Use Of Illusion And Hide Reality Plays A Heavy Role On William Shakespeare 's ' Othello '

Cassio's trust in Iago stems not only from his impeccable reputation of sincerity, but again from Othello's influence.  Othello simply states; "Iago is most honest." [Act II, scene iii], when conversing with Cassio.  Once more, if Othello feels this way, then Cassio, who admires Othello and follows his leadership, will also believe that Iago is an honest man.  When Iago pretends to help Cassio, he comments; "I never knew a Florentine more kind and honest", [Act III, scene I].

     Iago told Othello that he would discuss Desdemona with Cassio, and that he would talk about the affair. Iago does not do this, and instead he talks about Bianca with Cassio, and Cassio laughs at things Iago says. Othello sees Cassio laughing and just assumes he is laughing at Desdemona, which in return upsets him very much. Iago used several tactics to set up Othello for deception in this case.

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.

Throughout the play, Iago is thought to be honest and a good advisor. We often see "…honest Iago… ", or in Othello's words "…this fellow's of exceeding honesty… ". None of the characters in the play knows what Iago is really up to, and they blindly trust him and accept his advice.

By using short, choppy sentence structure and weak diction, he seems less of a threat to Othello and his innocence is enhanced through it. Also, by always using rhetorical questions, he never does address what it is Othello is talking about. Iago distorts Othello’s thoughts and gets him to think he knows much more than he is telling him about the entire affair. This becomes especially clear when Othello asks for “ocular proof” and Iago confirms he has it using statements like “I should be wise; for honesty’s a fool and looses that it works for,” Act III Scene iii line 378-379, meaning he should not tell Othello what he knows or it would ruin Iago’s reputation. This sets Othello’s suspicions aflame and soon Iago is relaying to him the story about Cassio’s dream about he and Desdemona, and finally, he closes with the handkerchief, the most powerful thing which Othello held as a sacred gift of love to his wife. He is then completely overcome with jealousy and scorn for his former lover and friend, wanting death for the both of them.

life of his hated master, Othello. It is Iago to present the first contrast between illusion and reality

In each case, Iago manipulates Othello into seeing and believing what he wants him to, rather than the reality of what is actually happening. In this way, Iago becomes a kind of ‘director’.

Initially, Othello is content as a general and has just married his lover Desdemona. In act two, Iago begins to plant seeds of doubt into Othello’s mind about Desdemona’s faithfulness to him. He does this by subtly influencing Othello’s thoughts through manipulation, like in act two, scene three when he asks the question “When you were wooing Desdemona, did Michael Cassio know about it?” These types of questions made doubt arise in Othello’s mind. His patience would thin when

Othello Motif of Deception Throughout the Tragedy of Othello, we see a constant state of deception from Iago and we are shown the devastating impact it has on the outcome of the play. Without this characteristic shown from the Iago and the constant display of it throughout the story, Othello would have fallen short of its goal in leaving the readers in suspense and mystery as to what would occur next. This motif is shown through Iago's lying and personal betrayal to Roderigo, Othello, and the women of the play.

Othello and Iago’s relationship, the most prominent relationship, represents the duality of the play. Othello believes that Iago is helping him and guiding him to be a better person; however, Iago is using Othello to get his way. “Iago is annoyed that he didn't receive promotion from general Othello” (“Relationships in Othello”). Iago is dissatisfied with Othello’s choice because he believes he deserves the promotion. Iago becomes vengeful and devises a plan to enact his revenge. “I follow him to serve my turn upon him” (Shakespeare). Iago is shown to only serve Othello for his own purposes. Othello cannot see through the facade that Iago has put up and follows him blindly. “Othello trusts Iago totally as Iago has a reputation in Venice for being very honest” (“Relationships in Othello”). Moreover, Othello calls Iago “Honest Iago” on multiple occasions in the play. Othello is shown to believe that Iago is honest and trustworthy by Shakespeare to emphasize the duality of the relationship between Iago and Othello. Their relationship is a major aspect in

In the play Othello, one of the main themes in act two is appearance versus reality. Some people are honest while other people are not and still other people give the appearance of being honest but are really lying. This is a perfect illustration of what appearance and reality truly id. In Othello, two of the characters that appear one way, but are in reality totally opposite are Iago and Desdemona. At the end of Act I, Roderigo is preparing to drown himself because Desdemona, whom he loves, is married. Iago, appearing to be a good friend, tells him that he should follow them to Cyprus. Eventually Desdemona will get tired of the Moor and seek someone younger. Roderigo believes what Iago tells him and decides to go to Cyprus. What Roderigo does

The play “Othello” has a great number of twists and turns when it comes to the truth. The characters in the story are all truthful except for Iago, which ironic because he is called “honest Iago” a few times in the play. He started twisting his words and the truth because Iago was a big baby and did not get what he wanted, which was to be lieutenant. Othello named Michael Cassio as lieutenant, and Iago was furious that this position was not given to him. This is when Iago starts his wrongdoing to get what he wants.

The human eye has many powers that help us every single day, but the power of the mind can take over causing our vision to see things that aren’t always there. The mind has to work ten times harder to try and decide what is an illusion versus reality. Shakespeare challenges our minds by presenting love, jealousy, communication, and many more themes that we could connect too. The one theme that dominated the play in my eyes was illusion vs. reality. The play Othello demonstrates how the difference in the two can have life changing alterations.

Nothing is ever as it seems in the plays of William Shakespeare. Appearance vs. reality is often a theme he plays around with. In the play Othello this theme is very apparent through the plotline of the characters. Characters often believe the only truth they happen to know. However the truth is not always what is really occurring. In many instances the realities of the characters is not always existent. Iago is the main protagonist who deceives everyone in the play. Iago uses the technique of appearance vs. reality to ruin the lives of Cassio, Desdemona and Othello.

Never looking beyond what eyes see, humans often trust those who may seem honest and trustworthy. In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, the theme of appearance and reality is central. The relationship between Othello, the protagonist, and Iago, the antagonist, is deceitful, malicious, and troublesome. Iago’s envy of others drives him to destroy the lives of multiple characters by pretending to be their ally. By trusting Iago, Othello 's confidence is broken because he realizes he could no longer distinguish reality from lies.