The Irony of William Shakespeare's Othello
Irony plays a great role in ?The Tragedy of Othello?. The villain, Iago, plans from the very beginning of the play to ruin Othello?s life. All the major characters in the play believe that Iago is an honest and trustworthy person. The tragic irony is that Iago fools them all. Throughout the whole play Iago manipulates the people around him and lies to them. Iago is very distressed, because Michael Cassio was promoted to Othello?s lieutenant instead of himself. This is Iago?s main reason for revenge against Othello. Iago?s plan is to manipulate Cassio and Desdemona, so that it would appear that they are having an affair; which would break Othello?s heart. Iago does succeed in his plan, because, ironically, everyone in the play believes all his actions and advisements are just, true, and from the heart. Irony, thus, plays a role in the deception of Othello by Iago and in the tragedy of Othello?s response. The irony of the play is demonstrated through situational, verbal, and dramatic irony. There are many cases of these three types of irony in the play. When situational, verbal, and dramatic irony are used in conjunction; the effect is one of great tragedy and loss.
Situational irony is when ?the result of an action is the reverse of what the actor expected?(Literary Terms, e-text). There are several cases of situational irony in ?The Tragedy of Othello.? The first case is in Act I Scene III. Brabantio warns Othello of Desdemona?s deceptiveness. Othello says to this, ?my life upon her faith?(1. 3. 293). This statement means that Othello believes in Desdemona?s honesty and loyalty so much that he would give up his life if she were untrue. This is ironic, because later on in the play...
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...nation of situational, verbal, and dramatic irony is very useful in creating an overall feeling of loss and catastrophe in the play. The role of irony in the play is to create the loss of a great potential in the play. The audience can see that because of Othello?s tragic trust in Iago, miscommunication occurs and disaster follows. The characters, Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, Emilia, and Roderigo are all intimately close to Iago, and are all manipulated by him. Because of Iago?s reputation of being trustworthy and honest, the characters believe in him without doubt, and that brings about the destruction of Othello and on a greater level; the disintegration of social order.
Bibliography:
Shakespeare, William. ?The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice?. The Riverside Anthology of Literature. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997, 1102-1195.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York; Washington Square Press, 1993.
There are many examples of situational irony in Othello. One big example that went throughout the story was the triangle of Cassio, Othello, and Iago. Iago wanted Cassio dead, while Othello promoted Cassio to a higher position, and later in the story also wanted to have him killed. What is ironic is the fact that in the end, both Iago and Othello end up dead, while Cassio comes out on top. Another example was the use of the handkerchief. Iago used his wife to obtain Desdemona’s handkerchief given to her by Othello. When Iago received the handkerchief, he made it look like Cassio had...
There are many reasons why we study William Shakespeare’s plays today. There is the insight into human nature that he knows well, allusions to old mythology and legends, and others. However, one reason stands out above the rest: his power of language. Also, this power of language is clearly shown in his play, Othello, through Iago, the antagonist of the play. Iago, who is an ensign of Othello, is furious that he was not given the promotion of lieutenancy. As a result, he uses his craftiness and his “power of language” to take revenge on Othello. Although his plan foils, he causes Othello to kill his wife Desdemona and commit suicide, all the while he deceives and exploits other characters for his plan. In Othello, Iago demonstrates his power
Characters in the play fail to comprehend Iago’s true nature until it is too late. Those interacting with Iago fall into the belief that Iago is loyal to his superiors, when Iago is actually focused on bringing them (Cassio and Othello) down. Iago constructs a false impression of his loyalty to Othello through ...
Iago is a powerful predator who exploits those around him by infecting their perceptions of truth with carefully chosen fallacy. His skill in finding the proverbial chinks in others' armor allows him to skillfully weave his machinations of destroying Othello into their minds and actions; by manipulating character's perceptions of Desdemona, Iago gains the leverage he needs to exploit each character. No one is impervious to Iago's seething purpose; even Othello falls prey to Iago's suggestions and insinuations about Desdemona. Iago's constant presence as the stager, as well as his ceaseless - but subtle - reinforcement of events through narration, allows him to be the pivotal force that directs Shakespeare's Othello.
Language and imagination are among the most dangerous weapons Iago has at his disposal in Othello. Jealous and angered by Othello’s - his commanding officer - passing over him for a promotion, Iago develops a fierce, antagonistic perspective the aforementioned character; this sentiment quickly corrupts his volition, and he subsequently concocts a plot bent on destroying Othello. He renders this revenge scheme credible by concealing his true feelings behind a facade of loyalty and trustworthiness, and fabricating a fictitious story concerning the infidelity of Desdemona, Othello’s wife. Until the play concludes, Iago utilizes purposeful rhetoric to drive his agenda, and also a mastery of deception to mislead the minds of his targets.
In the story of Othello we see how the actions of one man go on to ruin the lives of multiple people. The villain Iago single-handedly creates the tragedy of Othello through his puppeteer like control of the other characters in the play. Iago captivates the audience as his plan progresses. Readers are anxious to know what will happen next in the play. What makes Iago so fascinating is his mysteriousness as a character, his fully devious ways, and how magnificently clever he is in organizing the demise of Othello.
The play ?Othello? is an epiphany of the ultimate battle between appearance versus reality in the respect that Iago is the complete opposite from what he appears to be. Everyone involved with him separately thinks that he is doing them favors, when actually he is a backstabbing, conniving person who is the essence of evil and is often referred to as half-man, half-devil. Contrary to Iago, Othello is often referred to as a God-like figure, innocent in every way: trusting and naïve. Unfortunately for Othello, this serves as his eventual downfall helping Iago play Othello like a harp, which results in Desdemona?s death. Iago?s two-sided face and the other characters? readiness to believe him before thinking twice is the driving force of the play and its plot.
Of Shakespeare’s five greatest tragedies, Othello is by far the most passionate and gripping. It is a tale of love, deception, evil, honesty, and virtue. Othello himself is set apart from other Shakespearean tragic heroes by the absolute feeling of affection the audience feels for him even unto the very end of the play. Any discerning reader painfully recognizes the virtue and goodness of Othello throughout the entire play, in contrast to the general degeneration of character so typical of a tragic hero. It is this complete pity that makes the death of Othello so tragic as the audience lends their full hopeful support until the inevitable and unavoidable fall. The evil side of Othello’s tragic flaw came from without, in the form of Iago. The internal flaw exists only in his heartrendingly unshakable goodness and honor.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. The Oxford Shakespeare Complete. 2ndnd ed. USA: Oxford University Press, 2005. 4329-504. Web. 14 Dec. 2013.
In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago is the antagonist and villain who causes all the trouble and disorder. Othello is the protagonist, and is the main person Iago’s destruction and revenge is aimed towards. Othello is naïve and gives everybody his trust even though he may not know them or they haven’t earned his trust yet. He often refers to Iago has “Honest” Iago, which is a direct showing of irony because Iago is not honest at all (Shakespeare, I, iii. 289). Iago is so angry that Othello didn’t give him the promotion that was given to Cassio that he plans to seek revenge against Othello. He seeks his revenge against Othello by manipulating and lying to all of the people around him including his closest friend Roderigo, Cassio, Othello’s wife Desdemona and even his own wife Emilia. In the end, Iago’s lies and manipulation led to the deaths of Roderigo, Emilia, Othello and Desdemona. This isn’t the first time many of these individual characteristics have shown up in one of Shakespeare’s plays.
...y of the truth and stabbning of Iago only hints at the justice Iago truly deserves. He manipulated Othello and his peers and used the people around him—including his own wife, who he also kills—to enact a vengeful, jealous whim and ruin Othello, who is only guilty of being successful and having a pretty wife who loves him. Throughout the play Iago made it clear to a modern-day audience that Othello only acts the way he does as a result of the manipulation he has been through—he is a product of Iago’s actions, not his own. The not-so-subtle racism throughout the play betrays Shakespeare’s thoughts on this subject, as well as the thoughts of the audience of the play when it was originally performed. However, in a more modern context, Othello is a tragedy not just because of the events that unfold, but also because of the treatment and manipulation of Othello himself.
Shakespeare Othello was an act of many evil traits, including betrayal, manipulation and jealousy. Evil can be described as an act of someone who causes grievance, destruction, or impairment for one owns satisfaction; Iago, unquestionably, fits the description. Othello represented these traits through character, Iago, as he reveals his true nature of evil by diminishing people lives and becoming the downfall of many people around him. “Hell and night/ Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light” (I, iii, 394-396). Though Iago may not have a purpose of participating in many of his act of evil, he presents it as a self-obsessed driven supremacy. He plots to destroy Othello and to gain dominance by observing each weakness from Othello, and takes advantage of it. He uses his aid of human nature to help with his evil schemes and plots throughout the play. Because he identified Othello’s weaknesses and was able to use verbal persuasion to not only gain Othello’s trust, but to also use that as a benefit to what he wanted to accomplish. It is great importan...
William Shakespeare masterfully crafted Othello, the Moor of Venice as an Aristotelian tragedy play. The main protagonist of the play, Othello, is the perfect example of a tragic hero. Shakespeare was influenced by Aristotle’s concept of a tragic hero and used Aristotle’s principles to create Othello. William Shakespeare attempted to create an Aristotelian tragedy play with a tragic hero and succeeded in Othello, the Moor of Venice by weaving in pity and fear into each line and action. The power of pity and fear creates the upmost tragic situation and follows in accordance of Aristotle’s definition of tragedy. Othello makes the ultimate act as a tragic hero by killing himself at the end of the play. “Othello, more than any play in the canon, has a fascinating and contentious performance and reception history,”