Seeing is Believing
Proof is something that all human beings seek. Without proving something in order for it to be valid we would have nothing to tell us when something is false. Everyday people use proof as a part of reason; it has been used to turn a hypothesis into a theory, a rumor into fact, without proof we would have nothing. There are many different ways to prove something, some more affective than others; having a person simply tell you something is true or false does not always do the job, but in simplistic matters it may be all they have to work with. More complex matters involve a type of proof that is the most concrete type of proof; ocular proof. Ocular proof exemplifies the saying “seeing is believing” by stating that something cannot be proven unless it is seen by the person wanting proof. If a person is relayed ocular proof, it is not ocular proof to them but becomes word of mouth either to confirm or falsify what one has thought. When one seeks ocular proof, it requires a sort of maneuvering depending on what they are trying to validate. In Othello's case, he wants ocular proof that his wife is having an affair with Cassio; which means he would have to catch them in bed together. Othello is convinced by Iago that Desdemona must being having an affair as he saw Cassio with her handkerchief. In order to make what Iago is saying true, Othello demands ocular proof. Othello gives Iago another option, telling him that he needs to see Desdemona and Cassio in the act, or it needs to be proven so there are no other possible explanations for the actions of his wife. This is a loop hole Iago has been given in order to further control how Othello sees things. Iago's sly and deceitful behavior and language lead Othell...
... middle of paper ...
...other man; let alone with Cassio who is Othello's lieutenant. Iago's anger towards Othello leads him to play with the Moor's emotions and manipulates what he sees by using language as his weapon. Iago also uses Othello's trust in his ensign to further put his revenge into reality. He uses trustful language to make Othello have faith in him, also Iago talks about things he does not care about, but knows that Othello finds them important. When Othello “sees” that Iago has hurt Cassio, he feels the urge to get his own revenge on Desdemona by killing her. By this point, Iago has convinced Othello that his wife is guilty of infidelity and he no longer needs that ocular proof he has been seeking throughout the play. All because of Iago's sighting of Desdemona's handkerchief, Othello begins to doubt his marriage and in turn puts more faith in his “friend” than in his wife.
Implicitly targeting Othello’s doubts about marrying Desdemona and insecurities about her actions with infidelity, Iago eventually impacts Othello enough that the General himself confides in Iago about his own wife. Earlier in the play, ‘honest Iago’ needs to first gain Othello’s confidence and he does so by expressing his loyalty to Cassio, “I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth/ Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio”, while Othello is present in a conflict (2.3. 203-204). Then, later in the play Iago baits Othello by suggesting that Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair. Immediately, Othello wants more information; however, Iago nervously responds with, “…vicious in my guess-/ As I confess…” and tries to calm Othello by saying, “My noble lord-” (3.3 46-47, 93). When voicing his devotion to Cassio, Iago immediately begins to play on his false reputation as ‘honest Iago’. He enables Othello, and his fellow characters, to think highly of him and to respect that even when his partner, Cassio, has not been following orders, Iago would even endure physical pain and have his “tongue cut from [his] mouth” and proves his locality (2.3. 203). This leads to when Iago responds to Othello’s queries, about
Iago takes on many different persona’s to enact his plan of revenge upon Othello. He plays the friend, a trustworthy and credible source of information for Othello in his feat of drama with his innocent wife, Desdemona. He also plays the wingman for Roderigo who is madly in love with Desdemona, encouraging him to make advances towards her to woo Desdemona away from Othello. Iago even persuades Roderigo to kill Cassio with his lies about Cassio and Desdemona’s affair. “...you may take him at your pleasure: I will be near to second your attempt, and he shall fall between us.” Iago promises to assist Roderigo in the murder of Cassio and he will be rewarded with Desdemona’s love (Navigators.) Iago’s true persona, though, is a heartless, woman-hating villain who would go to great lengths to get revenge against Othello for preferring Cassio over him for the military promotion.
Othello, a play by William Shakespeare, tells the tragic tale of the black Venetian general, Othello, and how he is manipulated by his ambitious friend, Iago. Iago becomes angry at Othello when he promotes Michael Cassio rather than Iago to the lieutenancy. Iago then schemes a plot to take down Othello. Iago uses Desdemona, Othello’s new wife, to take down the great general. He leads Othello to considering that his wife is cheating on him with Michael Cassio. This causes Othello to become suspicious and eventually drives Othello into killing Desdemona. In the end, Othello learns that his wife was faithful, and Iago had lied to him. This upsets Othello and causes him to also kill himself. Iago’s many motives are never revealed to the audience or the characters as in the last scene he states, “Demand me nothing. What you know, you know. From this time forth I never will speak word.” (Othello. Act 5 Scene 2: 355-356). In the play Othello, Iago is the master manipulator that formulates devious plots against the characters of Roderigo, Cassio, and Othello by using their desires to his advantage to reveal their underlying weaknesses.
While Othello murdered his wife Desdemona, he did it purely from misunderstanding and jealousy. Iago made Othello believe Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio even though she never did such actions. Iago’s persistence and villainous intentions made Othello become jealous of Cassio and break down his emotions towards Desdemona and want to kill her with fierce rage. Othello would not do such a crime if he have known it is was a
Two individuals may be the best of friends but when one individual is taken in by jealousy over the other he or she will do anything in his or her power to ruin the other individual’s life; this is where the dilemma arises. William Shakespeare, the playwright of Othello portrays a story about a highly honoured character Othello who is the general of the state of Venice. Iago portrays himself as very loyal and true friend to Othello while his other side is much more ruthless and cruel towards the general. Othello gives Michael Cassio a position as his personal lieutenant, but Iago is highly jealous of this situation because he is the one that is closer to Othello and should acquire the position. Soon Iago plots a malevolence and wicked plan against the protagonist, Othello. When Othello flees with Desdemona to Cyprus, Iago begins his insinuations to Othello by telling him Desdemona’s intimacy relationship with Cassio. Othello becomes envious and suspicious of Desdemona and returns to the castle to kill his innocent wife. He eventually chokes her to death and Emilia, Iago’s wife, tells Othello the truth. Iago murders Emilia and Othello severely wounds Iago and then commits suicide. Iago the master puppeteer deludes his victims Othello, Cassio, Desdemona and Roderigo by being dishonest and deceitful.
She mentions how she physically cares for Othello, asking him to take care of himself and his body. She then uses this as a segway proving that if he trusts her council in these small matters then her advice on larger matters should hold even more weight and proof upon them. Othello agrees to her council and asks to be alone so that he may think, However Iago had different plans. Previously Desdemona had spoken to Cassio and had told him she would try to win back Othello’s favor for him, and Iago used this friendship to his advantage. After Othello had spoken to Desdemona and agreed to meet with Cassio, Iago began to whisper poisonous thoughts into his ears saying Desdemona is unfaithful. Desdemona is clueless to this change of events and continues to play in to Iago’s hands, innocently continuing to befriend Cassio and entreat Othello to accept him. Even so, she continues to love her husband even when he begins to act distant and strange. Desdemona tries again to comfort Othello when he is distraught, but this time he pushes her away, wishing not to be comforted by his wife as he is now suspicious of her. Later, Desdemona realizes her handkerchief is missing, not knowing Emilia took it as Iago had instructed her. Desdemona realizes that Othello will be cross with her, but she does not realize the torrent of frustration she has now been placed in the
In William Shaspeare play Othello, Iago make Othello believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. He does by taking advantage of any situation to make of Othello doubt. Iago make Othello thing a lot of crazy thing on his head, Othello got so jelous leading him to kill his own wife, Desdemona, satisfying iago obseccion for revenge.
Although Iago has no solid evidence of Desdemona cheating on him, he automatically believes what Iago tells him. He leads Othello into believing that Cassio slept with Desdemona, and also had her handkerchief that Othello gave her for their anniversary. Emilia takes the handkerchief from Desdemona’s chamber and gives it to Iago. He gives it to Cassio, creating a perfect scene for himself. He tells Othello that he saw Cassio wipe his beard with the handkerchief, which makes him upset with him and Desdemona. (insert quote about the handkerchief) He also gets Othello to believe that Cassio was talking about Desdemona in his sleep, which he made up. Othello is gullible, believing what Iago tells him. This leads him to murder his wife and order the death of
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,
Iago intends to orchestrate the demise of Cassio and Othello. On the surface, winning a promotion was the catalyst for Iago’s rage but bringing down only Cassio does not satisfy his bloodthirsty rage. Although Iago is cunning and ruthless in his pursuit to ruin Othello, the plot spins out of his control and only gains traction when his wife, Emilia unknowingly helps him. At this point Iago is poised to fail but the possession of Desdemona’s handkerchief provides a key piece of “ocular proof (Shakespeare)” that Othello requires to be convinced of Desdemona’s infidelity. Iago loses control of the situation. His stated purpose is to suppl...
Throughout the novel, up until his insanity, Othello is described as a temperate man whose honor does not allow him to believe assumptions unless he has been shown proof. Firstly, when the men of Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, confront Othello’s men, Othello calmly says, “Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.” (10). Othello is confronted on the matter of his elopement with Desdemona with force and with words. Not only is he very cool about his dealings with violence, but also when he is asked to tell the story of how he had Desdemona fall in love with him he states the truth, and he doesn’t leave out any details of how he accomplished it. He openly admits that had any other man told his story, that man also would have won her heart. Only a truly honorable man can admit that it was a story, and not his personality that truly won the woman’s heart. Othello’s honor is shown by his trust in the people he knows and loves. When Iago tells Othello that he believes Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair, Othello does not believe Iago initially.
The situation above leaves an opening for Iago to fulfill his vital plan to bring down Othello through Desdemona. Cassio was a mental wreck and told Iago that his reputation was ruined. Iago told him that he can get his rank back through Desdemona and get back on Othello's good side. "Confess yourself freely to her, importune her help to put you in your place again (p. 54)." Once Cassio talks to Desdemona, Iago will speak with Othello and get him to think of his wife's trust. In Act three Scene three Iago is speaking to Othello and warns him to look out for Cassio and Desdemona. Othello asks Iago if it was just Cassio that left from speaking with his wife.
Through his suggestion to Cassio, Iago can now be certain that Cassio will entreat Desdemona to petition for him with Othello. Cassio does implore Desdemona and she responds, “Be thou assured, good Cassio, I will do all my abilities in thy behalf” (Act III Scene III). Iago manages to obtain the handkerchief that Othello gave to Desdemona that had strawberry patterns on it form Bianca. He then tells Othello to ask for the handkerchief and if she doesn’t produce it, than she must be cheating on him. Iago also manipulates the undeserving devotion of Emilia. We learn at the end of the play that Iago “begg’d of me to steal it” of Emilia. Like Desdemona’s good nature, Iago exploits his own wife for his malicious revenge. The handkerchief was the final straw for
"I follow him to serve my turn upon him," said Iago (9:45). From the beginning of the story Iago has a cruel intent bent on destroying Othello merely because the job that he sought after was given to young Cassio. Exactly why his hatred burns so bright is unclear because it was not uncommon to lose a position to another soldier. With or without reasonable justification for revenge, Iago immediately starts to tear Othello apart by informing Brabantio (Desdemon's father, Othello;s wife) that she is out with a black ram and committing unjust acts. As time progresses Iago becomes more wrapped up in his lies that he even begins to believe that Othello has slept with his own wife, Emelia, and now he has even more reason to hate "the Moor", "I hate the Moor and it is thought abroad that `twixt my sheets `has done my office"( 55:429-431). Iago is so obsessed with his revenge on Othello that he does not care what happens to anyone else so long as he is happy. In the process of hurting Othello he manages to have Roderigo killed, Cassio severely injured, his own wife Emelia is slain by his own hands, Desdemona dies at the hands of her husband Othello, and after everything Othello kills himself. Sadly Iago accomplishes his revenge but with so many casualties and then he himself is tortured and killed for his part in the great conspiracy, but before he is punished he has to see that Cassio will be the one to take Othello's place (a strange irony since it was Cassio that Iago was jealous of).
Written by William Shakespeare, “Othello” is a twisted tale of deceit and betrayal that turned a beautiful love into a murderous plot due to outside jealousy. The play begins in with Iago and Rodrigo arguing in Venice. Iago is a soldier who is under Othello’s command and Rodrigo has been paying him to spy on Othello because he wishes to be with Desdemona, Othello’s lover. Rodrigo believes that Iago is loyal to Othello and has not been keeping up his end of the bargain due to his lack of information . Iago reassures Rodrigo that he has a strong hatred towards Othello because Othello had recently passed over Iago for a promotion to lieutenant in favor of Cassio, a less experienced soldier. In order to keep Rodrigo’s trust, and his money, Iago decided to inform Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, about her relationship with Othello. This angers her father because Othello is considered “The Moor”, which indicates that Othello is a black man. An upset Brabantio sends his men out at night to capture Othello because he believes that Desdemona would never be with Othello willingly. Hoping to disguise what he had done, Iago runs and tells Othello to warn him, saying that Rodrigo was the one who told her father about their relationship. Othello does not seem phased because he believes that he has not done wrong and that his good reputation will help clear up the matter. In all the commotion, we learn that Othello and Desdemona had just been married.