In Shakespeare 's play, Othello, the main character, Othello, displays actions that are classified as weak or strong emotionally. Throughout the play, Othello shows more weakness than strength when he turns over to jealousy, hits Desdemona, and calls her names shortly before wrongfully killing her.
Othello’s first action of weakness shows when he turns jealous. Iago, his ensign, convinces him that his wife, Desdemona, has been having an affair with his lieutenant, Cassio. This is Othello’s response to Iago’s mortifying news, “She’s gone, I am abused, and my relief / Must be to loathe her. Oh, curse of marriage / That we can call these delicate creatures ours / And not their appetites!” (3.3.308-11). In this quote, Othello says that there is nothing more to do than hate Desdemona, wives cannot truly belong to their husbands. This is a sign of weakness because Iago has no real evidence to back up the claims he has made to Othello, however, Othello is not strong enough to brush them aside.
Another prominent action of weakness Othello does is striking Desdemona in the face. After being hit, Desdemona cries and Lodovico says that Othello should not have done that. Othello, now seeing Desdemona as a liar, says, “Oh, devil, devil! / If that the earth could teem with woman’s tears,
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Othello has just mentioned that Cassio is dead, Desdemona cries because she knows everything has gone terribly wrong. This is Othello’s response to her weeping, “Out, strumpet! weep’st thou for him to my face?” (5.2.9). Othello is furious that the lying Desdemona has the courage to cry about Othello’s enemy, Cassio, right in front of him. He gets so angry that he smothers Desdemona, he soon realizes that this was a mistake. This is a very weak point for Othello, because he has let the world get between he and his love. He was not strong enough to carry the both of them
However, all this hatred is unfounded, and if Othello just dug a little deeper into Iago’s claims, he would realize that Desdemona is innocent. Othello’s problems affected Desdemona in more ways than one. She now has to deal with a husband who is angry at her for no reason. As mentioned in the last paragraph, the mental struggle one goes through when beating themselves up over something is great. Desdemona beats herself up because she doesn’t know what she did to Othello, but Othello is still angry.
Desdemona is incredulous that anyone would actually cheat on a spouse. Her naivety becomes evident as she timidly avoids more graphic phrases. Emalia explains many people do, to Desdemona’s surprise. The fact that Desdemona is so loving towards Othello makes her death more tragic. She wants to follow his every order.
Jealousy is a major theme in Othello and this is illustrated through characterisation and the use of imagery. From the beginning of othello, the audience is aware iago is driven by jealousy and uses it as a tool to bring about the downfall of othello. His machiavellian nature was immediately shown when he stated “I follow him to serve my turn upon him.” The characterisation of Othello from the quiet and contemplated military pioneer to the visually impaired, infuriated 'darker demon ' that responders witness at last stresses, the powerful toxic substance that is jealousy. The remote chance of Desdemona 's unfaithfulness and the subject of her devotion are terrible for "valiant" Othello, he would rather "the general camp, Pioneers and all, had tasted her sweet body" than to have questions coasting in
Internalised societal prejudices allow their flaws to overpower their love. Othello’s experience with racial prejudice and Desdamona’s with misogyny make their relationship susceptible to distrust and selfishness. Othello’s view of Desdemona as an accomplishment is demonstrated in Act 5 scene 2, when Emilia exclaims “O, the more angel she, And you the blacker devil!” Emelia’s description of Desdemona and Othello is an oxymoron that forces them to oppose each other, where Othello is viewed as a demonic creature, and Desdemona as angelic.
The following passage is significant to the play ‘Othello’ in retrospect to the plot progression, as it reiterates themes and introduces important facets to the plot development. Through Iago’s cunning manipulation and Shakespeare’s crafting of language, this passage is constructed as a pivotal point of the play, marking the transition of Othello’s personality and revealing his deepest insecurities that eventually lead to his downfall and tragic ending. Iago wields a lot of power over all the characters throughout the play, but in this passage in particular he is presented at his most powerful. The passage is riddled with subtle suggestions and insinuations by Iago to raise Othello’s suspicions of his wife’s fidelity, opening with the admonition to “beware, my lord, of jealousy!
Othello, one of the main characters in the play is a very trusting person causing him to be easily manipulated by others. Iago, a flag bearer and a friend to Othello uses his trustworthy persona against him to get revenge on him for not giving him the job as lieutenant. One of his manipulation tactics is to tell Othello that his wife is having an affair with a man named Cassio. In the play, Iago begins to talk to Othello about his proof that his wife is actually cheating on him by telling him, that Desdemona gave a handkerchief to Cassio, in which Othello gave to her that was passed on by his parents. Othello was not happy about that which ultimately lead Othello to be disrespectful towards Desdemona by hitting her, constantly calling her a whore and later killing her for thinking that she was cheating on him with Cassio (Shakespeare 1603).
Othello shows signs of grit because he is determined to marry desdemona so they elope. He will do anything for her to make sure she is happy. “She loved me for the dangers I had passed, And I loved her that she did pity them. ”(Act 1, Scene 3 , Lines 181 and 182). Othello and Desdemona have a strong love for each other .
First of all, the character Othello’s love for his wife Desdemona is soiled by Iago putting false images into Othello’s head that his wife is being unfaithful to him which ultimately leads him to kill his own wife because of his vulnerability and insecurity towards the pure love he had for her. Othello starts to feel things that he has never felt before towards his wife, “I had rather be a toad/And live upon the vapor of a dungeon /Than keep a corner in the thing I love/ For others' uses. Yet 'tis the plague of great ones” (3.3.311-14).
Shakespeare 's Othello centers around the power of jealousy and how it can end up causing the death of a couple and some of those around them. Othello seems to grow incredibly jealous of his wife, Desdemona, and his lieutenant, Cassio’s fake affair that Iago, the villain, has convinced Othello of. As an act of jealousy, Othello decides to kill Desdemona to prevent her from hurting more men and then after realizing everything was part of Iago’s plan he kills himself due to the guilt he feels after having killed his wife. Shakespeare’s use of figurative language and symbolism in act 5 scene 2 reveals how even though Othello truly loves Desdemona, his jealousy for what he believes she has done has completely clouded his judgment and taken over
Throughout the play Othello’s blind trust in Iago led him to a perplexed state in which he was vulnerable to flaws that he did not usually struggle with. In a perplexed state Othello “becomes jealous and eventually a murderer” (Kliger 222). Without Othello’s blind trust in Iago Othello would never have become perplexed and would not have led to flaws that resulted in the murder of Desdemona. Othello recognized his growing problem as he said “There is no more but this: Away at once with love or jealousy” and yet Othello was still unable to shake his jealousy as Iago kept feeding him lies (Shakespeare III.iii.222-223). Othello became so jealous that he began to think he would be “happy if the general camp, pioneers and all, had tasted her sweet body, so [he] had nothing known” (Shakespeare III.iii.397-400).
Othello joining Desdemona, in Act II, in Cyprus claiming, “If it were now to die, ‘Twere now to be most happy” (Masquerade Press, n.d.), is one example of how Shakespeare uses Aristotle’s definition of how a tragic hero is feared and pitied. Another example is Othello’s fall from the vicious villain, Iago, who manipulates him to believe lies. Othello is completely gullible and open to Iago’s deception that he builds up a wall of mistrust among his lieutenant and his wife. Othello’s anger towards his wife creates an emotional fear as well. His deception of making his wife believe that he will sleep with her in the last scenes creates a fear as well knowing that his plot is to kill her by strangulation.
In the play Othello, William Shakespeare creates an elaborate tragedy with various in depth characters, enhancing the story with powerful characterization. Iago, the main antagonist of Othello, exemplifies Shakespeare’s use of characterization to create in depth and complex characters. Using his manipulative nature, intellectual mind, egotistical attitude, and dishonesty, Iago controls the other characters in order to achieve his goal, leading Othello to succumb to an overwhelming jealousy causing his downfall. In order for Iago to gain control of the characters in the play, he manipulates Othello, Roderigo, Cassio, and more to believe false information and turn on one another.
Othello’s This rage at Desdemona’s infidelity signals destmetion of his identity as a successful and loving man. It shows that he now completely loses control of himself, he no longer is that gentle man. He has become so poisoned by the manipulation of Iago, he no longer hears out for his “fair
Also, each relationship in Othello provokes jealousy in one partner. In a typical Venetian society, a woman was considered to be a man’s property, so if a woman was disobedient, it negatively impacted the man, while also questioning his masculinity. The hyperbolic soliloquy as Othello expressed he would “rather be a toad” than “keep a corner of the thing I love” is Othello’s justification of killing his wife, as her untrustworthiness challenged his masculinity and reputation. Referring to Desdemona as a “thing” emphasises the idea of women being property. Iago’s jealousy of Desdemona and Othello’s relationship is emphasised through the degrading comment of Othello, “an old black ram” “tupping” Brabantio’s “white ewe”.
Othello loses his respect and nobility when he falls right into Iago’s trap. In Act IV, an upset Othello strikes Desdemona. The Venetian gentleman, Lodovico, sees for the first time Othello behave violently. Lodovico asks,” Is this the noble Moor whom our full Senate/Call all in all sufficient?” (IV,ii,259-260).