Gardner, the act of othering by individuals is used to put other individuals down for their own benefit.
In the play, “Othello”, a lot of the othering that Iago inflicts on Othello is due to revenge. Iago uses othering for his own personal vendetta against Othello.
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Ellie Wiesel manages to portray the act of othering by telling his own story regarding being placed in a concentration camp. Throughout the novel Elie is constantly being belittled by the people around him for his race. There are many circumstances where Wiesel is being othered either by soldiers or just civilians. A civilian encounter where Elie was treated as less than is when people on the street begin to toss bread at their cattle car and laughing as the Jews are “hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at and mauling each other”(Wiesel 101) for the pieces of bread. This is a basic example of using these peoples suffering for their own benefit or use, these people who are fighting for their lives became an entertaining show. Many people would see Jewish people as less than everyone else because they are not “Aryan”, the superior race. This inclined people to hurt or injure them because they believe they were less than human. An example of this is when Idek “began beating [Shlomo] with an iron bar.”(Wiesel 54) “Aryan” is a concept used to belittle Jewish people and make “Aryan” feel and be treated superior. The novel, Night, is strongly based upon othering that specifically benefits the other