Othello's Impact on Today's Society
In the late 1990's playwright, William Shakespeare's, Othello was successfully produced in the United States and around the world. One might wonder why this classical tragedy gained so much popularity with today's society. In my own opinion, this play was successful due to the themes and issues addressed. Societies still deal with these situations today. These themes and issues are a part of our lives and people can relate to them. This story's success was also due to the historical, sociological, and psychological function it plays. As well as it's impact on language and literature.
The basic theme of Othello is man's struggle with his own psychological conflicts. Our antagonist, Iago lets us into his own demented mind using soliloquy. Shakespeare uses this method to let us know what he is thinking, feeling, and plotting. Most of us know an Iago. One of our own mortal enemies, our friend who all the while is stabbing us in the back. He is the portrayal of pure evil. Othello, our protagonist, stuggles with the common man's own fears. He suffers greatly his own hubris, he is so afraid of having his pride hurt. But his jealousy is the main conflict. Jealousy something each of us deal with daily. We have all fallen victim to the 'green-eyed monster' e.g., (1085). After all, what is one of the highest causes of divorce in the United States? Adultry. It doesn't seem to matter how good a person we are doubt always seems to creep through and take over. An example of this parody is when Othello is confronted by Iago concerning Desdemona's possible unfaithfulness. Othello states 'Villian be sure thou prove my love a whore, Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof.' e.g., (1090). His fear wont let him trust her completely. Yet, he won't believe it without proof. These are things we deal with today. Private detectives are thriving today with spouse's wanting proof of their husbands or wives unloyalty. The realism of this script is uncanny.
The fuctions of this play covers a large range. Othello provides us with a lesson in history, sociology, and psychology. The setting gives us a view into the lifestyles and culture of the era. The external stuggles that both Iago and Othello deal with lets us understand the sociology of the times. Iago is jealous of Cassio and wants his position of high social standing.
One of the major themes of Othello is that of jealousy, a manifestation of paranoia and obsession in itself. Iago’s burning desire to drive Othello to madness and a compulsion to disgrace those above him can be seen, with a Marxist reading, as his intense dissatisfaction with the social system he is a part of, ‘we cannot all be masters, nor all masters Cannot be truly followed’. Likewise, his intellectual superiority over his betters and peers is made evident ...
‘O is a modern spin on Othello that attempts to address issues that are relevant for a contemporary audience. However, ultimately the literary value of Othello is lost in this appropriation”
Northrop Frye once said, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” Othello is the pillar of tragic heros, first playing the part of a loving husband with a beautiful wife, then being manipulated into believing his wife was cheating on him and killing her. Throughout the play, he played the part of the protagonist, everyone hoping he would figure out Iago was lying to him. Othello being the protagonist made the fact he was also a villain bittersweet. His apparent love for his wife Desdemona, his ‘just’ reasoning for killing her, and Iago’s deserving end all contribute to the tragic work as a whole.
The tone of the story is tragic and serious. Meanwhile, there isn't any point of view because this is a play and a play doesn't normally have a narrator. Shakespeare lets the reader make up his/her own imagination with the characters' words and behavior. Since Othello is the protagonist, he is explained in more detail. Although Othello is a brave warrior, he is a jealous person; his jealousy also prevails over his good sense. The whole play depicts the fact that jealousy causes corruption. There are many conflicts found in Othello, and person vs. person is one of them. An example is when Iago seeks revenge against Othello and Cassio because of his anger and jealousy. Person vs. society appears when Desdemona's father Brabantio, disapproves her marriage to Othello because he is several years older than Desdemona, from a different class, and a different race. An internal conflict of person vs. himself is found when Othello is in a dilemma about whether or not should he believe that Desdemona is being unfaithful to him. Othello loves and trusts Desdemona until his jealousy is aroused by the cruel manipulations of Iago. Iago's intention was to persuade Othello to believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. As Iago succeeds in convincing Othello that Desdemona is guilty of adultery, it leads to the climax of the play. And so Othello must face emotions he can't deal with. His jealousy drives him insane, and his judgment is replaced with anger and hate. At this time, the reader notices that the death of Desdemona is inevitable. Othello smothers her, and he eventually kills himself when he knows that Iago falsely accused Desdemona. This also represents the tragedy of the play.
In a passage from William Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago dramatizes a subsequent conflict between Othello and Desdemona when he warns the former of a green-eyed monster, the manifestation of jealousy. As the play progresses, Othello becomes more like this beast that Iago told him about. Instead of being the honorable and respectable character he was, Othello now displays a more questionable personality, one that causes him to doubt his wife of infidelity. Even though Iago does play a role, it is mostly due to Othello’s insecurity that transforms him into a monstrous person.
Othello has been described as one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays because the play focuses on its themes of good and evil, military, politics, love and marriage, religion, racial prejudice, gender conflict, and sexuality; but the controversy and debate surrounding Othello is “Why is Othello a qualification for a tragedy?”
In The Tragedy of Othello, William Shakespeare tells the tale of the “noble Moor” whose honor and innocence bring about his downfall. Shakespeare writes of the power of jealousy, and the art of masterful deception and trickery. The story primarily takes place in Cyprus, during a war between the people of Venice and the invading Turks. In this play Shakespeare shows the feelings of Othello’s embittered right-hand man of, Iago, who feels he is passed over for a promotion and swears his revenge. He proceeds to manipulate his friends, enemies, and family into doing his bidding without any of them ever realizing his ultimate goal. He makes Othello believe that his new wife, the innocent Desdemona, is committing adultery with his newly promoted officer Michael Cassio. After this seed of jealousy has been planted, Othello’s mind takes its course in determining the true outcome, with a little more nudging from Iago. The course of action he proceeds to follow is one that not only ends his own life, but also the life of his wife and others. In Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Othello, Othello is a man who is still truly honorable, despite the course of action he takes to resolve his perceived problem.
The play “Othello” by William Shakespeare was written in 1604 during the Elizabeth era. Othello is one of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare’s dramas. He enjoyed unheralded success in the combat zone, which gave him the reputation as one of Venice’s most competent generals. Even though he has great success in the battlefield, he has a dramatic flaw that causes a downfall in his life. The dramatic flaw that causes his downfall is jealousy. This was brought on by a simple persuasion of Iago, the evil character in the play. Even though Iago used extreme manipulation to get Othello to be jealous, Iago did not really have to try very hard to get Othello in a jealous state of mind. Othello was blinded by his jealousy which led him down a path of constant questioning of his wife and his friend Cassio. Throughout the play we see his dramatic flaw sink him deeper and deeper into a cloud of doubt which eventually leads him to kill not only his love of his life but also himself.
The tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, presents the main character Othello, as a respectable, honorable, and dignified man, but because of his insecurities and good nature, he is easily taken advantage of and manipulated by his peers and alleged friends. The dynamic of Othello’s character significantly changes throughout the play. The contrast is most pronounced from the beginning of the play to its conclusion, switching from being calm and peaceful to acts of uncontrolled venomous rage. Othello’s motivation in the play appears to be his love and concern for his wife Desdemona, which ironically, ends up being his downfall in the end.
“I am not what I am,” proclaims one of Shakespeare’s darkest and most enigmatic villains, Iago, in the tragedy Othello. Iago’s journey for revenge enables him to become capable of immoral acts, and whilst his malevolence excites us, we are no more intrigued by his attributes than we are of the play’s tragic hero, Othellos’. Rather, both characters’ confrontation with jealousy and their subsequent moral demise as a result of failing to control such an emotion provides the true excitement for audiences. Iago’s spiteful manipulation of Othello makes him a multifaceted character — whose corrupt attributes make the audience examine their own morality. However, the same can be said of Othello; his failure to withstand Iago’s ‘pouring of pestilence’
The Tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, is a play about a Moor of Venice and his downfall by deception and love. The themes of two-facedness, narcissism, and honor are all prominent in this play; the theme overarching these, however, is loyalty. Similar to a satirist, Shakespeare shows that the true nature of a person’s loyalty is not always as it appears. Othello’s loyalty to his own honor exposes his false loyalty to his wife. Iago, the antagonist, is deceptive in portraying himself as honest and committed to those he supposedly loves, but at the same time he plans their downfall. Honor, narcissism, and deception are each concepts Shakespeare uses to convey the ambiguity of loyalty in people.
The role of jealousy, love and betrayal play a major role in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. The entire play is based on the human interactions of the characters as related to Othello and Desdemona. The characters’ personalities, their social status, and their relationships to each other control the story line and their fate in the play. Othello is portrayed early in the play as an outsider with animalistic characteristics by Iago and Roderigo because of jealousy. “Your heart is burst; and have lost half of your soul/Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe”.(531) Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, accuses Othello of using witch craft on his daughter. “If she in chains of magic were not bound/ Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy/ So opposite to marriage that she shunned…” (535) This point is important because Othello must defend himself not only to Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, but to the entire Venetian Senate. “And till she come, as truly as to heaven,/ I do confess the vices of my blood./ So justly to your grave ears I’ll present/ How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love, / And she in mine.” (539) Othello proves himself to be an intellectual hero early in the play. He has worked hard to gain respectability and power, but because he has a different background, is from another country, is dark-skinned and is older than Desdemona, he becomes jealous very quickly of Cassio. Cassio is from the same social class, is compatible with Desdemona and is a young handsome man. Iago has also convinced Cassio to seek favor with Desdemo...
Othello teaches us much about our current postmodern culture. The play connects to our ideas of sexism, male-bonding, racism and capitalism. Shakespeare uses these universal and timeless flaws in humanity along with our use of language and truth to tell his tale. Iago, over a period of about three days, uses these facets of humanity to turn Othello against his wife Desdemona and his friend Cassio. Othello reveals both the struggle of the British people of the early 1600's and Americans in the late 1900's with sexism, capitalism and racism.
Othello’s true flaw is not vile, destructive jealousy, but rather pure and prevailing love. He has a very strong character of virtue and nobility that is intact up to the horrid end. Iago’s deceit and trickery are more the cause of Othello’s tragic fall than any fault of Othello himself. This innocence and greatness of the tragic hero unequaled in any other Shakespearean tragedy is what gives the play its terrible irony and passion. Othello plays on the most powerful of all human emotions: faith and love, both embodied to the fullest in the great and honest Othello.
Shakespeare’s Othello consists of the themes betrayal, love and dishonesty. At the centre of this play is the tragic downfall of Othello at the hands of his so called friend Iago. In this essay I will be discussing the reasons for and against Othello being responsible for his downfall through looking at critical interpretations of his character and actions.