Introduction
It is worth noting that the play “Othello,” written by William Shakespeare, is a rather complicated story that can be explored at different levels. In particular, it talks about the loss of trust, love, and the meaning of life. At the same time, the play shows a conflict between the individual and the surrounding society. Othello, thinking that he is taking revenge for the scolded honor, kills his wife; in the beginning, he tries to strangle her and then stabs her so that she does not suffer. Subsequently, the hero realizes that he made an unforgivable mistake and takes his own life. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss the different complex aspects of this play.
General Points
The setting of the play is Venice of the early modern time (Abuzahra and Salahat 186). The structure of it is quite clear – a tragedy in five acts, and the plot gradually develops toward a climax and finishes with a pronounced denouement (Shakespeare). Curiously, the structure of the text supports the deterioration in Othello’s mental well-being, and it is quite easy for the reader to follow the events and the mood of the play. There is no narrator in the play, and the characters speak openly, which enables the audience to get into their thoughts.
Interestingly, the style of the play reflects how a character can manipulate another hero into doing what they want them to do. Simultaneously with that, the audience can trace how other characters are manipulated through speech as well (Alkoli and Ji 420). Iago shifts from one register to another to achieve the desired effect. When he speaks with Roderigo, he says: “I am not what I am,” to show to the reader how double-faced he is (Shakespeare). With Brabantio, he uses rude and quite vulgar language and then switches to poetic language when talking to the reader. The conflict in the play centers around the two main characters, who are trying to have a happy and healthy family while an envious friend intends to ruin it by persuading Othello that his wife is not faithful to him (Abuzahra and Salahat 198). The play reaches the climax when Othello finds his wife’s handkerchief in Cassio’s room, which he considers a sign of adultery and decides to take revenge.
Discussion
In the beginning, the main leitmotif of the play is love, which fights against rejection and opposition from the side of other people who are stuck in medieval worldview and values. Despite the confrontation, the love of two people triumphs over racial prejudice (Abuzahra and Salahat 186). Initially, Brabantio did not believe that his daughter could fall in love with a person who belonged to a different race (Shakespeare). Othello explained that it did not grow out of the prudence or desire of their parents but out of a deep understanding of each other and inner intimacy, which is one of the highest forms of love. However, faced with the realities of life such as self-interest and ambition (in the face of Iago), it perishes. The main hero and heroine do not find support due to the fact that their environment is not equivalent to them in terms of morality. For instance, Cassio was an honest but morally weak man, and the wife of Iago Emilia was obsequious and frivolous. Nevertheless, what happened in the play was a consequence not only of Iago’s actions but also of Othello’s character traits.
Interestingly, the reason for the jealousy that torments Othello is a reflection of the core of his love for Desdemona. It can be argued that it is not the consequence of an unrestrained pride of a nobleman or a sense of possessiveness (Hacker 18). He suffers from a feeling of insult that has been inflicted on truthfulness and mutual trust, which served as the bases of the love between the husband and wife.
Othello is unable to bear what he considers to be Desdemona’s deceit, which he sees not only as an insult to himself but also as an objective evil. Moreover, it can be assumed that he kills her as a judge and expresses his revenge for the truth. What Othello experiences is not the pangs of jealousy but the loss of faith in the honesty of his wife and in the possibility of honesty on earth (Hacker 18). For this reason, when Iago’s deception was revealed, faith in the truth returns to Othello, and he passes away because life has lost its value to him after the death of his wife. The protagonist experiences enlightenment and reassurance after realizing that his wife never betrayed him.
It is important to note that the heroes created by Shakespeare are lively and realistic, and each of them has both positive and negative features. On the one hand, Desdemona is one of the most innocent and pure characters of the play, but at the same time, she has a certain tendency to deceive. For example, she tricked her father when she decided to run to the Moor and then is dishonest with Othello when she lost the handkerchief she was given and did not confess it (Shakespeare). In the first case, deception was caused by love, and the second one – by fear of upsetting Othello. However, this does not alter the fact that she has this tendency in her personality.
Iago is another character of interest for research and analysis since he is dynamic and combines a variety of characteristics. He is cunning and cruel and has excellent logic that helps him to sound convincing. He can think through his actions several steps forward and acts not only as a strategist but also as a psychologist (Alkoli and Ji 419). He was able to provoke certain actions in each hero; he understood that Othello could have been provoked on fear of losing harmony in marriage, Emilia – on frivolity, and Cassio – on naivety. Iago illustrates a prominent representative of Machiavellianism; moral relativism and nihilism are clearly traced in his character and decisions. Iago foils Othello because the latter believes in truth and good human nature, while Iago believes that the value of things depends on the point of view.
Concluding Points
Thus, it can be concluded that the play shows how a person can go in different ways – stay kind and be guided by moral principles or become immoral. The rapid transition from heroism to blindness indicates the vulnerability of people. Despite the fact that evil is punished at the end of the play, the good experiences tragic suffering immeasurably greater than the hero’s mistake deserves. The play allows the reader to draw an independent conclusion about the value of the human personality and how different everyone’s character is. Mistakes made did not change the foundations of a noble character, but in a world of evil and injustice, they led to tragic consequences.
Works Cited
Abuzahra, Nimer, and Rami Salahat. “Analyzing Iago’s Speech in Shakespeare’s Othello.” Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, vol. 2, no. 2, 2018, pp. 185-203.
Alkoli, Hind Abduallah, and Shi Ji. “An Analysis of Power Desire of Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello From Psychological Perspectives.” Journal of Literature and Art Studies, vol. 8, no. 3, 2018, pp. 417-421.
Hacker, Peter Michael Stephan. The Passions: A Study of Human Nature. John Wiley & Sons, 2017.
Shakespeare, William. “Othello, The Moor of Venice.” MIT. Web.