Deception in Shakespeare's Othello
Deception, which by its definition is a bad thing and has only one level or degree, is truly not this way at all. Deception appears many times in Othello, but in almost every incident the degree of deception is different. There are only a few characters that use deception, and those characters all use different degrees of deception to get what they want in the play. Deception is almost always used through verbal language or body language because it is the easiest way to deceive a person. The reasons, or intentions, a person has for deception determines the goodness (or badness) and (or) severity of the deception. If a person deceives others with good intentions, then, in a way, the deception is partially good. However, if a person has bad reasons or intentions in deceiving others, then the deception is bad. There is also, in contrast to the definition of deception, debate over what is deception because it is always different in the eyes of different people.
Although deception is always meant to deceive, the degree of deception varies upon the context of the situation. Desdemona gives one example of deception when she hides her relationship with Othello from her father. Brabantio says, “O, she deceives me Past thought!” (1.1.166) Desdemona had reasons for deceiving her father. Her reasons were very simple, because she loved her father she wanted to protect him. Desdemona knew that her father would eventually find out the truth, but she felt that by hiding her relationship with Othello she would be delaying the inevitable pain that her father was going to feel. Since Desdemona loved her father, she felt that by delaying his pain she would be doing him a service, and because Desdemona deceived her father out of love, this deception was not severe. It was however bad, because there was no way in which Desdemona could avoid hurting her father. This shows that even though Desdemona deceived her father and the outcome was bad, it was not severe because her intentions were good hearted. Another example of the degree of deception was when Iago said to Othello, “She did deceive her father, marrying you” (111.3.205). Iago’s deception, which in appearance looks similar to Desdemona’s deception, is in fact very different. When Iago says this to Othello, he is trying to anger Othello, and place doubt in Othello’s mind. Iago’s int...
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... each interpretation, Iago is able to ask this question and honestly believe that what he does is not deceitful.
Even though deception is defined as malicious, trickery, cheating, and as a sham, it is evident that deception can be good through its intentions, can have different degrees, and is open to debate because of different interpretations. Because Desdemona wanted to spare her father from pain, it was not as deceitful as when Iago lied to Othello to put doubt in his mind. Desdemona’s deception to Othello was good because she did not want to upset him when she thought that she could fix the situation without him knowing. Iago’s deception was bad however, because he tricked Othello by lying to him and wanted to hurt him. Finally, Iago was able to believe that he was not a villain because deception is open to debate because it is different to each person. Shakespeare showed how deception is far different than it’s definition in the “OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY” by giving examples of deception which all differ from the standard definition.
Works Cited
Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd Ed. Volume 4. 1989.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. New York: Penguin Books, 1968.
This is shown through the manner in which they are both turned away from the truth, the scope of who was being manipulated, and the extent of the manipulation. In Othello, Othello is manipulated by Iago, someone he thinks is his friend, into thinking his wife Desdemona is unfaithful to him. Iago aims to torment Othello until he is able to steal Othello's position of governor. Eventually, this leads to Othello not trusting his wife at all, and saying: “Why, so I can, sir: but I will not now. This is a trick to put me from my suit:
“ O, that’s an honest fellow “, “You advise me well.... goodnight. honest Iago “ - “....that’s an honest fellow “ “ I know thou’rt full of love and honesty ”. Iago has everyone fooled into believing that he is a noble, honest man. Without this public perception of being honest he could never get Othello to believe that Desdemona was cheating on him. Othello would have probably killed him if he didn’t have the public perception.
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.
Iago wanted Othello’s position and used others to shame Othello and gain stature. Iago dressed himself up a trustworthy man and worked his way into Othello’s trust with tricks and lies. He wore a very convincing mask; often temporarily defending the person he was trying to ruin to further his honest visage. He says to Othello, “Men should be what they seem…” (3.3.127) through these methods, Iago convinces Othello that Cassio, an officer, was having an affair with Othello’s beautiful wife Desdemona. As a vicious result, Othello is driven mad with anger and sadness and throttles Desdemona in their bed. The death and want left by Iago’s deception is vast hurting everyone involved most frequently on a mortal level. When the truth finally comes out, Othello, in his grief and remorse, ends up stabbing himself with a dagger. In the end, many die due to Iago’s deception, through villainy or despair, and none gain what they truly want because of it. This just goes to show that the mask of deception that a man wears can cause an unbelievable amount of harm, bodily and worse,
lie because Othello loves Desdemona and would die for her. Othello was madly in love with Desdemona and they were compassionate for each other but he was misguided and confused with jealousy and hatred which steered him off course to his sinister fate. Othello was cannot be justified as a bad person because of one incident especially after all the great things he’s done and achieved for the city states. Iago is the real antagonist and have become the bad man of the play as his roles are to protect the crown in which was Othello and stay loyal to fellow soldiers but throughout the play he was the complete opposite with characteristics such as being a liar, un loyal to every character in the play.
In The Tragedy of Othello, William Shakespeare tells the tale of the “noble Moor” whose honor and innocence bring about his downfall. Shakespeare writes of the power of jealousy, and the art of masterful deception and trickery. The story primarily takes place in Cyprus, during a war between the people of Venice and the invading Turks. In this play Shakespeare shows the feelings of Othello’s embittered right-hand man of, Iago, who feels he is passed over for a promotion and swears his revenge. He proceeds to manipulate his friends, enemies, and family into doing his bidding without any of them ever realizing his ultimate goal. He makes Othello believe that his new wife, the innocent Desdemona, is committing adultery with his newly promoted officer Michael Cassio. After this seed of jealousy has been planted, Othello’s mind takes its course in determining the true outcome, with a little more nudging from Iago. The course of action he proceeds to follow is one that not only ends his own life, but also the life of his wife and others. In Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Othello, Othello is a man who is still truly honorable, despite the course of action he takes to resolve his perceived problem.
Nick Potter states: “Othello is a tragedy of incomprehension, not at the level of intrigue but at the deepest level of human dealings. No one in Othello comes to understand himself or anyone else.” Within Shakespeare’s Othello, no character fully understands themselves of one another. This is especially true in human dealings, where the intentions of characters and how others interpret them are often misaligned. Conflict, and eventually, tragedy arises in Othello due to the incomprehension between characters, as well as within the characters themselves. From the reader’s perspective, it is tragic to understand the reality behind all the incomprehension, since the characters are oblivious to what the readers are aware of.
Honesty is one of the most important factors in Othello. And although there is very little honesty actually present in the play the term is most commonly applied to Iago, who also happens to be the most dishonest character in Othello. Due partly to the other characters naiveté, Iago is capable of manipulating, brainwashing, and molding the other characters to satisfy his need for revenge against Othello.
Othello is a story of trust, and tragedy. A story of love, and loss. Who caused the aforementioned tragedy, and loss? Why, ‘honest’ Iago, of course. Iago is begrudgingly an ensign in the Venetian military, Under the command of The moor, Othello. Iago loathes the moor, for he chose Michael Cassio, a far younger, and less experienced man to be his lieutenant. Iago vows revenge on Othello, and swears to ruin his life. Now, Iago’s need for power is what drives him to do the awful things he does to Othello, Cassio, and all the others around him.
Throughout this play, the issue of keeping up appearances or reputation is evident. If Iago’s true intentions had been figured out earlier in the play then Desdemona would still be alive. The altering of perceptions was a key element to convincing Othello of his wife’s infidelity. Shakespeare’s flawed tragic hero was duped by a character who was outwardly honest but as the play reveals, perception is not a true indicator of a person’s actual self. The power of perception is evident in that a reputation can be enhanced or destroyed through perceiving others in certain situations. Othello’s obsession with maintaining his own reputation was his ultimate downfall since when he became blinded by keeping everything together he forgot to think with reason and instead thought with an irrational mind filled with jealousy.
Iago knows very well that trust and deceit must go hand in hand in order for him to achieve his vengeance on Othello and Cassio. Hence, as he plans the downfalls of them, he is continually trying to obtain their undoubting trust. 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.
The key to Iago’s deception is his ability to convince others that he is on their side. This first comes up when Iago gets Roderigo to “put money enough in [his] purse” to pay Iago for his services (1.3.316). Iago then tells the audience that he would “be time expend with such a snipe but for my sport and profit” (1.3.318-323). This sets the stage for the rest of Iago’s betrayal where he constantly tries to make himself the protagonist while being the antagonist behind the scenes. Furthermore, through Iago’s feeling that he needs to cover himself from seeming like the villain, it becomes clear that he thought out all the possible implications his act could bring upon him, which is ironic considering how little he cares for his action’s implication on others. Through the juxtaposition, Shakespeare demonstrates how Iago loses sight of humanity while still having enough reason to carry out his carefully planned betrayal. In continuation with the pattern of differentiating between thoughts and actions, Shakespeare again utilizes this juxtaposition when Iago convinces Cassio that he is “in the right,” while wondering to himself, “what’s he then that says I play the villain? When this advice is free I give and honest” (2.3.245-247). The juxtaposition
Throughout the play, the audience is amazed by just how well Iago’s destructive plan worked. He changed Othello’s emotional state, from a man who holds himself well to a man driven to murder by jealousy, destroying not only the friendship between Othello and Cassio, but also Othello’s marriage to Desdemona. The audience again, may feel a varying degree of repulsion to Iago for the damage he had caused, but deep down the audience is satisfied with the mould of a villain matching Iago so well, and Iago bringing much more to the table. A reason behind the success of his plan, Iago is manipulative to everyone around him. Othello praises Iago as “a man he is of honesty and trust”, giving Iago the nickname, “Honest Iago”. He keeps his ‘friend’ Roderigo close, but his enemy closer, manipulating Othello to believe Desdemona did deceive him as “she did deceive her father marrying you.” His two-faced personality and ability to manipulate everyone around him allows his plan to be even with Othello “wife for wife” to work, while he fits the villainous mould well. He brings more to the table by hiding this behind a ‘heroic’ and ‘trustworthy’ mask, another factor that makes his attributes of a villain more
The passage below is found in the opening act of one of Shakespeare's most illusive plays of control and manipulation. The word "deception" is defined as "the act of misleading" or "to trick, cheat, lie, and mislead". From this definition, it is obvious that deception is normally perceived to be evil and results in the harm of others mentally and physically. It leads to broken hearts, untold truths, or even unpunished murder. However, in Shakespeare's The Tempest, deception is used as a virtuous art to manipulate an unjust situation and rectify it.
In conclusion, Shakespeare refers to honesty in different ways, each expressing and representing in people who were used by Iago. The first use of the word refers to chastiy, desdemona’s fidelity. At other times, the word refers to personal honesty, whether or not a person is telling the truth, Emilia who came clean at the end of the play. It can also refer to whether or not a person is a good and loyal friend, Cassio who stood by Othello’s side. Even though Iago manages to manipulate these honest people into doing things according to his plans, which sends Othello into a jealous frenzy, killing Desdemona as the consequence, his devices got out, which resulted in his arrest.