Othello is one of Shakespeare’s tragedies; originally written as a play and performed to an Elizabethan audience. Othello and many of Shakespeare’s other plays have been performed to various audiences since, and have been adapted into Opera, Ballet, Film and television productions. Othello has survived the centuries to this day and age; and continues to captivate and remain relevant to a modern audience; Othello certainly is a timeless classic work of art. “The object of tragic imitation is men in action.” As stated by Aristotle in his work, Poetics. Othello consists of men in action, in more than one sense; Othello (titular character & protagonist), Iago and Cassio are ‘men of action’ and additionally, throughout the play we are able to observe men and women combating none other than life itself. The play deals with various themes and issues, however, this essay will focus on jealousy and race.
Othello is considered one of the infamous (if not the most) literary works focusing on jealousy and the consequences it brings about. Various characters besides Othello fall victim to jealousy in the play and subject to different forms, i.e. sexual suspicion, lust and even disputes over promotion. It may be said that jealousy is the essence of the ‘tragedy’ that takes place in Othello. Shakespeare utilizes the literary technique of dramatic and tragic irony in these lines delivered by Iago, addressing Othello, “O beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on…” , It is ironic because although on the surface Iago plays an advisory role against jealousy, he actually means for it to further incline Othello towards it. The audience is aware of Iago’s plots and schemes, though Othello is not ...
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... utilizes motifs in the ‘black hawk’ representing O. Multiple times we a shot of the hawk and one of O following. Hugo’s caging of the hawk mascot foreshadows Hugo’s ensnaring of O’s heart and soul. By the end, Hugo’s voiceover is repeated and added on to, “But a hawk is no good around normal birds, it can’t fit in…” Hugo essentially describes O’s situation in school, with him as the black hawk, dark and proud but in an all-white school that is hesitant to treat him equally.
Shakespeare and Nelson both made use of appropriate techniques to highlight the issues of jealousy and race to their respective audiences, which are still present in society and will continue to be, as long as humans will be human.
Works Cited
Othello, Act I, Scene I Lines 81 - 94
Othello, Act I Scene III Lines 288 - 290
DVD, Dir. Tim Blake Nelson. Lions Gate Entertainment, 2001
One of the major themes of Othello is that of jealousy, a manifestation of paranoia and obsession in itself. Iago’s burning desire to drive Othello to madness and a compulsion to disgrace those above him can be seen, with a Marxist reading, as his intense dissatisfaction with the social system he is a part of, ‘we cannot all be masters, nor all masters Cannot be truly followed’. Likewise, his intellectual superiority over his betters and peers is made evident ...
“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock.The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss. Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger; But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er. Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves” (3.3.163-168). In Shakespeare’s Othello, jealousy is the common theme that becomes Othello’s undoing. Through text in the play, the audience can notice Othello slowly begin to become crazed through his speech.
Shakespeare’s work “Othello” emphasizes the dangers of jealousy. The play demonstrates how jealousy is powered by affirmations that can easily be proven false. Therefore, resulting in the destruction of many lives, including the tragic hero himself. It is extremely apparent that jealousy is a behavioral propellant on the entire plot. Specifically, the play begins in the midst of Iago’s jealous behavior towards Cassio. Lago’s twisted actions refer to the source of jealousy, indicating that he takes revenge on the people around him and is the least discontent with the lives he damages. As the play progresses, both the tragic hero and Iago’s jealous behavior develops. Othello’s Moorish values make him obscure in comparison to other Venetians suggests that the reason for his jealousy is unreasonable. Notably, Shakespeare exhibits that jealousy is unreasonable throughout the play as a result of the tragic hero’s fatal flaw, an issue that is psychological. The action and behavior Othello performs in enviousness is not a source of a reasonable act of
Have you ever been jealous of someone due to some reason? One can understand how jealousy can affect him or her to do horrible things. Jealousy causes people to perform stupid actions that they would not have done if they were not jealous of something or someone. The protagonist and the antagonist are mostly driven by love and filled with the feeling of jealousy. Due to the feeling of jealousy felt by the antagonist, Iago about not getting the job he wanted, he makes a plan to somehow destroy Othello’s love for Desdemona. As the play progresses, the protagonist, Othello begins to appear more like Iago, as his jealousy destroys his wife and consumes his life. Therefore, jealousy is personified as a “green eyed monster” through the combination of Othello’s credulous nature and Iago’s malicious villainy. It is the reason for the change in Iago’s and Othello’s behavior, impacts the insecurity
“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’
Being the only different person in the room is hard; constantly being judged, and never actually fitting in; it can drive even the most normal person insane. The Tragedy of Othello by William Shakespeare is a play about a general who is different: the only one who’s black. No one else in Venice is from Africa, and with such a high position in the Venetian military, Othello’s race is almost non-existent, he appears to actually fit in along with the rest of the fair-skinned people. In this play, Shakespeare develops the motif of racism as a seed that grows, and eventually creates a sociopath full of hatred. Overall, racism is a viral disease that encircle us, and subconsciously controls our actions.
Iago states that “Our bodies are our gardens”, this metaphor is particularly applicable to many in Othello that have voices that they allow to grow in themselves. The origins of jealousy can be sourced from Iago's exploitation of these voices that sets chaos into motion. Othello begins his journey as a great leader, calm and reasoned as illustrated in the scene where Brabantio confronts him and Othello says “Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.” The values of reputation, honour and respect are emphasised as Brabantio’s gang stop and heed Othello’s words. He shows great rationality and is the embodiment of order. However, as Iago sets his plans of corruption and jealousy into motion, Othello abandons all reasoning when judging Iago’s ‘proofs’ and his abandonment of language also marks a descent into jealousy, “I’ll tear her all to pieces!”. Othello’s world becomes ruled by chaotic, jealous emotions and primal urges seem to be taking over the more civilized aspects of Othello. Shakespeare uses imagery to portray jealousy as the ‘green-eyed monster’ and the recurring ‘monster’ motif reinforces this. The word ‘monster’ brings along negative connotations
Essential to the success of Othello is the fact that the issues and themes explored in this tragedy, written by Shakespeare in about 1604, are still relevant to the modern audience. The interest of an audience is held by themes that are fundamental to the human condition, as these reflect our world and examine human nature. Othello explores the issues of racism, gender, domestic violence, the supernatural and the pathology of the entirely evil person, which are all remarkably relevant to our time. Thus the interest of the audience is held, as issues that affect the viewers and readers of the play spark individual opinions, reflection and thought.
In Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, good is often confronted by evil, in which almost every case is in the form of jealousy. Iago, the plays antagonist, is a very manipulative villain. Iago uses his own agony and distress brought upon him by his envy of others, to provoke the same agony within the characters in the play. Jealousy’s ability are shown to influence people to new ends and make all humanistic judgment disappear leaving that man a monster torn apart by envy. Jealousy’s true destructive wrath and the pure evil it brings out in people can be revealed through Iago’s actions throughout the tragedy Othello.
A.C. Bradley describes Othello as "by far the most romantic figure among Shakespeare's heroes"(Shakespearean Tragedy, 1). This is an unusual description of a man who murders his own wife. However, Othello's feelings of hate for Desdemona started as an overwhelming love for her when their relationship began. This transformation from love to hate also inflicted the characters Iago and Roderigo and like Othello their hatred resulted in the murder of innocent people. Roderigo's love for Desdemona was transformed into hate towards any man that he thought was loved by her. Iago's love for his job and his wife, Emilia changed into a destructive hatred of Cassio and Othello. As a result of their hatred Cassio, Emilia, and at the end themselves were killed. The connection between love and hate in William Shakespeare's "Othello" is the ugly feeling of jealousy that caused such transformations. Jealousy can be described as a fear of losing something or someone that is valuable (Godfrey 2). As minor as this feeling appears to be by that definition, it can take on varying degrees of damaging behavior. Othello, Roderigo, and Iago became paralyzed by jealousy. Their thoughts, actions, and behaviors were ruled by it. Jealousy caused their inability to the act rationally. They became paranoid and unable to love. This paper will examine the jealousy that caused love to turn into hate for Roderigo, Othello, and Iago.
Only by considering a range of perspectives can we truly appreciate the world of Shakespeare’s Othello. It is through my exploration of these perspectives and their relationship with changing morals and values that has enriched my understanding of the play. One such reading of the play challenges the marginalisation and objectification of woman in a patriarchal Venetian society, while taking into account the changing role of women in modern society. Another interpretation of Othello examines its post colonial elements through the protagonist Othello, and his insecurities of being a black man in a white society. My interpretation of the play as a portrayal of the values existing in Shakespeare’s time is filtered through these perceptions, thus broadening my understanding of Othello.
Othello is a tragedy of flaw, traditional in the Aristotelian sense as it abides by the view that tragedy “‘shows’ with actions, rather than ‘tells’ with narrative“. The classical tragedy Othello, conveys the relationship of the moor of Venice: Othello, and his wife of higher status, Desdemona. Desdemona could be seen to be merely a functional agent in which Othello’s fatal flaw, jealousy, is exposed- through his intense love for her. There is a bitter irony, as the manipulative Iago is the one who warns Othello of jealousy as he says “O beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green ey’d monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on”. This creates dramatic irony, and the use of the word ‘monster’, originally meaning ‘warped’ or ‘deformed’, shows Iago acknowledges just how controlling jealousy is of Othello. Additionally the choice of the colour ‘green’ is vital, relating to envy and jealousy, it foreshadows Othello’s hamartia of jealousy. Iago, through deception and manipulation teases and tests Othello’s jealousy until it leads to the tragic death o...
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.
The critic Roland Barthes once said, “Literature is the question minus the answer.” William Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, can be used to exemplify this quote. One of the themes that Shakespeare discusses in Othello is: the effect jealousy has on people. Several of the characters become jealous over the course of the tragedy. Brabantio became jealous because Desdemona fell in love and married Othello. Roderigo became jealous because Desdemona didn’t fall in love with him. Bianca became jealous because she thought that Cassio was cheating on her with another woman. Othello became jealous because he thought Desdemona was cheating on him with Cassio. Iago became jealous because Othello gave Cassio the position of lieutenant. These characters’
While I do agree that the play shows some emphasis on the power of love and what it can do to weak minded men like Othello, I completely disagree with Carol Neely and actually think that Othello’s central theme revolves around race and jealousy. Racism is clearly seen in the play and it plays an important role in Othello’s behavior and actions. Jealousy is also seen all over the play and is fueled by circumstantial evidence in the play instead of real facts, but nevertheless, this is what drives Othello to kill his wife and Iago to manipulate everyone around him to do his evil deeds.