Othello, By William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Othello explores the destructive nature of Iago’s villainy through his ability to confuse appearance with reality through his deception and trickery. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago is a scheming antagonist whose goal is to destroy Othello. Iago uses foreshadowing when he says, “I am not what I am.” Iago tells the audience that his loyalty with Othello is all a scheme to destroy him, and his

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.

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 Othello, the Moor of Venice is a play of great manipulation and jealousy. Iago is the antagonist character of the play Othello. Iago becomes irate and filled with jealousy when Othello names Michael Cassio as his lieutenant, because Iago believed he should have been the one promoted not Michael Cassio. By manipulating everyone around him, Iago portrays himself as an honest noble man whom can be trusted. Iago being known for the honest man he earns everyone’s trust and therefore learns their weakness for his ultimate plan of destruction. Iago’s greatest skill is disguising his manipulative schemes of destroying and betraying the ones around him with what he leads people to believe as honesty. Iago uses their

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.

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.

Calvin Williams Mr. Fuller English Composition II 09, December 2014 Othello Researh: Iago From reading and understanding William Shakespeare’s play Othello, he presents us with a character that is a villain name Iago. He has been seen as a honest man by many of the characters within the play. With Iago serving in the military and had gone through the ranks he felt kind of over looked throughout the film and text. Iago, himself is view to be very two faced, trifling, prejudice, jealous, and etc…

In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, Iago manipulates other characters in an iniquitous way causing commotion and destruction in all of their lives. He uses malicious tactics to negatively affect faultless characters who have done nothing to intentionally harm him. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago is a character shaped by jealousy and hunger for power. He is ruthless and immoral, and manipulates nearly all the characters in the play in order to get what he wants.

Both Desdemona and Daisy are repetitively referred to as objects by the male characters in the texts. From the offset Desdemona is continually objectified by the male characters. Both Rodrigo and Iago refer to her as belonging to Brabantio (her father) where she is aligned with his ‘bags’, Brabantio states that; ‘she is abused, stolen from me and corrupted’ (1.3.61). This highlights his patriarchal dominance, it seems that he is more concerned about his reputation, rather than his daughter. This would have been accurate and expected of a woman, as they were seen as the property of their fathers and husbands. Shakespeare structurally objectifies Desdemona through the symbolism of the handkerchief. The handkerchief in Othello and

Othello is a play about love, hate, jealousy, betrayal, and much more. In Othello, Othello gives a handkerchief to Desdemona, his wife, that he received from his mother as a gift. This sacred cloth was more than a gift for Desdemona; it was their forever. The handkerchief was white with red strawberries. The white portraying purity, and the red strawberries symbolizing beauty (Hasnain, Ahsh p.1). Unfortunately, Othello was so attached to this handkerchief and its “spell”, that it brought him to kill himself and his lover. This piece of cloth is extremely important to the play, and its significance varies between Othello, Desdemona, and Iago.

Racism, love, betrayal, and jealousy are feelings that happen all the time in todays society, many people do not know how to handle it sometimes, and they get emotionally hurt for a long time. Othello is possibly the most famous literary exploration of the warping powers of jealousy and suspicion. At the same time, it 's among the earliest piece of work that deals with race and racism. With Othello being a supreme commander of the Venetian army, he never felt like he fit completely in, and the girl he loved, her father never liked him because of his race, when Brabantio told Desdemona “She, in spite of nature, Of years, of country, credit, every thing To fall in love with what she feared to look on! It is a judgment maimed and most imperfect That will confess perfection so could err Against all rules of nature,” this statement means Desdemona dad does not like him because he is of a different skin color. Othello loves Desdemona and he shows us this by saying, “Haply for I am black, And have not those soft parts of conversation That chamberers have; or for I am declined Into the vale of years—yet that’s not much— She’s gone. I am abused, and my relief Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage, that we can call these delicate creatures ours And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad And live upon the vapor of a dungeon Than keep a corner in the thing I love For others’ uses. Yet ’tis the plague of great ones; Prerogatived are they less than the base. ’Tis destiny

Villains are characters who are devoted to committing evil acts and thus set the plot in motion. They add excitement to works of literature, as they challenge the concept of higher morality, to achieve a certain goal. For the most part, a villain has a motive for their heinous deeds, but a villain whose only motive is the sadistic pleasure they receive from watching their victims suffer, is the most interesting. In Othello, Shakespeare introduces the audience to one of the most malevolent and diabolical of all Shakespearean villains. What makes Iago such an intriguing character, is the intricateness of his personality as well as the inability of viewers

William Shakespeare’s Othello uses different and unique techniques in his language to express the nature of evil throughout the play. Verbal twists and the characters most importantly stress the act of evil. Iago, most of all is portrayed as the “villain” or “protagonist in the play. Shakespeare uses this character to set the basis of evil. Each plot point is spiraled further into tragedy due to the nature of Iago and his manipulative language towards the other main characters.

Shakespeare’s Othello is seemingly about the blooming affection between a man and a woman. However, it is a love story gone wrong—or is portrayed as so by the author. In the historical context of Othello, which is set during the Turkish-Venetian war in the 16th century, it is essential to emphasize that Othello is the love story between Othello, the Moorish general, and Desdemona, the Venetian lady. This racial difference is most problematic to the eyes of the white Venetian society, allowing characters like Brabantio, Roderigo, and Iago to use this weakness against Othello. The hatred and jealousy, especially by Iago, is clearly illustrated through the language they use in referring to Othello. While Shakespeare uses characters like Iago

Shakespeare's' Othello introduces us to arguably the greatest villain in all of his plays, Iago. Iago is skilled in the art of manipulation, he is an apt tactician, to the point of military precision in the art of persuasion, he is a genius of unfortunate proportions. Shakespeare is telling a story as old as time at the expense of most of the characters in Othello, a story of Jealousy, deceit, and how they can corrupt beyond absolutely, tear through the purest love, the mightiest of warrior, and the most honorable of men with no regard as to the damage done, all the while even Iago himself has no true grasp on what his jealousy and deceitful web of lies and destruction have cost him. The greatest tragedy of the actions of the villain Iago, is not the lies that seethe from every word he speaks, or the machinations of his demi-devil schemes, but how these things tear a rift through the very fiber of him as they do all men.