In the play, Othello by William Shakespeare, the memorable ideas have been presented through dramatic techniques by the characterization of Iago and Othello. These two characters are the cause and effect of the play and through them, the destruction of human nature, the question of the effect that love can have on our ability to reason and the deceptive nature of man are explored. Love links the ideas of jealousy and deception, as Iago manipulates this strong emotion to his advantage. Also, Shakespeare’s dramatic technique of presenting this story as a play, is what is able to reveal all the ideas and themes to the extent that the full emotion and feelings are able to be felt by the audience, just the way he wants them to.
In Othello, the once most noble and respected bring upon their own destruction, due to their human nature to fall. The play reveals to the audience, that due to the nature of humanity, everyone has the capacity to do evil. Shakespeare displays this through the ‘noble’ Othello’s downfall, where even the most honourable and good people are capable to do evil depending on how they are manipulated, in this instance through his complete trust towards ‘honest’ Iago. This is shown through the deterioration of Othello’s language from confident and dignified, “Most potent, grave and reverend signors/My very noble and approved good masters,” presenting him as one that is in control of himself and his surroundings, able to create an atmosphere through his noble articulation. To a crude disordered delivery, “Confess!-Handkerchief!-Oh, devil!” the short words along with the exclamation marks shows the disjointed and unbalanced speech, reflecting his degradation through the manipulation by Iago. Also, his speech was almost...
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...fies Shakespeare’s ideas of the distortion of reality as the capacity of reason is overcome by emotion as he entwines them with dramatic techniques and the characterization of Iago and Othello. His play is one that even audiences today are able to relate to, thus leaving them thinking and reflecting on the issues presented.
Throughout the play, Iago thinks women as inferior to men. This is apparent when iago uses animal imagery to describe Desdemona and Emilia as ‘wild cats” and Othello as “a Barbary horse”. He conveys a clear perception of Desdemona’s innocent nature which makes her vulnerable to his scheming act, “so will I turn her virtue into pitch.” He manipulates his wife Emilia in stealing the handkerchief form Desdemona. However he underestimates their power, particularly when Emilia cannot hide her guilt and reveals the truth behind his conspiracy.
In one of William Shakespeare’s most renowned and celebrated plays, the story of a General named Othello unravels in tragic form as he falls victim to the lies created by Iago. Once revered as a war hero and wed to the beautiful Desdemona, Othello’s life spirals downward with the untimely death of his beloved in his own hands, ultimately ending with his own demise. Love is the force behind this tragedy. Tragedy is the main driving force that brings happiness and tragedy to the characters within the play. But even as such a prominent force, it lacks clear definition. Love has a different meaning to the characters in the play. Characters like Othello, Desdemona, and Iago all have different perspectives on love, which informs their behavior in different ways.
This paper contains 237 words of teacher’s comments. What one perceives is influenced by one’s environment. The setting and commentary surrounding events changes our perception of them. Any innocent gesture can be perceived in the wrong way with enough persuading from someone else. Even if someone has total faith in another person's innocence, they can be persuaded to doubt them through the twisting of events. Once just a small amount of doubt has been planted, it influences the way everything else is seen. This occurs throughout the play, Othello. In this play, Iago influences Othello's perception of events through speeches and lies, making him doubt Desdemona's fidelity. Iago uses his talent of manipulating events to exact his revenge on Othello. Iago's twisting of events in Othello's mind leads to the downfall of Othello as planned, but because he fails to twist Emilia's perception as well, he facilitates his own eventual downfall.
Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Interpretations: William Shakespeare's Othello. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
The Relationship Between Othello and Iago In this scene Iago persuades Cassio, who is on watch, to drink, knowing that he is not a drinker and that he will be easy to antagonise. Roderigo provokes Cassio into a fight and Othello, hearing the disturbance, arrives to find the nobleman Montano seriously injured. Cassio gives no explanation, Montano pleads self-defence, and say that Iago knows best, so Iago is ordered to speak, ' Iago, who began't? " This passage starts with Othello, who appears to have interrupted someone, as there is a line break.
In the play ‘Othello’ by William Shakespeare, the tragedy of the play is largely a result of Iago’s animosity towards Othello. Iago’s hatred for Othello emanates from the very core of his being and is further amplified due to Othello’s status as an outsider in the ‘white’ Venetian society. This alone causes Iago to perceive Othello as a threat to society, as he goes against the societal and contextual values of the time. Although Iago is acting and reacting based on his own character traits, he is also acting upon the societal norms and expectations which classified Othello as a threat. The accumulation of Iago's hatred
Picture this- William Harold Shakespeare, the most coveted playwriter in the history of the world, sitting at his desk, perspicaciously pondering over what shall become his most prominant and delicated tragedy of yet. Of course, given what little is known about Shakespeere displays, such deepseated imagery cannot simply be accomplished without first the propriety of haste and vinction.And yet, his very own rhetorical vibe displays allows such a vague pictoration to be concieved. Throughout the whole of Othello, the great Shakespeare remarks through an astounding displays show of pronouns, allitteration, and cacophonous diction his own resentment of both the King of Italy and the poor conditions of the said novelist.
Tragedy is an intrinsically human concept; tragic heroes are damned by what they themselves do. Othello is not so much felled by the actions of Iago, but by a quality all people possess-- human frailty. Accordingly, Othello is not a victim of consequences, but an active participant in his downfall. He is not merely a vehicle for the machinations of Iago; he had free agency. Othello's deficiencies are: an insecure grasp of Venetian social values; lack of critical intelligence, self-knowledge, and faith in his wife; and finally, insecurity-- these are the qualities that lead to his own downfall.
One of the themes of the play is prejudice. The reader gets a taste of Iago’s prejudice against women and sexist ways when Desdemona and Cassio first arrive on Cyprus. Iago says to Desdemona “You are pictures out of door/ 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.” (2.1.109- 112). He thinks that all women have two sides to them; a pleasant public side and an irritating private side and he sees Desdemona as a lesser person simply because she is female. Iago looks down on Cassio because Cassio is “a great arithmetician … a Florentine … That never set a squadron in the field” (1.119,20,22). He is a mathematician, not an army man, which makes Iago feel that he is more qualified for the job of lieutenant. Othello is older, from Africa, and Iago often calls him “the Moor” (1.2.58) and “an old black ram” (1.1.88). Iago does not want to follow him as he tells Roderigo “I follow him to serve my turn upon him/ we cannot all be masters, nor all masters/ cannot be truly followed.” (1.1.42-44). By this, Iago is saying that he only follows Othello to take advantage of him and does not think he deserves to be followed. This prejudice drives Iago’s malicious actions through a yearning to be seen in the superior way the way he feels he deserves to be
The Tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, is a play about a Moor of Venice and his downfall by deception and love. The themes of two-facedness, narcissism, and honor are all prominent in this play; the theme overarching these, however, is loyalty. Similar to a satirist, Shakespeare shows that the true nature of a person’s loyalty is not always as it appears. Othello’s loyalty to his own honor exposes his false loyalty to his wife. Iago, the antagonist, is deceptive in portraying himself as honest and committed to those he supposedly loves, but at the same time he plans their downfall. Honor, narcissism, and deception are each concepts Shakespeare uses to convey the ambiguity of loyalty in people.
Othello and Iago Comparison Othello and Iago are different in their characters as well as in their colours. It could be said also, however, that they are similar because of their fallibility. Iago is overcome with his desire for revenge to such an extent that he puts it into action. Othello's love and possessiveness of Desdemona take over him until he eventually would rather kill her than allow anyone else to have her. In this way, despite their contrasts, Iago and Othello both represent the extremity of the same thing - human emotion.
The theme of reason versus emotion can be found by analyzing individual character’s actions in William Shakespeare’s Othello. However, the line between to the two decision-making mindsets is not always very apparent. Three characters – Iago, Desdemona, and Othello – will be analyzed to show that Shakespeare wanted to blur the line between reason and emotion and demonstrate that individuals do not necessarily operate with only one or the other.
In William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Othello, the power of jealousy rips relationships apart and destroys the peace amongst a once pleasant society. The principle character for the aggravation of the other characters is Iago. Iago is angry at Othello for not appointing him as his lieutenant and refuses to let it go. For selfish reasons, Iago plots an evil schemes of revenge towards Othello by making him, and everyone necessary to bring Othello down.
There are many reasons why we study William Shakespeare’s plays today. There is the insight into human nature that he knows well, allusions to old mythology and legends, and others. However, one reason stands out above the rest: his power of language. Also, this power of language is clearly shown in his play, Othello, through Iago, the antagonist of the play. Iago, who is an ensign of Othello, is furious that he was not given the promotion of lieutenancy. As a result, he uses his craftiness and his “power of language” to take revenge on Othello. Although his plan foils, he causes Othello to kill his wife Desdemona and commit suicide, all the while he deceives and exploits other characters for his plan. In Othello, Iago demonstrates his power
Of Shakespeare’s five greatest tragedies, Othello is by far the most passionate and gripping. It is a tale of love, deception, evil, honesty, and virtue. Othello himself is set apart from other Shakespearean tragic heroes by the absolute feeling of affection the audience feels for him even unto the very end of the play. Any discerning reader painfully recognizes the virtue and goodness of Othello throughout the entire play, in contrast to the general degeneration of character so typical of a tragic hero. It is this complete pity that makes the death of Othello so tragic as the audience lends their full hopeful support until the inevitable and unavoidable fall. The evil side of Othello’s tragic flaw came from without, in the form of Iago. The internal flaw exists only in his heartrendingly unshakable goodness and honor.
Shakespeare’s Othello consists of the themes betrayal, love and dishonesty. At the centre of this play is the tragic downfall of Othello at the hands of his so called friend Iago. In this essay I will be discussing the reasons for and against Othello being responsible for his downfall through looking at critical interpretations of his character and actions.