The Tragedy Of Othello, The Moor Of Venice

In William Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello is the tragic hero. He is a character of high stature who is destroyed by his surroundings, his own actions, and his fate. His destruction is essentially precipitated by his own actions, as well as by the actions of the characters surrounding him. The tragedy of Othello is not a fault of a single villain, but is rather a consequence of a wide range of feelings, judgments and misjudgments, and attempts for personal justification exhibited by the characters. Othello is first shown as a hero of war and a man of great pride and courage. As the play continues, his character begins to deteriorate and become less noble. Chronologically through the play, Othello’s character

A tragedy is typically explained as a type of drama that displays pain and suffering, and where the main character, the protagonist, experiences a life changing event that alters his fortune from good too bad. William Shakespeare’s play, Othello, the Moor of Venice is classified as an Aristotelian classical tragedy based on the guidelines Aristotle sets when examining a tragedy. Othello is a general in the Venetian army, and the husband of Desdemona, and well respected by society. The play describes how Othello’s fate has an undesirable change in fortune, the reversal. In brief, Othello is portrayed as a happy, powerful man in the beginning of the play, and by the end of the play he endures pain and suffering from his own misfortune

‘Without setting, characters are simply there, in a vacuum, with no reason to act and most importantly, no reason to care.’ The setting gives place for a narrative to begin and evolve from, without a strong setting some texts may be difficult to interpret without extra contextual and historical knowledge of the time period of which it was written. Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice written 1603 was set in Italy, in the Venetian Republic . This setting was gaining popularity with Elizabethan writers, maybe as a form of escapism, to have a crypto - catholic approach, as this country was the largest and still is the largest Catholic country. Or a more general form of escapism from the society at that time. Writing for a predominantly working class audience, Shakespeare’s work is an escapism from the audiences hardship of life.

The event of Othello’s elopement is the turning point for Iago’s obsession and plot to destroy his life by sabotaging his relationships with Desdemona and his closest friends. Othello’s tragic flaw of trusting the wrong people leads him to his demise. Iago’s first plan of action brings Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, into play. He speaks of how “The Moor”, Othello, is deflowering his daughter’s purity. “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe” (1.1.88-89) (Othello.) Iago’s obsession goes so far as to bring his own wife into his plot without her knowledge. Iago asks Emilia to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief as “evidence” of her infidelity. “My wayward husband hath a hundred times / Woo’d me to steal it; but she so loves the token....I’ll have the work ta’en out, And give’t Iago: what he will do with it Heaven knows, not I; I nothing but to please his fantasy.” (3.3.292-299) (Othello.) A man who prided himself on being trustworthy was so blinded with jealousy and hatred that he would sabotage his own wife to take down Othello’s life.

Othello and Desdemona are not the only couple that suffer acts of betrayal from within their very own relationship. Emilia and Iago are another couple that, whose characters’ change causing them to lose touch with reality. Emilia is always suspicious of Iago but she still trusts him, for example when she gives Desdemona’s handkerchief to Iago reluctantly “If [the handkerchief]be not for some purpose of import,/Give't me again: poor lady, she'll run mad/ When she shall lack it” (III,iii,156-159). Emilia does not want to give the handkerchief to Iago because she thinks he might to something to hurt Desdemona and Othello with it. Therefore she asks him indirectly to give it back to Desdemona. In doing so Emilia is betraying her husbands trust by doubting his intentions. This small event is enough to change her view of her husband, and plant doubt in her mind as to the reality of his actions versus their appearance. Ultimately this small action has great consequences to her life. Near the end of the play, once Othello kills his wife, Emilia finds out and she confronts Othello, and she reveals that it was her husband that betrayed him. In doing so, she has betrayed all trust that she and her husband had. Making Othello see the

Additionally, Emilia’s adverse view on marriage and her husband matches Iago’s unfavorable view on women and marriage being less than enjoyable. Demonstrating her disregard for marriage, Emilia declares, “‘they are all but stomachs, and we all but food; they eat us hungerly, and when they are full, they belch us’” (3.4.104-60. By saying this, she is showing knowledge and experience with the relations of men and women and the cruel manner they treat each other. Emilia verbalizes how men only use women to get what they desire, and disregard them when they cannot be expended to any further extent. In the play, Iago uses Emilia to seize Desdemona’s handkerchief, his treasured article of Desdemona’s as a gift of love from Othello. After gaining possession of the handkerchief, he wants to present evidence of Othello’s wife cheating on him. The final result of the stolen handkerchief is death of multiple people including Emilia, Desdemona, and Iago. Emilia’s thoughts and sayings pertaining to marriage, if taken seriously, could have prevented numerous deaths.

Emilia didn't have a very wonderful marriage relationship with her husband Iago. She wished for more because she really loved Iago and did some bad things like stealing the handkerchief that she knew meant so much to Desdemona just to make Iago happy, of which she did not notice(3.3.297-320). In another incident where Emilia is not appreciated by her husband, is seen when Iago is ready to compose a poem for Desdemona, because she is beautiful but refuses to do the same thing to Emilia, his wife (2.1.117-134). According to Emilia, men are the cause of many marital relationships. The jealous men posses make them ruin the relationship they have. In the play, we see this come to pass when Othello, because of being jealous loose the trust he had on his wife to the point of killing her. She further says that, women cheat on their husbands because their husbands don't satisfy their wives sexually for they go to sleep with other women beside their wives (4.3.87-88).

Emilia is restricted and limited in her actions by the pressure she feels to follow the norms of her fellow citizens. Despite the fact that Emilia is unhappy in her marriage and does not like Iago, her husband, she feels like she needs to make the relationship work. She also feels the societal pressure to be loyal to Iago. Cassio kisses Emilia’s hand and tells Iago that he has no need to be jealous since it is only a common courtesy. Then Iago replies, “Sir, would she give you so much of her lips/As of her tongue she oft bestows on me, / You’ll have enough” (Shakespeare II.i.109-111). Desdemona then defends Emilia, and Iago counters, “In faith, too much. /I find it still, when I have leave to sleep. / Marry, before your ladyship, I grant, / She puts her tongue a little in her heart / And chides with thinking” (Shakespeare, II.i. 113-117). Iago openly insults Emilia in front of others, and despite this Emilia remains loyal to Iago. Emilia does not stand up for herself and allows her husband to ridicule her in public. She feels obligated to put up with Iago being a despicable person due to her marital obligations to him. She wants to gain his love and respect and make the marriage

“Good ancient, you are welcome. Welcome, mistress./ Let it not gall your patience, good Iago/That I extend my manners: 'Tis my breeding/ That gives me this bold show of courtesy” (2.1.98-101). Iago is not a winner in any case; he is not handsome nor authoritative than Cassio does. Instead of being humiliated, Iago act to rehabilitate his own inadequacy by slandering on the female body; he leverages distaste and accuse the duality in Emilia, and female characters in general: “Come on, come on. You are pictures out of doors,/ bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens, saints in your injuries, devils being offended,/ players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds” (2.1.112-115). Iago is essentially implementing an attack on male insecurity, and establish a male bond between him and Cassio. His tactic to expose women’s disorderly nature is transferring male’s social anxiety to sexual anxiety: “Cassio fantasizes that he had the same access to Desdemona that he now has to Iago…in courting Desdemona, Cassio is really courting his general. That this dream indeed figures Cassio’s desire for Othello’s love is suggested too by the male- male eroticism realized in Cassio’s sighing, his passionate kissing of Iago and his laying of his leg on Iago’s thigh” (Matz). Matz’s critic demonstrated that male

Emilia is Iago's wife, and Desdemona's maid, a woman of practical intelligence and emotional resilience. She follows Iago in wifely duty, but during the play develops a strong loyalty to Desdemona and, at the end, publicly declare Iago's lies to defend Desdemona's reputation. Emilia having heard from Othello that Iago told him of Desdemona "cheating" on him with Cassio, accuses him of gross dishonesty leading to an unjust murder. When she hears about the handkerchief, she reveals her role and Iago threatens and then kills her at the first opportunity. She can't bring Desdemona back to life, but she does clear her friend's name.

In the tragedy of, Othello, Shakespeare reveals the vulnerability of good men to those that are evil. Readers recognise that those more vulnerable, are negatively affected by those of a more evil, dominant and manipulative persona. Roderigo’s besotting love for Desdemona portrays him as a vulnerable ‘fool’ that ultimately Iago takes advantage of for his own amusement and financial gain. The actions taken by those that are evil are driven by nothing but bitter resentment.

In Shakespeare’s play Othello Emilia plays the role of a desperate housewife, Desdemona’s maid, and unfortunately, Iago’s wife. Emilia changes from a pleasing wife to a determining figure who discovers the truth about Iago and plans to learn what tricks he has been planning up his sleeve. Emilia is the only true character of the play who concerns for her husband and the manipulation he plays on people. Iago is seen as honest, respectful, and an overall good friend to other characters in the play such as Othello and Desdemona. Emilia on the other hand, deals with his mockery every single day, making her prone to seeing what he shows on his true side. To add on, Iago does not want to love anyone or anything making Emilia and Iago’s relationship

When Iago asks Emilia if she successfully retrieved Desdemona's handkerchief, in which he told her she needed to get for him, he refers to her a “foolish wife” (Shakespeare 4.3.314), which she quickly ignores. Emilia did everything asked of her and Iago thanks her by stating, “A good wench, give it me” (Shakespeare 4.3.319). Without mutual love, trust, and loyalty women are to do as their husbands say without any reprimand. Despite the fact Emilia knows Desdemona did not cheat on Othello, she still chooses to obey her husband over the truth of her friend. This signifies the relationship of husband and wife surpasses all other relationships no matter the treatment

Othello, the Moor of Venice , tells a story of a man named Othello, he is a Moorish General in the military but is disparaged for his race, but he is well respected because of his rank in the military. He marries Desdemona the daughter of Brabantio a Venetian Senator, they’re in an interracial marriage that offends Brabantio because Othello is a moor, whom are viewed as beast-like villains. Jealous of Othello’s high rank and honor and has a feeling that his commander has slept with his wife, Othello’s lieutenant and close friend Iago plans to sabotage Othello’s marriage and career. He tells Othello that his wife Desdemona is unfaithful and he gives him false evidence of that infidelity she has towards him. Othello is known to be trusted and noble, but everything Iago tells him leads him into a jealous rage that starts tragedy. The play is set in Venice, a place that values their military

A talented poet and playwright writer, William Shakespeare came during the golden age of England. His writings are the greatest in the English language. No one really know Shakespeare real birthday. The closet date the scholars can come up is on his baptism on April 24th, 1564. It has been over 400 years since his death; Shakespeare’s writing is not just limited to English scholars, but also appears on modern historical events and newspaper as well. Playwright and poetry are an art that appeals to the conscious mind, but the best classical playwright such as Othello not only appeals to conscious mind, but also to the subconscious mind. “The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice,” written by William Shakespeare from the sixteenth