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Essay Comparing Medea And Othello

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In both Medea and Othello the villains play a significant part in the story line. To understand the villains it is important to examine the motives and strategies of each villain. In this paper I will compare both villains and how each played their role in the outcome of the stories.
Euripides, also known as one of the most tragic of Greek poets, can be well known for his play Medea. Medea was a character with a barbaric background who was very heart broken when her husband Jason cheated and left her. Jason breaking his oath to Medea was the motive for her revenge. Medea throughout the play had already been portrayed as a very clever woman and she was able to use that to her advantage. Medea’s strategy for revenge was to hurt Jason without physically hurting him, leaving him to suffer for the rest of his life. In order to get her revenge Medea planned to kill …show more content…

In this play Othello, a noble Moor, chooses Cassio to be his lieutenant instead of his trust worthy friend Iago. There are many hints within the play of past issues Iago had with Othello that may be apart of the motive for Iago’s revenge. However, Othello’s decision of the lieutenant position causes great jealousy within Iago and seems to be the main motive for revenge. After Othello marries Desdemona Iago decides that his revenge will be to destroy Othello’s happy life and marriage. Throughout Shakespeare’s play Iago is also portrayed as a very clever villain using others to secretly help with his plan and his “trustworthiness” to destroy Othello. In the end Iago tricks Othello into believing that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio upsetting Othello greatly. Othello decides that the best decision is to kill Desdemona for not being loyal, but only to find out in the end the affair was only a lie. To finish this very tragic play Othello ends his own life out of grief and the regret of his

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