Analysis Of Shakespeare 's ' Othello '

Women in Shakespeare’s Elizabethan period lived in chains bound by the society with the leash handed first to their father and after marriage to their husbands. The higher the position in society tighter the restrictions. Women were escorted everywhere they went like Desdemona. “Good women followed the instructions of their husband and father’s.” Men did not have to explain themselves and their actions to their possessions.One of the examples of women 's role is given by Shakespeare In act 3 of Othello,when Iago’s wife Emilia says, “I know nothing but to please his fantasy”(3.3.299).

Shakespeare is prominent in his use of recurring themes throughout his works, particularly those of love, death, and betrayal. All these themes are present in Othello. Most dominant, however, are manipulation and jealousy. Jealousy runs the characters’ lives in Othello from the beginning of the play, when Roderigo is jealous of Othello because he wishes to be with Desdemona, and to the end of the play, when Othello is furious with jealousy because he believes Cassio and Desdemona have been engaging in an affair, but manipulation the prominent action that fuels the jealousy within Othello. Some characters’ jealousy is fashioned by other characters. Iago is involved in much of this, creating lies and implementing confusing situations.

Shakespeare’s Othello is a play consistently based on jealously and the way it can destroy lives. One is quick to think this jealously is based on Othello’s lack of belief in Desdemona’s faithfulness to him or his suspensions over Desdemona’s affair with Cassio, Othello’s honorable lieutenant. Upon closer inspection of the jealously that exists throughout the play it becomes clear that his jealously is not the sole start and reason for all of the destruction that occurs. Iago, a good friend of Othello, is not who he appears to be. Iago’s own jealously of those around him pushes him over the edge. He begins to deceive all those who believe he is a true, honorable, and faithful man. Throughout Othello, Iago incites his own jealously in

William Shakespeare’s 16th century play Othello is a duplicitous and fraudulent tale set alternatingly between Venice in act 1, and the island of Cyprus thereafter. The play follows the scandalous marriage between protagonist Othello, a Christian moore and the general of the army of Venice, and Desdemona, a respected and intelligent woman who also happens to be the daughter of the Venetian Senator Brabantio. Shakespeare undoubtedly positions the marriage to be viewed as heroic and noble, despite Othello’s hamartia and subsequent downfall that inevitably occurs. Their marriage is then sabotaged by the jealous Iago, Othello’s ensign and villain of the play. While Iago’s ostensible justification for instigating Othello’s demise was his failure to acquire Othello’s position as lieutenant, Iago’s motives are rarely directly articulated and seem to derive from an obsessive, almost aesthetic pleasure in manipulation and destruction. Through the genre of the play, being a Shakespearean tragedy, and the structural devices employed by Shakespeare such as plot development, exposition, foreshadowing, dénouement, dramatic excitement, and catharsis, the key ideas of jealousy, appearance vs. reality and pride are developed and explored.

Love throughout history has been considered an enigma with an emphasis on emotions such as compassion and appreciation; nevertheless as with most beneficial substances it is subject to fundamental flaws. Modern society is abundant in gossip, scandal, and misconception, all factors that ruin a legitimate relationship. William Shakespeare’s, Othello is a typical and most perfect tragedy that depicts a prevailing relationship midst blood, violence and revenge. The protagonist, Othello undergoes a transformation from a happy man to a disturbed beast as suspicion of his wife’s faithfulness to lieutenant Cassio intensifies. False rumors intentionally sprouted by good, trusty friend Iago bring about catastrophe as Othello jumps to conclusion and

Othello is a play based on love and rivalry. It is a romantic tragedy, a popular writing topic for Shakespeare. In this essay I will be discussing how love is portrayed between Othello and Desdemona. To effectively show the level of love between Othello and Desdemona Shakespeare must use different techniques, including language and structure. Features like these can decipher the love between Othello and Desdemona.

​Othello is a classic Shakespearean tragedy that consists of many underlying themes depicted in the story. One of the most significant themes portrayed in this play revolve around the aspect of jealousy. Jealousy is a strong feeling of resentment that can overpower a person’s good will and compel them to take involuntary action against one. During the course of this play, we see three main characters that possess this idea of a jealous nature. The theme of jealousy is recognized in the villainous Iago which exposes his true self, the pathetic Roderigo, who in turn faces severe consequences, and the great Othello himself whom jealousy devours, leading him to make rash decisions.

“Othello”, by William Shakespeare, is a story of jealousy’s potential to manipulate thoughts and eventually lead to ultimate demise. The key to extremely detrimental jealousy lies within one’s ability to recognize it or deny it. It seems that the important theme of “Othello” is that if jealousy is not recognized and immediately dealt with, it receives a head start to commence the process of rotting away all normal human reason. Othello’s speech in Act III scene iii beginning with line 178 is the first and most important indicator of the trouble ominously looming on Othello’s horizon. His immediate response to Iago’s accusations is that of total denial. By depriving himself of that initial venting process, Othello gives his jealousy the

   Othello features jealousy as the dominant motive for action and therefore just as reflected in real life we bare witness to jealousy influencing the characters of Iago, Brabantio, Roderigo, and Othello. In this essay I shall be attempting to examine this theme in depth drawing comparison between jealousy and the consequential action.

    The meaningful term “love” can be applied to differing relationships in Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello. In this essay let us examine under a microscope the “love” that we find throughout the play.

In his soliloquy, Iago extrapolates the defects of Othello’s character as the “weak function” he will reap to his benefit by metaphorically “pour[ing] this pestilence into his [Othello’s] ear” , that will incite Othello’s descent into calamitous jealousy. Iago’s cunning intentions unveil the jealousy he has contrived to instill in Othello’s conscience, engendering intense doubt, by defacing his pure impression of Desdemona. The jealousy that pervades Othello’s psyche becomes ever more apparent through the sibilance of “all seals and symbols of redeemed sin”, which manifest Othello’s underlying insecurities of differing race and an age discrepancy with Desdemona through his self-deprecating tone, ultimately fueling his tragic flaw – envy. Iago’s capability to precisely deduce the character flaws of others is conveyed through the exploitation of Desdemona who is “framed as fruitful as the free elements”, the simile embodying her naivety that causes her to remain undoubting of Othello’s jealousy that signifies his psychological degradation and instability. The soliloquy demonstrates the instigation of immense jealousy conjured by the acts of another individual, that resonates with our understanding of humanity’s intrinsic

In the book, Othello, by William Shakespeare, the author expresses that without self-confidence a person cannot truly grow emotionally. He shows this theme throughout the book by giving Othello, the main character, the trait of low self-confidence. After the main antagonist Iago pushes Othello to his limits this trait turns out to be fatal and leads to the downfall and death of Othello.

Othello is, in the opinion of many, one of Shakespeare’s most prolific plays. It broke the mold by assigning the lead protagonist role to a black man, and the central love story is of that between this older black man and a young white woman. Othello has perhaps the most wicked- and likable- villain in all of Shakespeare’s work. It has love- both fulfilled and unrequited, family conflict, rebelling daughters, paranoia, manipulation, war, revelry, betrayal, and homicide. Iago, the villain, has a gift for twisting events to appear the way he wishes them to. He is clever and scheming, often comedic, and serves himself above all others. He knows no loyalties, even to his spouse, that supersede those to his own interests. What makes him so likable is that he so wholly embraces this aspect of himself. What makes Iago so heinous is that his motivations for his scheming are never really clear. One theory is that he believes his wife to have been unfaithful to him with Othello. Another common interpretation many come to when looking at his dialogue, especially about Othello, one would think that perhaps he just had a particularly bad case of racism.As Iago is typically played by a white actor, this is a feasible argument. But with the recent casting of a black actor in the role in the 2016 production from the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK, there is a need to reevaluate the

Othello is one of the greatest plays due to its variety of character and themes. The immorality seen in Iago, the gullibility in Othello, and the desperation of Desdemona make the story. The theme of social status plays a huge role in the story. In addition, the theme of appearance versus reality also plays a huge role in how each tragedy happens. In the critical essay “Othello” it discusses the idea that the characters are cast as outsiders due to false interpretation of what is happening or what is being said. On the other hand, the piece “Othello Character Analysis” emphasizes how characterization reflects the greatness of the piece.

William Shakespeare, the Elizabethan poet and playwright, wrote his plays within one of four genres: comedy, tragedy, history, or romance. These genres make his plays very different from one another; however, they all share common characteristics. Shakespeare incorporates a message for his audience to become aware that ultimately teaches a lesson. In Othello, the message Shakespeare portrays to his audience is the importance self-knowledge; which is the ability to recognize and accept one’s flaws through forgiveness and thus the ability to love oneself, others, and participate in the love of God. By comparing and contrasting their character traits, Shakespeare uses Iago and Othello to demonstrate