Othello And Othello By William Shakespeare Essay

Othello, a play that was written in 1604 by William Shakespeare, is an example of a type of story called a “tragedy.” Throughout the course of the work, Othello proves himself to be very easily misled, despite his heroic status. This causes him to lose his ability to make good judgments and decisions. Even though Othello had a reputation as a hero, he ends up being one of the most gullible characters in the play when he completely falls into the evil trap that Iago set for him. As the story unfolds Othello’s character evolves in an extremely tragic way as Iago manipulates him and leaves him to rot in his misery. Eventually, this leads to Othello’s suicide.

William Shakespeare gave us a most moving drama in Othello. In this play we witness the demise of a “paragon” of a wife and a “valiant Moor”, Othello. Let us consider the Moor in detail, with professional critical input, in this essay.

When pairs of texts are considered together, their universal themes and ideas lead to greater understanding, appreciation and insight of both the old and the new. The texts Othello, William Shakespeare (1600) and Othello, Geoffrey Sax (2001), ring true for this statement. Despite the differing contexts and ages, the universal themes of racism and betrayal bring new meaning to each of the texts. The primary meaning from the juxtaposition of the two is that of the human condition, and how the problems faced in the 17th century are faced in modern times.

In the play Othello, jealousy is shown to be very evident through the actions of the characters. Jealousy is an emotion that everyone shares, and it is ultimately responsible for the tragic ending of the play. Everyone feels jealous at certain times of their lives, and this feeling can cause people to do irrational things. This human emotion also shows people to be weak in the sense that they are never happy with what they have. Shakespeare shows through Othello, Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio that jealousy is the most corrupt and destructive emotion.

There is perhaps a certain excuse for our failure to rise to Shakespeare’s meaning, and to realize how extraordinary and splendid a thing it was in a gentle Venetian girl to love Othello, and to assail fortune with such a ‘downright violence and storm’ as is expected only in a hero. It is that when first we hear of her marriage we have not yet seen the Desdemona of the later

What dictates whether someone is evil or not? According to Merriam Webster, evil is defined as “morally reprehensible”. This definition of evil is very loose, thus has much room for interpretation. In Shakespeare’s play, Othello, many people may believe that Iago is comparable to evil. After exposing a relationship to a woman’s father, manipulating Othello, falsifying rumors of Desdemona’s infidelity to Othello, and killing a man people assume that Iago is evil. However, Iago’s actions aligned closely to Dollard and colleagues’ frustration-aggression hypothesis. Thus, Iago’s reactions to frustration are best defined as common human reactions, as opposed to evil. In order to analyze Iago’s behavior and discover the root of his aggression, not evil, the frustration-aggression hypothesis is most useful. As opposed to the argument of Iago being evil, his character acts comparable to the frustration-aggression hypothesis, Iago becomes frustrated due to lack of power, which leads to aggression towards people who frustrate him and those associated, such as Desdemona, Cassio, and Othello.

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, in the simplest of terms, can be reduced to a play of jealously. Back in the 1940s and 1950s, when scholars focused on Shakespeare’s tale of the Moor, they centered all of their thoughts on the characters controlled by their own jealousy (James). In modern day, we’ve come to a time of civil rights where seeing the insane racism in this play is inevitable. To not see, this is an act of ignorance. Audiences during Shakespeare’s time would have been privy to this aspect as well, though they would not have been horrified as we are today. They would notice the subject of race in the play, but it was something they were used to. As a foreigner in Venice, Othello already has an uphill battle to climb to claim the role of the protagonist. For the majority of the time, an audience wants to see their own lives portrayed, or at the very least, they want to see something they can resonate with.

Critics have debated the significance of Othello’s race in terms of portraying his identity for a long time. The negative connotations of “blackness” have led to the creation of many racial constructs associated with the “Moor”; this denigration has infused the opinions of many critics, such as Albert Gerard, proposing that Othello’s “negroid physiognomy” reaches down to the “deepest levels of personality” and that he is a “barbarian”. However, many other critics like Edward Berry and Martin Orkin believe that colour is merely a “surface indicator” compared to the outward virtue of beneficence, defining identity. Beneficence could be defined by the will to practice good acts, in conjunction with the aversion of practicing evil, and the prevention and removal of evil.

Analyzing a play can be quite difficult, especially older texts that can be convoluted. In my high school year, it wasn’t until senior year until I fully understood what all was in Shakespeare’s plays. This also goes for many texts that had religious undertones, which was a pain because I grew up in a Christian home. I could never find those small details that others could. Now, in college, I am more capable to finding these symbolic words, objects, or actions. Throughout the assignments in my theatre class, I was able to find these undertones and pieces of symbolism in the plays of Everyman, by Peter van Diest, and Othello, by William Shakespeare, the easiest to explain. If you were like me in high school, this essay might be able to help hone your ability to see these symbolisms easier. This analysis will go over the strong religion behind the play of Everyman, and the idea of “the Other” in the play Othello.

Throughout the years, women have been seen as inferior and weaker than men, while men are seen as superior and stronger than women. However, the word "strong" doesn 't measure their physical strength, but by their strength to ignore societies standards. Othello by William Shakespeare takes place during the late 16th century a time in which women didn’t have a voice and were expected to be obedient and chaste. Although this was the case for many women, Emilia is a strong character because she stood up for what she believed in breaking the norm.

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

Have you ever felt discriminated against due to your race? In Othello by William Shakespeare the theme of race is evident through out the play and is a very critical aspect towards the plot. Since Othello has a strong sense of self he is able to counter-balance the overt racism he is faced with in the beginning because he is respected and has high stature as a war general. Him and his wife lived happily without worrying what others thought of their bi-racial marriage. But, when Othello hears rumors of his wife’s possible infidelity he is soon over-whelmed with feelings of self-consciousness. These substandard feelings due to his race alter Othello’s usual self into a resentful, rage-filled, monster.

In examining the character of Othello’s Emilia as constituting the definition of feminist or even proto-feminist, a few challenges present themselves. Few things are quite as difficult, arguably even impossible; to discern as the mind of an author when all one has to interpret their thinking is a piece of artistic work. When this difficulty is compounded by hundreds of years of distance from the author’s time of existence, it easy to transmit ones desired meanings and intentions on an aspect of a work that the author had not even an inkling of desire to put forth. Nevertheless, arguments can be made, tested, and broken with what little knowledge one possesses. Shakespeare no doubt had little conception of what “Feminism” in any modern or even outdated sense is. However, in presenting some of his morality through the character of Emilia and her interactions with the men in her life he may have foresaw some of its patterns if not it’s resolutions.

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