justice in othello essay

Othello’s Iago         We find in William Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello an example of personified evil. He is the general’s ancient, Iago, and he wreaks havoc and destruction on all those under his influence.   Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar in “The Engaging Qualities of Othello” comment on how the character of Iago is the wholly expected type of villain for an Elizabethan audience:    Iago at once captures the attention of the spectator. He is the personification

Evil in Othello         What can compare to the evil present in William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello? The sinister aspect of the play is so heavy at times that it has a depressing effect on the audience.   In the essay “Wit and Witchcraft: an Approach to Othello” Robert B. Heilman unveils the evil awaiting the reader in Othello:   Reason as an ally of evil is a subject to which Shakespeare keeps returning, as if fascinated, but in different thematic forms as he explores

The Lost Iago in Othello         In Shakespeare’s Othello the sinister nature of the ancient casts a pall of uneasiness over the narrative of the play. How can the evil influence of one character be so pervasive? Let us in this essay probe his character and find answers to our questions.   In “Historical Differences: Misogyny and Othello” Valerie Wayne exposes Iago’s inability to praise women when Desdemona asks him how he would do it:   Iago’s worry that he cannot do what

Othello’s Sinister Side         Shakespeare’s Othello, with its prolonged exposure to the evil mind of Iago, is difficult for some in the audience. Let’s consider the play’s evil aspect.   In the Introduction to The Folger Library General Reader’s Shakespeare, Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar explain the single, evil focus of the drama – the arch-villainy of the ancient:   Othello has been described as Shakespeare’s most perfect play. Critics of dramatic structure have

Shakespeare’s Othello is the cunning Iago. He spends his life, it would seem, taking revenge on the general and destroying nearly everyone around himself. Helen Gardner in “Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune” elaborates on Iago’s exact function and place in the play: . . . Iago ruins Othello by insinuating into his mind the question, ‘How do you know?’ The tragic experience with which this play is concerned is loss of faith, and Iago is the instrument to bring Othello to this crisis

The presentation of moral issues in Shakespeare’s Othello reinforces that some writers in the Renaissance period challenged the moral and gender values in the traditional Elizabethan society. The radical change of the Iago’s minor presence in Cinthio’s story compared to the well-known Machiavellian memorable for Othello’s downfall: a causation in the rise of revenge tragedies in this period, as such plays openly question moral issues to which audiences would morally oppose such concepts about human

“OTHELLO” Act One 1. What was Iago's complaint in Scene I? 2. Who was Brabantio, and why did Iago and Roderigo awaken him in the middle of the night? 3. Why did Iago leave Roderigo at Brabantio's house? 4. What was Brabantio's reaction to Othello's marriage to Desdemona? 5. Why did the Duke send for Othello? 6. Brabantio complains to the Duke about Othello's marriage to Desdemona. After listening to both sides of the story, what was the Duke's reply? 7. What was Roderigo's complaint

response of the readers to these situations is a fascinating one. Perhaps the reader remembers a time when s/he was the victim of a two-faced action. Perhaps stories about hypocrisy evoke a sense of moral outrage or awaken a sense of justice in the reader. Perhaps the

Othello’s Feminine Perspective        The audience finds in Othello, Shakespeare’s tragic drama, the feminine perspective on life in general and on various aspects of life. These feminine perspectives from the three lady-characters are not consistent and uniform among the ladies. Let’s consider them in this paper.   Alvin Kernan’s “Othello: an Introduction” explains the protagonist’s delayed conversion to the feminine perspective:   His willingness to speak of what he has done

drama Othello there is a very disquieting dimension of the play; this is the evil dimension, which has such depth and intensity that it penetrates not only the mind but the body and soul of the audience.   Even the imagery in the drama has its evil aspect. Kenneth Muir, in the Introduction to William Shakespeare: Othello, explains the instances of diabolic imagery in the play as they relate to the infecting of the Moor by the ancient:   The same transference from Iago to Othello may