Comparison of an Evil mastermind in Shakespeare’s Othello and MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)

Iago is one of the most renowned villains of pre-modern literature, as first introduced in Shakespeare’s Othello. His deceiving personality and complex nature is painted such that readers are amazed by his ingenious schemes. At the beginning of Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago is represented as trustworthy and honest, but readers soon realize that he is the opposite of what he seems. Even though Iago’s personality and thoughts are revealed less in MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), he carries on the same immoral legacy as in Othello. Throughout the plays, he turns his friends against one another who look to him for guidance and support. Iago thirsts to upgrade this status in society which causes him to take advantage of peoples’ good-nature and even comes to an extreme of killing anyone who stands between him and his schemes. In Shakespeare’s Othello and McDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), Iago manipulates and deceives both Othello and Desdemona by his language and personality, which leads to different results.

The personalities of Othello and Desdemona have been portrayed differently throughout the two plays and are susceptible to the mind games of Iago. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello is a character with depth that has a genuine personality. He is seen as being too trustworthy and continuously tries to look for the good in people. Despite his honoured reputation in the state and status as a general, he is ridiculed by his society because of his dark completion. Othello recognizes himself as an outsider and at times is extremely self-conscientious. His quality to be judgmental towards himself and his reputation in the eyes of others makes him a target for Iago.

Were I the Moor, I would not b...

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...espeare’s Othello. The actions of Othello and Desdemona within the two plays are directed by Iago. He uses his reputation and finds flaws within the personality of others for his own benefit. Within Shakespeare’s Othello and MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), Iago misleads Othello and Desdemona which leads to two different outcomes.

Works Cited

MacDonald, Ann-Marie. Goodnight Desdemona (good Morning Juliet). New York: Grove, 1998. PrintShakespeare, William, and David M. Bevington. Othello. Toronto: Bantam, 1988. Print.

Philip, McGuire C. "Othello as an "Assay of Reason"" Shakespeare Quarterly 24.2 (1973): 198-209. Print.

Laura, Snyder. "Constance Ledbelly's Birthday: Construction of the Feminist Archetype of the Self in Ann-Marie MacDonald's Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)." Text & Presentation 2005 (2005): 43-55. Print.