Acts of Passion in Shakespeare´s Othello

Love, passion, lust, jealousy, and infidelity—these words ring as sources of many thematic works that have spanned across the ages. The intriguing aspects of passion and the personal connections between people have always endeared many viewers and readers to a story. This is why soap operas, passionate crime series, and romantic stories are created, to allow respective audiences into a tumultuous world of crimes of passion and smoldering embraces. William Shakespeare’s Othello delves into the type of drama that is still read today, even if the play itself goes back to hundreds of years ago. Othello is jealousy and passion incarnate; Desdemona is the frantic damsel whose innocent love is shattered; Roderigo is the lusty fool in a lover’s triangle; Cassio is the unsuspecting victim to a more sinister plot; and Iago is the catalyst of all these sparked emotions. When melded together, the characters’ interactions create such a story that would entertain the past and modern audiences.

With a hyped up media in the modern world, celebrity status has become a major cultural phenomena worldwide. Those who have visited grocery stores or newsstands will find magazines that either entices you to peruse them for dating advice or for the gossip in celebrity lives. Who got into an argument in public? Who loves and doesn’t love each other? Who’s getting a divorce? Who’s cheating on whom for whom? This cycle continues every day, every month, every year, and yet people do not tire of this drama unfolding in front of them. And that is because it spurs interest. Many people have different ideas on love, and many others are interested in how love plays out.

Othello begins with Roderigo, who laments to Iago that his most beloved Desdemona has been ...

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...yalty to Iago becomes his undoing, and it is perhaps the strong and loyal Cassio who escapes with cuts, bruises, and a higher rank for his troubles.

The fact of the matter is that Othello contains so many aspects of love, of crimes over love, and of thoughts on love that the storyline still becomes relevant even in our modern society. There is no denying that Othello can mean any jealous and passionate fool who does not trust his faithful wife. There is no denying that there is a distinct sexual tension building up within Roderigo in his lust for the pure Desdemona. And there is no getting around to the idea that Iago’s knowledge of every character allows him to expertly play out their passions without being detected until too late.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William, David M. Bevington, and Barbara Gaines. Othello. Naperville, IL: Source MediaFusion, 2005. Print.