Othello Garden Motif Essay

In many sit coms, movies, tv shows characters go down a downwards and upwards spiral in the garden motif. The garden motif is the concept that your mind is the gardener, and your soul is the garden, everyone has the choice to either water or tend to themselves, and therefore grow or neglect themselves. In the play Othello, we see this motif develop and originate from the villain Iago. After losing his dream job, he starts to use the garden motif to his advantage. He uses the garden motif to manipulate others to reach his own selfish desires. The garden motif helps develop characters into who they are and who they will be. Iago is the only character who seems to be educated about the motif. This is how he uses it to his advantage, thinking that he must take charge of his own life and tend to his garden. Without this, the characters may choose a different route with different opinions, changing the story.

The first we hear of the garden motif is while Iago is conversating with Roderigo.

In this scene we learn of Roderigo’s love for Desdemona. He tells Iago that he plans to drown himself out of lovesickness. Iago speaks to him as if he were a fool. He tells him that he must take charge of his life. That if he wants Desdemona, he must put in the work for her. He relates his life to the garden. “Our bodies are our garden to the which our wills are gardeners: od that if we will plant nettles, or sow lettuce […] either to have it sterile with idleness or manured with industry, why the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.” This is not only showing the audience that he has control over his actions, but that he is starting to plant his own seed in other peoples’ brains. We see this in this scene when Iago starts to persuade Roderigo to “put thy money in thy purse”. He has been spending his money intuitively and tells him to focus on making money rather than

love.
The next time that we hear of the motif is when Iago first tells the audience of his plan. In order to “get [in Cassio’s] place and to plume up [his] will, he tells the audience he plans to tell Othello that Cassio has been sleeping with Desdemona. This will set up Iago to be in the position to take Cassio’s place and for him to have a chance with Desdemona. This shows the garden motif even though he is not directly referring to it. This because he is stating that in order to “get [in Cassio’s] place and to plume up [his] will thatfirst directly tells the audience of the garden motif. This is just some of the dramatic irony that appears in the play showing the garden motif. In this scence