English Literature - Othello How is Othello’s behaviour in Act Two different from his behaviour in Act One? How do you account for this change? What consequences do you think it will have? In Act One, Othello appeared to be in control of his emotions. When Brabantio confronts Othello, accusing him of stealing and raping his daughter Desdemona by means of witchcraft, Othello is calm and tells his men to stop the fighting. Although he is being accused of kidnapping and raping Desdemona, in which the person who commits the crime would be burnt to death, Othello shows that he is unafraid of danger, ready to risk everything for the woman he loves, and is able to command others despite facing the serious accusation. He is ready to face …show more content…
However, in Cyprus, Othello becomes the person-in-command in the whole of Cyprus. The sudden swell in his authority and power may have contributed to his irrational judgments and actions. In Cyprus, Othello no longer has to act in the way he has promised the Duke. He can betray the Duke’s trust, because no one in Cyprus has the power or authority to stop him, or report him to the Duke back in Venice. He reveals his sloppy behaviour, and is clearly distracted by Desdemona’s presence, preventing him from acting rationally. With Othello’s change in behaviour, it may be easier for Iago to manipulate Othello and to carry out his plan to destroy Othello’s reputation. In Act Two, Othello reveals that he follows his passion to rule, and makes impulsive judgments without investigating thoroughly. Iago observes this, and therefore use Othello’s weakness to carry out his plan by telling Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful. Since Iago knows that Othello will not investigate thoroughly if he tells him that Desdemona has been sleeping with Cassio, it will increase Iago’s success in destroying Othello’s reputation. Other people can use Desdemona as a means to get what they want from Othello, as she has a great influence on her husband. For example, Cassio, after losing his job, hires a band to serenade Desdemona. Cassio tries to appeal to Desdemona, so that she may help him persuade Othello to give Cassio back his job. This may result in a corrupted government,
Othello trusts Iago and now Iago is trying to take his wife from him for someone else. Furthermore, “He takes her by the palm...sir in.” (pg. 71). Iago watches Cassio and Emilia because he thinks they had an affair he watches them carefully so he can figure out how to convince Othello that Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair. Another example involves the plan to help Othello kill Desdemona. “Do it not with poison. Strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated” (pg. 185). Othello believes that Iago is most honest, thus he believed killing his wife Desdemona was the right thing to do. Iago brainwashed Othello into believing the wrong thing was the right thing. The characterization of Iago is created by the use of dramatic irony. The audience knew how devious Iago is, but the characters fell for his mischievous acts.
determine as to which one will win, so that is why one cannot exist without the other. However, there are some whose emotions are unbalanced, which causes them to near towards one side more than the other one and many times the side a lot of people prefer to lean on is evil. Shakespeare’s play Othellois set in 16thcentury Venice and Cyprus. Othello, a noble black general from the Venetian army has secretly married Desdemona, daughter of Venice senator Brabantio. Othello chooses inexperienced Cassio to be his lieutenant, while he decides to give the ensign position to Iago, a malicious but very experienced man who, with his stealth and knavery, will ultimately ruin almost everyone’s life since for a long time, he was desiring the position of lieutenant just like Cassio. At the end of the play, Othello, Desdemona, Iago’s wife Emilia, and his sidekick Roderigo die due to his revenge against Cassio, for obtaining the position he wanted and Othello, for being the man who he hates the most. The play ends with Iago being told that he will be punished and tortured for his actions. However, despite the fact that Iago is punished at the end of the play for doing all of the malicious things he did, he still manages to wear down Othello’s relationship with Desdemona, get Cassio demoted from his lieutenancy, and cause Othello to show his cowardness by
Othello is an easy target in this drama, because Iago already knows that he is a very insecure person. With that stated, it will be easy for Iago to use Othello’s jealousy to trick him into thinking that Desdemona is an unfaithful wife. Iago will manipulate the way Othello sees things in order to convince him that what he sees is innocent acts between Desdemona and Casillo. Iago’s starts to plant the idea in Othello’s head of an affair after Othello sees Casillo rush leaving Desdemona in a manner that looked as though he is guilty (1223). Alone with Othello, Iago begins to make Othello feel threatened by Casillo and Desdemona’s apparent relationship by bringing up the fact that Casillo served as Desdemona’s and Othello’s go-between during the time of their courtship. The conversation ends with Iago asking Othello to watch carefully of Desdemona and Casillo, and Iago exits giving Othello time to question the accusation of Iago (1225-1228).
Starting off, Othello allows Iago to tamper with his mind and does nothing to stop it. Othello puts all of his trust in him, but Iago is just hiding behind a mask and only wishes to torment Othello. Othello is not aware of his surroundings and the people there, making him vulnerable. If he paid more attention to Desdemona and not Iago than he would not have thought to kill his loyal wife. Othello jumps to conclusions too quickly
The tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, presents the main character Othello, as a respectable, honorable, and dignified man, but because of his insecurities and good nature, he is easily taken advantage of and manipulated by his peers and alleged friends. The dynamic of Othello’s character significantly changes throughout the play. The contrast is most pronounced from the beginning of the play to its conclusion, switching from being calm and peaceful to acts of uncontrolled venomous rage. Othello’s motivation in the play appears to be his love and concern for his wife Desdemona, which ironically, ends up being his downfall in the end.
Even if Othello was not as trusting or corrupt, he still would not realize Iago was lying. Othello commits his first act of violence against Desdemona by hitting her. This shows now Othello's tragic flaw. He made himself susceptible to Iago and the jealousy within him begins to lead to the end of others. By his actions, Othello has isolated himself from everyone except Iago. This gives Iago the perfect opportunity to complete his course of action. Finally, Othello's breakdown
Othello's open-mindedness enables him to actually accuse Desdemona, although he does not believe a word of her plea of innocence. Iago's influence has made Othello violent and sarcastic. Although to the Venetian nobility around him, Othello seemed to be fairly like his usual self, his private face became his public appearance when he hit Desdemona in the presence of Lodovico. When Othello once again faces Desdemona with his accusation which she denies, he says "I took you for that cunning whore of Venice that married with Othello".
Othello’s love for Desdemona was so deep he could not bear the thought of another being with her; “If she be false, O! Then heaven mocks itself. I’ll not believe’t.” Iago uses the characters of Cassio and the obsessive Roderigo as his weapons in his cunning plan. Iago drives the idea into Othello’s mind that Desdemona has been unfaithful, inciting him into a state of jealousy. “Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee; and when I love thee not, chaos is come again.” Othello growing insecurities about his wife’s faithfulness only adds to his psychological suffering which in turn acts as a catalyst towards the suffering of other characters involved in the play.Iago tells these lies with the intention of driving Othello insane as well as establish his dominance and influence the situations of those characters close to Othello. Evidence of this comes in one of Iago’s soliloquies from act two, scene one; “That Cassio loves her, I do well Believe’t: That she loves him, ‘tis apt and of great credit.” This section shows that he is trying to convince himself that his own manipulative lies are true and is trying to reassure his motives by justifying his own actions. By convincing Othello
Othello is described as “Valiant Othello” (1.3.49) by the Duke before he even notices Brabantio, highlighting the respect that the Duke grants Othello as a necessary military fixture at the battle of Cyrus. “Opinion, a more sovereign mistress of effects, throws a more safer voice on you” (1.3.224-226), said by the Duke in convincing Othello to head to Cyprus to defend it. This further emphasizes the high regard the Duke has of Othello, convinced that Othello is a great leader who is needed at the heart of the battle. However, as Othello begins to believe that Desdemona cheated on him, the divide between military general and a husband to Desdemona start dissolve as Othello is seen to be speaking of Desdemona as a soldier on the field “Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men. Put out the light, and then put out the light: If I quench thee, thou flaming minister, I can again thy former light restore” (5.2.6-9), showing how confused Othello has become to refer to his wife in most unloving ways when he used to speak about her in the most highest regards “His unkindness may taint my life/But never taint my love” (4.2.159-160). Showing how the lines between his public life and personal life has blurred, causing the audience to know how much Othello has
Othello, not knowing that Cassio was in fact speaking with Desdemona in hopes of being reinstated as Lieutenant, mistakenly believes that the two are having an affair and that Desdemona has lost her chastity. Iago skillfully capitalizes on the situation by developing his attack further: "She did deceive her father, marrying you" (3.3.220). Othello begins to see Iago's reasoning: if she could deceive her father, she could just as easily deceive her new husband. Once Othello's bliss has been decimated, Iago concentrates on weakening Othello's perception of himself; Iago very carefully and very tactfully chooses words and metaphors that subconsciously pit Othello against the Venetians. Othello begins to perceive himself as an outsider in his own country, "a malignant and turbaned Turk" (5.2.365). A fruitful marriage with a Venetian woman becomes out of the question in Othello's mind. Iago's successful manipulation takes a self-confidant man and reduces him to one at ends with himself and with the woman he loved.
The scene that I chose to illustrate and direct was act 4 scene 1, when Othello slapped Desdemona. Here you can really grasp Othello’s controlling attitude as he insists on Desdemona lying, even though she didn’t know what she was necessarily lying about. We really witness the manipulative portion of Othello’s personality, and that’s why I'm focusing on this scene.
Othello commits his first act of violence against Desdemona by hitting her. This shows Othello's tragic flaw. He made himself susceptible to Iago and the jealousy within him begins to lead to the end of others. Through his actions, Othello has isolated himself from everyone except Iago. This gives Iago the perfect opportunity to complete his course of action.
"The Tragedy of Othello Written by William Shakespeare" highlights a variety of ways in which males and females reacted to intense situations." The emotions of the characters changed from the start of Act 1, the end of Act 1, and continued as the story of Othello progressed. In Act 1, the main protagonist named Othello started off conveying the emotion of happiness because he and his wife Desdemona were newlyweds. Othello was the general of the army of Venice. Iago, who was a soldier desired the rank of lieutenant, but Othello skipped over him and chose Cassio as the lieutenant even though Cassio had no experience in war but was exceptionally knowledgeable. Iago feels envious towards Cassio gaining the rank he wanted, Iago decided to work with Roderigo, a man who loves Desdemona, to pressure Brabantio, Desdemonas’ father, into thinking Othello used a “magic charm” to build up Desdemonas’ love for him. ("The Tragedy of Othello Written by Shakespeare” Book) In addition to Iago’s actions, Brabantio conveying anger approached Othello by accusing him instead of talking to him calmly. Brabantio told Desdemona of the rumor and asked: “who do you choose?” Meaning, she had to pick either her husband or her father. Desdemona projecting love towards her husband chose Othello. In conclusion to Desdemona's actions, it appeals to the reader that the female character represents
This quote explains the shift in Othello’s personality. Othello is fueled by the jealousy of Desdemona and enraged that she would do such a thing to disrespect him. His pride was shattered and his feelings were hurt.
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.