...- 1 9 March 2016 End Goal of Writing Othello When studying Othello, no analyst or reader can deny that the masterpiece written by Shakespeare is truly remarkable. However, there is debate as to whether the play was written to tell a story about a war hero who ascends to the peak of Italian military ranks and fell off due to his insecurities, or for Shakespeare to present an allegory narrating the chaos in seventeenth century England. The assertion made declaring Othello to be an allegory is very compelling. Just like an artist chooses every stroke of their painting, in Othello, Shakespeare’s words are all determined very conscientiously. This could potentially mean he was crafting a perfect narration to provoke the leaders of his time about the imperfections of the society they live in. The underlying themes throughout the book are extremely plausible claims in order to draw a parallel to an allegory. The most profound theme in Othello is how love can present shameful aspects and hereby, make someone act irrationally. Reputation is a compelling reason for why Othello acts aberrantly. He is proud of the reputation and power he had works so diligently for, therefore, he was not going to let it crumble. Lastly, Othello was an African leader in the Italian military, which was particularly irregular in that era. This feeds into his profound insecurities because he is looked at as an outlier. Clearly, Shakespeare was using this to show how racism is distasteful and people during...
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...Shakespeare himself once described the state of humanity, “Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.” He applied this profound observation to the characters of his play Othello, the story of an interracial marriage destroyed by manipulation. In this tragedy, the title character Othello falls from his status as a respected, even glorified, leader to an incredulous murderer, while his “friend” Iago thrives on Othello’s downfall. Shakespeare’s original script illustrates Othello’s vulnerability and destruction quite obviously, while more modern interpretations take a vaguer approach. The 1995 feature film Othello and the video adaption of Verdi’s opera Otello both serve as prime examples of how Othello’s demise can be interpreted, and present all characters in varying light. Between these three versions of Shakespeare’s play, the original work presents Othello’s change most clearly. In it, Othello’s transition from “good” to “bad” is very apparent. Shakespeare portrays Othello as a simplified human, perhaps to make him more relatable in vagueness, and in so doing makes his deterioration obvious. At the beginning of the play, the Duke addresses Othello as “Valiant Othello,” and values his advice on political matters (1.3.50). At this time, Othello (though disrespected on the issue of race) is a prized presence in his country and among his peers. His bravery is matched by his character, as he loves his wife and “puts [his] life upon her faith!” (1.3.293). He represents the...
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...In what ways does Shakespeare explore human weakness in Othello? Shakespeare explores human weakness in his playwrite “Othello” through themes of power, jealousy, love, seduction, and as in most of his plays, through tragedy with murder or suicide. He also explores human weakness through tales of betrayal, revenge, evil, and racial discrimination. He uses his characters to show varying characteristics of each and how they fit into a complex existence. With the play opening with Iago’s discussion about why Cassio was selected as lieutenant, Shakespeare presents to the audience the human weakness of the plays sequential plot, jealousy and destruction. Human weakness is a fact of life, with Shakespeare employing dramatic technique such as tone in order to convey to the audience human vulnerability. Through Iago, who is the only one that speaks to the audience, Shakespeare highlights societal issues such as the struggle for power and superiority. Iago speaks to the audience with bitterness, with deceit and evil, and his explaning his plot, describing his plan of action as a web in which he will catch a fly, highlights his lusting for revenge through deception. Furthermore Shakespeares foreshadowing technique throughtout the play with Iago speaking to the audience, and his choice of words suggesting to the audience that its going to be a fight to the bitter end, one that will end in tragedy, the death of Desdemona from Othello’s raging jealousy that he cannot bear “Or failing...
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...novel. There are only three women in the play Othello. They are Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca. The behaviour of the women tends to present them strongly to reflect their ideological expectations within the Venetian society as well as the Elizabethan society. The women are expected to unselfishly devote their lives to their husbands. Desdemona, Emila and Bianca’s relationship with the male characters and their status is shown by Shakespeare and that all three women have different roles no matter at the end they all belong to one role.. The main emotion and the force behind the play is love. Everyone acts upon the force of love. Othello speaks this line before he kills himself. “…. Of one that loved wisely but not too well”, (5.2.396).at the end the love itself ripped them off. The strongest and who has unwavering love is Desdemona. Desdemona is a fine and fair woman and a sweet woman that is driven by fear and love. Form the beginning of the play she is shown to be quick wit. Her unconditional love for Othello is shown in her words and actions. Desdemona only did what she thought was to be right. At the end Desdemona had her ‘last laugh’. Her ability of not to lay blame ultimately makes her the hero and higher quality person in the play. While the roles of the play always seem to be the once that were behind their husbands, Desdemona took this role and gave it her attitude. Desdemona’s personality and her character is the unwavering love and passion for her husband. There are many...
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...The catastrophe of Othello Othello is a combination of greatness and weakness in his own words “An honorable murderer” (Shakespeare V.ii, 295). He is a general in the venetian defence forces and although a foreigner from Africa, he has won this post by excellence in the field of war. Othello is characterized by his plainspoken, honest (perhaps even naïve) nature, which, together with his status as an outsider, leaves him vulnerable to the plots of his standard-bearer, Iago, to make him suspect his loyal wife, Desdemona, of infidelity. Othello is an outsider who is intelligent and confident in military matters but socially insecure. Many of Othello's insecurities are derived from his race and from the perception that...
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...great role in William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Othello. Most of the irony in the play relates to the main villain in the play, Iago, who is motivated by his jealousy. Iago is jealous of Othello’s military success and Cassio being promoted to Othello’s lieutenant position instead of himself. Iago plans to take revenge against Othello by manipulating Cassio and Desdemona, who is Othello’s wife. Iago is a well respected character in the play, so he would not be suspected to be the culprit. He tries to fake an affair between Cassio and Desdemona that would surely be tragic for Othello. The...
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...Does Shakespeare reinforce or question contemporary attitudes to cultural outsiders in 'Othello' and The Merchant of Venice? In the plays the Merchant of Venice and Othello, Shakespeare explores the effects of racial oppression and attitudes to race in general. The idea of cultural outsiders is one of the main themes present in the plays. 'Culture' is the customs and social behaviour of particular groups of people and societies and an outsider is a person who does not belong in a particular situation, organisation or community. This definition relates to both Othello and Shylock as throughout the play we see them as victims of prejudice and injustice because of their cultural differences. In the play Othello, Shakespeare expresses the culture outsider, Othello himself in this instance. As a moor. The term Moor means a person or persons of an African descent. During the renaissance time period there were various stigmas attached to 'moors' and other cultural outsiders. Leo Africanus wrote a book named 'the history and description of Africa (1526)' where he portrayed Moors as being extremely prideful. 'Subject unto Jealousy; who would rather lose their lives than put up any disgrace on behalf of the women.' This is ironic and would lead one to believe Shakespeare reinforced Africanus' ideology in the tragic ending of Othello. Shakespeare also reinforces contemporary attitudes to Jews through the protagonist Shylock. During the 1600’s Jews were extremely disliked and according...
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...Shakespeare’s “Othello” is a whirlwind of a story as it follows the emotional roller-coaster of an army general in the midst of love. The role-character, Othello, is an articulate, passionate and intelligent African-American who finds himself unable to trust the love that he and his wife Desdemona have for one another. Although Othello seemed to many as the epitome of strength and confidence, every superman has their kryptonite. Othello was punctual, knew just the right words to say at the precise moment – he was a romantic warrior, and intellectually sound. Nevertheless, as the story unfolds, Othello’s confidence is slowly transformed by his betrayer, Iago, to reveal Othello’s deep insecurities, lack of ability to manage relational uncertainty...
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...Othello the Moor of Venice: Race and Jealousy Questions for Study and Discussion Act 1 1. How does Shakespeare present the world of Venice in the first act, and how does he construct the interactions of his central characters (Iago, Othello, and Desdemona) with that Venetian world and with each other?How are these interactions complicated by the fact that Othello is a Moor, (and we'll have to puzzle out what exactly that means) and that Desdemona is a young woman? 2. What sort of person is Iago, as he appears in act 1? Are you satisfied by the reasons he gives for hating Othello? What is Iago's relationship with Roderigo? 3. What sort of language does Iago use? What sort of language does Othello use? What might be the significance of this difference? Act 2 1. What sort of person is Cassio? What happens to him, and how does Iago plan to use the situation in his plan against Othello? 2. What more do we learn about the nature of Iago in act 2? What is the effect of having him share his thoughts and plans with us through his soliloquies? Pay attention to the language used in Iago's soliloquies. What sorts of descriptive language does he use? How does it contribute to the picture of Iago that Shakespeare is drawing? Act 3 1. At the beginning of 3.3 Othello is completely in love with Desdemona. By the end of that scene, 480 lines later, Othello is ready to murder her for having an affair with Cassio. How have we gone from the first position to the second position so...
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...Literature Paper 3: Othello How are conflicts between the individual and society presented in the play, Othello? In drama terms, the definition of conflict is the opposition between characters or forces that motivates or structure the action of the plot. In Othello, the conflicts between the individual and society are manifested through the conflicts between friends and enemies, Othello’s inner conflict, cultural and racial disparities which lead to racial discrimination. In this play, society precedence over the individual as the society somehow has forces to control the individual. takes Shakespeare uses techniques such as contrast, soliloquys, dramatic irony, syntax rhythm to achieve this. As a foreigner, Othello is an individual who is discriminated by the society he lives in which is dominated by white Venetians. Though he is a respectable general, he is still regarded as an outsider. In the beginning of the play, Iago presents Othello as a misfit in Venetian society because of different race and skin tone. This is seen through the snide remarks about Othello. “…an old black ram Is tupping your white ewe…” (1.1.88-89) This dramatic incongruity between Othello as the “old black ram” and Desdemona as the “white ewe” emphasises the Othello’s otherness. Through the antithesis-the contrasting light and dark imagery-we see the racial conflict between Othello (individual) and the Venetian society. The conflict between Othello and Brabantio is a microcosm of the conflict...
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...the Shakespearean tragedy “Othello” written by William Shakespeare, the themes that’s being portrayed are honour and gender, through the play the audience if captivated by the characters choices and motives through the play. With the characters choices they help to make the play more understandable as the audience can recognise the tragic hero in both the plays. The relationships between men and women in Othello are remarked as lesser then men. Iago often refers to his wife as a prostitute - "A house wife that by selling her desires, Buys herself bread and clothes (iv.i.95)” showing what type of relationship women and men had during the late 16th century. Women were generally considered obedient, respectful, kind and warm. They were never outspoken nor were they meant to, for it could be seen as a lack of loyalty. When Othello accused Desdemona of cheating on him, he found himself in a position that he didn't want to face with. Othello was emasculated with the thought of a woman disobeying him. Men were easily manipulated into thinking the worst of woman because they were certain it would never happen. However, when the slightest things start to be pointed out the characters start to over analyse. Woman were not on the same level as men; men talked down to woman, they didn’t see them as equals nor think that they should be treated like one. This relates to Othello and Desdemona’s relationship – she “betrayed” their marriage by cheating so when Othello found out he reacted by saying...
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...The Uprising of Othello One always hears an inspirational story about how an unlikely person overcomes adversity to make a difference in the community, country, or even the world. Barak Obama, despite his African American background, was able to become the President of the United States and change history. Rosa Parks, despite her African American background during the Jim Crow Laws, refused to get off the seat at the front of the bus and was a catalyst of the beginning of a new revolution. Cinderella, despite being an overworked poor daughter, was able to find her Prince Charming. All of these people had a foundation of life, their background, as something different from the social norm; even so they could make a difference and overcome their obstacles in life. But for every story of success comes hundreds of tales of failure-of one’s race, or culture which may prevent them from their goal or final outcome. In Shakespeare’s play, Othello, Othello is said to be a tragic figure- one who starts their life as very high, noble, and proud, but soon slowly crumbles away due to fate. One could ultimately argue that is true, the downfall of Othello was inevitable, yet Othello’s background, the foundation of his life was the character flaw. Shakespeare’s Othello is one whose background in the Moor and military causes his downfall and eventual death. Through Othello, Shakespeare demonstrates that one must believe and trust him/herself before making life-changing decisions. Othello’s...
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...downfall, including the part Iago and Desdemona play, and how the main character’s personality and actions affect the fate of the other characters. A point much contested by critics is how Shakespeare presents Othello himself: some, such as A.C. Bradley, hold the view that the General is a noble tragic hero, whereas F.R. Leavis would contradict this by claiming Othello to be a weak man whose fatal flaw is jealousy. Iago is a key instrument in Othello’s downfall and uses deception to plant the idea of Desdemona’s infidelity. He adroitly persuades Othello to accept this idea in a very short length of time. Shakespeare first uses Iago to develop the theme of perception when Iago hints at the topic of Desdemona’s supposed affair in 3:3. Iago then claims to have asked about Cassio ‘But for a satisfaction of my thought’. The idea of ‘thinking' is repeated many times after this, and is significant because of the way Shakespeare has the characters appear to perceive each other – for example how people see Iago, who is mentioned many times to be ‘honest’ – Othello even says ‘I know thou’rt full of love and honesty’ – and this dramatic irony allows him to successfully carry out his deception. The audience alone knows he is untrustworthy until late in the play, as he appears to be helping each character while actually stirring negativity between them. This ‘motiveless malignity’, as claimed by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, leads Othello to murder Desdemona. However, some would disagree with critics...
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...Ashlee trail ‘How does Shakespeare present aspects of love within the passage’ 4.3 beginning to L04’ The play Othello is was set in a rather patriarchal society and the traditional woman was known to obey her husband regardless, it was simple principle as men are known to be superior within the relationship while women are inferior, within the passage we can see both female protagonist abiding by this principle, ‘And hath commanded me to go bed and dismiss you’, the noun ‘command’ is an authority. Othello is ordering Desdemona and she lawfully obeys even thou its rather perplexing to dismiss a lady’s maid hence as to why ‘dismiss me’ is repeated twice to exaggerate the confusion and to build up suspense within the audience, in addition to the dramatic irony is being portrayed here as well as the audience understands as to why Othello is making such drastic orders. On the other hand, the language that Othello use’s starts to become disrespectful; we can see within the play how infuriated the character actually is, for instance the character refers to Emilia as Desdemona’s ‘attendant’ Emilia does not even get the respect of being called by her name which portrays that she’s only Desdemona’s help and it devalues the relationship between the woman. Moreover even though Desdemona is petrified, as it’s abnormal for her to be sent to bed and even her maid dismissed; she still abides obediently by Othello ‘We must now not displease him’, ‘we’ is a personal pronoun and Desdemona’s...
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...Othello Character Analysis Othello is a play that, in my mind; is a calling to everyone that has ever felt like an outsider, but always sticks their hand out to help someone in need. Othello is constantly trying to remind himself, and others that he is needed in their society. Although Othello is an outsider, he also has a weakness that will inevitably be the cause of his suicide. Othello struggles with trust and Iago uses this quality to his advantage. Soon, the death of Othello is the ending of the play and the ending of the life of one of the best characters Shakespeare ever created. Starting at the very first of the play, Othello is seen as an outsider in Venice, he possesses skills that the state needs, and he is a necessary part of the society. Cassio states that the senate sends out three search parties for Othello, which lets the reader know how important he is to society. The government trusts Othello enough to put him in charge of Cyprus, and even in Othello’s dying speech he makes sure the Venetians remember the “service” he has done for them. Othello presents himself as an outsider for one of two reasons: either because he knows his exotic qualities, or because of his insecurities about being different from the other Venetians. In Act I, scene III, Othello states, “Rude am I in my speech, / And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace.” Although Othello is hardly ever rude, he does lose his articulacy as he is always facing the plots of Iago. Even in his final...
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