The Mythical Jason Reemerges in Shakespeare’s Othello

One of the questions for the literary scholars has been the fact that whether the mythological stories possess unique patterns of their own or they have repeated patterns in the history and psychology of man. The purpose of the present study was to find parallel incidents between the mythological story of Jason and Medea and Shakespeare’s Othello. Therefore, employing an ideological approach to Althusser’s (۱۹۱۸-۱۹۹۰) definition of the individual and the subject, the researchers employed a comparative method to analyze Othello. The findings ultimately revealed the same structural pattern of the mythical Jason and Medea was repeated in Othello. Likewise, Othello was proven to be a victim of the dominant ideology who was sacrificed for he was apolis _the Greek word for the citizen of other countries. In other words, he was considered the ‘Other’. Similarly, Jason and Medea were both alien to the Corinthians. By the same token, the dominant ideology of the time undermined individuals, especially the aliens and the non-natives, and this happened in both the mythological story of Jason and Medea as well as Shakespeare’s Othello. Finally, it can be implied that it sounds plausible if Othello and Jason are led to total failure and self-destruction by themselves at the end.