Main Themes of 'Othello'

“How does Shakespeare introduce the main themes of the play ‘Othello’ in act one and act three scene three?”

William Shakespeare was a very famous and successful playwright during the late 1500’s and early 1600’s. His plays gave a significant and momentous effect towards the Jacobean (people ruled by King James) audience.

Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Warwickshire; Stratford – Upon – Avon. To continue with his career of writing, Shakespeare then moved to London with his wife, Anne Hathaway and his three children. His plays were presented at the Globe theatre in London. Plays to do with comedies, tragedies and histories were all performed here in front of a Jacobean audience; sometimes in front of the King or Queen too.

Written in 1604, one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays was the tragedy of ‘Othello’. The play Othello is different from other Shakespearean plays. It emphasises and reflects racial prejudice during the 1600’s. When Shakespeare wrote this play, there was a very small amount of the black civilisation in England. The Jacobeans thought of Africans as malicious and mischievous creatures that were beyond normal and extremely harmful during the 17th century. However, in Shakespeare’s play Othello, the black man is portrayed as the protagonist of the tragic story; brave and courageous.

Othello is a black general living in Venice and working for the Venetian army. He falls in love with a white woman named Desdemona. Yet the jealous and evil character of Iago becomes angry of their marriage. As the deleterious antagonist, he comes up with an envious plan to harm their relationship. Othello is manipulated by Iago to think that Desdemona is having an affair. When Othello believes this, he turns on Desdemona; killing h...

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...ares jealousy to this evil monstrosity. The character of Iago uses religious words in his quotes like; ‘Good God’ and ‘souls’. This religious imagery allows other characters in the play to believe and trust him. But the Jacobean audience know that Iago is lying and that he is not religious at all, as he is always using negative words associated with ‘Hell’ and ‘fire’. This proves that Iago is untruthful and equivocating; resulting in another example of dramatic irony. A modern day audience would not think of hell as a non religious word unlike during the 17th century. So perspectives towards these negative comments would change.

By using these techniques, Shakespeare successfully introduces the theme of Jealousy.

The theme of xenophobia is presented through the characters of Iago and Roderigo. “Forsooth, a great mathematician, one Michael Cassio, a Florentine.”