Othello is a play written by the great playwright known as William Shakespeare. The play, written in the 1600s, is full of jealousy, love, and betrayal. Additionally, the play is based around a man named Othello, who is often referred to as the Moor of Venice. The central motif of the play is the typical good versus evil conflict; however, it emphasizes evil through the use of a main character known as Iago. In this story, Iago is the antagonist and is very jealous. Additionally, Iago betrays his supposed friends through manipulation. Iago, Othello, and Cassio are all a part of the military in Venice, Italy. Iago is jealous of Othello’s power as a general. Additionally, Iago is upset that Othello has used his war stories to earn the love of Desdemona, to whom Othello is now married too. Another reason Iago is jealous is because Othello gave a promotion to Cassio over Iago even though Cassio has never seen war. Therefore, Iago decides to use manipulation throughout the entire play to get under Othello’s skin and nudge his way …show more content…
The seed was first sprouted when Iago accused Othello of sleeping with his wife, Emilia. For Iago, this was a situation where he saw revenge as the fittest; this revenge was considered “a wife for a wife.” When Othello looks over Iago for Lieutenant in his army and gives it to Cassio the true jealousy begins. Iago believes that he is better fit for the position and despised Cassio for getting the position. " And I know my own worth well enough to know that I deserve that position” (1.1 11-12). Some scholars say that Iago is going after Cassio and Desdemona to get Othello for himself. Iago schemes a plan to make Othello believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. Throughout the rest of the play, Iago works on this scheme to chiseled at Othello until he fully believes that Desdemona is cheating on
In Iago’s soliloquy, he explains that Cassio trusts him, which he can use to his advantage. Because Cassio is naturally charming, Iago knows that if he concocts a scheme where Cassio has lured Desdemona away from Othello, it will be plausible for Othello to believe it. (1.3.433-441) As previously mentioned, he knows his friends very well due to being analytical and simply being close friends with them, which is part of what made his malicious schemes so grand. Also, Iago divulges to himself and the audience that he believes that Desdemona loves Cassio, but not in the way he will make it appear. He knows that Othello is “of a constant, loving, noble nature,” and that he’ll prove to be “A most dear husband.” (2.1.308-313) Iago briefly scrutinizes Cassio, Desdemona, and Othello. Due to years of friendship, he knows all of them well. In this scene, Iago is not exposing his manipulative, cunning ways so much as he is merely analyzing his “friends.” This will prove to be useful to him later in the
At first, Othello thought nothing of Cassio and Desdemona's relationship; however, Iago fabricated an affair between the two that caused Othello to distrust the pair. By falsifying conversations and stories about the couple's exploits, Iago convinced Othello that Cassio was romantically involved with his wife. This can be clearly seen in the first scene of Act IV. Cassio tells Iago of Bianca's love for him and even depicts her sexual advances. Hidden nearby, Othello believes Cassio is speaking of Desdemona. As if this wasn't enough to enrage Othello, Bianca enters and returns a handkerchief, accusing Cassio of receiving it from another woman. Othello instantly recognizes it as the one he gave to Desdemona. This maddens him with jealousy and he vows to kill Desdemona and Cassio. Due to his friendship with Desdemona, Cassio made two men so jealous that they both vowed to kill him. This jealousy is what allowed Iago's plan to come to fruition. Even though Cassio survived Roderigo's attack, Iago was able to convince both Roderigo and Othello to attempt murder because they were so jealous of
It is interesting to notice how Iago uses images of manipulation, violence, betrayal, and jealousy in Shakespeare’s play, Othello the Moor of Venice. Iago is doing this because he is insecure about himself, and he wants to see other’s fail. Iago uses the innocence of Barbantio, Cassio, Emilia, and Roderigo to dehumanize Othello. Iago stresses the fact that he hates Othello for giving Cassio the position of lieutenant, which he wants for himself.
Othello is a tragic play written by William Shakespeare. This play is a story about how race and jealousey can interfere with a relationship. The protagonist of the story, Othello, has one fatal flaw. This fatal flaw is that Othello is too trusting. He believes every thing that the antagonist,
Iago has been turned down for promotion to be the lieutenant of Othello (a military commander employed by the Venetian state) by Cassio, Othello’s new lieutenant. Because of this, Iago becomes jealous of Cassio’s lieutenancy and Othello’s success in life, and believes he should have what Othello has; a young, beautiful wife, commander of the military, power over Venice etc,. He takes out his anger of jealousy towards many characters, especially Othello, to eventually ruin his life in every way possible. Iago explains how he hates Othello but will pretend to love him while maliciously plotting his downfall. This leads to many acts of destruction by Roderigo, Othello, and the source of it all, Iago; all done as a result of poor judgements and uncontrollable jealousy taking over their
He is jealous of Cassio and angry with Othello because he was not chosen as lieutenant of Cyprus, and Cassio was. Iago wants everyone to feel as bad as he does so he forces jealousy into other characters. Iago wants everyone to become jealous, so he betrays and manipulates the other characters. Othello starts
“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on:”(46). Iago warns Othello of jealous intuitions and tries to guard him against them explaining jealousy as a monster that preys upon the souls it attaches to. Othello is truly in love with Desdemona but Iago is trying to tear them apart because he is jealous of Othello for being married to Desdemona. Iago tries to plant these false stories in Othello’s mind to try to get him fired up against Desdemona and thus disowning her. “Why, why is this? Think’st thou I ‘ld make a life of jealousy, … I’ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove; and on the proof, there is no more but this, away at once with love or jealousy” (46). Iago tries to plant false rumors in Othello’s mind so as to provoke a jealous fit in Othello and make him go mad but Othello will not buy Iago’s claims without justified proof. Othello is not giving into Iago’s provocations so easily. Iago has not given up either because he has one more trick in his pocket to prove to Othello what he thinks is true. “And let him find it. Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs of holy writ:” (50). Iago will not give up his scheming until Othello has his proof enough to believe Iago’s thoughts and claims. Iago is so jealous of the other characters especially Cassio that he is trying to turn his jealous tendencies into a plot to provoke a jealous wrath in Othello against Cassio. “As he
In the beginning of the play, Shakespeare introduces the jealousy Iago has for the character Cassio. He is upset that Cassio received a promotion over him even though he has more experience than him. Later, Iago coerces Cassio into an incident at a victory party that sees Othello
This is interesting because it shows how Iago uses his pure jealousy towards Othello by making up rumors in his head that seem normal to him. But in reality, has the audience is watching/ reading this we can observe how Iago’s mentality changed due to the fact that he was consumed by jealousy that it turns into hatred towards Othello. Some may say that Iago was not jealous, that he just wanted to manipulate others around him to make them see how much of a horrible person Othello is. But I think personally that Iago did show Jealously towards Othello because if he did not get jealous towards him why would Iago waste his time on Othello in the first place, to begin with if he did not feel the slightest bit jealous. Jealousy comes in different ways some may some it differently to others, but overall the feeling is it inside of them eating them slowly and that’s what I think occurred to Iago in which he used manipulation and anger towards the other characters in ‘Othello’.
“A text to be considered worthy of study must have a set of themes that the composer is able to make available and understood by all readers” Othello is a text in which is worthy of study for its ability to still have themes in which are relevant in a modern literary society and are easily understood. William Shakespeare’s 17th century play Othello is the story of Iago a man, who does not receive the position he wants and in revenge of this plots to ruin the life of his commanding officer, Othello. He manipulates everyone around him in order to seek revenge by destroying Othello’s life in every way possible. Shakespeare discusses the themes of the effects of jealousy on a person’s reality, the unreasonable gender stereotypes and expectations
Iago's jealousy towards Othello quickly transforms into a jealousy toward Cassio too because Othello selected Cassio as lieutenant rather than Iago. Iago trusts that he ought to be lieutenant since he has battled close by in fights and because he has genuine war involvement, while Cassio took in the majority of his strategies from books. Thus, he is spiteful because he didn't land the position, however he is annoyed on the grounds that he believes that Othello made Cassio his
Iago caused problems in Othello’s life by making the general believe that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him with Michael Cassio. Iago also plays into Roderigo’s fantasy of being with Desdemona. This play shows how selfish Iago is because he wants to make everyone feel just as miserable as he does, and eventually it works. Iago is a very jealous person who manipulates people to make people do what he wants.
In the passage 275- 300, 2, 1 of Othello, the audience is tuned in to the inner most thoughts of Iago, as well as the knowledge of a potential affair between Othello and Emilia. Being left off between a conversation amongst Iago and Rodrigo, commenting on the nature of the relationship between Cassio and Desdemona. Iago devices a plan to win the trust and admiration of Othello, whilst smearing Cassio’s name. However, in the last paragraph of the act, Iago confesses to the knowledge of an illicit affair between his dearest wife, Emilia and Othello . Thus, the act of revenge motivated by jealousy is what leads , Iago to plot against Othello. Throughout the entirety of this passage an especially prominent and overarching theme is the concept of
In shakespeare's play ‘Othello’ we see a number of characters that show jealousy in the play. One of the characters was Iago. Iago was one of Othello’s loyal friends during war, but later on, we see how Iago’s feelings towards Othello change, due to the fact that Othello picked Cassio as his lieutenant instead of Iago himself. He felt betrayed by Othello, we see this in act 1 scene 1 where Iago claims that he is
Othello is a play written by William Shakespeare in the early 1600s. The general summary of this play is about an African American General named Othello who appoints a young man named Cassio as his Lieutenant, when another guy known as Iago wanted the job. Iago plays the role of the antagonist in this play and Othello, the tragic hero. As the play goes on Iago’s evil plan unravels as we see the scheme was to try and ruin them both by making Othello believe that his new wife, Desdemona, is having an affair with the newly promoted Lieutenant: Cassio. This affair and plot gives the play the theme of jealousy and deception.