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Othello by William Shakespeare, is a tragedy that portrays manipulation, love, betrayal, and death. In Othello , most, if not all, of the seven deadly sins are showcased within the characters. Pride, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Lust, Sloth and Greed are somehow able to manifest and motivate the characters into doing actions that would have negative effects. Iago is the character that showcased most of the seven of the deadly sins. Iago’s pride, in terms of levels, is quite high because he believed he was above others and treated others like fools. He envied Cassio because Cassio was chosen for the position of Othello’s lieutenant. This caused Iago’s wrath to come out as he started his quest for revenge on Othello for not giving him the lieutenant position. With a combination of gluttony and greed, Iago became seeking for the power that he thought he deserved. He enjoyed misleadingly feeding Roderigo’s greed, who wanted Desdemona for himself, with lies. Iago also abused others’ gluttony by peer pressuring Cassio to drink until he was drunk then humiliating him in public for his uncontrolled drinking habits. Iago hid in the shadows while he manipulated others to do his dirty work. This would show the functioning of sloth. He uses his words to tempt and seduce others by using their laziness against them. This is shown through Roderigo, who believed that Iago would get rid of …show more content…
However, there were characters who saw the error in their ways and tried to gain forgiveness. Othello may have been a little too late to see his wrongdoings but he still asked for forgiveness before killing himself. Desdemona’s purity out weighed her lust, her only sin. From the hurtful accusations to being killed by Othello, she still forgave him after everything he had done to her. The sins will always exist but it is best to know your errors rather than having it continue to consume
The Seven Deadly Sins, is a classification of sins (sometimes referred to as vices), that were used to describe the sources of all sins. The Seven Deadly Sins is a Christian idea and was most widespread in the Catholic Church. These sins are thought to have possibly gotten their origins from two places in the Bible, Proverbs 6:16-19, and Galatians 5:19-21. The first idea for The Seven Deadly Sins was from the writings of the monk, Evagrius Ponticus, who lived in the fourth-century. The Seven Deadly Sins were edited and modeled into their modern form in A.D. 590 by Pope Gregory 1. These sins are as
Iago would most commonly be referred to as dishonest, however beyond that he is also downright amoral and uses other’s weaknesses to manipulate them into doing what he pleases. From the very beginning we see how Iago manipulates Roderigo by pretending he is looking out for his best interests in the matter of Othello’s elopement with Desdemona. He makes Barbantio angry with Othello and Desdemona by telling him about their elopement then lying about the consummation of their relationship. He then leaves Roderigo to take responsibility for his (Iago’s) actions. In the meantime he goes off to inform Othello that Roderigo is accountable for telling Barbantio about the relationship and saying horrible things about Othello. Iago later brings Roderigo back into his quest for revenge when he tries to get Cassio fired from the position that Iago originally wished to obtain. Although Cassio knows it is against his better judgement to drink, Iago manipulates him into getting drunk then stages a fight between Roderigo and Cassio. He even goes as far as to try to make Cassio look bad by telling Montano that he gets drunk regularly. Upon Iago’s explanation of the situation Othello promptly fires Cassio from his position and Iago becomes more respected in Othello’s eyes. Roderigo is a prime example of how Iago uses people to fulfil his desires. Iago convinces Roderigo that he could win Desdemona’s love away from Othello and the only man that stands in the way is Cassio. In this way when he plans to humiliate Cassio it seems as if he is doing it to help out Roderigo when, in actuality, he is seeking revenge on Cassio for taking his position.
Iago’s actions were caused by his greed and envy of Cassio and Othello. His greed motivated him to use his wife Emilia and Roderigo and his envy towards Cassio and Othello cause Othello to murder his wife as well as commit suicide. Roderigo’s envy allowed him to become of use towards Iago’s greed. Envy blinded Roderigo of Iago’s action and motivated him to believe in Iago. This made Roderigo almost into a potential killer. Othello’s vanity deprived him of judgment on Iago. He believed Iago upheld to his name of “Honest Iago” and disregarded the fact of someone betraying. However, that was a lie and Iago abused Othello’s pride in his servants, and confused him into believing his wife of cheating. Othello, now blinded by his wrath, kills his wife due to his vanity and wrath. His vanity also leads him to suicide. Shakespeare shows to the readers of this play that sins of the Seven Deadly Sins can manifest within
In Othello, Iago is Shakespeare’s most malicious character and serves as a vehicle to these two themes. Iago despises Othello; he has a strong will to destroy Othello’s life, yet the motive behind his plan goes unexplained. Iago is a great manipulator of the tongue and lies to everyone in order to advance his plan; however, every character in the play considers Iago an honest character, and Othello even associates Iago with light and eyesight. Othello continuously asks Iago to explain or make something clearer. Until the very end, Iago appears to be honest and helpful to the other characters, but underneath this seemingly harmless façade, Iago is a demon with the strongest will; he will stop at nothing until he ruins Othello’s life. Iago uses a positive appearance to enact his
The inhumanity of mankind is displayed all throughout Othello. In every act and scene it is the
In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago is the antagonist and villain who causes all the trouble and disorder. Othello is the protagonist, and is the main person Iago’s destruction and revenge is aimed towards. Othello is naïve and gives everybody his trust even though he may not know them or they haven’t earned his trust yet. He often refers to Iago has “Honest” Iago, which is a direct showing of irony because Iago is not honest at all (Shakespeare, I, iii. 289). Iago is so angry that Othello didn’t give him the promotion that was given to Cassio that he plans to seek revenge against Othello. He seeks his revenge against Othello by manipulating and lying to all of the people around him including his closest friend Roderigo, Cassio, Othello’s wife Desdemona and even his own wife Emilia. In the end, Iago’s lies and manipulation led to the deaths of Roderigo, Emilia, Othello and Desdemona. This isn’t the first time many of these individual characteristics have shown up in one of Shakespeare’s plays.
Is he a heartless man who’s only happiness is to bring sorrow upon others? No, Iago has a just reason for what he does, even though he causes the deaths of Cassio, Emilia, and Desdemona in his search for revenge; Iago is not a heartless fiend, just a man wronged. Fred West addresses the fact of Iago misrepresentation, “It is not sufficient to simply drape Iago in allegorical trappings and proclaim him Mister Evil or a Machiavel or a Vice. Such a limited view of Iago is an injustice to the complexity of his character, since Shakespeare’s studies in personality are acclaimed by psychologists for their accuracy and profundity” (27). West seems to be reminding us that just seeing Iago as the representation of evil within the play of “Othello” is the wrong way to paint him.
The three characters of Iago, Desdemona and Othello are gradually revealed to the audience as Act One unfolds. All three are linked to one another and talk to and about each other. Their characters unfold through their interaction with others and how they behave in isolation. The first impression formed of Iago comes from what Roderigo says. Being gullible, Roderigo has given Iago his purse. A character who accepts an offer like this is likely to be of doubtful reputation. The first words spoken by Iago are a strong oath. Already it is obvious that he has little respect for religion. Iago also sees little point in fighting purely in theory. He despises Cassio, partly because he has never fought physically. It becomes apparent that Iago is the dominant one in his "friendship" with Roderigo. He talks the most and has many opinions. Iago looks down upon those who serve others and explains that he is only serving Othello for his own gain:
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.
Iago is one of the most complex characters in William Shakespeare’s Othello. To most of the characters, he is “Honest Iago” (Shakespeare, 5.2.73). however, the audience knows that Iago is the furthest thing from honest. Iago is a devil bent on destroying the lives of everyone around him. At the beginning of the play, the audience learns that Iago is determined to ruin Othello’s marriage to Desdemona. He has appointed a new lieutenant, Michael Cassio. This angers Iago because he feels that he has much more military experience and should be the lieutenant. Iago has also heard rumours that both Othello and Cassio have slept with his wife Emilia. He concocts a malicious plan to ruin the lives of all who have wronged him, and consequently establishing
The satanic character of Iago is depicted well though different types or imagery. His sadist intend is depicted through suffocating imagery “I’ll pour pestilence into his(Othello’s) ear” (II iii 356) says Iago in a soliloquy in as he is outlining his malicious intent and nature. This continues throughout the play with lines such as “The Moor already changes with my poison” (III iii 322) and “Not poppy nor mandragora, | Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world shall medicine thee to that sweet sleep | Which thou did owdest yesterday” (III iii 327-30). His malicious character is likened to a snake through this imagery of poisons like a snake has and then Lodovico calls him a “Viper” (V ii 281) which indicates how Iago’s character is that of a snake, and in those times a snake was considered a creature of pure evil. The Machiavellian persona of Iago can also be seen through his use of reputation imagery to Cassio and Othello. To Cassio he says “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition” (II iii 267-8) and as a paradox, to Othello, he says reputation is everything to a man and he is nothing with out it. Iago is also likened very much, though imagery, to the Devil.
Of Shakespeare’s five greatest tragedies, Othello is by far the most passionate and gripping. It is a tale of love, deception, evil, honesty, and virtue. Othello himself is set apart from other Shakespearean tragic heroes by the absolute feeling of affection the audience feels for him even unto the very end of the play. Any discerning reader painfully recognizes the virtue and goodness of Othello throughout the entire play, in contrast to the general degeneration of character so typical of a tragic hero. It is this complete pity that makes the death of Othello so tragic as the audience lends their full hopeful support until the inevitable and unavoidable fall. The evil side of Othello’s tragic flaw came from without, in the form of Iago. The internal flaw exists only in his heartrendingly unshakable goodness and honor.
We live in a society that is full of horrific things everywhere we turn. In order to not come in contact with these things we would have to live apart from the media and almost separate ourselves from society altogether. These horrible things are often called sins. Sins are actions that are felt to be highly reprehensible and are also viewed as going against God’s will. Many actions can be viewed as sins, but there are seven sins that are particularly important. These seven sins are lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. They are infamous for being called the Seven Deadly Sins. A wide variety of works include these sins in order to show society how wrong they truly are. One work in particular is “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne’s characters in “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” all show one or more of the seven sins in one way or another. Hawthorne believed that man was becoming condemnable; therefore, he used his characters to portray that. Hawthorne’s interpretation of humans is quite true because the Seven Deadly Sins appear everywhere in our society. If one was to watch television or use the Internet, he or she would almost certainly discover one of these particular seven sins in a very short amount of time. This is precisely what I found to be true while doing an assignment to find examples of the Seven Deadly Sins for three days.
The play, Othello is one of the most famous tragedies composed by William Shakespeare during the Renaissance period. It powerfully portrays a world where the acts of evil ultimately vanquishes fidelity, nobility and integrity. The central themes jealousy and manipulation embodies the foretold tragedies and the downfall tragedies of the characters due to one’s insecurities. Through the use of literary techniques and figurative language, Shakespeare has effectively explored the themes of jealousy and manipulation.
In society there are always people who are easily manipulated and possess poor judgment. This leads them to make wrong decisions and negatively affect their lives and the lives of the people around them. The reason for Othello’s tragic downfall was because of his poor judgement, his easily manipulated conscience and his jealousy and obsession with. These traits displayed why Othello was responsible for the play’s tragic outcome.