How Is Othello Responsible For His Own Downfall

The following situation also proves Iago’s ability to effectively use his power over Othello’s intelligence and jealousy. Othello was very gullible and innocent, so Iago took complete advantage of that. He makes Othello believe that Desdemona is unfaithful toward him with Cassio. He does so through a multitude of ways: “If I can fasten but one cup upon him,

Othello is a loyal, honest, brave hero, and he won Desdemona’s love with his own performance and the legendary hero life; however, his low self-esteem causes his doubt for himself about his black skin, age, and manhood, his rudeness, reckless, paranoid personality seized him and

In the beginning of the play, Shakespeare illustrates Othello as a benevolent military noble who shares an intellectual love with his young wife, Desdemona, that is of utmost purity and innocence. At once the evil character of Iago is introduced and uncovers the hero's tragic flaw; ultimately that of naiveté. Although Othello is usually a very even-tempered man, as can be seen when he refuses to let Iago persuade him to get angry at Roderigo, (I, ii, 6), an exteriour opposing force characterized by Iago, perpetuates the tragedy of the play by provoking the interiour opposing force, or the hamartia of the protagonist. Near the beginning of the play, Shakespeare's clever demonstration of dramatic irony allows the reader to realize Othello's tragic flaw in the fact that he hands his full trust over to a man who is "Janus-faced" and dishonest. "...my ancient; a man he is of honesty and trust. To this conveyance I assign my wife". The irony from this line lies in Othello's misconception of his ensign, Iago, who is already plotting against him for his own means. After witnessing Iago's conspiracy with Roderigo at the ruination of Othello in the previous act, the reader immediately sees Iago's villainess, however in innocence, Othello is blinded to it and by it. From this we see, as in many tragedies, the tragic hero's flaw is not actually a defect in itself, but rather an excess of a virtue. In the case of Othello, this perilous virtue

In William Shakespeare's play, Othello, he teaches the audience a valuable lesson and gives insight to how flaws in our character can be used to bring about our downfall. He uses clever characterization methods to teach that a human's inner turmoils and characters flaws can be used against them and lead to their downfall. His use of characters such as Othello, the tragic hero, and Iago, the villain, work together to create the overarching theme and lesson of this piece.

A.C. Bradley describes Othello as "by far the most romantic figure among Shakespeare's heroes"(Shakespearean Tragedy, 1). This is an unusual description of a man who murders his own wife. However, Othello's feelings of hate for Desdemona started as an overwhelming love for her when their relationship began. This transformation from love to hate also inflicted the characters Iago and Roderigo and like Othello their hatred resulted in the murder of innocent people. Roderigo's love for Desdemona was transformed into hate towards any man that he thought was loved by her. Iago's love for his job and his wife, Emilia changed into a destructive hatred of Cassio and Othello. As a result of

Tragedy is mostly seen in characters pure and innocent. The deaths of those whom are innocent have a blindness to see the deceitfulness in others. Characters die who do not deserve their unfortunate fates. Desdemona is the heart of Iago’s plan and her loyalty to Othello eventually leads to her death bed. Emilia’s husband is the villain she hates, but giving him the one item he needs dooms everyone. Othello falls into Iago’s plan as soon as his fatal flaw of jealousy comes into play. In the tragic play Othello, by William Shakespeare, the innocent characters Desdemona, Emilia, and Othello are lead to their demise because they are manipulated into trusting Iago.

In William Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello is the tragic hero. He is a character of high stature who is destroyed by his surroundings, his own actions, and his fate. His destruction is essentially precipitated by his own actions, as well as by the actions of the characters surrounding him. The tragedy of Othello is not a fault of a single villain, but is rather a consequence of a wide range of feelings, judgments and misjudgments, and attempts for personal justification exhibited by the characters. Othello is first shown as a hero of war and a man of great pride and courage. As the play continues, his character begins to deteriorate and become less noble. Chronologically through the play, Othello’s character

The tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, presents the main character Othello, as a respectable, honorable, and dignified man, but because of his insecurities and good nature, he is easily taken advantage of and manipulated by his peers and alleged friends. The dynamic of Othello’s character significantly changes throughout the play. The contrast is most pronounced from the beginning of the play to its conclusion, switching from being calm and peaceful to acts of uncontrolled venomous rage. Othello’s motivation in the play appears to be his love and concern for his wife Desdemona, which ironically, ends up being his downfall in the end.

It the only thing that makes him estranged from all the other characters. In the opening scene of the play, Shakespeare “exoticizes Othello with [his] references to him not by name but as, "the Moor," and as an "extravagant and wheeling stranger" (1.1.58 and 1.1.37)”(Aubrey 1). During that time black people were slaves which is why the racism in Othello was definitely racism and one of Iago’s forms of control. Othello earned his status despite his physical appearance, so its lowering to use that description of Othello when he is more than that. Furthermore, not only is Othello being outcasted in the play but also to the audience. It is set by Iago that the idea of a black man and a white woman together is inhuman. He constantly uses derogatory terms to describe to Brabantio To corrupt Othello and Desdemona’s relations. Iago claims that Brabantio will “have [his] daughter covered with a Barbary horse. [He’ll] have [his] nephews neigh to [him]. [He'll] have coursers for cousins and jennets for germans” (Act 1 scene 1 line 125-127 )if he does not do anything to stop them. Iago says this to describe to Brabantio what his mixed would look like. Moreover the animals he uses are not pure breeds which is what he want to emphasize to Brabantio that the act itself of Othello and Desdemona being together is bestial nut having his grandkids being mixed is something that Brabantio cannot stand to think about. Iago

When Iago makes a point of including Othello’s race in a conversation with a confidant, it proves that he feels that Othello’s race is the reason for his actions. There is an obvious abhorrence for Othello based upon his race. Later in the play, Iago goes on to say “If she had been blessed, she would never have loved the Moor” (Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum “WRAC” ). This statement shows that Iago is jealous of Othello because he won the love of Desdemona and is cause for insecurities on his part. Iago must now question his marriage and whether or not Othello is cause for infidelity. These insecurities act as extra motivation for Iago’s actions.

Othello or The Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare is a tragedy of race. Shakespeare creates a hero who does not fall under a racist stereotype, Othello is a nobleman, a decorated soldier, very well respected by his men (with the exception of Iago). One of the few characteristics that harms, rather than helps him, is that he is dark-skinned in a society utterly dominated by men prejudiced against those with dark skin. At the start of the play, he appears confident that, "My parts, my title, and my perfect soul / Shall manifest me rightly." (Shakespeare, 1, 2, 36-37) But Iago makes sure to use Othello's race against him as much as possible. As a brave soldier from Africa and recently instated supreme commander of the Venetian army, Shakespeare still allows Othello to succumb to the subtle racism that surrounds him. Most of it comes forward through the dialog, and is directed toward Othello. Shakespeare makes no effort to hide this colorful language, nearly every character uses a racial slur to insult Othello at some point in the play. Even Emilia, who doesn’t trust her own husband, sinks to the level of insulting Othello based on the color of his skin. Though the main character to make racist remarks in Othello is Iago, making him a representation of white supremacy. The effect of racism on Othello is quite evident and is one of the main causes of his insecurity about his marriage. These black stereotypes show up in the play and lead to the problem with trying to produce

As in almost all tragedies, especially those of William Shakespeare, the tragic hero always runs into misfortune. The play Othello is no exception. In this play, every character acquainted with the tragic hero appears to be unfortunate. While these misfortunes are oddly related to Othello, are they his fault or did each character attract them out of their own actions? To answer this daunting question, one must consider the three most unfortunate characters: Othello, Desdamona and Roderigo and analyse their downfall which eventually lead to their deaths. It is known from reading the play that Iago is the one who manipulates all three of them. Examinations of their connection with him before their deaths are necessary to answer this

"The Tragedy of Othello Written by William Shakespeare" highlights a variety of ways in which males and females reacted to intense situations." The emotions of the characters changed from the start of Act 1, the end of Act 1, and continued as the story of Othello progressed. In Act 1, the main protagonist named Othello started off conveying the emotion of happiness because he and his wife Desdemona were newlyweds. Othello was the general of the army of Venice. Iago, who was a soldier desired the rank of lieutenant, but Othello skipped over him and chose Cassio as the lieutenant even though Cassio had no experience in war but was exceptionally knowledgeable. Iago feels envious towards Cassio gaining the rank he wanted, Iago decided to work with Roderigo, a man who loves Desdemona, to pressure Brabantio, Desdemonas’ father, into thinking Othello used a “magic charm” to build up Desdemonas’ love for him. ("The Tragedy of Othello Written by Shakespeare” Book) In addition to Iago’s actions, Brabantio conveying anger approached Othello by accusing him instead of talking to him calmly. Brabantio told Desdemona of the rumor and asked: “who do you choose?” Meaning, she had to pick either her husband or her father. Desdemona projecting love towards her husband chose Othello. In conclusion to Desdemona's actions, it appeals to the reader that the female character represents

By using short, choppy sentence structure and weak diction, he seems less of a threat to Othello and his innocence is enhanced through it. Also, by always using rhetorical questions, he never does address what it is Othello is talking about. Iago distorts Othello’s thoughts and gets him to think he knows much more than he is telling him about the entire affair. This becomes especially clear when Othello asks for “ocular proof” and Iago confirms he has it using statements like “I should be wise; for honesty’s a fool and looses that it works for,” Act III Scene iii line 378-379, meaning he should not tell Othello what he knows or it would ruin Iago’s reputation. This sets Othello’s suspicions aflame and soon Iago is relaying to him the story about Cassio’s dream about he and Desdemona, and finally, he closes with the handkerchief, the most powerful thing which Othello held as a sacred gift of love to his wife. He is then completely overcome with jealousy and scorn for his former lover and friend, wanting death for the both of them.

In Shakespeare’s play “Othello” the main characters Othello and Desdemona suffer a tragic fate due to their actions and unforeseen circumstances. A majority of Desdemona’s suffering is down to Iago’s manipulation. However, it could also be argued that Iago is not completely to blame for the misfortune of Desdemona. We as the readers can see evidence of this at certain points in the play where Iago has planted the seeds of despair and Desdemona and Othello have fallen for his plans. In this essay, I will look at key moments in the play where Desdemona is presented as a tragic victim by the writer and justify why she is a tragic victim using quotes from the play.