Othello was written by Jacobean playwright William Shakespeare in 1603. It proved a huge success when first performed in 1604, in front of a huge audience. The story is one of Shakespeare’s great tragedy themed plays. Othello is the black protagonist and highly esteemed Venetian general. Iago is the ambitious but scheming villain of the play. When Othello promotes a man called Michael Cassio over Iago, he is furious and launches a malicious campaign against Othello. Meanwhile, Othello has married a white woman, Desdemona, without her father knowing. Through Iago’s plotting, Othello suspects that his wife is having an affair and after many murders and plots, Othello smothers his wife. But he finds out the truth about Iago, and horrified at his actions, kills himself.
In Shakespearian times, when people lived under the rule of King James, attitudes were completely different. The slave trade contributed to racial hatred and prejudice against black people. There was prejudice and assumptions that black people were evil. Black was associated with evil, black magic, and blacks were seen as dangerous savages. These stereotypes were challenged by portraying Othello as a calm, composed character at the beginning of the play.
The main themes introduced in scene one of the play include- racism, hate, xenophobia, jealousy, love, nobility, honesty and sexism and appearance vs. reality theme. Shakespeare uses dialogue, imagery; soliloquies, settings and characterisation throughout the play.
Hate and duplicity are introduced through Iago. In scene one, Iago also shows his fraudulence and expressing his hate towards his ‘master’ Othello when he says:
‘I follow him to serve my term upon him.
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
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...ng about their jealousy. Iago is jealous of Cassio, his position and authority. He says: `I know my price, I am worth no worse place'. Iago believes he was the better man, the more experienced soldier. He thinks Cassio is a feeble man with no practical experience he says: ‘bookish theory’. This long dialogue introduces jealousy because Iago is using prose, meaning he is uncontrolled and frustrated. Iago also seems to be jealous of Othello because of a rumour that Emilia slept with Othello. He remarks in his soliloquy:
‘I hate the Moor,
And it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets
He’s done in my office. I know not if ‘t be true,’.
So this is a stronger motive for destroying Othello’s happiness. The dramatic irony suggests that Iago is jealous and wants revenge for more than not securing his promotion, and the audience wonder what other motives he has.
Races were viewed differently during the past, specifically the Elizabethan era. It was unexpected for the readers when they discovered the race of Othello. The protagonist, or the “good guy”, was usually portrayed as a light-skinned character in literature works. However, the main character in the play Othello was a black army general who is powerful and well respected by other characters. The critic G.K. Hunter looked further into the race of Othello and discovered the difference of races during the Elizabethans, “Hunter reviews the notions Elizabethans held about foreigners in general and blacks in particular, finding that there existed a widespread association of blacks with sin, wickednes...
It is then on a theme of hate that the play opens. It is a hate of inveterate anger. It is a hate that is bound up with envy. Othello has preferred to be his lieutenant a military theorist, one Michael Cassio, over the experienced soldier Iago, to whom has fallen instead the post of “his Moorship’s ancient”. Roderigo questions Iago:
What is perhaps the leading cause for the downfall of the characters in the play is Iago’s hypocritical nature that comes with an undeniable desire for fame, and receiving attention from others. To begin with, the audience can develop the idea that Iago greatly appreciates all the compliments that others give to him. Noteworthy evidence includes when Cassio “humbly [thanks Iago] for’t, [never knowing] a Florentine more kind and honest (3.1.27-28), as well as when Othello states that he knows [Iago is] full of love and honesty (3.3.118). The significance behind Othello, Iago, and what others thought about Iago’s qualities that he possesses all share one thing in common – the characters share their feelings for Iago whenever he ensures that he would help find solutions to their problems, such as Roderigo’s fondness for Desdemona, bringing back Cassio’s position as lieutenant, and helping out Othello by ending the alleged relationship between Desdemona and Cassio; this evidence demonstrates how Iago would do whatsoever only for people to praise him and to create a positive reputation of himself so it would be easier for him to hide his felonious schemes from others. Similarly, in order
Iago’s hatred for Othello has developed through the influence of not only his personal values, but the social and contextual values of the time. Thus, Iago is compelled to manipulate Othello and cause the tragedy. It is evident that Iago’s upbringing in the Venetian context of valuing and prioritising reputation and power, has caused him to have a strong sense of arrogance and selfish entitlement. Therefore, Iago is seen to be extremely greedy, as he not only seeks power, but also a better reputation and social standing. However, Othello denies him of this position, leading Iago to resent Othello and start his plan. Iago openly admits that he will “follow him to serve
Shakespeare’s plays show the complexity of human beings. Everyone is different in reactions, actions, and thought. Shakespeare explores various themes throughout his writing career. Each play is unique, and their themes are handled in a very distinct way as Shakespeare writes each work with great care. Two major themes are appearance versus reality and relationship between motive and will; Othello, Hamlet, and Henry IV, Part 1 all portray these two themes in similar and different ways.
Shakespeare wrote different types of plays such as comedies, tragedies, and historical plays. The play Othello is one of his tragedies. It is about a character named Othello who is a Moor, in the service of Venice. Throughout the play Iago, Othello's lieutenant, manipulates Othello to believe that Desdemona, Othello's wife, is cheating on him. Various characters in the play Othello appear to be virtuous, upstanding individuals, but their actions reveal that they are not as they appear to be.
Through out the play jealousy is a ruler over Iago’s thoughts and actions, influencing the way he feels about himself. Iago’s jealousy is exhibited while speaking with Roderigo “One Michael Cassio, a Florentine/ (A fellow almost damned in a fair wife)/ That never set a squadron in the field, / Nor the division of a battle knows/ More than a spinster—unless the bookish theoric, / Wherein the toged consuls can propose/ As masterly as he. Mere prattle without practice/ Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had th' election/ And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof/ At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds/ Christian and heathen, must be belee’d and calmed/ By debitor and creditor./ This counter-caster/ He (in good time) must his lieutenant be/ And I, bless the mark, his Moorship’s ancient”(I.i.18-32) . Through Iago’s tone his enraged anger and discomfort is exhibited. Iago speaks with a sense of shame toward himself, “And I, bless the mark, his Moorship’s ancient” (I.i.32). exposing his loss of respect for himself. When Iago loses respect for himself it is certain he has lost all respect for others, bein...
Shakespeare develops the character Iago into an instigator and evil man. Iago attempts and succeeds to convince Othello that his wife has had an affair with his friend Cassio. We see Iago beginning his plans at the very start of the play. “But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at, I am not what I am.”(Oth 1:1:64-65) He immediately tries to start trouble with Brabantio and Othello over the marriage to Desdemona. Iago want to get in Othello’s way because he was passed over for general and Cassio was chosen instead. We see from the start how he plots against Othello and he involves several characters in his plans. “And what’s he then that says I play the villain? When this advice is free. I give and honest, probal to thinking, and indeed the course to win the Moor again? For tis easy Th’ inclining Desdemona to subdue in any honest suit; she’s framed as fruitful…”(2:3:295-300).
Shakespeare adapted Othello from Giraldi Cinthio's "Hecatommithi," but he altered the original story. The central point of Cinthio's story is that one should look for marriage partners from the same ethnic and cultural background, whereas Shakespeare's play explores the relationship of the lovers, as well as the villain's plans to destroy that relationship.
In Shakespeare’s play Othello there is a main character named Iago. In this play, Iago is the instigator. From the very beginning the readers can see that he is single minded and determined. Iago portrays an act of being persuasive and helpful to the other characters in the play, yet as the audience we see his hatred, selfishness, and jealousy. He succeeds in fooling the other characters with his “loyalty” and “honesty” and this is what makes him one of Shakespeare’s greatest villains.
Iago can be viewed as the narrator of this play. He is left alone on stage several times trough out the play to more or less speak to the audience. One such instance is the last part of the first act where Iago devisee’s his plan of attack on every character in the play. At this point the only reason we have seen for his anger is that he has not been appointed Othello’s lieutenant, despite his recommendations. “But for my sport and profit, I hate the moor…”(1.3.365). It is obvious that Iago is the villain in the play. But this line is very important. Iago hates Othello it seems because of his unapointed position. This line asks us, the audience, a good question: does Iago hate Othello enough to go trough all the trouble creating enemies of the entire cast? There could have been much simpler ways to get at Othello without dragging everyone else into the picture. Also after Rodrigo lost his luetiency it would have been simple for Iago to fill the newly vacant position. I believe, as the line says, Iago hates Othello only for amusement. “But for my sport and profit…” (1.3.365) Iago engages in the act of hating not because he has a disregard for Othello. Iago engages in the act of hating only to hate, whether it be Othello or his own mother. Iago hates for his own “sport and profit.” thus understand this concept of Iago puts a whole new spin on the evil which consumes him.
I would like to touch on the impact Iago’s actions had on Othello. As the book shows Othello was not a jealous man by nature. As I stated before I think we all have a little bit of jealousy in different situations, but it is also common sense and our natural
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.
In the tragedy Othello, Shakespeare creates a mood that challenges the way a person sees his or her self and the world. Subjects like racism, sexism, love, hate, jealously, pride, and trickery are thoroughly developed in the play of Othello to enable the audience to view the characters and also themselves. The Shakespearean tragedy of Othello was written in a time of great racial tensions in England. According to Eldred Jones, in 1600 just three years before Othello was written, Queen Elizabeth proclaimed an Edict for the Transportation of all "negars and blackmoores" out of the country ("Othello- An Interpretation" Critical Essays 39). It is in this atmosphere that Shakespeare began the masterpiece of Othello, a drama about a noble black Arab general, Othello, who falls in love with and marries, Desdemona, a young white daughter of a senator. From the above knowledge one may conclude that Shakespeare wrote Othello to express that all people, of all ethnicity, are basically the same in human nature. Shakespeare borrowed the idea of Othello from an Italian love story by Giraldi Cinthio. However, Shakespeare focuses more on the differences in color and age between Othello and Desdemona than Cinthio. Shakespeare does this to escalate Othello’s isolation from the rest of Venetian society and to display Othello’s vulnerability due to his color. In the tragedy not only is Othello susceptible to weaknesses but so is every major character . The tragedy reminds humans that even one’s good nature can be taken advantage of for the worse. The drama Othello expresses, through relationships and emotional attitudes, a theme that all humans are vulnerable to destruction even if they are in positions of power and glory.
Othello doesn’t realize Iago doesn’t care towards him and never did after Iago wasn’t promoted to lieutenant. Iago plays the as the main director of what happens in Othello’s life. Othello doesn’t realize it thought. Iago is able to hide his emotions towards others. Which allows Othello not to notice he is faking every emotion of helping Othello. Iago is always at ease when in the eyes of his peers. “He moves jovially and at ease among the gentlemen of Cyprus, even as he sets up Cassio for a drunken fall” (Barnes 15). This shows how committed Iago was to strike revenge against his foes. Only a psychopath could hide their feelings in front of the people you want to hurt. “Iago refuses to show the "outward action" which would "demonstrate / The native act and figure of [his] heart / In complement extern" (“Where Iago Lies” 19). Because of Iago, Othello creates his own anxiety. He has anxiety because he now worries that Desdemona may be cheating on him with Cassio. Iago creates Othello’s fear by twisting his words to have different meanings. “Iago: O, beware, my lord, of jealousy/ It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock/ The meat it feeds on” (Shakespeare 1816-1818). Iago is manipulating Othello into believing that Othello shouldn’t be jealous, which tricks Othello into being jealous. The green-eyed monster is another term for jealousy. It is Othello though that allows him to get trapped in anxiety. Iago exploits him to bring Othello to a tragic