Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Role of women in drama othello
Othello's emotional essay
Feminine desire in othello
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Role of women in drama othello
In my opinion I believe the characters did not cause their own downfalls upon themselves. Iago was the main cause of all the characters deaths. Including Othello's, Desdemona's and Emilia's. All three characters got played by Iago in a certain way. Iago was very intelligent in getting revenge on Othello. He played many cruel tricks and made the others believe in him and changed their minds.
Othello was manipulated by Iago quite easily. He believed Iago's counterplay with the handkerchief.Iago was quite brilliant, he came up with the plan that would soon mislead Othello into thinking something he would have never thought. He planted the evidence, which was the handkerchief,in the sight of Cassio. This incident led Othello in believing deeper
…show more content…
It all started at the beginning when Iago said women are like “wildcats in your kitchens, saints in your injuries, devils being offended, players in your huswifery, and huswives in your bed.” (Act II, Scene I, line 122-125, pg 67) this reflects his villainy.This also tells us that Iago had no respect toward women. This may be the cause of why Iago used Desdemona as his revenge against Othello.Desdemona was only trying to help Cassio since she knew he was a decent man who was close with Othello. She was only trying to help as a friend but Iago used this as an opportunity in manipulating Othello into thinking she was in love with Cassio.Iago also got lucky when Emilia picked up the handkerchief that was accidently dropped by Desdemona, he used this as his key in adapting his plan in revenge. Desdemona was wrongfully accused by Othello but she was truly innocent and loving towards her husband. She could have fought Othello when he was suffocating her but she thought staying noble was the right thing to …show more content…
This may have been the reason why she couldn't see the fault and cruelty in Iago. She thought she was doing a good deed for her husband so she got him the handkerchief that Desdemona dropped. She was blind to the fact that Iago was trying to seek revenge on Othello. She did not expect that from him. The only time she realized her husband was being cruel was when Desdemona died and Othello had told her why he had killed her. At the moment she found out Iago's real persona. As she was telling the folks Iago stabbed her, which then led to her death. Iago did not love his wife as much as she loved
“Ay, let her rot, and perish and be damned tonight, for she shall not live. No, my heart is turned to stone. I strike it, and it hurts my hand. O, the world hath not a sweeter creature! She might lie byan emperor's side and command him tasks” (Shakespeare). Othello, the main character in Othello by William Shakespeare, was deceived by Iago to believe his wife, Desdemona, was cheating on him. He was different from the start. He was a Moor, therefore emotionally dealing with different scenarios as well as his physical attributes. Desdemona fell in love with him because how he dealt with adversity and his individualism. Even so, with many doubts on Iago’s accusation of Desdemona, he eventually caved in and believed his wife was cheating. Othello’s doubt with himself and his wife was prominent throughout the play. He was very static, and had huge effects on the characters around him.
Women were used to gain a dowry after marriage and as a tool to create offspring for a man. This status leads to Desdemona’s death. Othello sees Desdemona as his property, and therefore treats her like she is an object and not a person. By having this jealous mindset from the start, Iago is easily able to persuade Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him. Although Iago is extremely deceptive and talented with words, if women had a higher status in the world, and Othello was not as misogynistic and territorial, he most likely would not have believed Iago. Othello is also easily manipulated because he is insecure about himself and his status as a Black Muslim in the world. Desdemona deceived her father to marry Othello so, as Brabantio pointed out, what would stop Desdemona from deceiving Othello? Although Iago’s rhetoric and Othello’s race and ethnicity constantly caused problems for the couple, the root of the issue fell onto Othello’s attitude towards women, and especially towards Desdemona. Other than women lacking social agency in general in that time period, Othello treated Desdemona like she was a prize to be won, and after he won her, she was his to treat as he pleased. This idea that Desdemona was a pure virgin and belonged to Othello ultimately led to her
In order for Iago to bring down Othello he also has to take down the man that was given the position that he wanted in the first place. Before Iago’s plan can work he needs to make Othello angry enough to fire Cassio from the army. Iago’s plan is successful and Cassio is fired from the army. Then, Iago says to Cassio, “Othello’s wife has a lot of influence now. He’s completely devoted to her. Go open your heart to her. Ask her to help you get back your position”(2.3). Iago tells Cassio this in order to make an illusion for Othello to make him believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. Therefore, making Othello move even closer to the point of jealousy and
Iago is definitely to blame for the misfortune that occurs in the story. Iago disseats every character in the story. Iago’s main reason for doing so was that he felt mistreated and overlooked when Othello assigned Cassio his right hand man. So the only true character Iago truly despises is Cassio. Iago dislikes Othello, but ultimately would rather be his buddy then his enemy. Iago sees Othello as a good guy, but simply sees Othello’s pick of Cassio as just a lapse in judgement. So Iago takes it upon himself to change what he saw as wrong. The only problem is
In Othello, Act IV, scene ii and iii, Emilia, Iago’s wife, reveals her opinion about relationships to the reader as she attempts to comfort Desdemona. She indefinitely believes that many men, as well as women, are frequently guilty of deception and betrayal of their partner. By this part of the play, Othello’s suspicions of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness have greatly increased, and he begins to accuse her of cheating on him. When Desdemona persistently denies his accusations, Othello becomes enraged. He sarcastically asks for her pardon and claims that he took her to be the “cunning whore of Venice” (Act IV, scene ii, line 88). Desdemona is heartbroken by her husband’s mockery and seeks Emilia’s kind words.
In conclusion, I feel that Othello is to blame for his downfall completely because he could have prevented the deaths of three people including him from happening by not letting rumours and assumptions getting the best of him and having faith in his wife. If he had even bothered to ask Desdemona if any of what Iago said about her was true, he could have seen what a distasteful man Iago really was and not have been fooled and driven to insanity and Desdemona could have at least justified herself properly. He must have had the same doubts in his head from the beginning of the relationship as he instantly believed the lies, because if he hadn’t, he would have questioned Iago more than once. Jealously is a powerful motive.
He believes that by killing Desdemona he is saving other men from being emasculated. In this way, he believes that what he is doing is right. Just as Paul felt justified in breaking Miriam’s heart, Othello feels justified in killing Desdemona and they both feel this way due to their own insecurities about masculinity. Paul feared he would be less of a man due to Miriam’s control and Othello believes that he is less of a man because his wife allegedly has an affair. In this way, both Miriam and Desdemona fall victim to their male counterpart’s insecurities. However, in Othello Desdemona is not the only victim in the hands of an insecure man because Emilia also falls victim to the same cause. “ 'Twill out, ’twill out.—I peace? No, I will speak as liberal as the north. Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, All, all cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.” (V.ii.231-234). Emilia speaks out against Iago and attempts to expose his wrongdoings. “Ay, ay. Oh, lay me by my mistress ' side” (V.ii.251). Iago ends up stabbing and killing Emilia when she starts speaking about what he’s done. This is Iago’s attempt at not having all his crimes exposed. Emilia knows what sort of man Iago is and just how guilty he truly is. Therefore, Emilia falls victim to the crimes Iago has committed in the past as he kills her in an attempt to hide them all just as Mrs. Morel falls victim to what Mr. Morel had done in the past as it haunts her. Iago is unable to confront his guilt about hurting Othello and Mr. Morel is unable to confront his guilt about being an alcoholic. Thus, Miriam gets heartbroken and Desdemona killed because of Paul’s and Othello’s fear of being emasculated. Mrs. Morel suffers and wishes for death and Emilia dies because of Mr. Morel’s and Iago’s guilt and their inability to confront that insecurity. Hence the female character’s demise is at the hands of the male character’s
All Iago had to do was hint at Desdemona being unfaithful and Othello’s becomes very bothered it and eventually starts believing it. The author of an essay does an analysis on Iago and says “He slowly poisons people’s thoughts, creating ideas in their heads without implicating himself. Iago even says himself that the advice he gives is free and honest and thus, people rarely stop to consider the possibility that Iago is fooling them.“ (Shakespeare’s Othello – Honest Iago). So Iago would hint at something going between Desdemona and Cassio so that Othello would become bothered and ask him what he means by that, it was like a game that Iago was playing, he would drop a little hint and then expect Othello to pick up on it and start questioning it and become more even suspicious. Brabantio tells Othello “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee” (I.ii.286-287), So In this scene Brabantio warns Othello that Desdemona has already fooled him and she might fool him too, so be careful, and it turns out, Othello believed in him after all and that’s part of the reason of why he thinks that Desdemona is being unfaithful to him. It leads him to start questioning Desdemona in a very suspicious way. At one point he even hits her in front of a nobleman and that was very shocking to the nobleman because he believed him to be a very calm and collected gentleman but obviously he was a changed man. The nobleman even expresses his shock by saying that “My lord, this would not be believed in Venice, though I should swear I saw’t. ‘Tis very much make her amends; she weeps” (IV .i.217-219). This negative thinking and insecurity was one of the main reasons to Othello’s change in a negative way. A lot of this was Iago’s doing but it was also Othello’s fault to fall for Iago’s
Iago is a very complex character seeing that many of his actions are unreasonable as he often attacks others maliciously. Iago shows the characteristics that make up a good person, such as amiable, sensitive, bright, kind, and sympathetic. This evil character, along with other evil characters that Shakespeare has included in his work, are many times purely evil for no reason. This type of character would basically be considered a psychopath due to his insensible acts. The only possible reason for Iago’s hatred of Othello could be the fact that he has suspicions that Emilia is sleeping with Othello. This would create a parallelism between these two characters as the only way for him to get his revenge is to make Othello feel the way he does. Thus resulting in the death of his wife seeing that the way Othello responds to incidents is with violence. Iago, often being known as the most evil character out of all the Shakespearian plays seeing that “even when his evil deeds are out in the open, Iago never repents” (Ormann 1). The character of Iago targets Othello, Desdemona and Cassio in order to ruin their happy lives. He sees them as a target because he is simply jealous of the relationships they have seeing that he and Emilia represent more of a parasitic relationship more than anything else. It is easy to note that Iago preys on the innocent and feeds them lies to which the faulted character believes to be
After reading Shakespeare’s play OTHELLO you have to ask yourself is Othello as much a victim as he is a murderer? An assumption may be that because Othello kills his wife after the devious behavior of Iago, then maybe Othello is a victim of Iago’s evil. Some may argue that the sin of Iago to plot the down fall of the moor, is worse because it becomes a calculating mind compared to Othello’s sin because he has become a pawn in Iago’s hands. However, it is noticed that Othello allows himself to be manipulated. Iago’s suggestion of the infidelity of Desdemona, Othello’s wife, provides just the excuse Othello needs to justify the destruction of the wife he believes can not truly love him. Desdemona’s murder is a result of Othello’s pride and quick judgment, as a result, he must be held accountable.
(I,iii,395), and cause mistrust and grief for Othello and Desdemona, eventually causing a rift in their relationship (I,iii,339). Despite Iago’s ideal encapsulation of the “villain” persona, in which his nature is one of very untrustworthy and extremely manipulative, he manages to control his emotions and jealousy to a great degree. Even to such an extent that Othello calls him nicknames like “Honest Iago” and “Fair Iago”. Due to the secretive nature Iago possesses, his moves are precise and calculated which leads to unexpected and very harsh attacks. One example of the influence Iago’s jealousy had on his plans are shown in Act three, in which the character Cassio found a random handkerchief on the bed in his room. This exemplifies the deceitfulness
Some people could argue that Iago was extremely lucky to have all the opportunities put in front of him, such as Emilia finding Othello's handkerchief. I, however believe that whatever the situation, Iago would be able to take the situation, and therefore Othello's downfall was imminent. An example of this would be in Act III, Scene III. Iago says, 'Look to your wife; observe her well with Casio,' which is taking advantage of knowing that Desdemona will try to defend Cassio and seem to be in love with him. In adapting to new situations, Iago uses people's strengths and weaknesses, also like in the extract above. This is a sign of his evil, reversing good things and making them bad.
In the very beginning of Act I Iago displays his hatred for Othello. He is angry with him for making Cassio the lieutenant. Jealousy is his first motive. He then tells Roderigo (a former suitor of Desdemona) that Othello and Desdemona are getting married. The two of them then go and tell Desdemona's father, Brabantio, that Othello and his daughter have just eloped. This infuriates Brabantio. Soon after, Brabantio gets a gang after Othello. Iago's treachery is first displayed here. When Othello is confronted Iago is on his side. Iago was the person who instigated the whole situation. Shakespeare does a very good job in showing what kind of person Iago is, right from the beginning of the play. The reader begins to realize this before any of the characters in the play do. He did this so the reader will begin to see how evil Iago is, yet how unjustified his reasoning is. Act I is where Iago pieces together his whole sinister plot to get revenge. He first tells Roderigo to sell all he has and move to Cypress to court Desdemona. The last stanza of Act I is where he manifests his grand scheme. His idea is to get Othello into thinking Cassio is in love with Desdemona.
Iago stands for the act of cruelty and evil for his own sake. He is so horrible that this is proven to the audience in the way that he chooses to do things. He even takes it on himself to act as an advocate for Othello’s character, saying to the audience that he is the noble one in doing so, and even comes across as being more wicked and that he is prepared to completely destroy Othello’s life despite his goodness. “The Moor-how be’t that I endure him not- Is of a constant, loving noble nature, and I dare that he’ll prove to Desdemona A most dear husband.” (Iago, Act 2 Scene 1, Line 287-290). Iago finds joy in ruining Desdemona’s happiness just to get back at
They were so easily manipulated that it’s hard not to see their fault in the events that transpired. All of these characters, not just Iago, are at fault for what happened. Othello and Desdemona’s relationship, although a passionate one, the root of it is a bit shaky. She fell in love with him because of his stories, and the hardships that he went through. Saw him as this mature older man that has experienced what life has to offer, and thought that he’s handled it well.