Battle of Insecurities Many high school students fall under many social and academic pressures because they are unassertive. Insecurities inhibit people from reaching their best and leads to their own destruction, which harms those who are close to them. Similarly, in Othello:The Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare, Iago, the trusted ancient, deceives Othello into believing that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him which engenders his jealousy causing him to murder his wife. Through the character’s jealousy and dishonesty, Shakespeare reveals the character’s insecurities. In Othello, jealousy acts as the reason for the character’s behavior and actions. As Richard Smith says in “Jealousy: Love’s Destroyer”, “Jealousy arises when a …show more content…
Iago’s deception is what led Othello to believing that Desdemona is unfaithful towards because Iago established himself as a honest, trustworthy ancient who could never harm his friends. For example, when Iago is told to narrate who instigated the fight between Cassio and Montano, he says “I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth/ than it should do offense to Michael Cassio” thus causing everyone to assume that his story is the truth (II.iii.236-237). Throughout the play, Iago continues to poison Othello mind by acting as a dependable friend who is concerned for Othello. Leonard Saxe, in The Truth about Lying, insists that "lying has long been a part of everyday life. We couldn't get through the day without being deceptive”. This is shown in Iago’s behavior because the reason for his vengeance arose since he was not given the lieutenancy; however, when he is given the position, Iago continues to deceive Othello until he murders his wife. Moreover, Iago never accepts his crime even when he is charged with it. Desdemona’s also lies to Othello which increases his suspicions about her affair. When Othello came in search of the handkerchief , she denies that she lost it to calm Othello. This causes Othello to believe in Iago that Cassio now possess the handkerchief and Desdemona is hiding their relationship from him. The trickery and small lies motivates Othello to
In a passage from William Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago dramatizes a subsequent conflict between Othello and Desdemona when he warns the former of a green-eyed monster, the manifestation of jealousy. As the play progresses, Othello becomes more like this beast that Iago told him about. Instead of being the honorable and respectable character he was, Othello now displays a more questionable personality, one that causes him to doubt his wife of infidelity. Even though Iago does play a role, it is mostly due to Othello’s insecurity that transforms him into a monstrous person.
It causes people to do terrible things because once it is on a person’s conscience, it stays for quite some time. Because of these effects, jealousy can impact some of the strongest people, such as Othello. The love between Desdemona and Othello was portrayed so elevated and pure and was filled with religious words and phrases that just added to the strength and sanctity of their love. Othello has such a strong mind, but jealousy caused by the manipulation of Iago, negatively impacts him. Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him with his friend Cassio.
“ O, that’s an honest fellow “, “You advise me well.... goodnight. honest Iago “ - “....that’s an honest fellow “ “ I know thou’rt full of love and honesty ”. Iago has everyone fooled into believing that he is a noble, honest man. Without this public perception of being honest he could never get Othello to believe that Desdemona was cheating on him. Othello would have probably killed him if he didn’t have the public perception.
In William Shaspeare play Othello, Iago make Othello believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. He does by taking advantage of any situation to make of Othello doubt. Iago make Othello thing a lot of crazy thing on his head, Othello got so jelous leading him to kill his own wife, Desdemona, satisfying iago obseccion for revenge.
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.
In Othello, Iago uses his fine reputation as an “honest man” and Othello’s insecurities to manipulate him and carry out his master plan of destroying Cassio, Othello, and Desdemona. Iago’s insight towards the other characters’ weaknesses enables him to let them know exactly what they want to hear, which helps him gain their trust. He plays upon the insecurities of others to maneuver them into carrying out the actions he needs done in order to fulfill his own desires. In looking at Othello, we will consider the Othello’s blind acceptance of “the truth” as it is presented to him and find that when we blindly take another’s “truth” and accept it as our own, we merely become tools utilized by the person who gave us that supposed truth and give up the power of being ourselves—we fail to assert a self. Iago is angry because Othello chose Cassio to hold a position which he thinks he deserves, so he seeks revenge by playing upon Othello’s main flaw—his lack of trust—and putting Cassio in a position that would turn Othello against him.
As demonstrated by this play, despite one 's accomplishment, insecurities can be very detrimental to one 's life. Insecurities can be displayed in many different ways. This includes the way one speaks of themselves in relation to others and also displaying negative behavior due to jealousy. From analyzing Othello’s Insecurities
Throughout the novel, up until his insanity, Othello is described as a temperate man whose honor does not allow him to believe assumptions unless he has been shown proof. Firstly, when the men of Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, confront Othello’s men, Othello calmly says, “Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.” (10). Othello is confronted on the matter of his elopement with Desdemona with force and with words. Not only is he very cool about his dealings with violence, but also when he is asked to tell the story of how he had Desdemona fall in love with him he states the truth, and he doesn’t leave out any details of how he accomplished it. He openly admits that had any other man told his story, that man also would have won her heart. Only a truly honorable man can admit that it was a story, and not his personality that truly won the woman’s heart. Othello’s honor is shown by his trust in the people he knows and loves. When Iago tells Othello that he believes Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair, Othello does not believe Iago initially.
Lying by omission is incorporated into the theme of appearance versus reality. Othello often falls prey to Iago’s twisted words. Iago plants a seed of doubt in Othello’s mind about Desdemona when the men see her talking to Cassio. Cassio leaves in a hurry and Iago tells Othello that Cassio “would steal away so guilty-like/ Seeing you coming” (3.3.39-40). He is telling Othello that Cassio would only be leaving so quickly if he and Desdemona were involved in something clandestine. Iago is planting seeds of doubt in Othello’s mind. He is making it seem that Cassio is acting suspicious, but in reality, Cassio is leaving quickly because he is “ill at ease” (3.3.30). around Othello given his current situation after the drinking incident in Act II. Another example of Iago twisting Othello’s reality is when Othello says he will only believe that Desdemona is unfaithful to him when he sees “ocular proof” (3.3.360) with his own eyes. When Iago manages to procure the handkerchief and place it in Cassio’s possession, Othello effortlessly takes it as proof and therefore is completely convinced of Desdemona’s infidelity. To Othello, it appears that Desdemona is cheating, because Cassio has her handkerchief, but in reality, Iago had planted it in Cassio’s chambers for him to find. Iago is liar; who makes other character believe what he wants them to believe through twisting his words
As Iago Constantly lies to Othello about how Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio, he makes himself look loyal and sincere for othello's well being. Lying is a villainous act and Iago uses it because it can have unintentional consequences and be hurtful when the truth is unmasked. By Iago being dishonest and he is able to manipulate others, have them unknowingly follow is
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
Furthermore, in the play Othello, jealousy fuels the
Throughout the drama, Othello let Iago control him as if he was a puppet under his master’s hands. When Iago first brought up the idea that Desdemona and Cassio might be having an affair, Othello did not believe him, he had faith in his wife. After many lies that Iago planted in Othello’s ears, Othello started to believe him and he dropped most of the faith that he had in Desdemona. Iago told Othello that in his sleep, Cassio said “Sweet Desdemona, let us be wary, let us hide our love”. Cursed fate that gave thee the Moor” (III.iii.416-417).
All of the trouble and headache Iago has caused throughout the play has led to this very event. Iago believes that he will be able to fill Othello's head full of false information, tricking him into believing that Desdemona feels lust towards Cassio, all while Cassio is trying to plead his case to Desdemona. Iago believes that after putting phony, misleading information in the back of Othello's mind, he will think that Desdemona talking to him, trying to get him to understand Cassio's case will cause Othello to think that Desdemona has lustful thoughts and feelings towards Cassio, causing an uproar between all three of
The role of jealousy, love and betrayal play a major role in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. The entire play is based on the human interactions of the characters as related to Othello and Desdemona. The characters’ personalities, their social status, and their relationships to each other control the story line and their fate in the play. Othello is portrayed early in the play as an outsider with animalistic characteristics by Iago and Roderigo because of jealousy. “Your heart is burst; and have lost half of your soul/Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe”.(531) Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, accuses Othello of using witch craft on his daughter. “If she in chains of magic were not bound/ Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy/ So opposite to marriage that she shunned…” (535) This point is important because Othello must defend himself not only to Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, but to the entire Venetian Senate. “And till she come, as truly as to heaven,/ I do confess the vices of my blood./ So justly to your grave ears I’ll present/ How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love, / And she in mine.” (539) Othello proves himself to be an intellectual hero early in the play. He has worked hard to gain respectability and power, but because he has a different background, is from another country, is dark-skinned and is older than Desdemona, he becomes jealous very quickly of Cassio. Cassio is from the same social class, is compatible with Desdemona and is a young handsome man. Iago has also convinced Cassio to seek favor with Desdemo...