Othello Psychology

The emotion shown by characters in a play appeals to an audience, the emotional impact characters have on us makes them interesting and attractive as in a way, emotion is the universal glue that binds us together. Emotional quality within a character hooks the audience by taking them through a series of different feelings throughout the play allowing the audience to relate to both the positive and negative qualities of the character’s search for meaning. This allows the audience to connect with the characters, therefore, breaking down the wall between characters, players and the audience. ‘Othello’ by William Shakespeare portrays the progressive downfall of a noble soldier due to his over-emotional nature and self-pride. ‘Othello’ is a play that portrays a manipulative antagonist, Iago plants the seed of doubt in Othello’s mind about his wife supposedly committing adultery. Othello is emotionally innocent and naive which makes it easy for Iago to plant a seed of doubt in his mind, as he begins to distrust his wife and leads to his eventual downfall. This chaotic emotional journey evokes an array of emotion within the audience as they watch and pity Othello’s fated journey and cruel ending. Goodness and innocence in the form of Desdemona does not triumph. The conflicting emotional ground swell stirred up by this dichotomy grips and appeals to our own emotional life.

William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ is one of the most emotionally fraught and psychologically intense of all of Shakespeare’s tragedies. The deeply psychological ideas it explores such as the nature of narcissism and psychopathy become a concentrated concoction of jealousy, hatred, insecurity, rage and repressed sexual desires within their isolated setting on the Island of Cyprus. When one applies a psychoanalytic lens to the play the internal workings of the human mind bubble to the surface with an intensity that is difficult to ignore. This is best expressed by analyzing the characters of Othello, a clear example of a narcissist and Iago, an id driven psychopath, and the way in which the two influence and psychologically feed off each other.

The definition of a tragic hero is that an individual who has a mixture of admirable qualities and a tragic flaw which proves fatal. This suggests Othello is a tragic hero, though qualities such as nobility in thoughts or actions do not consistently portray Othello throughout the play. Despite his brave reputation as a soldier and characteristics of trusting and caring initially with Desdemona, his weaknesses in both his own character and his vulnerability to Iago¡¦ s lies, and the decision of killing Desdemona at last do not make Othello sufficiently noble in thought or action to attain the status of a tragic hero.

Since the beginning of time, heroes and villains have been well known throughout history and literature. In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, the tragic hero, subconsciously falls under Iago's plan to ruin his love for his wife, Desdemona. The surrounding of one’s environment can change an individual’s perception. Any innocent gesture might be viewed negatively with persuasion from another person. Even if a person trusts another person’s innocent ways, the individual can be persuaded to doubt the other person through lies. The thought that one doubt can influence how a person views everything else is quite scary. This change in perception takes place throughout the play, Othello. I will be examining the psychological analysis on the perspectives of each main character Othello, Desdemona and Iago.

In Shakespeare’s Othello, the shame that characters have towards themselves and the disgust that Othello has for himself cause Othello’s mental shift in Act 3, Scene 3. It is the shame caused by the interracial relationships in the play and the disgust Othello has for himself because of his race that causes his mental shift.

The use of imagery in the play Othello builds on the theme of perception versus reality. Iago again takes on the role of narrator, laying out his plans for the audience. In the soliloquy he illustrates the difference between perception and reality, in which he says that his advice to Cassio is actually good advice, and that enlisting Desdemona's help is the best way for Cassio to regain his position. For example, the contrast between good and evil is shown when Shakespeare wrote “when devils will the blackest sins put on, they suggest at first with heavenly shows, as I do now.” (105/II/3/371)

People project pieces of their personality in their body language and in the language they speak. Often when meeting each other for the first time we pick up on those actions to determine what kind of person we’re dealing with; whether we’d want to deal with them again or not. This system of assessment is dangerously flawed. What if a person portrayed a personality on the surface but was the complete opposite within? We’d be in a world of trouble depending on which side of opposite the person is on. Some people could be on the darkest, self-destructive and diabolical side of the opposite of whom they appear. This bodes true for Iago of Shakespeare’s Othello the mastermind-supervillain who actually wins through the exact kind of cold-blooded

"The Tragedy of Othello Written by William Shakespeare" highlights a variety of ways in which males and females reacted to intense situations." The emotions of the characters changed from the start of Act 1, the end of Act 1, and continued as the story of Othello progressed. In Act 1, the main protagonist named Othello started off conveying the emotion of happiness because he and his wife Desdemona were newlyweds. Othello was the general of the army of Venice. Iago, who was a soldier desired the rank of lieutenant, but Othello skipped over him and chose Cassio as the lieutenant even though Cassio had no experience in war but was exceptionally knowledgeable. Iago feels envious towards Cassio gaining the rank he wanted, Iago decided to work with Roderigo, a man who loves Desdemona, to pressure Brabantio, Desdemonas’ father, into thinking Othello used a “magic charm” to build up Desdemonas’ love for him. ("The Tragedy of Othello Written by Shakespeare” Book) In addition to Iago’s actions, Brabantio conveying anger approached Othello by accusing him instead of talking to him calmly. Brabantio told Desdemona of the rumor and asked: “who do you choose?” Meaning, she had to pick either her husband or her father. Desdemona projecting love towards her husband chose Othello. In conclusion to Desdemona's actions, it appeals to the reader that the female character represents

This, I led me too a love of psychology. How wonderful was it that there was a whole science devoted just to that one mystical organ? Studying the brain, we can unlock the doors to human

But jealousy, and especially sexual jealousy, brings with it a sense of shame and humiliation. For this reason it is generally hidden; if we perceive it we ourselves are ashamed and turn our eyes away; and when it is not hidden it commonly stirs contempt as well as pity. Nor is this all. Such jealousy as Othello’s

delusional jealousy, a mental disorder characterized by delusions of infidelity or jealousy of one’s spouse or lover. While healthy people become jealous only in response to firm evidence, delusional jealousy individuals interpret conclusive evidence of infidelity from irrelevant occurrences and refuse to change their beliefs even in the face of conflicting information[2] .Delusional jealousy also can be referred to as Othello syndrome, morbid jealousy, pathological jealousy, or erotic

In life a person has to make a lot of decisions, some decisions are made good and some are made bad. It's up to you what decision you make and it's your choice what to do. The play that we watched in class called, “Othello” is written by a famous writer named “William Shakespeare.” In this essay I will discuss Emilia’s motivations throughout the play and how they change. Emilia is Iago's wife and Desdemona is her mistress. Emilia is nice and kind hearted and she dearly loves her husband and her mistress. Emilia’s heart is motivated by her love for her husband and Desdemona. Her words are motivated by her guilt. Her actions are motivated by her regret. Emilia changes from love, to guilt and then to regret.

Daniel L. Schacter says that psychology is known as the scientific study of a person’s mind, such as their experiences, thoughts, and feelings, and their behavior, which are the individual’s observable actions. Franz Joseph Gall, a French physician, believed that a person’s brain was linked to their mind by the size instead of by the glands. Gall developed a theory called phrenology stating that certain mental abilities or characteristics in a human being are set in a specific location of the brain (Daniel L. Schacter, Daniel T. Gilbert, Daniel M. Wegner, Matthew K. Nock, 2014). This theory also showed how you could link a bump on a person’s skull to a certain characteristic of their personality (Kendra Cherry, 2014). For example, if one person has more mathematical ability or tends to be more persevering than another person, the part of their brain that those qualities are located will

The mind is the cognitive function of the brain that allows a being to have subjective awareness and intentionality towards their surroundings, to perceive and respond towards experiences, and to have consciousness through thinking and feeling. Through the development of the cognitive sciences such as philosophy, religion, and psychology there has been a further understanding of the mind and the phenomena of its capabilities. Psychology is regarded as cognitive science that has a significant part of literature, and Sigmund Freud has made great contributions to psychology through his psychoanalytic theory, that is regarded as an inseparable part of literature. Freud

Jealousy is the sensation to envy someone and have the desire to avenge someone. The infamous play Othello portrays the consequences of jealousy. Throughout the play, Othello tragic flaw is his own jealousy. Othello jealousy causes a transition of character. Othello was once the charming noble gentleman and it is now turned into a vicious callous monster. Othello’s jealousy was his downfall that cost the deaths of multiple lives.