The Development of the Character of Othello as Shown by his Use of Language and Imagery in William Shakespeare's Play
During the course of the play Othello's character goes through a
series of changes, but ends up almost the same as when the play
started, calm and in control. This change in Othello's character is
like a rollercoaster; he starts off calm, collected and in control,
and then quickly progresses to losing control and allowing jealousy to
take him over. However at the end of the play, when Othello is
justifying his killing of Desdemona, he is back to the calm collected
General that he was at the beginning of the play.
The setting that had been chosen by Shakespeare has features that are
linked to the play. For example, Venice, had a reputation for a fair
legal system and an ordered society; Othello presents his 'evidence' -
the extent of his services to the state and his royal blood - and
these, once considered by the 'jury' are found to be enough to find
him 'not guilty' of the 'crime' of marrying Desdemona. At the time,
Venetians also had a reputation for being tolerant towards people with
different religious and political beliefs. This was because Venice had
very successful trading links all around the Mediterranean and
therefore the Venetians were used to dealing with people with very
different backgrounds to their own. The idea of mixing with someone of
another race was fine up to a point, but when it came to marriage,
that point has been reached and the Venetians were not prepared to go
beyond that point, unless it was in their interests, as it was with
the Signiory when it came to Othello and Desdemona.
Before we...
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...ar and pity and where the hero moves from a high
position to a low one. In Othello, the audience certainly feels fear
for Desdemona as Othello's treatment towards her worsens and fear that
Othello may do something he will regret. They also feel pity for how
the situation overtook him and took Othello to a point where he was
unable to control himself or the situation and could not draw on any
of the strengths in his character that he displayed at the beginning
of the play. At the beginning of the play Othello has achieved a very
high position which brings him status, respect and power. This is
particularly significant at the time as he is black. From here he
loses everything; as he loses his control and his command of speech
and reasoning abilities he moves to losing the position and status
that he had at the beginning.
Dual Nature of Characters in Othello Many of the characters in Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, are duplicitous to the extent that how. they are perceived in public is not how they behave in private. The perception of the public plays.
The Tragedy of Othello by William Shakespeare is a great work by a great author. Shakespeare was correct in titling it The Tragedy of Othello because Othello lost so much. In the literary sense, a tragedy is the downfall of a character through that character's own flaws. The way most people see a tragedy is a story where there is much suffering and loss, and a not so happy ending. No matter way one looks at it, literary or public sense, this was a correct title. The main character, Othello, brought his own downfall upon him through his flaws, caused the suffering of many people, and he himself loss very much. All of these factors pile up to equal a big tragedy.
In the Shakespearean tragedy Othello the number and description of themes is open to discussion. With the help of literary critics, we can analyze this subject in detail.
How Shakespeare Uses Language to Explain Othello's Character in Act III Scene III The purpose of this essay is to discuss the factors that effect Othello's change in attitude towards Desdemona in Act III Scene III. It will also discuss the feelings towards race and marriage in the Shakespearian era. I will focus on Iago's use of language in order to manipulate Othello.
In Shakespeare’s Othello, the character of Othello is seen as an unfit man due to his propensity to jealous and his weak character. Leavis’ evaluation of Othello’s character can be seen to be true to a very high extent because during the course of the play, Othello evolves into a weak, jealous character who is easily manipulated and made jealous by the scheming of Iago. We can see this change in his character through the use of a number of techniques such as stage directions, soliloquies, dialogue and stage action. This makes it easier for the audience to follow and plot exactly where during the play Othello begins to show jealous and a weak character.
Othello is noble, tender, and confiding; but he has blood of the most inflammable kind. Unfortunately, Othello was naïve enough to be swayed by Iagos misplaced trustworthiness and the accusations cause the entire play to unfold. Once someone brings up a sense of all his wrong doings, he cannot be stopped by considerations of remorse of pity until Othello has extinguished all that fuels his rage and despair. Othello is described as a “Moor” by his critics (Brabantio, Iago). A “Moor” is a slang word used for the dark skinned appearance of the Muslim people from the northwest part of Africa.
Texts and their appropriations reflect the context and values of their times. Within Shakespeare’s Othello and Geoffrey Sax’s appropriation of Othello, the evolution of the attitudes held by Elizabethan audiences and those held by contemporary audiences can be seen through the context of the female coupled with the context of racism. The role of the female has developed from being submissive and “obedient” in the Elizabethan era to being independent and liberated within the contemporary setting. The racism of the first text is overtly xenophobic and natural, whilst the “moor” is unnatural whereas the updated context portrays Othello’s race as natural and racism as unnatural. Therefore these examples show how Shakespeare’s Othello, and it’s appropriation, Geoffrey sax’s Othello, reflect the context and values of their times.
Welcome, welcome all shakespeare admirers and devotees. Written around 1603, Shakespeare's Othello is one of the Bard's most popular and frequently performed plays and has over 20 film adaptations (Markham, & profile, 2017). Did you know that many terms used in modern society have been formed by Othello? This includes wearing your heart on your sleeve (Ltd, 2017) and It is the green eyed monster which refers to the notion of jealousy.
Jones, Eldred. "Othello- An Interpretation" Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. (page 39-55)
disloyal she is. It also makes the tragedy at the end of the play more
Jones, Eldred. "Othello- An Interpretation" Critical Essays on Shakespeare’s Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994.
In William Shakespeare’s play “Othello” the use of animal imagery was evident throughout the telling of the story of the.. Shakespeare explained several characters actions by comparing them to similarities in animals. The characters in “Othello” were often depicted as having animal-like characteristics. Some characters were even compared to animals by other characters in the play. By defining characters in terms of these characteristics one can get a clear description of what the character is doing or saying as compared to certain animals.
The Effectiveness of Shakespeare's Exposition of Plot, Character, Theme and Atmosphere in the First Act of Othello The action of the first scene increases the audience’s anticipation of Othello’s first appearance. The audience learn Iago’s name in the second line of the play and Roderigo’s soon afterward, but Othello is not once mentioned by his name. Rather, he is ambiguously referred to as “he” and “him.” He is also called “the Moor”, “the thick-lips” and “a Barbary horse” all names signifying that he is dark-skinned. Shakespeare’s exposition of plot is also effective, because in the very first scene there seems to be a lot of action.
William Shakespeare has many ways of illustrating his characters through way of dialogue and language patterns. This is his trademark and it is his ultimate strategy for drawing his reader closer, until they are completely immersed in his play. In Othello we see that a character like Iago has been given a very rough and coldhearted aura about him, which in time shows us as readers how cruel he really is. On the contrary Othello himself is rather noble in his speech, but overall just as clever. These characters are clever in their own separate ways: Othello in living a double life of both war and love (which seems to keep him tied to the battlefield, a danger zone) and Iago is clever in his ways of manipulating an entire lot of people to get what he wants. Any excerpt from the play Othello shows how clever Shakespeare is in his own ways, writing traits that cannot be ignored.
Othello as a Tragic Character in William Shakespeare's Play The play Othello by William Shakespeare is about passion, treachery and revenge. Othello is a black, well-respected army general in Italy. He falls in love with the white daughter of Brabantio, a senator of Italy, called Desdemona and gets married to her without Brabantio's consent. Iago and Cassio are Othello's best friends, Iago turns out to be two-faced and evil towards Othello because he gave the job of lieutenant to Cassio when Iago thinks it should have been his.