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Violence in Shakespeare's Othello
In William Shakespeare's Othello violence can be found in several different ways. Violence can be expressed physically, mentally, and verbally. This tragic play shows how jealousy and envy can overpower a person's mind and lead them to wreak havoc on others. Not only does this story give many different examples of violence, it displays how mental violence can promote physical violence, and continues on in that cycle. Mental promotes physical which ultimately leads back to mental.
All of the violence in this story revolves around the deception of Iago. Iago has a built up rage because he feels that he did not get the recognition that he deserved from Othello when he was not named lieutenant and Cassio was. The first obvious form of physical violence that occurred was when recently named lieutenant, Cassio fought Roderigo in Act two Scene three. Iago persuaded Cassio to drink even though he didn't want to. Cassio's drunkenness caused him to act differently and start a fight with Roderigo. Cassio says, "A knave teach me my duty! I'll beat the knave into a twiggen bottle (p. 48)." At this point he strikes Roderigo much to the dismay of Governor Montano. Montano tries to stop Cassio from inflicting any more pain on Roderigo, but Cassio says, "Let me go, sir; or I'll knock you o'er the mazzard (p. 48)." Montano lets Cassio go and at this point he and Roderigo fight. This fight ultimately leads to the dismissal of Cassio as Othello's lieutenant. This instance specifically shows how Iago's manipulation leads Cassio to mental insanity, and causes him to become physically violent.
The situation above leaves an opening for Iago to fulfill his vital plan to bring down Othello through Desdemona. Cassio was a mental wreck and told Iago that his reputation was ruined. Iago told him that he can get his rank back through Desdemona and get back on Othello's good side. "Confess yourself freely to her, importune her help to put you in your place again (p. 54)." Once Cassio talks to Desdemona, Iago will speak with Othello and get him to think of his wife's trust. In Act three Scene three Iago is speaking to Othello and warns him to look out for Cassio and Desdemona. Othello asks Iago if it was just Cassio that left from speaking with his wife.
...rom this time forth I will never speak a word.” (V.ii.303-304) By silencing himself, Iago is also proving to Othello that perhaps he is not the great pious hero that everyone believes him to be. Othello took an ambiguous piece of information and spun this great fantasy out of it, convincing himself that Desdemona was sleeping with Cassio. Rather than questioning Desdemona, Othello believed only a small rumor. Othello’s fall into Iago’s trap can only be blamed on Othello for blindly following such an ambiguous statement; “I told him what I thought and told no more/ Then what he found himself was apt and true” (V.ii.187-188). Whether or not Iago hoped to gain anything from his actions is still questionable. However, Iago was successful in destroying Othello, emotionally and finally physically, achieving his objective of bringing justice to himself, the victim.
Implicitly targeting Othello’s doubts about marrying Desdemona and insecurities about her actions with infidelity, Iago eventually impacts Othello enough that the General himself confides in Iago about his own wife. Earlier in the play, ‘honest Iago’ needs to first gain Othello’s confidence and he does so by expressing his loyalty to Cassio, “I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth/ Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio”, while Othello is present in a conflict (2.3. 203-204). Then, later in the play Iago baits Othello by suggesting that Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair. Immediately, Othello wants more information; however, Iago nervously responds with, “…vicious in my guess-/ As I confess…” and tries to calm Othello by saying, “My noble lord-” (3.3 46-47, 93). When voicing his devotion to Cassio, Iago immediately begins to play on his false reputation as ‘honest Iago’. He enables Othello, and his fellow characters, to think highly of him and to respect that even when his partner, Cassio, has not been following orders, Iago would even endure physical pain and have his “tongue cut from [his] mouth” and proves his locality (2.3. 203). This leads to when Iago responds to Othello’s queries, about
For Shakespeare’s Iago, humans are affected by their emotions - these can be empowering or debilitating. Literature naturally mirrors this and within Othello Iago is empowered by Roderigo’s infatuated debilitation. In Act I Scene III, Roderigo is brought into a deep despair due to his inability to court Desdemona. He proclaims, “I will incontinently drown myself”; the hyperbole represents how much he craves for Desdemona. However, Roderigo is not the focal point; it is in fact Iago who feeds off his vulnerability by manipulating him into fighting with Cassio. This represents Iago’s Machiavellian nature in that he is able to make Roderigo give him money as well as bringing Cassio into a state of fury; this is so he is stripped of his Lieutenant rank and in turn promoting Iago to Lieutenant. This parallels what Iago’s monologue at the very end of Act I Scene III is trying to establish; the foreshadowing of the events that will occur. In a way this does allow for the concept that through Iago’s seeming adversity, he has strengthened his motives. On the other hand, Rodrigo’s adversities have led him down a path of turbulence making
In this scene he has changed his plan on how to take down Othello and choose to sacrifice his partner Cassio to achieve his dream. He tricked Cassio in speaking into Desdemona in assisting him over a different matter and while Desdemona speaks to him, Iago will trick Othello into believing Desdemona has feelings for Cassio. Iago hopes Othello takes the bait he is laying out would result in killing of two characters out of rage; which will place Othello in prison thus leaving Iago take over the position of
When Iago first sets out to deceive Othello, he tells him, "look at your wife; observe her well with Cassio" (3.3.196). He knows that if he can plant enough doubt and jealousy in Othello's mind, Othello only needs to look at Desdemona being friendly with Cassio to suspect infidelity. After this, when Desdemona asks for Cassio's reinstatement, it looks as though she is trying to get something better for her lover, as opposed to just helping a friend.
Iago sets everyone up in the play and makes them think that he is helping each of them while he is really tricking them into what he wants them to do. He does this all because he wants a higher ranking job. Othello is a very jealous person and is sensitive when it comes to Desdemona that Iago is able to trick him into thinking that she is cheating on him with Cassio. Iago takes advantage of Cassio’s youth and gets him drunk which winds up with him getting fired from his job. Iago then encourages Cassio to request to get his job back from Desdemona. He convinces Othello that Cassio and Desdemona are very close making him jealous. He gets help from his wife Emilia who finds Desdemona’s handkerchief and gives it to him. Iago takes the handkerchief and puts it in Cassio’s room to prove to Othello that Desdemona was there. Othello puts way too much trust in Iago and believes everything he is telling him. Othello becomes very angry and wants to kill Cassio. Rodrigo also in love with Desdemona finds out that Cassio loves her too. Iago uses this to convince Rodrigo to kill Cassio and both of them ultimately are killed. Othello then tells Desdemona that Cassio is dead and wants her to admit to cheating with him but she denies it all. Othello’s jealousy and trust in Iago is too strong and he doesn’t believe her and kills her before Emilia realizes and tells Othello what Iago has done. Iago in the end is jailed and refuses to give his reas...
In the play Othello, the very evil and conniving character Iago deceives the main characters. He prays mostly on the main character Othello. Othello is a black general who is married to a white woman named Desdemona. In the beginning of the play Othello promotes a man named Cassio to be his right hand man in his army. Iago, thinking that he was going to get the promotion, is furious by this and swears revenge on Othello. In his revenge he uses many people. One of these people is Rodrigo. He is in love with Othello’s wife Desdemona. Iago prays on Rodrigo and causes him to have a battle with Cassio. Iago prays very heavily on Othello towards the middle of the play. He begins to tell him that his wife Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio. Iago plans this perfectly. Iago tells Othello to keep close watch on his wife Desdemona. At the same time he told Cassio to be very good to Desdemona. Iago tells Cassio that the only way to be back on Othello’s good side was to get close to his love, and that is Desdemona. So while Othello’s suspicious are up, Cassio is being especially nice to Desdemona. Iago chose a very good time to attack Othello’s emotions. At a time when Cassio has wronged Othello, he tells Cassio to get close to Othello’s wife, the love of his life. For a lot of Othello’s rule, Iago has been like Othello’s advise giver. He has been like a best friend to Othello. Iago was not only Othello’s advise giver but to many persons of power. This puts him in a great position already to do his evil bidding. Othello plays right along with Iago’s plan. Othello believes everything that Iago says. In a way, he falls into Iago’s plan a little to well. For Iago, everything happens at exactly the right time. Othello listens to what Iago says because Iago has gained much trust from Othello. He has no reason not to believe what Iago was saying. He played a part in his own downfall because he falls for every lie that Iago throws at him. He needed to have a stronger mind for things like that. Othello needed to think harder about what was being said to him by Iago. At the time that Iago was telling him these lies, it all seemed to make sense.
She mentions how she physically cares for Othello, asking him to take care of himself and his body. She then uses this as a segway proving that if he trusts her council in these small matters then her advice on larger matters should hold even more weight and proof upon them. Othello agrees to her council and asks to be alone so that he may think, However Iago had different plans. Previously Desdemona had spoken to Cassio and had told him she would try to win back Othello’s favor for him, and Iago used this friendship to his advantage. After Othello had spoken to Desdemona and agreed to meet with Cassio, Iago began to whisper poisonous thoughts into his ears saying Desdemona is unfaithful. Desdemona is clueless to this change of events and continues to play in to Iago’s hands, innocently continuing to befriend Cassio and entreat Othello to accept him. Even so, she continues to love her husband even when he begins to act distant and strange. Desdemona tries again to comfort Othello when he is distraught, but this time he pushes her away, wishing not to be comforted by his wife as he is now suspicious of her. Later, Desdemona realizes her handkerchief is missing, not knowing Emilia took it as Iago had instructed her. Desdemona realizes that Othello will be cross with her, but she does not realize the torrent of frustration she has now been placed in the
Iago elaborates a master plan to get Cassio position as a lieutenant. Iago get Cassio drunk so he could fight Roderigo. Othello then discharge Cassio from the lieutenant position when he says, How must poor Cassio have felt? To lose all he had worked for, working up his reputation that any half-hearted human can tell he earned and deserved. Iago know that Othello who ask him about the deed because of he fame of being a honest man. Iago tell Othello about the deed winning his trust that is when Iago starts to crab Othello by his weak point his Love for Desdemona.
Iago wanted Othello’s position and used others to shame Othello and gain stature. Iago dressed himself up a trustworthy man and worked his way into Othello’s trust with tricks and lies. He wore a very convincing mask; often temporarily defending the person he was trying to ruin to further his honest visage. He says to Othello, “Men should be what they seem…” (3.3.127) through these methods, Iago convinces Othello that Cassio, an officer, was having an affair with Othello’s beautiful wife Desdemona. As a vicious result, Othello is driven mad with anger and sadness and throttles Desdemona in their bed. The death and want left by Iago’s deception is vast hurting everyone involved most frequently on a mortal level. When the truth finally comes out, Othello, in his grief and remorse, ends up stabbing himself with a dagger. In the end, many die due to Iago’s deception, through villainy or despair, and none gain what they truly want because of it. This just goes to show that the mask of deception that a man wears can cause an unbelievable amount of harm, bodily and worse,
All Iago had to do was hint at Desdemona being unfaithful and Othello’s becomes very bothered it and eventually starts believing it. The author of an essay does an analysis on Iago and says “He slowly poisons people’s thoughts, creating ideas in their heads without implicating himself. Iago even says himself that the advice he gives is free and honest and thus, people rarely stop to consider the possibility that Iago is fooling them.“ (Shakespeare’s Othello – Honest Iago). So Iago would hint at something going between Desdemona and Cassio so that Othello would become bothered and ask him what he means by that, it was like a game that Iago was playing, he would drop a little hint and then expect Othello to pick up on it and start questioning it and become more even suspicious. Brabantio tells Othello “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee” (I.ii.286-287), So In this scene Brabantio warns Othello that Desdemona has already fooled him and she might fool him too, so be careful, and it turns out, Othello believed in him after all and that’s part of the reason of why he thinks that Desdemona is being unfaithful to him. It leads him to start questioning Desdemona in a very suspicious way. At one point he even hits her in front of a nobleman and that was very shocking to the nobleman because he believed him to be a very calm and collected gentleman but obviously he was a changed man. The nobleman even expresses his shock by saying that “My lord, this would not be believed in Venice, though I should swear I saw’t. ‘Tis very much make her amends; she weeps” (IV .i.217-219). This negative thinking and insecurity was one of the main reasons to Othello’s change in a negative way. A lot of this was Iago’s doing but it was also Othello’s fault to fall for Iago’s
Iago repeats what he heard Cassio say. “Sweet Desdemona,/Let us be wary, let us hide our loves!/…O sweet creature!” (3.3.434-437) then Cassio rolled over and kissed Iago believing him to be Desdemona. Iago says this may have just been a dream, but that is a reason for suspicion. The words Cassio use imply that he and Desdemona have shared a bed and are secretly lovers. He calls Desdemona “sweet” and wants to “hide (their) loves.” This gave Othello the proof he needed to believe that his wife, and by connection his masculinity, have been taken from
Othello: The Destruction of Honor 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.
Conflict is a major issue in Othello, the source for all the problems in the story all lead back to love and jealousy. Love can be an extremely powerful thing in life. It can easily draw two people closer together or simply destroy something that could have been great. Ironically similar, jealousy can tear something apart just as fast as love can. This timeless tragedy starts out in Venice, with a plot to attain revenge on Othello. Iago and Roderigo are simply jealous with the fact that Othello has promoted Cassio to his lieutenant instead of Iago, along with the bitterness they both shared towards Othello to begin with (Shakespeare for Students, Othello). Together, Iago and Roderigo have come up with a plan to ultimately push Othello over the edge. For starters, Cassio unwillingly has told Iago that he is capable to be easily intoxicated and well obviously Iago uses this information against Cassio. Long story short, Cassio has stirred up a brawl to which in the long run costs him his new status as lieutenant. After all of this goes down Iago, trying to seem like the concerning friend, convinces Cassio to speak with Desdemona, Othello’s new bride, about the situation. Luckily, so Cassio thinks, Desdemona does such and tries to talk with Othello to have his dear friend reinstated. It is possible for people to make mistake. Once again Iago uses Cassio’s ignorance against him. All through the story almost every little detail and event all leads back to the scheme of Iago. Iago is thinking this could not work out better for me, so his next thought of process is that this conversation between Othello and his dear wife Desdemona will make Othello’s mind play tricks on him. Soon there after Othello is advised to keep closer watch of hi...
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.