‘Othello’, also known as ‘The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice’ is a play written by William Shakespeare, somewhere between 1601 and 1604. It is a tragedy set in Venice and Cyprus, with a strong and respected soldier, Othello, playing the protagonist; although some critics argue that the play should have been named ‘Iago’ after the treacherous villain whose role is at least as important as the protagonist’s. The play is the heart-rending tale of a black Venetian soldier, who is excellent at his occupation, but would still collect negative sentiments towards him due to his colour, and African ancestry (which is constant throughout the play with terms like, ‘Moor’, and ‘Devil’ being used to describe him and his characteristics, somewhat ironically as Iago is the true devil of the play). This grand soldier marries the lady whom he wooed with stories of his triumphs, Desdemona, despite the negative scrutiny the marriage would of received at that time. Iago tells Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, and he is furious – so much so that he takes the matter to the duke, as it is his belief that Othello tricked his daughter, with black magic and love spells. The duke sides with Othello, and the action soon moves to Cyprus where a war was supposedly breaking out. Whilst in Cyprus Iago, with the help of his ‘Goon’ Roderigo, stirs rumours and deceives the others to the extent of forcing the once respectable soldier to murdering his new wife. As well as tricking and manipulating many other characters along the way. The most disturbing truth about Iago’s wrong doings is the fact that he seemed to take pleasure in torturing his ‘Friends’ (probably better described as puppets, or tools), even his own wife, Emilia.
Othello’s character undergoe...
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...o’s intentions are questionable, he is very openly presented ‘as is,’ – this is not the case, however when other characters are nearby, it’s true that Shakespeare wants the audience to know all about Iago, but the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast. I feel that it is a well employed technique nevertheless, due to the fact that we know Iago has double standards, and seeing the characters who we sympathise with fall prey to a trick that Iago has played makes the emotions in the play much more climactic, it is more of a bother when we see Iago succeed, these feelings of sadness and pity are often tied to Iago’s success, but when we see Iago fall prey to his own game, the audience feels a much more uplifting sense of accomplishment than they would have otherwise felt. Literary methods such as this make the play ‘Othello,’ that bit more satisfying to watch.
“I am not what I am,” proclaims one of Shakespeare’s darkest and most enigmatic villains, Iago, in the tragedy Othello. Iago’s journey for revenge enables him to become capable of immoral acts, and whilst his malevolence excites us, we are no more intrigued by his attributes than we are of the play’s tragic hero, Othellos’. Rather, both characters’ confrontation with jealousy and their subsequent moral demise as a result of failing to control such an emotion provides the true excitement for audiences. Iago’s spiteful manipulation of Othello makes him a multifaceted character — whose corrupt attributes make the audience examine their own morality. However, the same can be said of Othello; his failure to withstand Iago’s ‘pouring of pestilence’
In the first act of Othello, Iago declares himself a liar and states that he is not who he seems to be (1.1.64). The entire play consists of Iago’s malicious intent mixed with double-crossing towards most, if not all of the other characters. He plans to con Roderigo for his money (1.3.375-378), throw Cassio under the bus (1.3.383-390), and ruin Othello (1.3.391-394). The audience is the only one who knows of Iago’s true plans against the other characters. He confesses to the other characters the opposite of his genuine plans in order to gain their trust and then quash them by the end of the story. The members of the audience are merely powerless bystanders who know much about Iago and his plans, however, cannot do anything to help the other characters. This notion is common in numerous plays and is known as dramatic irony. Dramatic irony creates an environment where the audience knows much more than the characters. Othello’s audience has a distorted view of the play as a whole due to secrets Iago shares solely with them. In sharing his plans, Iago is gloating to the audience regarding his actions and boasting the point that his atrocious actions will most likely never be traced back to
Othello: The play's protagonist and hero. A Christian Moor and general of the armies of Venice, Othello is an eloquent and physically powerful figure, respected by all those around him. In spite of his elevated status, he is nevertheless easy prey to insecurities because of his age, his life as a soldier, and his race. He possesses a "free and open nature," which his ensign Iago uses to twist his love for his wife, Desdemona, into a powerful and destructive jealousy
In The Tragedy of Othello, William Shakespeare tells the tale of the “noble Moor” whose honor and innocence bring about his downfall. Shakespeare writes of the power of jealousy, and the art of masterful deception and trickery. The story primarily takes place in Cyprus, during a war between the people of Venice and the invading Turks. In this play Shakespeare shows the feelings of Othello’s embittered right-hand man of, Iago, who feels he is passed over for a promotion and swears his revenge. He proceeds to manipulate his friends, enemies, and family into doing his bidding without any of them ever realizing his ultimate goal. He makes Othello believe that his new wife, the innocent Desdemona, is committing adultery with his newly promoted officer Michael Cassio. After this seed of jealousy has been planted, Othello’s mind takes its course in determining the true outcome, with a little more nudging from Iago. The course of action he proceeds to follow is one that not only ends his own life, but also the life of his wife and others. In Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Othello, Othello is a man who is still truly honorable, despite the course of action he takes to resolve his perceived problem.
. . . 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 of his being. His task is made possible by his being an old and trusted companion, while husband and wife are virtually strangers, bound only by passion and faith; and by the fact that great joy bewilders, leaving the heart apt to doubt the reality of its joy. The strange and extraordinary, the heroic, what is beyond nature, can be made to seem the unnatural, what is against nature. This is one of Iago’s tricks. (143)
Characters in the play fail to comprehend Iago’s true nature until it is too late. Those interacting with Iago fall into the belief that Iago is loyal to his superiors, when Iago is actually focused on bringing them (Cassio and Othello) down. Iago constructs a false impression of his loyalty to Othello through ...
The play Othello is a tale of jealousy, revenge, and deception. Iago, a disgruntled military officer, in a quest for revenge against Othello, lies, cheats, and bullys everyone around in order to get what he wants. He uses Roderigo, Brabantio, and just about every other character in the play to attain his goal of ruining Othello. This summary is what the play might seem like to the unseeing eye, but to the indepth and trained reader there is more to the story then first appears.
The play “Othello” by William Shakespeare was written in 1604 during the Elizabeth era. Othello is one of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare’s dramas. He enjoyed unheralded success in the combat zone, which gave him the reputation as one of Venice’s most competent generals. Even though he has great success in the battlefield, he has a dramatic flaw that causes a downfall in his life. The dramatic flaw that causes his downfall is jealousy. This was brought on by a simple persuasion of Iago, the evil character in the play. Even though Iago used extreme manipulation to get Othello to be jealous, Iago did not really have to try very hard to get Othello in a jealous state of mind. Othello was blinded by his jealousy which led him down a path of constant questioning of his wife and his friend Cassio. Throughout the play we see his dramatic flaw sink him deeper and deeper into a cloud of doubt which eventually leads him to kill not only his love of his life but also himself.
Othello by William Shakespeare is one of the many plays that captures the phenomenal writing of Shakespeare. Similar to most of Shakespeare’s plays, Othello, is a tragic tale of how a noble warrior named Othello goes from the peak of his life to the lowest point of his life because of miscommunication and manipulation. Every character in this story plays a significant role on the outcome of the story especially the antagonist named Iago. He demonstrates that the most intelligent people aren’t always the nicest of people. Iago manipulates all of the main characters by using philosophical ideas to obtain his personal desires such as money, a higher job position, or gaining revenge on his wife. Othello becomes one of Iago’s main targets because
Othello, a play by William Shakespeare, takes place in Venice during the invasion of the island of Cyprus by the Turks. The protagonist of the story, Othello, is a newlywed, Moorish general with a very gullible nature. The antagonist of the story is Iago, an officer under Othello who wishes to be promoted to lieutenant, but the position was given to the young and attractive Cassio. Other major characters in the play are Desdemona, Othello's wife who is accused of having an affair with Cassio. In addition, there are Roderigo, a Venetian who is deeply in love with Desdemona; and Emilia (Iago's wife) who could have prevented the death of Desdemona.
Othello is the tragedy, and, incidentally, the name of a Moor who serves as a general in the Italian military. He spends the first act of Shakespeare’s play in Venice, but is ordered shortly to Cyprus to fight the Turkish invasion. His journey isn’t officially noticeable at all in the play. One moment he’s defending himself in the Senate of Venice, the next he’s in Cyprus, taking credit for being victorious in a battle the storms fought for him against the Turks. The story unravels from there. His soon-to-be-lieutenant, Iago, whispers in his ear about his wife, Desdemona, and the unforgivable crime of adultery, throwing Othello’s orderly world to the winds of fate.
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.
Othello: The Moor of Venice is probably Shakespeare's most controversial play. Throughout this work, there is a clear theme of racism, a racism that has become commonplace in Venetian society which rejects the marriage of Othello and Desdemona as anathema. The text expresses racism throughout the play within the language transaction of the dialogue to question the societal ethos established by Othello, thereby making him nothing less than a cultural "other." Furthermore, the character of Desdemona is displayed as mad, or out of her wits, for marrying such an "other," and the audience sees her slip from an angelic state of purity to that of a tainted character. Also, the menacing Iago, a mastermind of deviant rhetoric, is able to play Othello and Desdemona against one another until their marriage fails, while at the same time destroying his adversary and friend, Cassio. Thus Iago has a specific agenda, not only to get back at Othello for choosing Cassio instead of him, but also to make Cassio the victim of his plan to destroy the forbidden marriage referred to by Brabantio as a "treason of the blood" (1.2.166-167). Essentially, Iago is a representative of the white race, a pre-Nazi figure who tries to inform the public of the impurity of Othello and Desdemona's marriage. He demonstrates how this miscegenation is threatening to the existing social order. Thus, through analysis of racism, the play represents the hatred possessed by mankind -- a hate so strong that society sees the mixing with an "other" to be a curse to humanity and a terrible threat to Aryan culture.
Othello is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. The play is about a man named Othello and his wife Desdemona. Throughout the play Othello’s ensign Iago, is shown plotting against Othello and other characters of the play. Iago who is trusted by Othello, begins to manipulate many of the characters throughout the play. Iago successfully tricks Othello into thinking that his wife, Desdemona, is having an affair with his good friend and lieutenant Michael Cassio. Othello succumbs to the idea, and decides that Desdemona must die. In the end Desdemona gets murdered by Othello, and Othello kills himself. Othello’s great friend and lieutenant Michael Cassio, is one of the characters that Iago uses many times throughout the play. Cassio
Shakespeare uses Iago and Othello as the main characters of the play, showing how Iago manipulates Othello into believing his wife is cheating on him. Iago, or “honest Iago”, the villain of the play, a perfectionist at manipulation, that manages to influence people into thinking his deceitfulness is an act of honesty. He spends all of his time plotting against Othello and Desdemona, eventually convincing Othello that his wife has been cheating, despite the fact that Desdemona has been completely faithful. Othello, Venice’s most competent general, and the protagonist of the play. He was a noble and respected war hero, and a loving husband, however he was the target of Iago’s atrocities, which lead him to become an irrational, violent, and insanely jealous husband who murders his own wife at the end of the play.