Othello’s main problem is jealousy and trusting the wrong people. He trusted and was deceived by Iago who was suppose to be his best friend. Also he was wronged by his own ego and self centeredness which helped Iago with his evil scheme. In Act 1 Scene 1 Othello was speaking about Iago and says “ So please your grace, my ancient; A man he is of honest and trust” ( Shakespeare 1.3. 283-285). This quote creates suspense because we as the readers want to know how Iago is going to corrupt Othello.
Othello’s real problem is not jealousy it's completely trusting the wrong people and being easily deceived. If Othello kept to himself and didn't trust all of his companions he would not have been so easily deceived by Iago. Othello being the general should have
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First, the conflict she had with Brabantio gave Othello a second thought thinking how trustworthy Desdemona was. This was the major event that gave Iago’s plot the potential to be believable. Secondly, the more Desdemona tried to care for Othello the more he pushed her away. For example, Desdemona asks Othello “ Why do you speak so faintly?”
“ I have a pain in my forehead”. ( Shakespeare 3.3. 325-326) At this point in the story he feels like he has enough proof to believe Iago over Desdemona simply because of her past mistakes.
Desdemona in the play has enough evidence to conclude that she is angelically pure. Desdemona is a beautiful venetian girl who is a complete daddy’s girl until she falls in love with Othello. Desdemona's steady love with Othello throughout the play makes her naive to the fact that Othello has an issue. Desdemona is actually talking to Emilia and says “ I Ne'er saw this before. Sure there's some wonder in this handkerchief.” This proves the fact that she is pure and has no idea about Othello’s anger towards her. Othello being jealous and trusting the wrong people was the only reason he thinks she deceived
Desdemona's naivety is the prime cause of the conflict in "Othello" because she doesn't know that Iago is depriving her in Othello's mind by using her actions against her. Desdemona loves Othello, but also is benevolent in helping anyone even if it might be practiced against her. Cassio asked Desdemona if she can help get Othello's trust back, only as Othello and Iago enters they see Cassio leave and gets a bit
Othello is also very trusting. Of course, the question is why he believes Iago and doubts his wife. He believes “honest Iago” without question because Iago had served in the army with him and is generally regarded by all to be an honest man. The feelings of being an outsider and insecure in his social status are Othello’s character flaws and Iago to takes advantage of these Achilles heals.
Even before Iago exerts his influence over Othello, we can observe the inklings of Othello’s insecurity and the doubt he has regarding his relationship with Desdemona. During his audience with the Duke, Othello describes the circumstances by which he became acquainted with Desdemona. He says on the occasions that he told Brabantio of his life stories, he would also tell Desdemona the same stories. Then, Othello self-consciously proposes that the sole reason why Desdemona loves him is because she pitied his misfortunes: “She loved me for the dangers I had passed, / And I loved her that she did pity them” (I.iii.193-194). Othello feels way because as
The quote appearing inI.iii.146-151 is part of Othello's explanation to the Senators of Venice for his success in winning Desdemona. Othello relates to them Desdemona's behavior during their courtship, where, like most of the characters in the play, she accepts and acts upon second-hand knowledge gained through listening, without the backup of evidence. The tragic action in Othello unfolds based on Iago's exploitation of this over-reliance on hearing. He seems to be the only one who perceives that people often interpret words based on what they want to hear, or through their underlying fears.
All Iago had to do was hint at Desdemona being unfaithful and Othello’s becomes very bothered it and eventually starts believing it. The author of an essay does an analysis on Iago and says “He slowly poisons people’s thoughts, creating ideas in their heads without implicating himself. Iago even says himself that the advice he gives is free and honest and thus, people rarely stop to consider the possibility that Iago is fooling them.“ (Shakespeare’s Othello – Honest Iago). So Iago would hint at something going between Desdemona and Cassio so that Othello would become bothered and ask him what he means by that, it was like a game that Iago was playing, he would drop a little hint and then expect Othello to pick up on it and start questioning it and become more even suspicious. Brabantio tells Othello “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee” (I.ii.286-287), So In this scene Brabantio warns Othello that Desdemona has already fooled him and she might fool him too, so be careful, and it turns out, Othello believed in him after all and that’s part of the reason of why he thinks that Desdemona is being unfaithful to him. It leads him to start questioning Desdemona in a very suspicious way. At one point he even hits her in front of a nobleman and that was very shocking to the nobleman because he believed him to be a very calm and collected gentleman but obviously he was a changed man. The nobleman even expresses his shock by saying that “My lord, this would not be believed in Venice, though I should swear I saw’t. ‘Tis very much make her amends; she weeps” (IV .i.217-219). This negative thinking and insecurity was one of the main reasons to Othello’s change in a negative way. A lot of this was Iago’s doing but it was also Othello’s fault to fall for Iago’s
Soon after their elopement, envious Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him. Othello becomes enraged cursing Desdemona as a whore. When Othello questions her, we again see her strong sense of devotion, pleading for his trust rather than vehemently defending herself. "I hope my noble lord esteems me honest… Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?" However, her faith in Othello is so strong that it undermines her "modern", prideful characteristics. Consequently, Desdemona is really not as strong and educated as originally perceived, for she continues to attempt to maintain Othello's trust, despite his incredibly harsh accusations. Although her arguments remain strong, the weakness in her character emerges, for she cannot see the monster that her husband is becoming, and failing to realize that he trusts Iago, a man who is extremely competitive with him, over his very wife's word.
How does one create the perfect villain for a story? What qualities are needed in such a character? A good place to start when constructing a villain is to look at William Shakespeare’s villain in Othello, a man called Iago. Iago is wonderfully devious. Throughout the play, he not only poisons Othello’s vision of Desdemona, he does this with no one, excepting Roderigo, the wiser. There are several reasons that make Iago such a terrifying villain. Shakespeare gave certain qualities to his creation that made Iago more than just a evil character. These qualities transform Iago into the truly insidious character seen in the play. From the beginning of Othello to the time that Iago is revealed as the culprit, everyone trusts Iago and looks to him for advice. This gives Iago the means and opportunity to pull off his villainy.
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.
In fact, Desdemona holds herself in such high regard that she almost seems incapable of believing that anyone else may not. Luckily for her, Othello similarly holds her in high regard, at least until Iago begins to manipulate him. Even before Othello, Desdemona’s own father, Brabantio, thought highly of her. When she elopes with Othello, he never believes that she ran away from home willingly. He believes that Othello had enchanted her until she herself says otherwise. Upon this realization, Brabantio, warns Othello against Desdemona, telling him:
Desdemona never confronts Othello for his change in attitude and she is blinded by things that are going on such as her missing handkerchief. Desdemona is also blinded by trying to help her friend Cassio rather than resolve her husband’s anger. Many times during the play, she is able to ask Othello what is really wrong and going on with him, but she rather chooses to continue to persuade Othello to give Cassio his job back. “I swear by every sacred spirit that I’ve said everything I can for you (...) You must be patient a while. I’ll do what I can; and I’ll do more.” (Shakespeare 209) Desdemona’s inability to confront the source becomes one of the biggest problems in the play because she has no idea what is being said behind her, and she doesn’t even care enough to find out. Iago’s plan continues to carry out due to the fact that Desdemona coincidentally keeps being found with Cassio and as she pleads to Othello to forgive him, Othello has more reason to believe that Desdemona is cheating on him with
insinuates that Desdemona in unfaithful to Othello, as she prefers only people of her ‘type’, a
This character is so noble, Othello's feelings and actions follow so inevitably from it and from the forces brought to bear on it, and his sufferings are so heart-rending, that he stirs a passion of mingled love and pity which readers feel for no other hero in Shakespeare, and to which not even Mr Swinburne can do more than justice. Yet there are some critics and not a few readers who cherish a grudge against him. They do not merely think that in the later stages of his temptation he showed a certain obtuseness, and that, to speak pedantically, he acted with unjustifiable precipitance and violence; no one, I suppose, denies that. But, even when they admit that he was not of a jealous temper, they consider that he was "easily jealous"; they seem to think that it was inexcusable in him to feel any suspicion of his wife at all; and they blame him for never suspecting Iago or asking him for evidence. I refer to this attitude of mind chiefly in order to draw attention to certain points in the story. It comes partly from inattention (for Othello did suspect Iago and did ask him for evidence); partly from a misconstruction of the text which makes Othello appear jealous long before he really is so; [Endnote 2] and partly from failure to realise certain essential facts. I will begin with these.
Jealousy was what ultimately destroyed Othello. Othello said “Why, why is this? If Othello did not possess these traits, the drama would have ended completely differently. Othello let himself believe everything Iago told him, if he chose to trust his wife the whole conflict would have been averted.
Desdemona is an important female character as she displays strong traits to prove her power as a woman throughout the play. She is able to choose her husband instead of being arranged one, this is evident by Othello’s quote, “For she had eyes and chose me” (I, iii, 195). Desdemona also demonstrates her courage by speaking against her noble father, Brabantio, in respect of her mother’s action in order to justify her engagement with Othello. As what she said, “And so much duty as my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father, so much I challenge that I may profess due to the Moor my lord” (I, iii, 184-189). With this courage of hers, Desdemona has not only successfully convinced her father for the marriage, but also showed her power to disprove what was judged as the bewitched love. Indifferent than other women in Shakespeare’s time, Desdemona insisted to go to the war with Othello after the marriage than staying at home (I, iii ,243-254) This also exemplify her strong trait of daring to take risks with her husband instead of being an ordinary housewife. However, Desdemona was murdered by Othello near the end of the play. She did not blame Othello for the cause but herself of the death, “No bo...
There should not be jealousy in the true love or friendship. Iago in “Othello” is a perfect example of losing everything in jealousy.