William Shakespeare 's Othello And Othello

heavens forbid. But that out loves and comforts should increase even as our days do

William Shakespeare’s Othello would not be a dramatic tragedy if the smiling villain, Iago, were a deaf mute. There is no doubt that the destruction of each character can be blamed on jealous Iago. The theme of jealousy helps propel the plot naturally and demonstrates the consequences of being morbidly jealous. The circumstantial evidence Iago provides acts like a lethal poison, which surrounds Othello in suspicion and envy but also turns him into an inhuman murderer. Jealousy is the ‘monster’ that unresonably conducts the great suffering in the story.

William Shakespeare, born in the mid sixteenth century, is a well-known poet and playwright from England. The topics of his plays range from history and comedy, all the way to tragedy, and focus on universal themes and relationships between characters to express these themes to the general public. Betrayal, incest, jealousy, and love are all common themes in his works. Although one of Shakespeare’s more popular tragic dramas, Othello, at first glance seems to mainly center around the characters Othello and Desdemona and their relationship, the play in reality focuses more so on the evil villain, Iago, and his insecurity which instills in him a hatred of Othello. Iago provides some dark humor to the audience, as he is self-possessed and intelligent, making it obvious when he is lying to another character and making himself seem honest and truthful. The play is one of jealousy, manipulation, and the cunning work of Iago, all combined to bring ruin to Othello. Although Shakespeare’s Othello is considered by some to be a commentary on race, Shakespeare is truly addressing the dangers of blind trust as well as the overwhelming power jealousy can have over even the most respectable mind; he addresses these themes by evolving the characters’ personalities and using dramatic irony to intensify and contrast the characters’ relationships with each other from the beginning to the end of this tragic drama.

If William Shakespeare were alive today he could have been a millionaire movie producer, but alas his misfortune caused him to die an author who causes many students to cringe upon the mention of his name. William Shakespeare wrote the classic Othello in 1604, in 2001 Tim Blake Nelson directed the film O based on Othello. Both of these stories run the same story line but with a difference in setting, time period, and characters names. The correlation to the original Othello that O displays allows for a better understanding of the text as well as a deeper appreciation for the talented mind of Shakespeare. The final scene of Othello can be translated into a modern adaptation for a younger audience and still correlate with the original.

For the time Othello was set in, 16th century Elizabethan society held strong socioeconomic roles that governed social statuses. In Shakespeare’s Othello, class positions become a theme that emphasizes power as a major role in relationships. In the case of Othello, a general of the Venetian army, and Iago, one of his trusted advisors, that power struggle is the force that dominants the play and leads to the disastrous and memorable ending. Machiavelli’s treatise, The Prince, examines the dynamic between power and servitude and how a proper ruler will take care not to be hated by his inner circle and pick the right ministers to advise him (Machiavelli XVI, XXII). By using Machiavelli’s treatise, the roles that Othello and Iago contributed to the tragedy will be studied to determine the cause for the struggle between power and servitude and how, if possible, that struggle could have been avoided if Othello had adapted to the philosophy suggested in The Prince.

A key figure, if not the most important in the play, is that of the malcontent Iago, who sows the seeds of jealousy in Othello’s mind, and presents him with ‘proof’ to back up his suspicions. Iago acts as a catalyst to Desdemona’s murder and it is his intricate

When it comes to dissecting and analyzing texts, Othello is a play with countless layers and thought provoking ideas to it. In Othello, the characterization focus on Othello is his transition from the noble and level headed moor, to the jealous and mad driven beast he’s been discriminated as. Throughout the play, Othello’s state of mind, reputation, and disposition deteriorates drastically as Iago “pours poison into his ears”. As Othello falls victim to jealousy, he loses the rational qualities which make up his character, his reputation as a capable leader, and even his sanity. Although Iago is at fault for Othello’s torment, Othello is even more at fault for allowing himself to be deceived and feeding his own jealousy, which results in his eventual demise.

A clear view of the relationships established in 'Macbeth ' and 'Othello ' can be seen through the inferior partner 's views on the other person in the relationship, and also their balance of power. Lady Macbeth rarely addresses Macbeth with his real name, but instead with titles such as "Great Glamis!" and "Worthy Cawdor" - referring to his positions. However Iago refers to Othello with titles such as "The Moorship", which is a play on 'Lordship ' - including a reference to his race. The use of titles instead of their proper names implies what the other (Lady Macbeth and Iago) thinks about the protagonist. Iago is rather cruel but also intelligent with the titles he names Othello with, where Lady Macbeth honours her partner; although positive, Lady Macbeth also objectifies Macbeth for her own ends. Iago 's title could be seen as offensive as 'Moor ' directly refers to a person of colour. People of colour in Jacobean society were linked with devilry, darkness and black magic, seen to worship a strange god, and to represent a living image of the many 'black devils ' they beheld in contemporary religious art. This can be linked back to the relationships as Iago uses this attitude to play on Othello 's vulnerability (particularly with Brabantio), and as an easy way to demonise Othello. Even though Othello technically has the power, Iago crafts his words so he can use Othello 's power for himself and ultimately to get revenge. We are introduced to two inferior characters

In this world there are two different types of people. There are those with a fixed mindset and others with a growth mindset . Each of these mindset involve different personality and characteristics. This may create a different outlook on life, meaning different morals and actions. Which happens to come into play while reading shakespeare 's Othello. Most of the characters , maybe even all fit into either categories. Characters like Iago, Othello’s bearer, Desdemona , a venetian lady, Cassio Othello 's second in command and Othello Himself. Throughout the book they all encounter different situations and problems. That mostly happened because of the actions he or

Iago’s influence on Othello’s characters Othello can be considered among the most important tragedies than Shakespeare wrote. This Shakespearean work certainly is exposing many faulty dominant discourses of his Early Modern society and how they had a very marked contrast. A.C Bradley holds that this tragedy is “the most painfully exciting and the most terrible” that Shakespeare has written. Bradley makes this statement in the basis that Iago acts all the tragedy in order to make the character of Othello not only jealous but even unsure about his wife fidelity, which we know is false. Having into account Iago’s lies and actions during the tragedy it may be said that he clearly influenced on Othello’s story and therefore in Desdemona’s as well, to the extent that they both died.

In the 16th century drama Othello, written by William Shakespeare, the character “Iago” establishes himself as the villain early in the tragedy. In the drama, Iago is furious that Othello overlooked him and gave the lieutenant position in the army to Michael Cassio, while Iago remained lowly ranked. Iago, seeking his revenge against Othello, uses characters such as Desdemona, the wife of Othello, Roderigo, a man deeply in love with Desdemona, Emilia, the wife of Iago, and Michael Cassio, current lieutenant, as tools in his plot for his revenge. As Iago’s plot against Othello begins to unfold, the ones dearest to Othello seem to disappoint him in the utmost all because of Iago using them to fulfill his plot without them knowing. Iago lets it be known that he is the villain through his soliloquies during the drama. His evil, revenge-seeking nature characterizes Iago as the villain of this tragedy. Iago reminds the audience of his evil plot against Othello and enhances his villain characterization through his soliloquies in each of the acts by defining to the audience what his plot is and how he will execute his it.

"Othello is set in a world and focuses on the passions and personalities of its major figures." (Thomas). Othello is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The work revolves around four central characters: Othello, Othello's wife Desdemona, his lieutenant Cassio and advisor Iago. The play appeared in seven editors between 1622 and 1705. The themes of the story are racism, love, jealousy, and betrayal. Othello is a black soldier who is accused of stealing his wife Desdemona. Although Desdemona's father dislikes his daughter's choice, Desdemona loves Othello very much and the two are married. Othello’s right hand man is angered at the fact that Othello picked a man named Cassio to be more important than him and he also feels that he is messing with his wife. Iago plans to manipulate Othello but his plan eventually causes more hurt to most of the characters. Iago tries to use the meeting between Cassio and Desdemona as a way to make Othello believe she was cheating on him. Iago goes on with his manipulative plan by planting a handkerchief in Cassio's room, and goes and tell Othello about what he has seen Cassio do. Othello becomes jealous throughout the story and begins to believe that Cassio is talking to his wife. Iago persuades Othello to come up with a master plan to kill Cassio and Desdemona. As Othello tries to kill Desdemona, Emilia, Iago's wife, comes in to tell Othello the truth about Iago. Unfortunately it is too late. Othello had already suffocated her. When Othello

Before coming directly to the forming of the love-theme that differentiates Othello from other Shakespeare plays that utilize the same theme, I turn arbitrarily to Iago to inspect a distinguishing mark of his of which the relevance to thematic form in the play will appear a little later. When Iago with unperceived scoffing reminds Roderigo, who is drawn

Iago’s relationship with Othello becomes a power struggle where Iago attempts to degrade Desdemona in order to position himself so he can ‘poison’ Othello. Here Shakespeare is showing how powerful and manipulative Iago can be with his use of words, and how powerful they can be. This power struggles is exemplified

CONFLICT IS INDISPENSABLE TO DRAMA. SHOW THAT HAMLET PRESENTS BOTH AN OUTWARD AND INWARD CONFLICT.