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The idea of reputation in othello
The idea of reputation in othello
Analysis of The Tragedy Othello
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"Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing." Abraham Lincoln projected this statement to mean that sometimes the appearance of a person is not inevitably the reality of who they are. In Shakespeare 's play Othello, this point is illustrated by the passionate love and extreme hatred in the play which brings out the truth inside of each and every character and situation. In Shakespeare 's play Othello, the world is governed more by appearance than reality, as the characters and situations are more than they transpire. Firstly, Desdemona who appears to be unfaithful to Othello but in reality she is being faithful. Secondly, the harsh character Iago, who seems to be an honest …show more content…
Othello is a very calm person. This is shown at the beginning of the play when Brabantio suspects Othello of using black magic to marry his daughter nether the less Othello stays calm. After Brabantio tries to fight with Othello for marrying his daughter, he screams at him and says things like "Would ever have, y ' incur a general mock," (1.2.71). Instead of Othello getting angry and fighting back he says, " Whither will you that I go/To answer this your charge?” (1.2.86-87). From this interaction Othello’s calm personality is revealed. Instead of getting angry and fighting he decides to settle this dispute peacefully and goes to court. Othello’s calm and peaceful personality does not last long. After Iago gets under his skin, his persona changes dramatically. Othello becomes a mean, hateful and easily angered person and he allows himself to be lured into believing anything. The example of this in the play is when he believes Iago that Desdemona is having an affair. When he confronts her, it easily illustrates the ‘new’ person he becomes. When he confronts Desdemona and she rightfully denies it, he is easily angered and screams “Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell” (4.2.43). This shows the power Iago’s words have on Othello; that now he has changed to a more temperamental person. These points bring out the truth in …show more content…
Firstly, Desdemona appears to be having an affair with but in reality she is being faithful. Secondly, the cruel character Iago who everyone believes is an honest person but in truth is an evil conniving person. Finally Othello, who at the beginning of the play is generally calm, cool and collected but at the end he becomes a ‘new’ person. This concept of appearance verses reality could be relevant in anyone 's life. Just think about something and say to yourself is it truly what it appears to
This paper contains 237 words of teacher’s comments. What one perceives is influenced by one’s environment. The setting and commentary surrounding events changes our perception of them. Any innocent gesture can be perceived in the wrong way with enough persuading from someone else. Even if someone has total faith in another person's innocence, they can be persuaded to doubt them through the twisting of events. Once just a small amount of doubt has been planted, it influences the way everything else is seen. This occurs throughout the play, Othello. In this play, Iago influences Othello's perception of events through speeches and lies, making him doubt Desdemona's fidelity. Iago uses his talent of manipulating events to exact his revenge on Othello. Iago's twisting of events in Othello's mind leads to the downfall of Othello as planned, but because he fails to twist Emilia's perception as well, he facilitates his own eventual downfall.
Othello is a man who is respected as a General in the Army. Brabanzio even considered him a friend. Thanks to Iago planting a seed in Brabanzio ear about his daughter, Desdemona, Brabanzio accused Othello of taking his daughter away from him by means of drugs or poision. Othello has fought on the battle-field and now finds himself on a very different kind of battle-field. He finds himself in a position of being forced to defend his honor, friendship and his love. There has been accusations made against Othello, so in a room filled with signors, masters, the Duke, and Brabanzio, Othello has a strategy of battlement in his own way. He tells the Duke to send for Desdemona, “Send for the lady to the Sagittary, And let her speak of me before her father” (1.3-115-116).
Othello shows regret and a sense of torment. Clearly, parts of him doesn’t want this to happen. And after the death of Desdemona, he sees the misplaced change and rage he had. When Othello hears of Iago’s disseat, he changes back to the good Othello that was present at the start of the play. He might be filled with regret and a new rage for Iago, but his morals seem solid again.
After learning from Desdemona that Othello is upset, Iago response saying, “Can he be angry? I have seen the cannon / When it hath blown his ranks into the air / And, like the devil, from his very arm / Puffed his own brother—and is he angry? / Something of moment then, I will go meet him. / There’s matter in ’t indeed, if he be angry.” (3.4.154-159) He has seen Othello in battle, keeping his head when men were dying all around him. Iago is a habitual liar, but there is no reason for him to lie about how Othello has conducted himself in battle. He says that if Othello is upset then something must be a good reason behind his anger. Of course, Iago knows the reason but he can not let Desdemona or Cassio know of his plan. Lodovico, a member of Venice 's diplomatic service, makes a similar remark about the Moor’s composer after he smacks his wife. He is in utter disbelief at the man actions. “Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate / Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature / Whom passion could not shake? Whose solid virtue / The shot of accident nor dart of chance / Could neither graze nor pierce?” he asks. (4.1.297-301) Othello is unravelling at this point. His jealous is so strong that he has lost the very nature of his being. Instead of being a calm, collected leader, he is now acting
In the play “The Tragedy of Othello” by Willian Shakespeare, Othello Changes from an intelligent and confident person to a senseless and insecure person. This change in his personality occurs mainly because: Iago plans to ruin his relationship with Desdemona, he was an Outsider, he had bad judgement when it came to trusting people and failed to see reality, his negative thinking about himself and his relationship with Desdemona.
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.
Appearances can be deceiving as often what appears to be real is in truth an illusion. This notion is presented in Othello as it explores how appearances and societal perceptions are often fraudulent in comparison to true. This is evident when the antagonist, Iago employs dramatic irony stating that, “Men should be what they seem”. Here, Iago is hypocritical as he is perceived to be honest by the Venetians. However, this social façade is only masking his duplicitous nature. Iago’s character is further revealed through the use of metaphor, “The Moor has already changed with my poison”. In this instance Iago is attempting to conjure up the insecurities of Othello, such as Desdemona’s fidelity and devotion to
1.) In the play “The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice” written by Williams Shakespeare, he reveals the main themes in Othello’s final speech. The two main themes Othello illustrates in his final speech are reputation and jealousy. In Othello’s speech he says, “When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, speak of me as I am.” (Shakespeare 355), showing the importance of his reputation. He is unable to cope with criticism due to his low-self-esteem and therefore, cares what other individuals have to say about him. Othello’s dark skin is the reason why he does not have high-self-esteem and becomes jealous when Iago tells him about his wife having an affair with Cassio. Othello loves Desdemona but he feels that he is not good enough for her
Iago is straight away introduced as a dubious character. Having his fingers in Roderigo's purse show his interest in money. The language that he uses is vulgar and rude and he has no shame in his deceitful actions. In order to get what he wants, Iago will do anything. This includes insulting Desdemona, an innocent young woman who does not intend to harm anyone. Her sorrow at her divided loyalties shows this. Like her husband, Desdemona deals with situations carefully. Othello is the opposite of Iago in that he does not pride himself on killing people. It may be his strong point, but he feels that it should not be bragged about, especially in noble company.
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.
Dual Nature of Characters in Othello Many of the characters in Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, are duplicitous to the extent that how. they are perceived in public is not how they behave in private. The perception of the public plays.
Each character makes their own decisions and has their own flaws, which is very humanistic. Shakespeare’s use of tragedy shows, “…in a universe in which order and disorder coexist, human choices play a vital and potentially destructive part. ”(3:100) Shakespeare develops the character Iago into an instigator and evil man. Iago attempts and succeeds to convince Othello that his wife has had an affair with his friend Cassio.
He admits, when he says "rude am I in my speech" that he is no great orator, and this perhaps contributes to his honesty and open level with all other characters. He is "unvarnished", as opposed to Iago, whom one could say is so 'varnished' that only the audience can see through all his layers to the deceit within. Neither character is wholly positive. Whilst we recognise Iago as the 'melodramatic' villain, we can also see that Othello is not altogether good, and that his possessiveness of Desdemona could get the better of him and prove his downfall.
...over powering jealous nature, and his revengeful quality to life. Brebantio forgives Desdemona and allows her to be married to Othello, but Iago is not the forgiving type at all he is the revengeful jealous type. Iago’s personality is the driving factor to this play, and to all of the dramatic tension we feel throughout reading this play. Setting the rest of the play to show us that if not for Iago there would be not dramatic tension left after Brabantio forgives Desdemona. Othello is more or less about Iago than it is about Othello, because without Iago there would be no play and no dramatic conflict throughout the drama. With Othello We begin to see the true meaning of dramatic tension through Iago and his malevolent schemes of revenge and jealousy.
Shakespeare uses Iago and Othello as the main characters of the play, showing how Iago manipulates Othello into believing his wife is cheating on him. Iago, or “honest Iago”, the villain of the play, a perfectionist at manipulation, that manages to influence people into thinking his deceitfulness is an act of honesty. He spends all of his time plotting against Othello and Desdemona, eventually convincing Othello that his wife has been cheating, despite the fact that Desdemona has been completely faithful. Othello, Venice’s most competent general, and the protagonist of the play. He was a noble and respected war hero, and a loving husband, however he was the target of Iago’s atrocities, which lead him to become an irrational, violent, and insanely jealous husband who murders his own wife at the end of the play.