Lullaby of Hell

Shakespeare’s tragedy, “Othello,” contemplates ignorance as an open mind as well as the fault in passion and trust. The apparent villain in the play Iago is adapt at weaving falsehoods and shrouds of doubt on even the most wise and understanding. Rebelling against a master is certain to bring only battle and refutation, but in Iago’s case, rebelling is as safe as whispering a lullaby. He exploits his master’s, Othello’s, virtuous characteristics and twists them creating fatal flaws which in many ways lead to Othello’s anguish and death. Iago decided that murdering Othello was not an adequate revenge. To ensure both Othello’s pain and demise, he progresses towards deceit. Othello is not of a false nature. In contrast, Othello trusts and cares for his fellows whether they are beneath or above him in status. He uses his passion to engage in battle and to win his love, Desdemona, yet his passion is found to be uncontrollable. Both his passion and trust, lead to his demise in moral conduct and in his worldly and heavenly assets. To die with everything is different from dying with nothing. Iago acknowledges this and proceeds to take away Othello’s love. To love is to give oneself away. It is to open one’s chest to a loved one and hand them a dagger, to either deliver pain or comfort. Iago’s plan essentially is to again hand that dagger back to Desdemona and deceive Othello into believing her rejection. Othello’s flaw results in Iago’s effectiveness to persuade him of his wife’s unfaithfulness. The fault in Othello’s character derives from his trustful interpretations of human conduct and his uncontrollable passion.

Othello, prone to trusting, is subdued by Iago’s ocular and hypothetical proof of Desdemona’s infidelity. Oth...

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...hear her side of the affair which in the future, he will regret. Othello not only lost his wife because of his passion, but also his dignity to the ill of fate that was renamed Iago.

Othello lived under Iago’s gaze and influence which in turn revealed his flaws. Truly, Iago exploited Othello’s virtue and twisted them into mortal flaws. Othello chose to trust a false man but in reality, both Iago and Othello performed a part in Othello’s demise. Othello trusted the opinion of one man and Iago took that trust for his own purposes. Othello is an otherwise virtuous man, but throughout the play he reveals the very essence of being human, having a flaw. No human is perfect and because of this, Othello succumbed to the advice of Iago’s “truth”, his lullaby of Hell.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Othello. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, INC, 2004. Print.