Othello By William Shakespeare 's Othello

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.

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.

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.

He tells Iago “Oh, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains! That we should, with joy, pleasance revel and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!” (2.3.232). Iago then suggests that Cassio asks Desdemona to sway Othello to give him his job back. He agrees and decides to visit her the next morning. In act 3 of Othello, Cassio brings musicians to play for and woo Othello. They are not of much help. He then asks Emilia, who is Iago’s wife, for alone time with Desdemona. They talk and come to an agreement. A little while afterwards, Cassio gives Bianca a handkerchief, so she can copy its embroidery. It just so happened to belong to Desdemona. This is exactly what Iago wanted to happen because he placed the handkerchief in Cassio’s

Cassio is least fortunate than Othello. Cassio has been a target since the beginning of the story also not because of anger, but because of revenge. Poor Cassio does not have a clue about any of the misleading telltales that Iago has influenced Othello to believe. After Iago gains Othello's trust, he devices a plan to plant Othello's handkerchief on Cassio's bed, setting Desdemona and Cassio up so when Othello asks Cassio for his handkerchief, Cassio would show it to Othello thus proving that Desdemona and Cassio were having an affair. Before all this, Emilia, Iago's wife, finds the handkerchief from Desdemona's bedroom and gives it to Iago later that night, allowing the plan to work out which she has no idea about. Othello by now is already distrusting Desdemona as well as looking down on her. By Act 3, Scene 3, Othello has every right to believe Iago because his trust is on him and his words are factual. Desdemona cannot influence Othello to believe in her. All the signs prove that she is a liar.

Iago’s second soliloquy reveals how he manipulates Cassio and Desdemona. While Desdemona waits for Othello to return from his journey across ravenous seas, Iago joins her. He purposely acts like a jerk to Desdemona and his wife, Emilia in front of Cassio. When Iago departs from the group, Cassio, in his good mannered gentleman way, reassures Desdemona that Othello will make it to shore fine. Having Desdemona confide in his words, Cassio takes interest in her just as Iago had planned.

Above all, Iago even tricks his wife, Emilia into stealing Desdemona’s handkerchief, all so that he can frame it on Cassio’s bed giving Othello visual evidence that his wife is cheating on him. Iago tells Othello: “I know not that, but such a handkerchief / I am sure it was your wife’s—did I today / See Cassio wipe his beard with” (III.iii.447-448). In essence, Iago has finally pushed Othello over the edge and triggered him into a jealous rage that no one can hold back. In short, Iago successfully manipulates Cassio’s trusting nature by giving him bad advice under the disguise of friendship and consequently, releasing the wrath of a vengeful

In the play Othello, there are many scenes in which men use their wives to get what they want. In this particular scene Iago uses his wife Emilia in order to steal Desdemona's handkerchief so he could use it to cause trouble between Othello and Cassio. Iago abuses the fact that his wife is Desdemona’s maid and she could do his dirty work for him;

As a result of Iago’s ability to manipulate, these characters face perilous consequences. Iago implants deceiving, malicious information into Othello’s head, splitting Othello’s mind and his marriage. As revenge from Othello giving Iago a menial occupation, Iago plants the seeds of mistrust in Othello’s head and informs Othello that Desdemona is a harlot, and to watch her actions closely. "Look to your wife, observe her well with Cassio" (3.3.199). Being that Cassio received Desdemona’s handkerchief by sheer coincidence, Iago convinces Othello that Cassio is sleeping with Desdemona.

Iago sets into motion a set of events that gets Othello thinking about Desdemona’s loyalty, and if she has been unfaithful. It all starts with Cassio, Desdemona, and Emilia in the castle garden. Desdemona is talking to poor distraught Cassio about losing his job and falling into the bad graces of Othello. Desdemona promises to help Cassio, at almost any cost. Emilia alerts them to Othello and Iago’s presence, and Cassio runs away in shame. Othello thinks nothing of the encounter, but Iago insinuates that it was an odd thing that Cassio would run away like that. Listen to what Iago says to Othello, “Cassio, my Lord! No, sure, I cannot think of it, / That he would steal away so guilty-like, / Seeing you coming” (Shakespeare 42). Desdemona sees Othello and starts to plead a case for Cassio’s return. Desdemona pleads Cassio’s case so intently, that it arouses suspicions in Othello. Suspicions Iago has placed cleverly in Othello’s head. Much credit must be given to Iago's diabolical prowess, which enables him to bend and twist the supple minds of his friends, and loved ones.

Iago wanted to acquire away to get his revenge on Othello because he believed that Othello had been having an affair with Iago’s wife and also, Iago was jealous of Othello’s position, as the moor, in which Othello had more power than Iago. He devised a plan to set in motion in which Othello would believe Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio. The handkerchief was a key component in his devious plot and would provide sufficient evidence pointing towards Desdemona fabricated affair. How he transpires to acquire such a miniscule item was to manipulate and charm his loving wife to steal it from Desdemona. In the scene in which Emilia snatches the handkerchief from the floor she confesses to herself, “I am glad I have

Iago has been frequently judged as an evil villain for the meticulous acts he makes after Othello betrays him. Though he was never a murderous villain until his downfall he is unfairly viewed as the antagonist in the play. Since the commencement Iago was an honest military man who never wronged anybody up until they wronged him. He was stripped of a military promotion he had been looking forward to accepting by Othello the general and not only this he was also informed that Othello might have been having relations with his wife Emilia. Iago felt betrayed due to the fact that the person elected (Cassio) did not even have battlefield experience of any sort compared to Iago and used the fact of Othello and Emilia being together as a further reason to propel himself to take action. He knew this decision had to have some sort of favoritism encouragement by taking into account that Othello’s wife Desdemona is dear friends with Cassio. Iago was not going to be an onlooker in this demeaning situation so he rightfully took action by ingeniously and harmlessly instigating critical emotional situations in the lives of his trusting targets leading to their own heedless demises. I dispute that Iago should not be viewed as malevolent as the play depicts because when critically analyzing the tragedy it is evident that he was just an honest Christian man rebelling to seek justice for his betrayal from

Othello likes Cassio, but believes when Iago tells him that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona. The proof that Iago provides in (3.3.365) he plants a handkerchief in Cassio’s room that he gets Emilia to steal in (3.3). Iago’s manipulative comes about when we find out the whole time while he was plotting against Othello, he was using Roderigo as well. The whole time Roderigo is thinking that Iago is helping him to be with Desdemona, but Roderigo finds out in (1) that Othello and Desdemona had gotten married. When Roderigo discovers that he is being used, Iago stabs him in (5). When Emilia enters the scene with the news that Roderigo is dead, Othello tells Emilia that he has killed his wife because of what Iago has told her that his wife was unfaithful. Emilia then realizes the doing that Iago is doing and decides to tell the secrets that Iago has been keeping. Othello is crushed and tries to kill Iago, but cannot. Instead Iago kills his wife in (5.2) and runs. Othello finds out that everything that Iago has told him was not true. Even though he has failed to kill Iago, he felt so much pain and regret for killing his wife, so he ends up killing himself. We also learn that Iago actions are terrifying because he was willing to take revenge on anyone and still enjoy the trouble and pain that he is caused. At the end of the story Iago’s fate is determined by Cassio. Iago was

He gets Cassio to talk to Othello’s wife, Desdemona, to ask for his position back and he begins to point out small things like them whispering. When Cassio exits the scene when Othello approaches, Iago does not hesitate to make his move and mentions it. Asking of Iago’s suspicions, Iago says, “Good my lord, pardon me, Though I am bound to every act of duty I am not bound to that all slaves are free to Utter my thoughts” (138-140). This places Othello in the position of being alarmed because what could be so horrible that this “honest” man would want to keep secret from him. Eventually, Iago comes out with his fake suspicions and Othello somewhat believes it but wants some kind of evidence. Fortunately, Iago’s wife, Emilia gets a hold of Desdemona’s handkerchief and gives it to him. He puts more of his plan into action saying, “in Cassio’s lodging [I] lose this napkin. And let him find it. Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs of holy writ. (331-334). This is enough to convince Othello of Desdemona’s affair with Cassio, enraging him to want to murder the two. Othello decides he will kill his wife, and asks Iago to do the same to