Othello Character Analysis

In William Shakespeare's play, Othello, he teaches the audience a valuable lesson and gives insight to how flaws in our character can be used to bring about our downfall. He uses clever characterization methods to teach that a human's inner turmoils and characters flaws can be used against them and lead to their downfall. His use of characters such as Othello, the tragic hero, and Iago, the villain, work together to create the overarching theme and lesson of this piece.

Othello has been described as one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays because the play focuses on its themes of good and evil, military, politics, love and marriage, religion, racial prejudice, gender conflict, and sexuality; but the controversy and debate surrounding Othello is “Why is Othello a qualification for a tragedy?”

Othello by William Shakespeare raises the issue of how rampant beliefs and attitudes in a society can cause a person to question their sense of self. In a society where racial equality is near non-existent, Othello, a black skinned foreigner in the Venetian society, is constantly reminded of his status as an outsider. Othello, however, is not depicted in a stereotypical manner and despite occupying a highly respected position he is often confronted with blatant racism throughout the play. The prevailing attitudes and beliefs of Venetian society towards Othello are exploited by Iago in order to manipulate Othello’s self confidence and emotional state.

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.

In Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, Iago is uncharacteristically honest when he says "I am not what I am". However, he is not the only character whose appearance differs from the reality. Nonetheless, he is possibly the only person who intends this duplicity. Unfortunately everyone is under the impression that Iago is "honest and just". Once alone, Iago reveals "when devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows as I do now". Iago is two-faced in his relationships, even in the language he uses. After referring to Othello as a "black ram", he then tells him "my lord, you know I love you". Iago has no shame in appealing to heaven and godly images in

serve god if the devil bid you” and he also says “the moor is now

In this passage we can see that Iago is being developed as a very harsh and manipulative character through the use of diction, repetition, and metaphor. The subject of the scene is for Iago to convince Roderigo to give Iago money to try and win over Desdemona, and such action - regardless of any type of language used - would be deemed as manipulative. Roderigo seems to be convinced by Iago as he speaks his only line in the passage, and thus deems Iago as an effective manipulator.

Though the name of the play written by William Shakespeare is called "Othello," the character Othello is not the main character, but rather Iago is. Iago is the character who drives the play, he is the one who makes things happen. Without his greed and hated, there would be no play at all. The whole play is centered around Iago's revenge and in doing so, he is willing to make other people's lives miserable. Through "Othello," Iago uses the other characters to avenge the wrong doings which Othello has inflicted upon him, and will go to any means to do so.

This play notifies us that anyone can be manipulated for negative intentions. The character of Othello helps portray the theme that every human is vulnerable to be exploited no matter who they are. This tragedy also demonstrates that true human nature is self-loathing, egotistic, and unapologetically vengeful – humanity strives to achieve as much success as Iago. This is why Othello (the alleged main character) is often not the one most adored by the viewers but rather

In Othello by William Shakespeare, the villainous Iago devises a plot with the hopes that Othello and his wife, Desdemona, will be separated so that he can take Othello’s position as head of the Venetian Military. Iago’s scheme consists of him convincing Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him with his lieutenant, Cassio. Iago has told no one else about his ploy so while everyone else’s actions remain true, he manipulates their every move for his benefit. While their actions may not lead to results that they expected, exploring the reasoning behind everyone’s actions, can give insight to their values since the actions were based on what they believed was the best thing to do. To the characters of Othello, honor is more important than

According to Smith, a barbarian’s inherent weakness lies in his linguistic capabilities, the very same capabilities Othello uses to win over Desdemona, and to defend himself during his trial in front of the duke. In Smith’s reading, Othello only reverts to his barbarian state when experiencing extreme pressure, as he lacks the other means to express the futility of what is felt, which results in violence. However, when a closer look is taken at what Othello knows about the culture he has tried to hard to assimilate to, it can be seen that Othello’s attempted restoration of his integrity after the news of his wife’s purported affair is littered with the notion of blood drawn in chivalric combat - blood drawn in combat that has been

Othello teaches us much about our current postmodern culture. The play connects to our ideas of sexism, male-bonding, racism and capitalism. Shakespeare uses these universal and timeless flaws in humanity along with our use of language and truth to tell his tale. Iago, over a period of about three days, uses these facets of humanity to turn Othello against his wife Desdemona and his friend Cassio. Othello reveals both the struggle of the British people of the early 1600's and Americans in the late 1900's with sexism, capitalism and racism.

In the play Othello, Shakespeare presents sufficient evidence that proves that the character Othello has a paranoid personality disorder. One criteria for paranoid personality disorder from the DSM-5 that Othello meets is he “suspects without sufficient basis, that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him”(American Psychiatric Association). He also recalls:

Othello is one of the greatest plays due to its variety of character and themes. The immorality seen in Iago, the gullibility in Othello, and the desperation of Desdemona make the story. The theme of social status plays a huge role in the story. In addition, the theme of appearance versus reality also plays a huge role in how each tragedy happens. In the critical essay “Othello” it discusses the idea that the characters are cast as outsiders due to false interpretation of what is happening or what is being said. On the other hand, the piece “Othello Character Analysis” emphasizes how characterization reflects the greatness of the piece.

saying he will “tear her all to pieces” and he tells Iago to let him