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Themes and literary devices in othello
Themes and literary devices in othello
To what extent was Iago an antagonist in Shakespeare's Othello
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Othello - Animality and Beauty
At the most superficial level, the view of Shakespeare’s Othello as ‘animality and darkness’ in opposition to ‘beauty and light’ seems justified if the audience considers the 'motiveless malignity' of Iago against the pure, seemingly perfect union of Othello and Desdemona. This assumes that the 'animality and darkness' is to be found in the villain and the beauty and light in the love of the tragic hero and heroine as well as in the latter's physical beauty. There is ample textual evidence for this most basic of views, most effectively demonstrated in an early conversation between Iago and Othello's lieutenant , Cassio, by all accounts an honourable gentleman, in IIiii. The subject of the discussion is Desdemona, whose earlier declaration of love for her lord and passionate exchange with Othello suggest she can be seen as the 'beauty and light'
in Scragg's quotation. There is a clear contrast in the language of Iago and Cassio:
Cassio: 'She is the most exquisite lady.
Iago: 'And, I'll warrant her, full of game.'
Whereas Cassio sp...
Appearances can be deceiving as often what appears to be real is in truth an illusion. This notion is presented in Othello as it explores how appearances and societal perceptions are often fraudulent in comparison to true. This is evident when the antagonist, Iago employs dramatic irony stating that, “Men should be what they seem”. Here, Iago is hypocritical as he is perceived to be honest by the Venetians. However, this social façade is only masking his duplicitous nature. Iago’s character is further revealed through the use of metaphor, “The Moor has already changed with my poison”. In this instance Iago is attempting to conjure up the insecurities of Othello, such as Desdemona’s fidelity and devotion to
“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’
I’ll make thee an example” Only because Desdemona has been awaken he will do harm. Desdemona is shown in many different ways in this scene; Iago’s many faces has different opinions of Desdemona; one of sexual desire, one of hate, one of friendlyness. Othello is deeply in love with her and sees nothing but joy and innocence. Cassio only sees goodness and compliments her in every possible way. Desdemona herself is a young woman but brave, strong and witty; her presence in Cyprus and leaving her father and marrying in secret all show her brave and less innocent side.
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.
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.
Othello avoids all irrelevancies and the action moves swiftly from the first scene to the denouement. We never get lost in a multiplicity of incidents or a multitude of characters. Our attention remains centered on the arch villainy of Iago and his plot to plant in Othello’s mind a corroding belief in his wife’s faithlessness. (viii)
With Roderigo, someone he commands control over, Iago employs pathos, allowing his plan to appeal to Roderigo’s sensitive emotions about Othello. Roderigo and Iago discuss about how each of them despise Othello when Iago says, “If ever I did dream of such a matter, / Abhor me” using pathos to confirm his hatred towards the General (1.2. 5-6). The play commences with Iago employing direct rhetoric and partnering up with Roderigo to enhance a sense of comradery. Harsh language such as “Abhor me”, exemplifies the hateful emotions Iago feels toward Othello as well as enhances the emotions Iago wants to appeal to in Roderigo (1.2. 6). Affecting Roderigo more influentially, Iago uses deeper, more personal pathos, by highlighting the seemingly good qualities in Roderigo. Iago contrasts Roderigo to Othello pointing out, “Let not they discreet heart think it…manners and beauties: all which the/ Moor is defective in” (2.1. 215, 219-220). Firstly, Iago weighs Roderigo’s positive qualities against Othello’s negatives ones, convincing Roderigo to feel more confident with Iago and following along with his scheme. Secondly, Iago alters this rhetoric to include Roderigo’s love interest, Desdemona. By exemplifying a more personal and sensitive side when talking about “manners and beauties”, Iago can create a bigger impact in
William Shakespeare’s Othello is a tragedy about revenge through jealousy and deception. Throughout the play, Iago is constantly pitting characters against each other in order to satiate his anger from being denied the promotion to lieutenant that Cassio was granted. As a catalyst for all the conflicts that arise during the play, Iago merely uncovers the underlying insecurities characters such as Othello, a notable war general in Venice, are struggling with. Animal imagery as well as the use of light and dark to differentiate between race is very prominent and is used to drive a wedge between the newlyweds, Othello and Desdemona. Although Othello is a highly accomplished and well respected war hero, the notion that Venetians, including Desdemona, are a superior race, prevents him from ever feeling truly secure in his marriage, ultimately leading to the demise of several people close to him, and finally himself.
“I asked her to wear something revealing, so she showed up in a prophet's toga.”(CITE) Jarod Kintz’s words are an example of miscommunication, or failure to comprehend meaning. In this case, it is implied that one person misunderstood the message of another, but incomprehension also applies to problems other than falsely interpreted requests. Incomprehension can occur when people misinterpret another’s words or intentions, or when a person misreads situations or events. The outcome described in Kintz’s quote is unexpected and unintended, but there are instances of incomprehension that have consequences of greater severity. Perhaps a classic tragedy with a high body count falls under these parameters.
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.
In William Shakespeare’s play “Othello” the use of animal imagery was evident throughout the telling of the story of the.. Shakespeare explained several characters actions by comparing them to similarities in animals. The characters in “Othello” were often depicted as having animal-like characteristics. Some characters were even compared to animals by other characters in the play. By defining characters in terms of these characteristics one can get a clear description of what the character is doing or saying as compared to certain animals.
Desdemona is a victim of both Othello’s jealousy (the ‘green-eyed monster’) and Iago’s malevolence. However, as a literary construct, she is unable to prevent herself from falling victim to the hamartia of Othello and his hubris, an essential flaw in the tragic hero according to Aristotle. His pride is wounded by the idea that society would consider him emasculate due to having been cuckolded – in this sense, her fate was inevitable. Another of Aristotle’s theories purports that catharsis (often experienced following the death of the tragic victim) is a vital component of tragedy; as a great tragedy, catharsis must certainly be felt by the audience of Othello. However, the purging of emotions should surely only be felt towards characters which are genuinely liked, demonstrating the intricate link between pity and likability and highlighting the paradox in Auden’s statement: the audience must like Desdemona to some extent for her death to have a dramatic effect. Regardless of personal opinions on Desdemona, it is an upsetting final thought for the audience that there seems to be little hope for their own lives if evil can prevail over someone so good and taint something as beautiful as Othello and Desdemona’s love.
The audience at this point know nothing of Othello that is gained by their own opinion, instead we are lead to believe from Iago’s race related description that Othello is a threatening and evil moor, whose beastial sexual appetite, conveyed by Iago’s cries to Brabantio, telling him that ‘an old black ram is tupping’ his ‘white ewe’ (1.1.89), is something of a rapist. Iago’s coarse animal related language conveys Iago’s feelings against Othello’s marriage in a much more pronounced way. The image of an ‘old black ram’ gives the audience nothing but negative images of Othello, especially when this ‘old black ram’ is being associated with the innocence of a ‘white ewe’. Iago then associates Othello with the image of ‘the devil’ (1.1.92) because of Othello’s colour, Iago warns Brabantio that he has ‘lost half [his] soul’ now that Desdemona is married to Othello. Iago here emphasises the biracial nature of the marriage, already showing his ability to manipulate people, in this case he is manipulating Brabantio, to believe in Iago’s own opinions and in theory to eliminate all thoughts that Brabantio might of had of his own about the marriage.
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...
In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Othello, the motif of nature is portrayed in many different ways, including the use of plants and weather phenomenon. Typically in literature, plants and storms signify growth and a fresh start. In Othello, plants and storms signify secrets and foreshadowing, giving us hints about the future of the play. The motif of nature is used in Othello through plants.