Act 3 Scene 3 as the Turning Point of the Play Othello by William Shakespeare

Act 3 Scene 3 as the Turning Point of the Play Othello by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare wrote ‘Othello’ in 1602. During Elizabethan times there

were very few black people in England. The white people felt scared

about the black people because they didn’t understand them. The play

explores racism and mixed race relationships.

Shakespeare apparently felt free to handle Giraldi’s story with

perfect freedom. He transformed a straggling narrative of sordid crime

into compact drama and high tragedy. The masterly first act is

essentially Shakespeare’s invention. In this act, Othello, who has

eloped with Desdemona, is accused of stealing her. Blinded by

prejudice, Desdemona’s father cannot believe his daughter can love the

Moor, a man of a different race. But Othello movingly defends his love

and demonstrates the nobility of his character.

Iago is the treacherous comrade. Angered that Cassio has been

appointed Othello’s lieutenant, a post Iago wanted, Iago plots his

revenge. He warns Othello that Cassio is having an affair with

Desdemona. Brilliantly manipulating Othello’s jealousy and rising

anger, Iago has his wife Emilia, who is Desdemona’s serving maid,

steal a handkerchief that Othello gave his bride at their wedding.

Iago plants the handkerchief on Cassio. Convinced of Desdemona’s

infidelity, Othello smothers his beloved wife in their marriage bed.

Emilia then proves Iago’s guilt and Desdemona’s innocence to Othello.

Othello stabs Iago, who is under arrest, but fails to kill him and

commits suicide. The final catastrophe of the play—with Emilia’s

revelation of Iago’s treachery, and Othello’s suicide in atonement for

his crimin...

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...tragic ending, This builds up the tension as well, because

the characters in the play still refer to Iago as "honest" when the

audience can see plainly he is not.

Shakespeare uses certain ironies in the play, where he seems to be

saying something to a person, but in fact is saying something

completely different and evil. An example of this is in Act III, Scene

III, where Othello says to Iago, 'I am bound to thee forever.' When

Othello says this, he means how he is indebted to Iago, but the

hidden, ironic meaning is that Othello is now the property of Iago,

and will not escape his evil grip until death. These sorts of ironies

again bring out the idea of the villains talking in a riddle, which

gets passed on to Othello. This whole idea I think is showing how evil

is so powerful that once it has you, there is no escape.