Hidden Meaning of Shakespeare's Othello

The play Othello is a tale of jealousy, revenge, and deception. Iago, a disgruntled military officer, in a quest for revenge against Othello, lies, cheats, and bullys everyone around in order to get what he wants. He uses Roderigo, Brabantio, and just about every other character in the play to attain his goal of ruining Othello. This summary is what the play might seem like to the unseeing eye, but to the indepth and trained reader there is more to the story then first appears.

To truly understand Othello, or any play for that matter, you have to think about what happened before the play that brought about the situations you read. You have to think about the relationships that existed betweeen all the characters. You have to imagine Roderigos passion for Desdemona, picture Brabantios contempt for Othello, envision the jealousy and distrust that existed between Desdemona and Othello before Iago arrived on the scene. All of those factors were there before Iago put his scheme into action, he didnÕt create the natural tension between all the players. He merely made all of those already dangerous relationships fatal. IÕm not saying that Iago was not at fault in Othello, IÕm just saying that he didnÕt create the scenario, he just ignited it.

One of the main factors in Othello is Roderigo, Iagos half witted right hand man. Roderigo is the person who supplies Iago with money, and is also the person who at the end of the book tries to murder Cassio. The reason that he tries to murder Cassio is because Iago convinces him that Cassio is Desdemonas adulterous lover. The reason this angers Roderigo to the point of murder is because he is in love with Desdemona. His desperate and imagined passion for Othellos wife is what ultimately drives him to kill another human being. It may seem at first that Iago made him act how he acted, but his motivation was actually his love for Desdemona. Iago did not ceate Roderigos love for Desdemona, he merely channeled it.

You learn of Roderigos love for Desdemona in the first act of the first scene, when Brabantio(Desdemonas father) sees Roderigo outside of his window.

The worser welcome.

I have charged thee not to haunt about my doors.

In honest plainness thou hast heard me say

My daughter is not for thee.