In Othello, maintaining a positive reputation is of great importance to many characters. Othello out of all of them is extremely obsessed with this since he has always had to work harder at being respected because of the color of his skin. When Desdemona’s faithfulness is called into question by Iago, Othello wants hard evidence of this accusation. In the end, all Othello really goes on are the altering perceptions of reality planted by Iago. These perceptions of situations, events, items, and people, lead Othello to break with reality. This shows how vulnerable reputation is to the perception of others.
In Act 3 Scene 3 of this play Iago is able to convince Othello of Desdemona’s unfaithful character through the way in which he carefully phrases his answers to Othello. Iago’s reputation is that of an honest man and many people, as well as Othello, believe him to be trustworthy. Since the perception of Iago is positive by a vast majority he has influence over forming the perception of others’ reputations since his word is taken with little or no argument. With Desdemona being yet another character whom many praise and trust it may seem hard to understand at first why Othello believes Iago over his own wife (Cavell, p. 129), since in the beginning of the play he praises her virtuous character. Since Othello was never aware of Desdemona’s supposed infidelity until Iago tells him of his suspicions Othello starts putting his trust in him. He was blind to it and lets Iago lead the way to enlightening him on the issue. He thinks of Iago as honest as he is known to be by many and believes that he “Sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds” (3.3.259) and that he “knows all qualities, with a learnèd spirit, / Of human de...
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Throughout this play, the issue of keeping up appearances or reputation is evident. If Iago’s true intentions had been figured out earlier in the play then Desdemona would still be alive. The altering of perceptions was a key element to convincing Othello of his wife’s infidelity. Shakespeare’s flawed tragic hero was duped by a character who was outwardly honest but as the play reveals, perception is not a true indicator of a person’s actual self. The power of perception is evident in that a reputation can be enhanced or destroyed through perceiving others in certain situations. Othello’s obsession with maintaining his own reputation was his ultimate downfall since when he became blinded by keeping everything together he forgot to think with reason and instead thought with an irrational mind filled with jealousy.
Appearances can be deceiving as often what appears to be real is in truth an illusion. This notion is presented in Othello as it explores how appearances and societal perceptions are often fraudulent in comparison to true. This is evident when the antagonist, Iago employs dramatic irony stating that, “Men should be what they seem”. Here, Iago is hypocritical as he is perceived to be honest by the Venetians. However, this social façade is only masking his duplicitous nature. Iago’s character is further revealed through the use of metaphor, “The Moor has already changed with my poison”. In this instance Iago is attempting to conjure up the insecurities of Othello, such as Desdemona’s fidelity and devotion to
Martin Luther was a former Priest/Monk and that saw some corruption in the Roman Catholic Church. Luther tried to bring his concerns to the Church in his writing of the “Ninety-five Theses on the Power of Indulgences.” When these question that Luther proposed to the Archbishop of Mainz went unsatisfactorily unanswered in 1517, Luther started defaming the Roman Church and pushed for the utter destruction of the Roman Church. What started out as an internal reform of Church’s discipline, turned into a war against the Roman Church for their total destruction. This was the intent of Luther’s sermon of 1521.
Shakespeare’s Othello illustrates the story of one man’s, Othello’s, self-destructive journey through vicious lies and slander surrounding his loved ones. Who is to blame for this? While the play focuses heavily on “Honest” Iago’s devious acts, Brabantio becomes the catalyst by warning Othello about Desdemona: “Look to her Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. / She has deceived her father, and may thee” (I. iii. 294-295).
“ O, that’s an honest fellow “, “You advise me well.... goodnight. honest Iago “ - “....that’s an honest fellow “ “ I know thou’rt full of love and honesty ”. Iago has everyone fooled into believing that he is a noble, honest man. Without this public perception of being honest he could never get Othello to believe that Desdemona was cheating on him. Othello would have probably killed him if he didn’t have the public perception.
In The Tragedy of Othello, William Shakespeare tells the tale of the “noble Moor” whose honor and innocence bring about his downfall. Shakespeare writes of the power of jealousy, and the art of masterful deception and trickery. The story primarily takes place in Cyprus, during a war between the people of Venice and the invading Turks. In this play Shakespeare shows the feelings of Othello’s embittered right-hand man of, Iago, who feels he is passed over for a promotion and swears his revenge. He proceeds to manipulate his friends, enemies, and family into doing his bidding without any of them ever realizing his ultimate goal. He makes Othello believe that his new wife, the innocent Desdemona, is committing adultery with his newly promoted officer Michael Cassio. After this seed of jealousy has been planted, Othello’s mind takes its course in determining the true outcome, with a little more nudging from Iago. The course of action he proceeds to follow is one that not only ends his own life, but also the life of his wife and others. In Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Othello, Othello is a man who is still truly honorable, despite the course of action he takes to resolve his perceived problem.
Othello's reputation also plays a big role in this play and the outcome of it. He has the reputation of a no nonsense military general. This status in fact partly causes Desdemona's death. He becomes so distraught when he hears from Iago that Cassio and Desdemona and cheating on him he becomes angry and wants to kill her. "I will chop her into messes! Cuckold me?" He is surprised and astonished that she would go behind his back and do this. His reputation doesn't allow him to confront her with the situation and talk things over. He is also angry that his reputation would be tarnished when found out that he is a cuckold. He proves that his reputations means a lot to him when he says, "For nought I did in hate, but all in honour." Othello believed that reputation was everything, because of his status as a general and the fact that those under him and above him respected him. Othello's reputation played a big role in the outcome of the play and in part caused Desdemona's death and his own.
Reputation is defined as the way people perceive others based on facts, previous experiences, and opinions. Reputation was very important during Shakespearean times because it determined a person’s job, social status, and role in society. In the play, Othello, reputation is a critical theme that greatly impacts the story. The main use of reputation is by Iago who uses the fact that people know him as “honest Iago” to manipulate the characters. Roderigo, Cassio, and Othello believe Iago’s lies because he has such a positive reputation. Iago threatened Othello’s reputation by saying that Desdemona and Cassio had an affair. Othello wanted to do everything in his power to maintain his strong reputation even if that meant killing his wife. The story relies on reputation because it is the driving force that makes Iago want revenge and it is the reason why Cassio and Othello believe Iago. Although Iago’s reputation is detrimental to his plan and the downfall of Othello, the importance that Othello and Cassio place on their reputations is what caused the tragedy of Othello.
Iago used reputation to his advantage in order to fulfill his plan to get revenge on Othello and Cassio. He uses each characters reputation to bring out their weaknesses, which he uses to his advantage. This includes his own. Over and over, Othello calls Iago, “Honest Iago.” Because his reputation is known for being honest, he tells Othello lie after lie because he knows Othello will believe him. This in turn helps him fulfill his plan because Othello falls right into his trap. Othello believes Iago when he says that Desdemona is cheating on him. He believes when Iago tells him how Cassio had a dream about Desdemona, and he believes Iago when he says that Desdemona gave Cassio the handkerchief. Another example of Iago using reputation to his advantage is with Desdemona. She is known for being sweet and innocent, and he exploits that with Cassio and Othello. When Cassio is desperate to get his job as lieutenant back, Iago simply tells him to get help from Desdemona because, “Our generals wife is now the general” (II.III.314-315). What this is saying is that because Desdemona and Othello are now married, she can control him, because it is his job to please her as she wishes. When Cassi...
Thesis: Othello was a noble and valiant man who believed in seeking out the proof before accusation. He had been beguiled by his confidant, Iago; he used Machiavellian tactics to persuade Othello into believing that his loving wife, Desdemona, made him a cuckold. Iago was successful; Othello believed all the lies he was fed. As a result, he became inarticulate, rash and barbaric; losing all sense of rationality.
Othello changed his perception very significantly throughout the play. In the beginning of the play Othello loved Desdemona, but as the play went on Othello hated Desdemona so much he wanted to kill her. Desdemona perceives herself as the most loyal wife anyone could have. Othello perceives the total opposite when he sees Desdemona. When Iago first told him that Desdemona is cheating on him. Othello looked at Iago like he was irrational but after Iago convinced him of Desdemona cheating he perceived everyone as his enemy because Iago had great reputation. Every time Othello looked at Cassio or Desdemona he would always think about the negative between them. Depending on how persuasive someone is they can impact how an individual perceives
All Iago had to do was hint at Desdemona being unfaithful and Othello’s becomes very bothered it and eventually starts believing it. The author of an essay does an analysis on Iago and says “He slowly poisons people’s thoughts, creating ideas in their heads without implicating himself. Iago even says himself that the advice he gives is free and honest and thus, people rarely stop to consider the possibility that Iago is fooling them.“ (Shakespeare’s Othello – Honest Iago). So Iago would hint at something going between Desdemona and Cassio so that Othello would become bothered and ask him what he means by that, it was like a game that Iago was playing, he would drop a little hint and then expect Othello to pick up on it and start questioning it and become more even suspicious. Brabantio tells Othello “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee” (I.ii.286-287), So In this scene Brabantio warns Othello that Desdemona has already fooled him and she might fool him too, so be careful, and it turns out, Othello believed in him after all and that’s part of the reason of why he thinks that Desdemona is being unfaithful to him. It leads him to start questioning Desdemona in a very suspicious way. At one point he even hits her in front of a nobleman and that was very shocking to the nobleman because he believed him to be a very calm and collected gentleman but obviously he was a changed man. The nobleman even expresses his shock by saying that “My lord, this would not be believed in Venice, though I should swear I saw’t. ‘Tis very much make her amends; she weeps” (IV .i.217-219). This negative thinking and insecurity was one of the main reasons to Othello’s change in a negative way. A lot of this was Iago’s doing but it was also Othello’s fault to fall for Iago’s
Final Essay on Othello The art of trickery and manipulation have been a subject in literature for centuries. Shakespeare displayed such qualities in the story, Othello, as Othello is deceived by who he believes to be his best friend, Iago. Iago has an unreasonable hatred toward Othello, likely formed from a jealousy of his success. From this hatred, he devises a plan to destroy Iago’s marriage with seeds of jealousy.
Trustworthiness is an important component throughout Othello by William Shakespeare. Relationship between two people must be based on trust in order to be long-lasting. However, trust is just a belief that the individual may have for someone and it cannot be seen because feelings are often constructs which makes it vulnerable to be manipulated. In the play, it was due to Othello trusting nature towards Iago that made him gullible and easy to manipulate into what Iago wants him to see or to believe. Othello’s love for Desdemona is weakened because they lost each other’s trust due to manipulation through other people’s word which reflects how easy human trust can be manipulated. Trust was lost between them due to Iago’s wicked schemed to construct Desdemona character into something completely different from how the audience perceiver her to be a big contributor to Othello losing faith in his own wife. Iago used how Desdemona character as a woman can be deceitful, her good virtue in helping Cassio turning their friendship into an affair and how unusual she a Venetian woman to be used to his advantage to manipulate Othello to believe Desdemona is cheating on him.
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.
Othello’s personality was shaped largely by war and his pride as a capable soldier. He was intelligent and strong enough to live through countless battles and lead troops into war with successful results. Even Iago, who hates Othello for passing him over for the lieutenant position, can not deny Othello’s noble yet naïve nature, which he explains to Roderigo, “The Moor is of a free and open nature” (Act 1 Scene 3 390). However, as Iago continually hints to Othello that his wife Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio, more of his negative personality traits begin to show up. Doubt, mistrust, jealousy and rage all grew with Iago’s hints and led him to believe that his wife had damaged his reputation by being unfaithful to him. In the beginning of Othello, Othello betted on his life that Desdemona loved him and would never betray him and by the end of Shakespeare’s story, he suffocates and kills his wife out of honor in order to preserve his reputation and sense of self. He killed her not only out of a sense of duty, but also because of how hurt and betrayed he felt about her perceived infidelity. Therefore, Othello represents the good and the bad side of human nature by being intelligent, loving, open, and honorable and the bad by doubting his wife, exhibiting jealousy, anger and