The Theme Of Manipulation In Othello

The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice was written by William Shakespeare, and it is only one of countless notable plays he wrote. A reoccurring theme in Othello is jealousy brought on usually by deception; throughout the play people often hide their true intentions and are not always what they appear to be like W.H Auden said “There 's always another story. There 's more than meets the eye.” The relationships Iago built on manipulation, lies, and false promises were a crucial part of the play; Iago was able to deceive other characters by twisting the situation so that characters like Roderigo, Cassio, and Othello misinterpreted what they saw. However, he was not the only one to put up a front in Othello; Emilia also put up a façade when

Angry over being passed up for a promotion Iago decided to take matters into his own hands. In order to become lieutenant Iago devised a plan that included breaking up Othello’s marriage and eliminating Cassio as competition. Iago enticed Roderigo to be his partner in crime with the promise of attaining Desdemona’s love. Desdemona had many suitors since she was an attractive young woman, yet she “shunned [t]he wealthy,” (Act 1, Scene 2, Line 66-67), which included Roderigo, who owned multiple plots of land. Roderigo, who was naïve for thinking Iago actually had his best interest in mind, was easily persuaded since he was obsessed with Desdemona. The truth of the matter was that

At first glance it appears that Emilia chose to be loyal to her lady, Desdemona, over her husband except, Emilia was the one that gave Iago the ammunition which convinced Othello that Desdemona was unfaithful. While Desdemona was being verbally abused by Othello for not knowing where the handkerchief was “[Emilia] [failed] to explain its whereabouts when [the] opportunity [presented] itself; and she thereby is a powerful agent in turning Othello’s doubt into a conviction of guilt and in hastening her innocent mistress’ death” (Bowman). Thomas Bowman, author of In Defense of Emilia, states that Emilia had no choice, that Iago forced her to handover the handkerchief, however Emilia could have hid the handkerchief, or she could have returned it back to Desdemona, but instead she told her husband about the handkerchief without ever receiving an explanation as to why he needed it. Iago would have never known she was in position of the handkerchief had she refrained from informing him. Emilia’s actions could have been forgiven had she spoken up about giving the handkerchief to her husband “had she revealed the whereabouts of the keepsake, the very heart would have been removed from the body of Iago’s damning evidence” (Bowman). She had the opportunity to redeem herself, yet she chose to remain silent about the whole ordeal “surely it