Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Othello: A modern perspective
Othello: A modern perspective
Othello: A modern perspective
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Othello: A modern perspective
Othello was a “reasonable” man but he would later have his personality twisted by lies and deceit and turned into the monster by the end of the play. Othello is so in love with desdemona that he goes behind her fathers back to marry her in secret. This is showing that Othello would do almost anything for desdemona and he trust and loves her very much.t is f
When we first hear about othello he is mentioned to be a “noble” moor who was in the military service of venice. The play opens with both Roderigo and Iago talking about Othello and Cassio. Iago feels very upset that the Moor is doing so much better than him and he believes that it should be him being so successful. He is upset at Cassio because cassio got the job promotion that Iago had wanted even though it is Iago who fought at Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other battlefields both in Christian nations and heathen ones but is still left without a promotion and now he must serve the Moor. Iago believes that this is the curse of being in
…show more content…
Iago first starts this manipulation by lying to Othello about what he heard from Cassio. He tells Othello that Cassio has been having sex with desdemona and that desdemona truly only loves Cassio. By doing this he places a seed of doubt into his head and that seed slowly starts to grow and grow until it blossoms into jealousy and hatred. Othello slowly starts to resent Cassio and Desdemona and also he resents Iago a little because he was the one that pointed it out. Iago later would trick Othello into believing that desdemona has given the handkerchief that Othello originally gave to her to Cassio. Iago later then tells Othello to watch them closely as they interact with each other. Iago would later get Othello so riled up that he goes and murders desdemona. This is far from the honorable man we saw in the beginning of the
In William Shaspeare play Othello, Iago make Othello believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. He does by taking advantage of any situation to make of Othello doubt. Iago make Othello thing a lot of crazy thing on his head, Othello got so jelous leading him to kill his own wife, Desdemona, satisfying iago obseccion for revenge.
Since the dawn of time, people have always manipulated others for their self-absorbed needs. Some did it to gain wealth, fame, or power and some for the sake of doing it. In William Shakespeare’s play, “Othello”, a character named Iago manipulates the people surrounding him for his twisted purposes of gaining higher status and for entertainment. He tries to convince Othello that his wife is cheating behind his back; he brands Cassio as the cheater, fools Roderigo into believing him, which leads to his death and finally, kills his own wife, Emilia. Iago’s motive for controlling these people is to plot out revenge for the enjoyment of doing so, making him a schadenfreude, and also to gain higher status.
In Othello, Iago uses his fine reputation as an “honest man” and Othello’s insecurities to manipulate him and carry out his master plan of destroying Cassio, Othello, and Desdemona. Iago’s insight towards the other characters’ weaknesses enables him to let them know exactly what they want to hear, which helps him gain their trust. He plays upon the insecurities of others to maneuver them into carrying out the actions he needs done in order to fulfill his own desires. In looking at Othello, we will consider the Othello’s blind acceptance of “the truth” as it is presented to him and find that when we blindly take another’s “truth” and accept it as our own, we merely become tools utilized by the person who gave us that supposed truth and give up the power of being ourselves—we fail to assert a self. Iago is angry because Othello chose Cassio to hold a position which he thinks he deserves, so he seeks revenge by playing upon Othello’s main flaw—his lack of trust—and putting Cassio in a position that would turn Othello against him.
In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, the character Othello is portrayed as a fairly good man. By some, he may be known as a bad person, but he has become greatly beneficial to the growth of Venice and the state of Cyprus. Othello is a good man even if he committed murder to his wife because he was a great war general and contributed to Cyprus in time of need. While Othello murdered his wife Desdemona, he did it purely from misunderstanding and jealousy. Iago made Othello believe Desdemona was cheating on him with Cassio even though she never did such actions.
Iago wanted Othello’s position and used others to shame Othello and gain stature. Iago dressed himself up a trustworthy man and worked his way into Othello’s trust with tricks and lies. He wore a very convincing mask; often temporarily defending the person he was trying to ruin to further his honest visage. He says to Othello, “Men should be what they seem…” (3.3.127) through these methods, Iago convinces Othello that Cassio, an officer, was having an affair with Othello’s beautiful wife Desdemona. As a vicious result, Othello is driven mad with anger and sadness and throttles Desdemona in their bed. The death and want left by Iago’s deception is vast hurting everyone involved most frequently on a mortal level. When the truth finally comes out, Othello, in his grief and remorse, ends up stabbing himself with a dagger. In the end, many die due to Iago’s deception, through villainy or despair, and none gain what they truly want because of it. This just goes to show that the mask of deception that a man wears can cause an unbelievable amount of harm, bodily and worse,
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
In this first scene we see Othello, a general of Venice, has made Cassio his new lieutenant. Iago feels he truly deserves his promotion as he says "I know my price, I am worth more than a place." "(l.i.12) Iago over here is confused why Othello has made such a stupid decision. Iago is a man with a tremendous ego who knows, sometimes overestimates, his worth. Roderigo, a Venetian gentleman, understands Iago when Iago said that he is "affined to love the Moor. " (l.i.41-42)
Othello is a man of romantic nature. He fell in love with the beautiful Desdemona. He was accused of stealing her away from her father. Othello was of a different race and did not fit in with her family. Othello makes a plea for Desdemona and tells his story which wooed her to begin with. Othello tells of the love that her father showed him since his boyish days. This was like a match made in heaven that overcame many obstacles which got in their way. Othello could not understand why he was good enough to work and fight alongside of her father, but was not good enough for his daughter.
Implicitly targeting Othello’s doubts about marrying Desdemona and insecurities about her actions with infidelity, Iago eventually impacts Othello enough that the General himself confides in Iago about his own wife. Earlier in the play, ‘honest Iago’ needs to first gain Othello’s confidence and he does so by expressing his loyalty to Cassio, “I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth/ Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio”, while Othello is present in a conflict (2.3. 203-204). Then, later in the play Iago baits Othello by suggesting that Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair. Immediately, Othello wants more information; however, Iago nervously responds with, “…vicious in my guess-/ As I confess…” and tries to calm Othello by saying, “My noble lord-” (3.3 46-47, 93). When voicing his devotion to Cassio, Iago immediately begins to play on his false reputation as ‘honest Iago’. He enables Othello, and his fellow characters, to think highly of him and to respect that even when his partner, Cassio, has not been following orders, Iago would even endure physical pain and have his “tongue cut from [his] mouth” and proves his locality (2.3. 203). This leads to when Iago responds to Othello’s queries, about
One of the themes of the play is prejudice. The reader gets a taste of Iago’s prejudice against women and sexist ways when Desdemona and Cassio first arrive on Cyprus. Iago says to Desdemona “You are pictures out of door/ Bells in your parlors/ Wild-cats in your kitchens/ Saints in your injuries, devils being offended/ players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds.” (2.1.109- 112). He thinks that all women have two sides to them; a pleasant public side and an irritating private side and he sees Desdemona as a lesser person simply because she is female. Iago looks down on Cassio because Cassio is “a great arithmetician … a Florentine … That never set a squadron in the field” (1.119,20,22). He is a mathematician, not an army man, which makes Iago feel that he is more qualified for the job of lieutenant. Othello is older, from Africa, and Iago often calls him “the Moor” (1.2.58) and “an old black ram” (1.1.88). Iago does not want to follow him as he tells Roderigo “I follow him to serve my turn upon him/ we cannot all be masters, nor all masters/ cannot be truly followed.” (1.1.42-44). By this, Iago is saying that he only follows Othello to take advantage of him and does not think he deserves to be followed. This prejudice drives Iago’s malicious actions through a yearning to be seen in the superior way the way he feels he deserves to be
Iago's Manipulation of Characters in William Shakespeare's Othello. Introduction The play 'Othello' was created by William Shakespeare. Othello is a tale set in Venice at the time when adultery was a hanging offence. It is a tale all about jealousy and manipulation by one of the main characters, i.e. the characters, Iago.
Iago has a sophisticated way of deceiving the characters of the play, making him a very intelligent person. Early in the play Othello introduces Iago to the Duke of Venice as, “My ancient / A man he is of honesty and trust” (!. iii. 284-85). This is but one of the times in the play that Iago is referred to as honest and true. Throughout the play Iago is considered to be honest, but is actuality the villain. In order to maintain this false image one has to have a beguiling character. After Othello and his lieutenant, Michael Cassio, return from the war against the Ottomans, there is a celebration. At this celebration Iago puts his manipulation to work. He knows that Othello and Desdemona’s love for each other is very true, but he tells Rodrigo that Desdemona had love for Cassio: “With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. / Ay, smile upon her, do…” (II. I. 164-65). This quote shows that Iago deceives Roderigo into believing that Desdemona loves Cassio, when in Roderigo’s eyes it is virtually impossible. Iago basically controls Rodrigo because Iago deceives him into believing that he can have Desdemona, by both Cassio and Othello.
Iago used reputation to his advantage in order to fulfill his plan to get revenge on Othello and Cassio. He uses each characters reputation to bring out their weaknesses, which he uses to his advantage. This includes his own. Over and over, Othello calls Iago, “Honest Iago.” Because his reputation is known for being honest, he tells Othello lie after lie because he knows Othello will believe him. This in turn helps him fulfill his plan because Othello falls right into his trap. Othello believes Iago when he says that Desdemona is cheating on him. He believes when Iago tells him how Cassio had a dream about Desdemona, and he believes Iago when he says that Desdemona gave Cassio the handkerchief. Another example of Iago using reputation to his advantage is with Desdemona. She is known for being sweet and innocent, and he exploits that with Cassio and Othello. When Cassio is desperate to get his job as lieutenant back, Iago simply tells him to get help from Desdemona because, “Our generals wife is now the general” (II.III.314-315). What this is saying is that because Desdemona and Othello are now married, she can control him, because it is his job to please her as she wishes. When Cassi...
Manipulation is viewed in a negative light in society, but if used correctly, such as advertisement, can be quite effective. Despite the fact that Iago is considered to be Othello’s right-hand man, he uses conniving and manipulation to get revenge, shaping every odd occurrence and event to his own cowardly schemes. Iago gets inside of Othello’s mind and uses his jealousy and persecution as the Moor against him. He controls Rodrigo and ultimately destroys his reputation as well as influences Cassio when he is depressed. Iago figures out ways to manipulate multiple characters in Shakespeare’s play Othello using their faults - jealousy, control, and pride – to obtain his wants and desires.
Throughout the drama, Othello let Iago control him as if he was a puppet under his master’s hands. When Iago first brought up the idea that Desdemona and Cassio might be having an affair, Othello did not believe him, he had faith in his wife. After many lies that Iago planted in Othello’s ears, Othello started to believe him and he dropped most of the faith that he had in Desdemona. Iago told Othello that in his sleep, Cassio said “Sweet Desdemona, let us be wary, let us hide our love”. Cursed fate that gave thee the Moor” (III.iii.416-417).