The Themes of Love and Hate in William Shakespeare's Othello

The Themes of Love and Hate in William Shakespeare's Othello

Shakespeare's Othello contains many themes typical of a Shakesperian

tragedy. Love, Hate, Appearance, Revenge, Jealousy, Deceit, Politics

and the state and also Race. Mostly Othello is a play about love and

the nature of love. As with many other Shakesperian plays the love is

conflicted and an underlying idea of a Shakesperian tragedy is

presented. An example of a Shakespeare play with a similar storyline

to Othello is Romeo and Juliet. At first we are shown two characters

so in love that conflicts cannot keep them apart for example at the

very beginning of the play we are presented with a love so strong that

it forced two characters, Othello and Desdemona, to marry secretly.

The love is shown even stronger by this fact even though we arent

presented with the character of Othello until the next scene. Likewise

in Romeo and Juliet we are shown a major problem keeping the two apart

- the rivalry between the opposing familes, the Montagues and

Capulets, and in the same style of Othello the pair still manage to

secretly marry and their love develops before, once again in the style

of Othello, the couple end up dying in each other's arms at the end.

Shakespeare's use of dramatic devices like this make the audience

fully realise the depth of the characters' love for each other.

However Shakespeare still shows the fact that these plays are tragedy

when the characters that we would love to see overcome the obstacles

and live "happily ever after" have to die for the love they share.

A fact referring to love is that it is written in the Iambic

Pentameter (the "language of love" in a...

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... he says "Hell and Night, must bring this

monstrous birth to the world's light" outlining his evil intentions

and hence his sheer hatred of Othello. He also makes an oxymoron

saying "Divinity of Hell" before saying "When devils will their

blackest sins put out, They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,

As I do now" - Iago shows delight in what he comments here. He is

revelling in his deception and the thought of revenge upon Othello.

Shakespeare also shows Othello's real love for Desdemona by the way

his flow in language alters in his scenes of distress. His love for

Desdemona is so passionate that at the beginning he could talk

fluently, a 40 line speech amazing the audience and showing the true

extent of his love for Desdemona. But under pressure by Iago and when

Othello's beliefs waver as to does his language.