Barbantio's Reasoning In Othello

In Shakespeare’s Othello the reader is shown a vicious cycle of emotions and the difficult choices for Othello, which at first he displays great ability at being a critical thinker referred to in Ruggiero’s Beyond Feelings. Yet this is a short moment for as the play progresses Othello relies more on his distinct emotions and horrid errors in reasoning while investigating for evidence that aids in his decisions and later interprets this new found evidence poorly leading to the end of Desdemona, Emilia, Roderigo’s lives and his own. Though his beliefs in superstitions also aid in his downfall from a great general of Venice toward a foolish and blind man of jealousy. The decisions Othello makes using his emotion, beliefs, and errors in reasoning

Othello displays the ability to defy judgment and wait for more evidence to be presented before making final decisions. A clear point of this was when Othello tells Barbantio, “Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it/ Without a prompter. Where will you that I go/ To answer this your charge,” (1.3.83-85) where Othello chose not to fight with Barbantio and actually resolve the situation peacefully. This event also showed Othello’s terrible ego and over self-confidence that expands beyond his natural limitations for his own belief of being a perfect creature in his own eyes. Othello quickly flips over to being more emotionally drive by the time he sees Desdemona asking to go with Othello to Cyprus which Othello, “Vouch with me, heaven, I therefore beg it not/To please the palate of my appetite,/Nor to comply with heat the young affairs/In my distinct and proper satisfaction,” (1.3.258-261) which Othello tries to persuade that he is not going to asking that she come with him because he wants to indulge in pleasure with Desdemona, but to ease her mind of his absence. Later it is revealed they indulge from the moment they see each other again on Cyprus in Act