Roderigo: The Story of A Gullible man

Roderigo: The Story of a Gullible Man

Thesis- Due to his extreme passion for Desdemona; his willingness to commit heinous and evil acts; and how he permits Iago to con him to the point of financial ruin, Roderigo is a complete fool.

The extreme passion for Desdemona blinds Roderigo from the truth.

Roderigo is very obsessed with Desdemona and the extreme flurry of passion does not allow him to act rationally.

He even admits to Iago how he is an extremely emotional man; he admits that it is his fault that he is so passionate, but he cannot fix it.

Roderigo does not have his own thought process. Instead, he relies on sudden passions and more intelligent people to direct him in life.

So great is his obsession and so little is his rationality, that he is willing to commit and irrational heinous acts in order to be with the object of his obsession.

In the first act and the last scene, Iago expresses his desire to end his life. This is an indicator that his thought process is not entirely normal. This is an indicator of severe depression, which has been known to cause impaired judgement.

Although Desdemona's father has the right to know that his daughter has married Othello, her father is an old man who should receive the news gently. The fact that he awoke this poor man in the middle of the night, yelled at him, and caused him such trauma all for the sake of being with Desdemona, is yet another indicator that not only is he psychologically impaired, but it is also evidence of how far he is willing to go to be with the object of his obsession.

Some of the most compelling evidence comes from Act IV, in which Roderigo acts as an accomplice by instigating a fight after Iago has successfully intoxicated Cassio. This causes Cassio to loose h...

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English Poets. Quoted as "Notes on Othello" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Othello, Bloom's Shakespeare Through the Ages. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2007. Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 11 May 2014 .