Lack Of Identity In Othello

There are a lot of things that go through a person’s head before they are about to do something big. Ultimately, if something needs to be debated about, then that person mostly likely does not want to, or should, do whatever that thing they are thinking about may be. This is what happened in William Shakespeare's play, Othello. In the play, Othello did end up killing his wife, however, he was manipulated by Iago, who was able to find Othello’s “weak spot” and knew just how to have him destroy himself. At the beginning of the play, Othello is identified as confident. He is a respected war hero until he marries Desdemona who is a white, Venetian and the senator’s daughter while Othello is only classified as “the Moor”. This lack of identity

Once Othello takes the bait and shows that he is affected by this information, Iago takes this and runs with it. He comes back to Othello telling him the “To scan this thing no further; leave it to time: / Though it be fit that Cassio have his place, / For sure, he fills it up with great ability, / Yet, if you please to hold him and his means: / Note, if your lady strain his entertainments / With any strong or vehement importunity; / Much will be seen in that” (3.3.245-248). Iago is continuing to feed Othello lies and convincing him that they are true. Othello is clearly vulnerable as, in the beginning of the play, he was not listening to everything that people were telling him; if he were he would have just agreed with everyone that he is not a great war hero like everyone makes him out to be because of his race. Iago seeing a weakness in Othello and jumping on the opportunity is evidence that Iago heavily influenced Othello to believe that Desdemona was having an affair and ultimately killing Desdemona. Iago influences Othello by telling him believable pieces of evidence such as how Cassio and Desdemona act when interacting around each