preview

Analysis Of The Play ' Othello '

Decent Essays

The play “Othello”, by William Shakespeare and film adaption by Oliver parker explores the idea of how an individual’s sense of identity affects their actions and how this can be manipulated to create conflict. Shakespeare uses techniques such as soliloquies, dramatic irony, imagery, foreshadowing, and symbolism to show us how tragedy occurs from counteracting to patriarchal rules and stereotypes.

Identity is a very key, important thematic issue in William Shakespeare 's tragic play, “Othello”. Identity, or what may be better explained as a character 's public perception, is highly valued in the Elizabethan Age in which Othello is set. There is a varying range between the characters in the extent that how they are perceived in public is not how they behave in private or how they really are, thus creating more than one identity per character. A character 's identity is the overall essence of that character, however, in plays such as Shakespeare 's there must always be an element of tragic flaw to the play thus creating conflict. The definition for conflict is “a state of open, often prolonged fighting; a battle or war. Opposition between characters or forces in a work of drama or fiction, especially opposition that motivates or shapes the action of the plot.” There are many ways in which this definition is represented in ‘Othello’. The main conflicts in ‘Othello’ are between friends and foes, Othello’s inner conflict, and cultural and racial differences, which lead to

Get Access