Othello - Deception and Vision Essay

    To most of the world William Shakespeare is recognized as the greatest dramatist in history.  His plays have been performed for centuries through various interpretations.  Shakespeare's vast knowledge, and writing style made his works interesting for both the intellectual, and the illiterate.  One of these styles is the use of motifs, which is seen extensively in Othello.  An important example that runs throughout Othello, is Iago's honesty.  This motif gave existence to Shakespeare's perfect villain.

     One may readily perceive the theme of Shakespeare’s “Othello” as deception. Deception appears many times in Othello, but in almost every incident the degree of deception is different. Deception is to “deceive another, illusion, or fraud” (Webster’s New World Pocket Dictionary 69), which is seen as a wrongful act. However, deception may be used to protect someone from getting hurt therefore being used with good intentions.

Othello trusts Iago and now Iago is trying to take his wife from him for someone else. Furthermore, “He takes her by the palm...sir in.” (pg. 71). Iago watches Cassio and Emilia because he thinks they had an affair he watches them carefully so he can figure out how to convince Othello that Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair. Another example involves the plan to help Othello kill Desdemona. “Do it not with poison. Strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated” (pg. 185). Othello believes that Iago is most honest, thus he believed killing his wife Desdemona was the right thing to do. Iago brainwashed Othello into believing the wrong thing was the right thing. The characterization of Iago is created by the use of dramatic irony. The audience knew how devious Iago is, but the characters fell for his mischievous acts.

All three texts present Deception as a destructive force, however the way in which it is portrayed differs. Streetcar and Chesil Beach display a form of deception that is more justifiable through Blanche and Florence, whilst Othello demonstrates a more severe deception through Iago, a mastermind in manipulation. The severity of Blanche and Florence’s deception is less than Iago’s due to their good intent; both are using deception not for their own personal gain but only for the benefit of others. Iago is the main protagonist of Deception in Othello. The structure of Othello’s plot is largely based on his self-centred plan to seek revenge. The opening scene of the play immediately submerges the audience in deception through Iago’s speech. In conversation with Roderigo, Iago vows that he follows his lord Othello, not out of service, but to seek revenge. He declares ‘I follow him to serve my turn upon him’. Stated quite openly at the start of the play it sets the stage for the unfolding of deception and deceit. Further in the play, Iago openly admits he is a sinner and goes as far as comparing his actions to those of ‘The devil’: ‘Divinity of hell! When devils will the blackest sins put

As much as humans want to believe and trust others, hesitation occurs due (to) a certain act called deception. All humans have the ability to be deceptive, although some more than others, there are too many who become a victim as a consequence of metaphorical blindness. In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, blindness to the truth results from the antagonist’s acts of deception derived from desire and jealousy which ultimately leads to the death of several innocents. Iago uses his desire for the lieutenant designation to create his acts of revenge which consequences in a very severe manner in Venice and Cyprus. As a machiavellian villain, he

Iago says, “O wretched fool That lov’st to make thine honesty a vice! O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world, To be direct and honest is not safe. I thank you for this profit, and from hence I’ll love no friend, sith love breeds such offence” (3.3. 385-390). Othello has just told Iago for him to prove Desdemona is cheating and if he can’t his life is worthless. Iago replies with the lines above showing the role he plays when with Othello. He manipulates Othello into feeling bad for him by crying about being so honest and not taken seriously that he will never try to help a friend out. The irony is that Iago is causing a scene about Othello not believing that Desdemona cheating on him, when it is a

Once a seed of suspicion or doubt is planted in a person’s mind, the noxious effect of jealousy is soon to ensue. Jealousy and suspicion are Othello’s flaws hubris throughout the play and foreshadow to the audience his imminent downfall. He believes what Iago tells him so strongly that he compromises his close relationship with his best friend and his love for his wife. Iago manipulates Othello through the use of extortion, literary techniques, and his keen judge of character. His syntax and diction are so simple yet so powerful because he uses the correct rhetorical questions and addresses Othello with respectful terms such as “my lord.” He allows Othello do most of the talking

The tragic plot of Othello hinges on the potential of the villain, Iago, to deceive other characters, above all Roderigo and Othello, through encouraging them to misinterpret what they see. Othello is prone to Iago 's ploys seeing that he himself is so sincere and

Iago seems sincere enough, and he makes a concerted effort to ensure that he remains aces in everyone's book. So when Iago begins to plant the seeds of doubt into Othello's mind, Othello has no cause to doubt him. Desdemona is his wife, the woman that he loves with all his heart. Yet, see how quickly he is dissuaded, and how he disparages her. "Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damn'd tonight, for she shall not live. No, me heart is turn'd to stone, I strike it, and it hurts my hand?I will chop her into messes. Cuckold me!" (1167). But Othello never thinks to disbelieve Iago. He believes Iago to be an honest man, wise and simply trying to help. So he doesn't stop to think that maybe he should talk this over with his wife before he launches himself into a state of panic.

The ideas of truth and perception are hard to differentiate in everyday life, making the real truth harder to seek. The main functions in Othello are perception and truth which is a person’s viewpoint or their interpretation of reality, and truth being what actually happens, and these facts can be easily manipulated. Othello, written by William Shakespeare, is a general who is constantly tormented between the false and real truth by Iago who skillfully manipulates him throughout the story. In Plato’s The Republic, he also talks about these themes, saying that the truth can be shaped by your view of reality and by stereotypes. In Othello, Shakespeare is saying that perception can easily alter the truth of others, making the truth harder to accept.

Othello’s love for Desdemona was so deep he could not bear the thought of another being with her; “If she be false, O! Then heaven mocks itself. I’ll not believe’t.” Iago uses the characters of Cassio and the obsessive Roderigo as his weapons in his cunning plan. Iago drives the idea into Othello’s mind that Desdemona has been unfaithful, inciting him into a state of jealousy. “Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee; and when I love thee not, chaos is come again.” Othello growing insecurities about his wife’s faithfulness only adds to his psychological suffering which in turn acts as a catalyst towards the suffering of other characters involved in the play.Iago tells these lies with the intention of driving Othello insane as well as establish his dominance and influence the situations of those characters close to Othello. Evidence of this comes in one of Iago’s soliloquies from act two, scene one; “That Cassio loves her, I do well Believe’t: That she loves him, ‘tis apt and of great credit.” This section shows that he is trying to convince himself that his own manipulative lies are true and is trying to reassure his motives by justifying his own actions. By convincing Othello

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

Shakespeare has been known to create terrific tales of love and tragedy. Even James Van Der Beek, a well known actor from Dawson's Creek, once commented that, “like all great romantics, Shakespeare realized love was a lot more likely to end with a bunch of dead Danish people than with a kiss”("Americans on the Bard"). This emphasizes how easily people can relate Shakespeare to tragic love. Although he did write many poems and plays with happy endings, his tragedies stand out the most. In these tragedies, people are often led through use of misconception, trickery, or both. An example of misconception can be shown by another of Shakespeare's plays, “Antony and Cleopatra,” as he wrote for Antony's part, “this foul Egyptian hath betrayed

355,] By playing on his hopes, Iago is able to conjure money and jewels from Roderigo, making himself a profit, while using Roderigo to further his other plans. He also thinks stealthy on his feet and is able to improvise whenever something unexpected occurs. When Cassio takes hold of Desdemona's hand before the arrival of the Moor Othello, Iago says, "With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio." [II, i, 163] This language demonstrates the evil inside Iago’s goals of retrieving absolute power. He actually even says of himself, "I am an honest man...." [II, iii, 245] Iago slowly corrupts the character’s thoughts, creating ideas in their minds without implicating himself. His "medicine works! Thus credulous fools are caught...." [II, i, 44] "And what's he then that says I play the villain, when this advice is free I give, and honest," [II, iii, 299] says Iago. In turn, people rarely stop to consider the fact that old Iago could be deceiving and manipulating them; yet they are convinced that he is "Honest Iago." From these quotes from “Othello” it is proven that the dialogue used between Iago and the others is manipulative causing an evil outcome.

Shakespeare is very well known for his inclusion of tragic flaws throughout the storylines of his novels. Hero’s, as courageous as they may seem, are just like any other person and go through flaws throughout their lifetime regardless of the extent of their situation. In Shakespeare’s novel Othello, with all the events twisting the readers mind from one side to another, there are many distinct qualities that portray Othello’s tragic flaw. Iago was portrayed as an honest character but with his careful deceptions jabbing in Othello’s mind, he is far from honest. Othello’s tragic flaw is that he trusts others opinions more than his own perceptions and Shakespeare develops this flaw by using convincing persuasive appeals and strong syntax throughout