Musical Characterization for Othello
In Verdi’s Othello, the music is used by Verdi to characterize each character in the opera. It is the music who describes the audience the personality traits of each character. Moreover, music accompanies every scene in the opera. In many cases, we can know what is happening or what the character is feeling through the music the orchestra is playing. This is an innovative way to characterize the characters in an opera used by Verdi that do not fit into the traditional ways of Italian opera. This paper intends to describe Verdi’s textual and musical characterization of Othello. Othello is a Moor, general of the Venetian republic. He has passed his fortieth years. He presents the brave, loyal figure of a man of arms. Simply in his bearing and in his gestures, imperious in his commands, cool in his judgement. The scene that follows the duet in Act I should suffice to reveal these gifts of temperaments. This act shows him in all his strength, in all his glory, in all his radiance. His first words proclaim victory in a voice of thunder amid the tempest. His last words exhale a sigh of love upon a kiss. First, we should see the hero, then the lover, and we must perceive the hero in all his greatness to understand how worthy he is of love, and how great his capacity for passionate devotion. Then from that prodigious love a fearful jealousy will be born through the cunning agency of Iago. Reason and justice govern Othello’s actions up to the
From an analytical view, Othello teaches us many things about the nature of human life. Further, Shakespeare’s usage of literary techniques and the strategies he employs are crucial to understanding not only the play, but the characters themselves. It becomes clear from Othello and its cast of characters, that human nature will always perplex human minds until the time we actually experience and understand what exactly happens between the point of believing and realizing the truth. From the play, one grasps an understanding of the crucial need to think and look at
The ability of passion to bring destruction upon the lives of the unsuspecting is illustrated in Shakespeare’s Othello with the use of both manipulation and deceit. The curse of fierce passion fell namely on Othello as he transitioned from a respected general to an unstable murderer. His downfall is demonstrated through his increasing self-doubt, lack of ability to articulate, and violence. In the start of the play, he is an accomplished general and happy newlywed, and has yet to be significantly held back due to his being a Moor and outsider in Venetian society. As passion overtakes him, however, Othello truly ingrains the idea that he is less than, and those around him begin to blame his actions on the nature of his ethnicity. He has completely lost his identity to his desires and is unable to think rationally. Shakespeare juxtaposes this version of Othello with his initial composed self in Venice to demonstrate the damage of ignorance to logic and heighten the sense of tragedy. The effects of an overwhelming passion involving love, jealousy, and revenge are shown through Othello’s degradation and loss of stability.
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.
By Othello’s declaration of his love for Desdemona and undoubtable respect for those who surround him, we are reminded that Othello is a war hero, and a General to be admired. Shakespeare carefully chooses the Senate and Duke, all well reputable and influential figures of venice, to press the name ‘Valiant moor’ into the audience’s mind, this is to deliberately counteract the damage Iago made to Othello’s character and image within the first act. However, when Shakespeare places Othello away from the power of Venetian society, Othello is exposed to his weaknesses, can be viewed as far from virtuous. We are thus able to view Othello as a character easily
The relationships in Shakespeare’s plays are never simple and even less so when one narrows the field to his tragedies. In the case of Iago and Othello this complicated relationship is made more so by the interwoven theme of appearance verses reality. The idea of Iago, the wolf in sheep’s clothing, fighting both for and against his master that permeates the play. Othello, however, a seasoned warrior being unable to see through the guise is a flaw his companion takes advantage of. Iago’s hatred is the biggest mystery of this play, making the reader wish Shakespeare had written a prequel.
William Shakespeare’s Othello would not be a dramatic tragedy if the smiling villain, Iago, were a deaf mute. There is no doubt that the destruction of each character can be blamed on jealous Iago. The theme of jealousy helps propel the plot naturally and demonstrates the consequences of being morbidly jealous. The circumstantial evidence Iago provides acts like a lethal poison, which surrounds Othello in suspicion and envy but also turns him into an inhuman murderer. Jealousy is the ‘monster’ that unresonably conducts the great suffering in the story.
From this time on, Othello has become the slave of passion. As he cries farewell to the tranquil mind, to content, to war and his occupation, as he demands that Iago prove his love a whore, as he threatens Iago and begs for proof at the same time, he is finally led almost to the verge of madness [. . .] . (165)
Othello speaks to Iago in Act Three of the play saying, “certain, men should be what they seem” (3.3.131). This excerpt foreshadow events in which Othello will begin to question the actions and morality of Cassio and Desdemona, all orchestrated by Iago’s scheming nature. This is a very important concept to showcase because Othello devoutly loves Desdemona and trusts Cassio until conniving language from Iago causes him to think otherwise. Drawing on Shakespeare’s source story by Cinthio and other outside sources, textual information can be gathered to explore major concerns of “Othello”. Throughout this essay, I will present textual evidence from multiple sources examining the central concerns of the play, which include identity and revenge.
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.
The tragedy of Othello is not just a story of jealousy but rather a clash of two worlds. In Shakespearean plays we many times see the protagonist fall due to deceit, human flaws, and corruption of their society. We specifically see the hero fall in Shakespeare's Othello as a man trying to be himself with a corrupt friendship in Iago. Othello is seen to be the noble moor of Venice. He is respected by society for his many actions of nobility and bravery. Iago on the other hand is the villain plotting around Othello and others in his society he lives in. The noble moor of Venice Othello is shown to be very brave and courageous of all of the city and the army he leads. Their inconsistent characteristics is what separate the two from each
The Shakespearean tragedy Othello contains a number of themes; their relative importance and priority is debated by literary critics. In this essay let us examine the various themes and determine which are dominant and which subordinate.
Othello, a tragic hero full of hidden flaws, attempts to appear as a man of only logic and bravery, and not subjected to human emotions. His spectacle begins with his storytelling at Brabantio’s
In Cyprus, observing the joyous reunion of Othello and Desdemona, Iago says to himself that he will wreck the lovers' harmony: "O, you are well tuned now! / But I'll set down the pegs that make this music, / As honest as I am" (2.1.199-201). The "pegs" to which he refers are the tuning pegs on a stringed instrument. Their love is the instrument on which Iago is planning to loosen ("set down") the pegs until the harmony is turned into discord. [Scene Summary]
Othello is a military hero, widely respected and admired by most. Even his enemies have a grudging respect for him. He has taken the loveliest lady as his bride, and has a seemingly great life. He is seen as a very good man, as proven by the words of the Duke of Venice: “..If virtue no delighted beauty lack, your son in law is far more fair than black.”(Page 47, Line 285-286). Despite all this, Othello does have a fatal
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.