Personality Traits Of Characters In Shakespeare's Othello

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In Shakespeare’s Othello, the main characters, Othello, Desdemona, and Iago all carry unique and dominant personality traits that define their fate throughout the play. Othello, the main character in the play, is a very respected character from his background of defending Venice. His main characteristic of jealously overtakes his stellar reputation. Desdemona, also known as Othello’s wife and daughter of the Venetian Senator, Brabantio, is very devoted and honest with her new husband. Iago is known as trustworthy and respected by most. Deep down, Iago carries evil intents and pursues a scheme to ruin the lives of others. The personalities of these characters develop throughout the play and set their fate. These select characters all carry a unique …show more content…

Othello claims he will not let jealousy destroy him, but due to Othello’s insecurities stemming from his race, he tries to mask his insecurities by overly announcing his happiness. He has actually already started to subconsciously fear a change in his young wife, “When the blood is made dull with the act of /sport” (2.1.228-229) Othello is already concerned that his marriage will fail once his wife has had her fill of him physically. Othello, allows jealousy to overpower him and let him slip into his dominant personality trait of jealously. Othello becomes a victim of Iago’s manipulative powers and soon believes that Desdemona is cheating on him. Iago feeds Othello’s jealously more and this is enough to fully convince Othello, that his wife Desdemona is cheating on him. This results in Othello being eaten alive by jealousy and now rules his personality. Othello is not careful of the “Green-eyed monster”. Jealousy is such a powerful personality trait of the character Othello that it destroys his reputation and leads him to murder his innocent

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