Othello, By William Shakespeare

Shakespeare 's Othello comprises of the subjects betrayal, affection and dishonesty. At the focal point of this play is the lamentable ruin of Othello because of his so-called friend Iago. In this paper I will be examining the explanations behind and against Othello being in charge of his defeat through taking a gander at critical interpretations of his character and activities.

Shakespeare 's complex play Othello holds numerous pressing issues within its intricate layers that seem to leap out to modern society. One such issue seen by many is the representation of women. Women within the play can be characterized as submissive possessions and temptresses. This ideology, though commonplace in this time period, appears controversial to the modern eye as we deconstruct the characters of this play. This dominate patriarchal society present within the setting merely conditions this belief further as it is prevalent within the characters dialogue.

In Shakespeare’s Othello, the nominal character, an honorable Venetian general, is driven to madness through the deceptions of his honest right hand Iago. Iago plots to ruin Othello and through his deception, he drives Othello’s insecurities by implanting the idea of infidelity of his beloved wife Desdemona. Othello goes on to murder his wife, and after he discovers Iago’s plot, he kills himself. In a time when women were looked down upon, Shakespeare crafted a drama in which women took part in major roles. Modeled by Elizabethan England the women in Othello were portrayed in a light justified by society as in Othello, these women were nothing more to than objectified possessions, forced to submit to the ever dying will of their husbands. This is displayed by Desdemona and Emilia’s and relationships with their husbands.

A society consists of diverse cultures, looks, values, and beliefs. In a world with one predominant culture, those perceived as different from the norm are associated with negative images and treated inferior to the superior culture. The negative images associated with color, specifically blackness, has a detrimental effect on the victims who are racially stereotyped. The character Othello is a unique character in English literature, because unlike the other members of society, Othello is an outsider in Venice. He is a black man living in a white world, married to a white woman, and a leader of white men in battle. Othello is persuaded that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him, leading him to murder her. Some argue that because Othello was the typical black stereotype he killed Desdemona, but evidence suggests that Othello viewed his own racial identity as undesirable for Desdemona and killed her out of honor and self-hatred. Henceforth, the long-term psychological effects of racism affects an individual’s self-identity and his or her relationship with others.

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.

Love is complicated due to the fact that there is a difference of opinion and perception and it is complicated because people see stuff in different ways and interpret things differently as well. In the 3 texts dissatisfaction or complication is shown. Firstly in Othello love is presented as ephemeral and transient while atonement love is presented as unrequited and finally in cat on a hot tin roof love is presented as painful and troublesome due to unreciprocated feelings.

William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice presents a man who is undone by his own insecurities, as well as strong female characters who lead to the downfall of the men. The character of Othello allows others to control how he feels and this leads to a tragedy that could have been prevented. The source of this tragedy comes from within himself. His character is completely wrapped up in his wife Desdemona’s character and interestingly enough, as soon as her character starts to decline from the words of Iago, so does Othello’s. Unable to stand on his own, Othello is more concerned with outwardly appearances than Desdemona. He puts more pressure on her, than he does himself in regards to his character and how he

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.

William Shakespeare, born in the mid sixteenth century, is a well-known poet and playwright from England. The topics of his plays range from history and comedy, all the way to tragedy, and focus on universal themes and relationships between characters to express these themes to the general public. Betrayal, incest, jealousy, and love are all common themes in his works. Although one of Shakespeare’s more popular tragic dramas, Othello, at first glance seems to mainly center around the characters Othello and Desdemona and their relationship, the play in reality focuses more so on the evil villain, Iago, and his insecurity which instills in him a hatred of Othello. Iago provides some dark humor to the audience, as he is self-possessed and intelligent, making it obvious when he is lying to another character and making himself seem honest and truthful. The play is one of jealousy, manipulation, and the cunning work of Iago, all combined to bring ruin to Othello. Although Shakespeare’s Othello is considered by some to be a commentary on race, Shakespeare is truly addressing the dangers of blind trust as well as the overwhelming power jealousy can have over even the most respectable mind; he addresses these themes by evolving the characters’ personalities and using dramatic irony to intensify and contrast the characters’ relationships with each other from the beginning to the end of this tragic drama.

Tragically, this pure, innocent love obsession more often than not, develops into a bitter and resentful obsession that will spite one or both parties. This is clear in Shakespeare’s Othello. Desdemona’s and Othello’s harmonious marriage is warped by the Machiavellian villain Iago, who is insanely jealous and obsessed himself. Othello finds true contentment in Desdemona; she truly comprises his ‘other half’, as a spousal cliché states. She provides serenity in the life of a soldier who has known war since the age of seven. Unfortunately, this serenity and this union is what Iago seeks to undo. Expert in his understanding, he seizes upon lines previously spoken: “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:/ She has deceived her father, and

In spite of the fact that Othello is brave and courageous, he still seems to show qualities of a malleable person. Othello is extremely easy to persuade and manipulate. Even though he tries to fight against the manipulation it still seems to gravitate towards him. When Iago told Othello the “truth” about Cassio and Desdemona,

Love and jealousy are powerful emotions that can induce behavior that would otherwise not normally be warranted. In Othello, The Moor Of Venice, jealousy is a very important component of the play. Iago uses jealousy to control the Moor, Othello, into committing various acts against his wife, Desdomona, and one of his soldiers, Cassio. It can be deduced that the sheer power of jealousy is the most important theme in Othello because the play shows how a strong General, such as Othello, is subject to this malicious emotion and its trickery, how the strong emotion of love can be transformed into the omnipotent emotion of jealousy, and how jealousy can shroud the truth.

A noticeable theme throughout Othello is that looks are not always what they appear to be. We see this right from the start and all the way to the end. The characters take what they hear and interpret and mold it so that what they see automatically fits into the mental mold they have already created, therefore confirming their suspicions. Iago makes use of a deadly weapon, his words, to mislead characters into misinterpreting what they see. The characters in Othello are unable to recognize the hidden meaning of words often missing the deeper meaning and accepting them at face value. This is evident in several passages, such as Cassio’s fight with Montano and when Iago and Cassio speak about Bianca. Othello believes everything to be true or false, black or white, and real or fake. According to Iago, “The Moor is of free and open nature that thinks men honest that but seem to be so; and will as tenderly be led by th’ nose.” (Othello 2.1.391-393) Just the very nature of Othello’s character makes him vulnerable to Iago’s poison. The combination of interpreting words at their surface meaning and believing what they hear leads to copious amounts of jealous.

Racism and the public’s reliance on stereotypes to judge individuals of a different decent can be traced throughout literature. The Elizabethan’s are no exception, and as their view of the word grew so did the permeation of racism and xenophobia in their society. Theater in Elizabethan England was full of stereotypical black characters that further perpetuated society’s racist tendencies. One play that challenged these stereotypes was Williams Shakespeare’s play Othello which depicts the tragedy of Othello, a Morris Captain. What is different about Shakespeare play is that the tragic hero is the black Othello and the villain a white Iago. Therefore, Shakespeare depiction of Othello as a tragic character and Iago as a villain, challenges Elizabethan’s stereotypes regarding individuals of African descent.

Women, especially Desdemona but Emilia as well, are obviously targets of male violence in Othello. For some reason Shakespeare’s play often put the emphasis on the role of the female characters and their influence on the main male characters. For instance, the result of the passionate love of Romeo for Juliet, the effect of Ophelia’s insanity had on hamlet, and so on. In Othello, Shakespeare made Desdemona and the other women in the play no different; Othello’s jalousie and love made the play a tragedy. Shakespeare made Desdemona the faithful wife of Othello. She was such a kindhearted and wished to make everything work even when the situation where she lost her handkerchief she tried to fix the situation and calming Othello. However, her innocent sympathy towards Cassio made lago’s lies more credible. Overall, one can say that her naïve nature causes her to become a target for the men in the play.