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.

Throughout Othello by William Shakespeare, Othello makes numerous poor decisions due to his jealousy. Hitting Desdemona, trusting Iago, and killing Desdemona are among a few of the poor decisions that he makes. The word jealous can be defined as feeling or showing suspicion of someone's unfaithfulness in a relationship. Othello feels suspicious of Desdemona’s and Cassio’s relationship because of the lies that Iago tells him. Many people try to tell Othello the truth but he only believes the words of Iago. Even Emilia, Iago’s wife, tells Othello that Desdemona and Cassio are not having an affair and their interaction is business only, however; he does not trust her. Without Othello’s jealousy he would not have made these horrible decisions.

Perhaps the most interesting and exotic character in the tragic play "Othello," by William Shakespeare, is "Honest" Iago. Through some carefully thought-out words and actions, Iago is able to manipulate others to do things in a way that benefits him and moves him closer toward his goals. He is the main driving force in this play, pushing Othello and everyone else towards their tragic end. Iago is not your ordinary villain. The role he plays is rather unique and complex, far from what one might expect. Iago is smart.

Iago is well aware of the scheme he is putting into action and plays on Othello’s weakness “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on” (Othello. 3.3.167-169). Iago takes advantage of his own wife, Emilia, retaining Desdemona’s scarf from Othello from her and placing it in Cassio’s possession. By doing, this Iago is able to prove his allegations of Desdemona and Cassio. Othello expresses jealousy and believes that Desdemona has been unfaith to him with Cassio and must kill her. He strangles Desdemona with his own hands. During this time, women were to be submissive to their husband, which makes it understandable why instead of fighting Othello she allows him to take her life. Moreover, it shows the respect and love she held for Othello. Emilia finds her woman dead and is furious because she knows the faithfulness of her woman. Emilia shows the most courage by speaking on Desdemona’s behalf against her own husband. She explains she gave the scarf to Iago exploiting him of all his lies. Iago instructs her to be quiet and she does not follow directions so he kills Emilia. There is a room full of men, guards at that, but not one go to her rescue. This exhibits the treatment society gives to women during this time. Women are more of an ownership than a human being. Society treats women as if they must earn their value through the type of wife they are to a man. Iago’s anger is the leading cause of

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.

Iago’s main reason to denigrate Desdemona’s character is his love for Othello. Consequently, he will do anything to gain Othello’s admiration. When Iago is putting his plan into action and planting in Othello’s mind that Desdemona is not faithful to him, Iago says:

In William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” (1599), he has numerous characters that disguise themselves in order to add a profound, and sometimes comical meaning to his pastoral play. Furthermore, Shakespeare also imposes the idea of using disguises as crossing-dressing which can lead to the questioning of a character’s gender, sexuality, and identity. Nonetheless, these aspects of gender and identity repeatedly overlap. He constructs alternating relationships between disguise and performance through depictions of how the characters interact with each other through dialogue, what is seen as female or masculine back then, and what they forcibly portray themselves in his seemingly absurd play. Ultimately, Shakespeare uses disguises and performances