Shakespeare’s play, Othello, tells the story of jealousy ruining a noble man’s life. Throughout the play, Iago fools Othello with multiple deceptions that eventually force Othello to think that his lover and wife Desdemona is cheating on him with another. The play exposes the downfall of Othello in stages of overwhelming rage and jealousy, he loses sanity in his own judgements and places virtually all of his faith in others. Instances of Othello’s nobility transformation can be represented in acts 1, 3, 5.
Act 1, Othello, Othello is portrayed as a strong, loyal and noble leader in the first act after he proves himself to Brabantio that he is more than just a “black bull” savage and that he is a very well build together man with a noble heart
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Othello slowly began to lose his sense of calmness that he usually portrays. He stopped to analyse the circumstances for himself and started to feed off others input, Iago took advantage of this weakness in Othello to plant the seed of jealousy. At first Othello doesn’t accept the fact his wife could be traitorous and assures himself that Desdemona would not cheat on him. Except Iago again attempt’s to remind that she had deceived her father to be with Othello so why would she be so loyal not to deceive him. Othello eventually accepts Iago’s proposition, Othello has no rebuttal to the idea that his wife is dishonest and his love for her quickly turns to hatred. “She’s gone. I am abused; and my relief must be to loathe her.” Othello’s love for Desdemona is 2 sided with one side being love and the other side being complete hate. Othello’s nobility is crushed in act 3 as it shows us a weak non-elegant Othello that was portrayed at the start of the novel, the idea that Desdemona is cheating rips society’s ideology out of his mind and he no longer care for his …show more content…
Othello was convinced he was acting nobly when he was committing his actions even though he was not being a noble character. Othello’s character embodies having a strong sense of nobility and dignity throughout the play. As Iago deceives Othello he loses his nobility contributing to his downfall. Othello’s reaction to murdering his wife is when he realises that he is at a very low point, and almost can’t escape to reality anymore. ‘My parts, my title, and my perfect soul shall manifest me rightly.’ The quote used to brand Othello to his word is quickly seen as ego instead of elegant talk. Learning that Iago was lying this whole time is when Othello quickly overwhelms with grief and has to kill himself to re-establish himself with is nobility and have a noble
Both Othello and Iago have many different qualities but the ones that are the same are what proves the point of them not just simply being two sides of one coin. Othello had many weaknesses and Iago plays off every single one of them, the “hellish villain”(V, ii, 354) that Iago is killed every living ounce that was left in Othello, and once the truth came to the surface, Othello only wished he could awaken and “arise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell” (III, iii, 507). The fact that Iago had “ensnared [Othello’s] soul and body” (V, ii, 354) made Othello believe that “honesty’s a fool” (III, iii, 436) and his life was over.
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.
Millicent Bell wrote an essay entitles “Othello’s Jealousy” which talks about Othello’s sexual jealousy. The author talks about how Othello’s jealousy eats away at him and his determination to make his wife turn out to be a cheater. A.C. Bradley’s “The Noble Othello” goes into depth about how the author thinks that Othello is innocent in the play. He sees Othello are noble and one of Shakespeare’s best characters.
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.
Right from the opening scene, Othello presents an aura of evil and disloyalty. The play begin...
Othello: The play's protagonist and hero. A Christian Moor and general of the armies of Venice, Othello is an eloquent and physically powerful figure, respected by all those around him. In spite of his elevated status, he is nevertheless easy prey to insecurities because of his age, his life as a soldier, and his race. He possesses a "free and open nature," which his ensign Iago uses to twist his love for his wife, Desdemona, into a powerful and destructive jealousy
Othello is a character of which he believes he has high standards and is a strong character, but yet his love for Desdemona becomes a great weakness which causes conflict later in the play.
The role of jealousy, love and betrayal play a major role in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. The entire play is based on the human interactions of the characters as related to Othello and Desdemona. The characters’ personalities, their social status, and their relationships to each other control the story line and their fate in the play. Othello is portrayed early in the play as an outsider with animalistic characteristics by Iago and Roderigo because of jealousy. “Your heart is burst; and have lost half of your soul/Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe”.(531) Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, accuses Othello of using witch craft on his daughter. “If she in chains of magic were not bound/ Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy/ So opposite to marriage that she shunned…” (535) This point is important because Othello must defend himself not only to Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, but to the entire Venetian Senate. “And till she come, as truly as to heaven,/ I do confess the vices of my blood./ So justly to your grave ears I’ll present/ How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love, / And she in mine.” (539) Othello proves himself to be an intellectual hero early in the play. He has worked hard to gain respectability and power, but because he has a different background, is from another country, is dark-skinned and is older than Desdemona, he becomes jealous very quickly of Cassio. Cassio is from the same social class, is compatible with Desdemona and is a young handsome man. Iago has also convinced Cassio to seek favor with Desdemo...
Despite the negative foregrounding of Othello’s character by Iago, our first impressions of Othello in Act 1 are of a noble and well-spoken man, his nobility is conveyed through his speech ‘most potent grave and reverend signiors’(1.3.76) to his future father-in-law Brabantio of Othello’s love for his daughter Desdemona in Act 1 Scene 3. This is a very different character to what we expect from Iago’s preparation for the introduction of Othello. Where we are expecting an angry and possibly violent character, we instead are met with something completely surprising, a quiet and calm man who dismisses Roderigo’s insult and even avoids the prospect of a conflict.
As Iago subtly plants these suspicions of Desdemona, Othello jumps to conclusions. He immediately questions himself, “Why did I marry?” (III.iii.66) This instant doubtfulness towards Desdemona is a huge mistake made my Othello. If he were able to think rationally and consider Desdemona’s innocence before jumping to conclusions, then all of this could have been avoided. However his inability to trust his own wife increases his anger towards her tremendously and the desire to kill begins to build up inside him. Later on, when Lodovico arrives at Cyprus in Act 4, Desdemona and him discuss Cassio and Othello’s situation. Othello is irritated by Desdemona’s friendly comments about Cassio and lashes out, striking her and calling her a devil. Afterwards, Lodovico is shocked, questioning, “Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate call all in all sufficient?” (IV.i.93) Referring to him as a once “noble Moor” explains how worthy Othello’s reputation was before coming to Cyprus. However, Lodovico can no longer imagine this is the same Othello he once knew, proving that Othello has changed quite a bit since his arrival at Cyprus. Before Cyprus, Othello would have never struck his wife in public, but Iago’s manipulation has caused his anger to finally break out. Othello does not have the confidence within himself to believe in Desdemona. Therefore,
Throughout the novel, up until his insanity, Othello is described as a temperate man whose honor does not allow him to believe assumptions unless he has been shown proof. Firstly, when the men of Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, confront Othello’s men, Othello calmly says, “Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.” (10). Othello is confronted on the matter of his elopement with Desdemona with force and with words. Not only is he very cool about his dealings with violence, but also when he is asked to tell the story of how he had Desdemona fall in love with him he states the truth, and he doesn’t leave out any details of how he accomplished it. He openly admits that had any other man told his story, that man also would have won her heart. Only a truly honorable man can admit that it was a story, and not his personality that truly won the woman’s heart. Othello’s honor is shown by his trust in the people he knows and loves. When Iago tells Othello that he believes Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair, Othello does not believe Iago initially.
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.
That’s Othello’s weakness that Iago deems as useful. Othello’s love turns to jealousy. The question is how sympatric is Othello to the reader. Othello feels betrayed. But Othello loses his look of a gullible, good guy when he decides he wants Cassio and Desdemona dead. The rage of his jealousy turns the character of Othello the readers know on its head and creates a different look. Only during and after the death of Desdemona can the reader see the good that was once in him. Othello shows regret and kind of a sense of torment. Clearly parts of him doesn’t want this to happen. And after the death of Desdemona he sees the misplaced change and rage he had. When Othello hears of Iago’s disseat he changes back to the good Othello that was present in the start of the play. He might be filled with regret and a new rage for Iago, but is morals seem solid
The play “Othello” by William Shakespeare was written in 1604 during the Elizabeth era. Othello is one of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare’s dramas. He enjoyed unheralded success in the combat zone, which gave him the reputation as one of Venice’s most competent generals. Even though he has great success in the battlefield, he has a dramatic flaw that causes a downfall in his life. The dramatic flaw that causes his downfall is jealousy. This was brought on by a simple persuasion of Iago, the evil character in the play. Even though Iago used extreme manipulation to get Othello to be jealous, Iago did not really have to try very hard to get Othello in a jealous state of mind. Othello was blinded by his jealousy which led him down a path of constant questioning of his wife and his friend Cassio. Throughout the play we see his dramatic flaw sink him deeper and deeper into a cloud of doubt which eventually leads him to kill not only his love of his life but also himself.
Shakespeare’s famous play Othello is a play of love that has turned bad by the unfounded jealousy of the protagonist character Othello. Arguably the contribution of Othello’s susceptibility to manipulation, his weaknesses and the manipulation of other characters tactics such as Iago each contribute to the downfall of Othello. However, to the extent of which each is more significant varies and this is what will be analysed in this essay.