An extreme situation is a special or unconventional situation. Human beings often react to extreme situations with extreme behaviours, which can then result in unwanted consequences. There are various factors which can transform a normal situation into an extreme situation.
Psychological factors, such as mental illnesses, can influence the emotions of individuals and consequently make them perceive normal situations as extreme ones. Being in an overly emotional state of mind, for instance, when experiencing extreme anger, happiness or conflicting emotions, might lead to an irrational way of thinking (overreaction) and bad decision-making, which might then result in negative outcomes.
In addition, environmental factors influence the living conditions of humans and can make basic tasks into extreme situations. The living environment of an individual is dependent on the political (war, racism, gender issues), ecological (natural catastrophes, bad living conditions) and economical (unemployment, debt) state of a region or a country and it impacts people’s ability to shape their everyday life.
Other factors which can lead to extreme situations are physical challenges, for instance, escaping from danger or participating in a sports competition. In these extreme situations, people have to push their physical limits in order to perform physically challenging tasks.
Othello: Othello is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in 1603. It tells the story of Othello, an African general in the Venetian army, who is tricked into suspecting his wife Desdemona of adultery.
Othello is a general. He has participated in several wars and therefore, he has most likely been in situations which demanded extreme physical skills and perseverance.
The play Othello is set in Venice, Italy, where the majority of people are white. The society portrayed in the play is prejudiced against Othello because of his ethnicity. Othello faces hidden and open racism which he seems to ignore for the largest part of the play, but which makes him constantly aware of his otherness, regarding his skin colour and cultural background. Being constantly confronted with these prejudices makes Othello susceptible to lower self-esteem and to emotional manipulation.
The characters face situations in which they exhibit extreme emotions: Othello displays signs of jealousy, which results in an irrational way of thinking and acting. Iago is full of hatred, anger and jealousy, which makes him act in a cruel way, and thus negatively impacts the lives of Cassio (one of Othello’s chief lieutenants), Desdemona and Othello.
Othello should have had been more confident and appreciative of his own cultural heritage and appearance. Characters who had a close relationship to him, such as his wife and Cassio, loved him and appreciated him for his personality, hard work and skills.
However, Othello feels increasingly secluded due to his otherness, which is emphasized in various situations by Brabantio (Desdemona’s father) and Iago. If Desdemona, Cassio, the Duke and other characters had been more vocal about Othello’s place in Venetian society and had shown more appreciation for his cultural heritage, they could have made him feel like he was a part of Venetian society. Thus, they could have given him more confidence which would then have made him less vulnerable to Iago’s manipulative advice.
Bezieht sich ein Abiturvorschlag auf The American Dream, die Folgen der Industrialisierung, Them and Us, values, the troubled mind, moral/ethical dilemma, oder sonstige Situationen, in denen Personen an ihre Grenzen geraten, handelt es sich hierbei um den Inhaltspunkt extreme situations. Besonders im Zusammenhang mit The American Dream kann auf den Leistungsdruck in der Gesellschaft eingegangen werden. Weiterhin kann auch der Einfluss des American Dreams auf den Menschen bezüglich der Abhängigkeit des Selbstwertes von der erbrachten Leistung sowie die Neigung der Menschen, das Scheitern in der Arbeitswelt auf fehlende Kompetenz zurückzuführen, diskutiert werden. Im Zusammenhang mit der Industrialisierung kann auf die Entfremdung des Menschen von seiner Arbeit, die Entmenschlichung, die Ersetzbarkeit von Arbeitern sowie auf den generellen Leistungsdruck eingegangen werden. Auch handelt es sich bei Kriegen um extreme situations. Es kann sein, dass hier der Effekt von Kriegen auf den physischen und psychischen Zustand der Soldaten oder ihren Familien erfasst und analysiert werden soll. In diesem Kontext kann auch auf the troubled mind eingegangen werden, da oft im Zusammenhang von Kriegen die Beteiligten an PTSD (posttraumatische Belastungsstörung) leiden.
Weiterhin kann der Bezug zu extreme situations immer dann bestehen, wenn es um Emotionen geht, wie unter anderem Liebe und Hass. So können unharmonische Beziehungen („toxic relationships“) zwischen Eltern und Kindern, zwischen Liebenden oder auch zwischen Freunden aufgrund der Emotionen oder eines ungleichen Macht- oder Abhängigkeitsverhältnisses zu extreme situations werden. Auch können Trauma jeglicher Art unter dem Gesichtspunkt extreme situations betrachtet werden.
Bei dem Inhaltspunkt extreme situations ist es besonders wichtig, diese klar aus dem Material herauszuarbeiten und als solche zu identifizieren. Die Situation sollte dann analysiert werden und es sollte erklärt werden, was diese zu einer extreme situation macht. Handelt es sich um ein moralisches Dilemma, sollte versucht werden, dieses aus möglichst vielen verschiedenen Perspektiven zu beleuchten.