Othello Essay
Throughout our lives, we are confronted with people who are not always, as they seem to be and this is the case in Othello by William Shakespeare. The character of Iago is a deceptive and calculating man who uses the weaknesses and strengths of others to serve his own greedy purposes. His ability to take one's strength and turn it into a weakness is remarkable, as it ultimately leads to one's downfall. Throughout the play, we are not given much information as to what motivates Iago into doing what he does. However, William Shakespeare was trying to teach us a lesson through his characterization of Iago. Iago forever appears to be "honest Iago"(II, iii, l, 337) a trustworthy friend who looks out for the interests of others while he really uses them to accomplish his goals. The villainy of Iago is apparent when we compare his inner feelings to the complete opposite outer appearance that he projects. Iago's success is based upon the idea of the fortune's wheel, which while bringing up one person brings upon the downfall of another. Iago's capabilities to misconstrue situations into something they are not are evident throughout the play. This constant confusion pits one man against another but Iago is always an innocent
bystander. Iago is a man who is always thinking ahead and uses any situations he comes across to his advantage. He took an innocent setting between Desdemona and Cassio talking as friends and devised a plan to plant seeds of jealousy into Othello's mind about the nature of their relationship. Iago understands his enemies well therefore he enables himself to be in a position to destroy them. In this case Iago succeeded and put Othello "into a jealousy so strong that judgement [could not] cure" (II, ii, ll, 329-330). This circumstance gave Othello the idea that Iago was a loyal and trusting friend to warn him of Desdemona's supposed infidelities, giving Iago an excellent cover for his deception. This incident is one of few, which Iago pulls off without the help of Roderigo. In conclusion, throughout the play Othello by William Shakespeare it is shown that outside forces can wreak havoc in our lives by using our strengths against us and turning them into weaknesses. Be strong in who you are and what you believe in to prevent from being deceived by those around you. Turn your weaknesses into your strengths and trust your instincts. Why was the character of Iago created? Was Shakespeare trying to teach a lesson about what motivates people to do what they do? Perhaps Iago was a way to illustrate how people who "mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on" (I, iii, ll , 223-224). It is possible to believe that Iago was just another character, a villain to add intrigue to the play. However, perhaps Iago was part of a bigger plan, a plan that Shakespeare never fully developed. The character of Iago was never fully explored and left a lot to the imagination of the reader. For example, are read
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Approximate Word count = 1179
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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