A Further Look Into The Downfall of Othello by William Shakespeare

A Further Look Into The Downfall of Othello

Othello, a play written by William Shakespeare in approximately 1603, focuses on two opposite characters named Othello and Iago. Othello is a respectable army general who tragically dies in the end. The readers believe that his flaw is jealousy, which ruins his calm and makes him believe Iago, a character nobody should trust. The antagonist of the play, Iago, is a cunning liar who lies and tricks almost every other characters in the play to ruin and manipulate Othello. The play starts on the street of Venice where Iago convinces Roderigo to plot against Othello by planning falsely accuse Othello’s wife, Desdemona, of cheating. Interestingly, another specific detail critics usually look at is that Shakespeare choose to make the character of Othello a dark-skinned man, which was not a common feature a hero should have during the Elizabethan. Some of the common themes in Othello are the role of race and racism, the effects of jealousy, and the differences between genders during the Elizabethan.

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...

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...e. The play Othello focuses on the tragedy of the main character Othello to point out flaws in a generally good character; it teaches the readers valuable lessons to becomes better human beings by not making the same mistakes as Othello does in the play.

Works Cited

"Othello." The English Review 15.3 (2005): 15. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 8 May 2014. .

"Othello." Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 68. Detroit: Gale, 2003. N. pag. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 8 May 2014. .

Shakespeare, William, and John Crowther. No Fear Shakespeare: Othello. New York: Spark, 2003. Print.