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Literary analysis of othello play
Analysis of shakespeare’s character othello
Iago character study
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I understand that Iago is upset that he did not get the position that he wanted. However, just because you do not get what you want does not give you a free pass to try to ruin their life. When he goes to Brabantio to tell him“Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/ Is tupping your white ewe.” it is beyond childish. Want to know something Iago? You don’t always get what you want in life. It makes me so irritated that Iago is behaving like a five-year-old. It also grinds my gears that he is attempting to ruin Othello and Desdemona’s marriage. Desdemona is going to suffer for an inappropriate reason. His plan to exploit Othello’s trusting nature, “The Moor is of a free and open nature,/ That thinks men honest that but seem to be so;/ And will
To begin with, Iago in the play has a complete lack of empathy towards his peers and general surrounding; although Iago seems to care about his friends, most sociopaths are liked because of their charm and high charisma but they do not care about others. The problem with the Iago's lack of empathy is that he is the reason there are conflicts in the whole play. The life of Othello and Desdemona as well as Cassio and Roderigo would be without problems if it were not for Iago. Since the beginning of the play Iago explains his hatred for Othello for making Cassio lieutenant and he would go to far lengths to take his rightful position just as an average sociopath of our time would. Iago demonstrates no empathy in the acts that he commits towards everyone in the play; he pulls off such acts by following the footsteps of his preferred god, Janus. Janus is the two faced god in which Iago praises; Iago establishes this connection by seeming to be someone he is not. Iago in the play is known as Hones...
Iago clearly does not have a high opinion of women, and it is because of his low opinion of women that Iago does not feel any guilt in using Desdemona for his gain. Had Iago had a better opinion of women, he may have not used Desdemona as a means to an end, which is an action frowned upon in philosophy (Johnson, “Kant’s Moral Philosophy”). Othello should have kept Desdemona at home, which, according to Vives, would have limited Desdemona’s exposure to men. With Desdemona spending most of her time at home, Othello would not have had to worry about his wife spending too much time with his crew. It is because of Othello exposing Desdemona to “evil” that he should be held accountable for some of the misfortunes that occur in Othello (Vives 274).
To begin, Iago truly shows his hatred for this marriage by awaking Brabantio (father of Desdemona) to tell that his daughter has been disloyal to him by marrying without his consent. While having a conservation with Brabantio, Iago immediately shouts “even now… an old black ram is tupping your white ewe” (1.1.98). What makes this quote crucial to the play is because of its meaning – Iago knew that Desdemona was seen as Brabantio’s property and is forbidden from making up her own decisions. As a matter of fact, Iago takes advantage over the fact that Brabantio is xenophobic which made Iago believe that this tactic would immediately end up Desdemona divorcing Othello. On the contrary, this plan failed when Desdemona convinced her father why she and Othello got married. Eventually, this resulted into another sign that Iago abhors the relationship between Desdemona and her husband; Iago formulates another plan, which was to encourage a love-struck Roderigo to win Desdemona over. Thinking that it would please Roderigo, Iago said “follow thou the wars… it cannot be long that Desdemona should continue her love to the
character. In the play we are able to see his calm reaction to a very
...race, beauty and status put her on a pedestal like a goddess allowing him to idolize her and therefore never truly deserve her. Beneath his noble persona on display for all to see, the idealistic view of his wife, leads him to believe that she will never be able to fully reciprocate the love he has for her. Iago’s exploitative tactics used for revenge trigger Othello’s fatal insecurities to surface for the ultimately climactic ending in which he smothers Desdemona with a pillow before discovering “honest” Iago had been deceiving him, as well as the majority of the other characters, the entire time. Outraged, Othello attempts to stab Iago as revenge for being manipulated into killing his beloved wife, however when his hasty murder attempt fails, the heartbroken and worn-out man stabs himself next to the already dead Desdemona, whom he never believed he was worthy of.
As early as the first scene of the play Iago shows us strong motives for his actions. In this first scene we see Othello, a general of Venice, has made Cassio his new lieutant. Iago feels he truly deserves his promotion as he says "I know my price, I am worth more no worse a place."(l.i.12) Iago over here is confused why Othello has made such a stupid decision. Iago is a man with a tremendous ego who knows, sometimes overestimates, his worth. Roderigo, a Venetian gentleman, understands Iago when Iago said that he is "affined to love the Moor."(l.i.41-42) What Iago really means is "I follow him to serve my term upon him."(l.i.45) Iago wants to use Othello for his personal goals. We also must put ourselves into Iago's shoes. He is a man whose self-esteem and professional carrier have just been torn apart. Iago makes his actions of revenge toward Othello almost immediately by informing Brabantio, a Venetian senator and father of Desdemona, that "an old black ram (Othello) is tupping (his) white ewe (Desdemona)."(l.i.97)
In the play Othello, there are many jealous and selfish characters. Each of the characters at one point or another let their jealousy take over. It seems like they all have these plots and plans on how to hurt another character in the play either physically or emotionally, as an act of selfishness, so that they can feel better about themselves. One main character who seems extremely jealous in this play is Iago. Infact, probably the most jealous. Many bad things happen because of Iago. The first bad thing that Iago did, was tell Barbantio (Desdamona's father) that Desdemona has married Othello, the Moore. Iago was mad at Othello, because Cassio had made Othello a higher position and not Iago. Iago thought that he was the one who qualified for the position as general, not Othello. Iago was jealous because of this, so he decided to tell Barbantio about Desdemona and Othello. This was bad, because Barbantio did not know yet, and something like that should have been said by his own daughter, not someone who was not part of the family. The way Iago went about telling him was also bad. He called to his house in the middle of the night. He yelled it to Barbantio from downstairs into his window in a rude manner. " quote from Othello here." He wanted Barbantio to be upset about what had happened, and most of all, he wanted Barbantio to be mad at Othello and do something bad to him.
Iago proceeds to tell the news of Desdemona and Othello's marriage to a shocked Brabantio. He uses offensive imagery, showing the extent to which he will go to win Brabantio's support against Othello. While not in the company of either Othello or Brabantio, Iago debases the marria...
Iago is one of the most complex characters in William Shakespeare’s Othello. To most of the characters, he is “Honest Iago” (Shakespeare, 5.2.73). however, the audience knows that Iago is the furthest thing from honest. Iago is a devil bent on destroying the lives of everyone around him. At the beginning of the play, the audience learns that Iago is determined to ruin Othello’s marriage to Desdemona. He has appointed a new lieutenant, Michael Cassio. This angers Iago because he feels that he has much more military experience and should be the lieutenant. Iago has also heard rumours that both Othello and Cassio have slept with his wife Emilia. He concocts a malicious plan to ruin the lives of all who have wronged him, and consequently establishing
I believe Iago has nothing to do with Othello's downfall as Othello is an easily mislead man who is easily influenced. Not only did Iago not directly say Desdemona was having an affair, he neither didn’t give proof to confirm the rumours. By Othello believing the lies, it surfaces his inability to trust and have faith in his own wife. Othello is written by William Shakespeare and was set in Cyprus and Venice during the 16th century. It is about a well-respected military soldier who due to lies and deceits killed his wife for no reason and after turned the knife towards himself. The play illustrates how much one could be polluted in such little time; with the ‘facts’ based upon suspicions and assumptions from a source who was determined to kill him. Venice is a town in where Othello and Desdemona wed. It was convenient for the beginning part of the play as it was one of the most powerful cities of the time. It had a thriving atmosphere and was noted for the pleasures it offered in the way of arts and music. However, Cyprus is an alternative to Venice. It is a foreign, strange exotic place which is desolated and has a lot of open space. Since the war finished before it begun, the main focus reverts to Othello and Desdemona.
Othello and Iago Comparison Othello and Iago are different in their characters as well as in their colours. It could be said also, however, that they are similar because of their fallibility. Iago is overcome with his desire for revenge to such an extent that he puts it into action. Othello's love and possessiveness of Desdemona take over him until he eventually would rather kill her than allow anyone else to have her. In this way, despite their contrasts, Iago and Othello both represent the extremity of the same thing - human emotion.
All Iago had to do was hint at Desdemona being unfaithful and Othello’s becomes very bothered it and eventually starts believing it. The author of an essay does an analysis on Iago and says “He slowly poisons people’s thoughts, creating ideas in their heads without implicating himself. Iago even says himself that the advice he gives is free and honest and thus, people rarely stop to consider the possibility that Iago is fooling them.“ (Shakespeare’s Othello – Honest Iago). So Iago would hint at something going between Desdemona and Cassio so that Othello would become bothered and ask him what he means by that, it was like a game that Iago was playing, he would drop a little hint and then expect Othello to pick up on it and start questioning it and become more even suspicious. Brabantio tells Othello “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee” (I.ii.286-287), So In this scene Brabantio warns Othello that Desdemona has already fooled him and she might fool him too, so be careful, and it turns out, Othello believed in him after all and that’s part of the reason of why he thinks that Desdemona is being unfaithful to him. It leads him to start questioning Desdemona in a very suspicious way. At one point he even hits her in front of a nobleman and that was very shocking to the nobleman because he believed him to be a very calm and collected gentleman but obviously he was a changed man. The nobleman even expresses his shock by saying that “My lord, this would not be believed in Venice, though I should swear I saw’t. ‘Tis very much make her amends; she weeps” (IV .i.217-219). This negative thinking and insecurity was one of the main reasons to Othello’s change in a negative way. A lot of this was Iago’s doing but it was also Othello’s fault to fall for Iago’s
Iago plans to destroy Othello and Desdemona’s marriage by using Desdemona’s kindness toward Cassio against her and make her look unfaithful in front of her noble husband.... ... middle of paper ... ... Othello is not only a tragedy, but also an important reminder of how people are easily deceived to gain power and recognition.
In Othello, the main character Othello is newly married to his innocent wife Desdemona. They are a perfect couple, until Othello’s “friend” Iago, starts to
Angry over being passed up for a promotion Iago decided to take matters into his own hands. In order to become lieutenant Iago devised a plan that included breaking up Othello’s marriage and eliminating Cassio as competition. Iago enticed Roderigo to be his partner in crime with the promise of attaining Desdemona’s love. Desdemona had many suitors since she was an attractive young woman, yet she “shunned [t]he wealthy,” (Act 1, Scene 2, Line 66-67), which included Roderigo, who owned multiple plots of land. Roderigo, who was naïve for thinking Iago actually had his best interest in mind, was easily persuaded since he was obsessed with Desdemona. The truth of the matter was that