'Othello' Prompt (Essay Sample)

Othello Prompt Name Institutional Affiliation Introduction The play written by William Shakespeare called "Othello” was written during the 17th century. Most scholars of literature have declared “Othello” as one of the best tragic plays that have ever been written by Shakespeare (Khan & Safdar, 2017). In the play, numerous stylistic devices and techniques were applied by William Shakespeare to not only present the theme of the play but to also entertain the audience. “Othello” mainly speaks about the issue of race and culture, trust, and deception. Through the introduction of the characters as well as their actions, Shakespeare is able to present these themes and offer the intended message to the audience (Khan & Safdar, 2017). Since most of the fictional characters that Shakespeare used in this play were based on the people he knew in real life, it is clear that the writer wanted to pass the message to the society or community where he resided (Khan & Safdar, 2017). This paper will analyze the main antagonist in the story called Iago. The purpose of this analysis would be to determine the intentions of Iago and the reasons behind his hate for Othello other than the ones he declared in his soliloquy. Summary of Othello The play’s setting begins in Venice, Italy. In the play, Othello is a military commander who has fallen in love and even proposed to Brabantio’s daughter called Desdemona. Despite the success and charisma of Othello, his ethnicity being African was frowned upon by most people in the community. Thus, the Iago told the father that her daughter was eloping with Othello (Shakespeare, 1903). This action made Brabantio think that her daughter, Desdemona was forced to make the decision of eloping. Othello’s characteristics and talents had enabled him to rise through the military ranks. However, when Othello chooses to promote Cassio as his Lieutenant instead of Iago, Iago decides to embark on a revision against Othello. The first reason was that Iago suspected his wife, Emilia slept with Othello (Shakespeare, 1903). The second reason for the revenge was that he wanted the promotion yet Othello did not consider him for the higher position. These two reasons drove Iago to a mission of revenge where he manipulated the events as well as the people around Othello. Nevertheless, Othello managed to convince the father of Desdemona that they were both truly in love and Brabantio even allowed them to move to Cyprus where the military had posted Othello. Seeing that his attempt at sabotaging Othello’s relationship had failed, Iago went a step further and tried to create mistrust in the marriage (Shakespeare, 1903). He made Othello believe that his friend Cassio, who he had promoted as second in command, was having an affair with Desdemona. Iago also stole Desdemona’s handkerchief and hid it among the possessions of Bianca, Cassio’s mistress. When the clothing item was found, Othello believed that his wife was cheating on him and he decided to kill her after asking Iago to kill Cassio for him. The plan hatched by Iago does not work efficiently and even though Othello murders Desdemona, Iago’s scheme is found out. Eventually, Iago managed to alienate Othello from the people he loved and cared about. Ultimately, Othello committed suicide after he realized that he had made gross mistakes by trusting Iago. Iago, on the other hand, fled but he was captured later to answer for his crimes (Shakespeare, 1903). Reasons behind Iago’s Actions Iago was clearly a vengeful and mistrustful man. He served in the lower ranks of the Italian military yet he always assumed that he was entitled to a higher position. However, Othello chose to promote Cassio instead of him and this action infuriated Iago (Khan & Safdar, 2017). Considering that Africans at the time were seen as lesser humans, working under Othello was a serious problem for Iago. Once Othello chose to promote another person other than him, Iago was angry. He wanted to revenge for the decision made by Othello. This self-entitlement that Iago had on the fact that he deserved a higher position in the military drove him to manipulate every person in his life. Iago even tried to use his wife Emilio as an accomplice (Khan & Safdar, 2017). However, Emilio was the one who eventually revealed Iago’s revenge plot. Thus, the reason why Iago decided to carry out the actions of vengeance against Othello in the play could be explained by his desire to become a lieutenant and how Othello did not consider him for the promotion. Another reason for the actions and decisions made by Iago are due to mistrust. Othello was a character portrayed by Shakespeare as a person who lacked trust. Even though Iago did not trust anyone, he still had people who cared for him such as his wife, Emilia, as well as his best friend, Roderigo. However, despite this unconditional love, Iago still manipulated these two characters into effecting his plot of revenge on Othello (Khan & Safdar, 2017). Iago believed that his wife had an affair with Othello and even though he did not have any evidence for the infidelity, he could not trust that his wife was loyal to him. Therefore, he managed to destroy the life of Othello by fabricating non-existing situations such as the affair between Desdemona and Cassio. These actions show that...