The Vulnerability Of Good And Evil In Shakespeare's Othello

Shakespeare’s Othello is a play consistently based on jealously and the way it can destroy lives. One is quick to think this jealously is based on Othello’s lack of belief in Desdemona’s faithfulness to him or his suspensions over Desdemona’s affair with Cassio, Othello’s honorable lieutenant. Upon closer inspection of the jealously that exists throughout the play it becomes clear that his jealously is not the sole start and reason for all of the destruction that occurs. Iago, a good friend of Othello, is not who he appears to be. Iago’s own jealously of those around him pushes him over the edge. He begins to deceive all those who believe he is a true, honorable, and faithful man. Throughout Othello, Iago incites his own jealously in

Shakespeare is known for his use of recurring themes throughout his work, including love, death and betrayal. These themes are present in his work of Othello. However, the most fundamental issue is jealousy. The lives of the characthers in Othello are ruined by jealousy from the beginning to the end of the play. The telling of the story is carried out by passion, jealousy, and death. Shakespeare’s Othello reveals devastating tragic inevitability, stunning psychological depth, and compelling poetic depth; the fragility and mysterious power of love, as well as demons of doubt, and how suspicion can be triggered by manipulative villain (Barthelemy 12).

Evil appears through the menacing Iago and his devilish undertakings in Shakespeare’s Othello. Perceived as a sociopath, Iago antagonizes and fuels conflict. Through an interpretation by Ralph Berry, the literary critic identifies a “fairly clear-cut pattern of good and evil that can be closely identified with the three main personages: that is, of evil, personified in Iago, struggling in the soul of Othello for possession of the goo, Desdemona” (3). The conflict throughout the story is fueled by the good versus evil narrative. Firstly, evil shows its presence when Iago manipulates Othello into thinking his love, Desdemona, cheated on him. In response to Iago’s insinuation Othello speaks, “Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw/the smallest

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

Roderigo is a co-conspirator with Iago but is not equal in developing a web of lies and jealousy designed to ensnare others. “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse (Shakespeare)”. Iago takes advantage of the desperate former suitor of Desdemona and controls his emotions like a puppeteer pulling strings. With the line, “But for my sport and profit”, it is clear that Iago sees enriching himself off Roderigo’s envy as an amusing task with such an easy mark (Shakespeare 1473). Roderigo is a simple-minded fool who believes that by giving money to a lowly ensign he can win the love of Desdemona, have her marriage to Othello dissolved, and restore her virtue.

It would be difficult for anyone to come to terms with such contradictory notions of themselves, and Othello is no exception. Once Iago sets the stage for Othello?s fall, the negative emotions aroused in the general cause him to release the lunatic black man that the insiders have feared lies within ?The Moor?s? austere composure. Many critics have suggested that Othello?s extreme jealousy is what amounts to his belief in Iago?s twisted tale of Desdemona?s infidelity and thus his ultimate downfall; however, it seems more likely that it is Othello?s insecurity over his sense of self that allows this manipulation to amount to such an extreme representation of character. Othello himself admits ?Rude am I in my speech? (I.iii.81), failing to have the confidence to eloquently explicate his relationship with Desdemona, although his words prove him to possess quite an impressive mastery of the English language. He comments again on his

    One of the people who Iago manipulates is Roderigo. Roderigo and Iago are talking after Roderigo threatens to drown himself because of Desdemona’s love for Othello. Iago replies to him, ”I have professed me thy friend, and I confess me knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable toughness. I could never better stead these then now. Put money in thy purse. “(I.III.336-339). Iago explains to Roderigo that he has never been more helpful to him then he is now. Iago manipulates Roderigo to make him believe they’re great friends, but Iago’s intentions are iniquities. Iago knows that Roderigo is credulous, and he uses it to his advantage. Iago tricks Roderigo into selling all his belongings for money to buy Desdemona jewels. Iago tells Roderigo that Desdemona is receiving his gifts, but in reality Iago is keeping the jewels for himself. Iago could clearly see Roderigo’s stupidity, and he manipulated Roderigo because it was easy to do. Iago was gaining wealth

He achieves his goals by gaining his victims’ trust and appearing as though he is a good person whose only interest is to help other people, however, each time someone begins to feel as though they are forming a bond with him, in reality Iago is only obtaining information and using the person to his advantage. His primary target is Roderigo, who is blinded by his love for Desdemona, but she already married to Othello. Because of this, he seeked to get advice from Iago who made a promise that he could help Roderigo to win Desdemona over and to take her away from Othello. Iago begins his treachery at this point in the play by giving Roderigo a false sense of hope, that at some point he would be able to have Desdemona for himself. After giving him this information, Iago makes Roderigo give him something in return, and then reaffirms Roderigo's hopes of having Desdemona, as is done in the quote, "The food that to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be to him shortly as acerb as the coloquintida. She must change for youth; when she is sated with his body, she will find the error of her choice. She must have change, she must; therefore put money in thy purse."

He gloats about the easy in which he can manipulate Roderigo (the fool) into giving him money. Directly after this, you hear of Iago’s feelings towards Othello (the Moor). You learn of Iago’s suspicion about his wife having an affair with Othello. This gains pity from the audience, because you feel that Iago is a man deeply distraught over the idea of his wife cheating on him. Iago then begins to contemplate how he would seek vengeance on Othello and gain his title. Iago plans to use Othello’s trust and opinion of him to his advantage. He speaks about how he will use Cassio as his pawn to lure Othello into believing his wife, Desdemona is being unloyal to him. Iago discloses that Othello’s character is naive and will be easy to manipulate. As his closing statement he states that, with a little help from the devil, his monstrous plan will be a success.

“Othello” by William Shakespeare is a tragedy about how a general was coerced into murdering his wife. The mastermind behind this elaborate murder is a man named Iago. Throughout the play Iago can be seen manipulating characters like Roderigo, Cassio, and Othello, in order to get revenge on Othello for snubbing him of the position of Lieutenant–a position he believed he earned. One of the first people Iago uses in his scheme is Roderigo, a wealthy Venetian gentleman with a history of pursuing Desdemona.

Greed and jealousy may cause the downfall of a powerful figure to occur. This theme is evident in the play, Othello by William Shakespeare. Othello is an African general in the Venetian army, Iago is his ancient, or advisor, and Desdemona is Othello’s wife. While Othello believes Iago to be a trustworthy and honest man, Iago really wants to take Cassio’s lieutenant position. In this play, cruelty is represented in the form of Iago’s manipulation Othello to become more powerful and his manipulation of Roderigo, Othello, and Emilia presented many of their character traits.

Shakespeare’s Othello has many different reoccurring themes, particularly love, death and infidelity. One of the most obvious themes that drive a lot of the play is jealousy, stemming from the mischievous ways of Iago. His actions create a chain reaction of speculation, lying and most of all jealousy. Iago who plays a manipulative and dishonest character seems to bring out the worst traits of many of the characters within the play especially Othello. These reoccurring issues of manipulation and hatred begin early on in the play. It has been discovered that Othello and Desdemona have married, for everyone around these two, including friends and family this is a problem. This is especially an issue for Iago and Roderigo. Each of them seem to have there own reasons why these two should not be together, one for love of Desdemona and the other for hatred of Othello. They set up to break the newly weds apart by setting the stage with an accusation that Desdemona has cheated on Othello with Cassio, Othello’s lieutenant. After these accusations are made the lives of all the characters seem to spiral out of control, the relationship that takes the biggest toll in the end seems to be Othello and Desdemona. It is clear to see that this “green-eyed monster” in Shakespeare’s words, has the power to control the psyche of the human, resulting in unthinkable acts from many of the characters involved.

     Iago, the villain in Shakespeare’s Othello, is a round character of great depth and many dimensions. Iago works towards an aim that is constantly changing and becomes progressively more tragic. Yet, at times, "honest" Iago does actually seem honest. This essay will explore the complex character of "honest Iago.

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.

Humans are contradictions, which good and evil nature both exists. The grand tragic play Othello written by Shakespeare illustrates the contradictions in human natures through the display of tragic falls of various characters such as Othello, Iago, and Roderigo. Othello, the protagonist of the play, fell in love with the daughter of a nobleman, Desdemona. However, this relationship is soon broken up because Othello believed the accusation from Iago, Othello’s subordinate, towards Desdemona for having a disloyal relationship with her husband Othello’s lieutenant, Michael Cassio. With his hidden nature, Othello chose to trust Iago and murdered his wife with his own hand. In this Shakespearean play, each character created by Shakespeare has distinct and complicated personalities, and Iago, being the main antagonist in the play, acts as a mirror that reflects the natural weakness and flaws in the characters Othello, Roderigo, and himself; ultimately, it displays the underlying evil intentions of human nature.