Humans are the most complex beings on earth, and disaster often arises when humans begin to bond. They will claim to love one another, but they flounder when it comes to showing it. This is one of the major themes of Othello. Othello is a Shakespearean tragedy that takes place in Venice, Italy. The play is about a Moorish man named Othello who comes from a royal family and is married to Desdemona. He is a formidable general of the Venetian army but he still encounters prejudice in the play despite his prowess. He becomes manipulated by a man named Iago, who is envious of Cassio's position as lieutenant. Iago mars Othello's mental stability by feigning Desdemona's disloyalty with Cassio. More and more throughout the play, Othello continues to
Othello’s lieutenant, Cassio is a young and inexperienced soldier (we are told this in the beginning of the play when Cassio is first spoken of), whose high position is much resented by Iago. Truly devoted to Othello, Cassio is extremely ashamed after being implicated in a drunken brawl on Cyprus and losing his place as lieutenant. Iago uses Cassio’s youth, good looks, and friendship with Desdemona to play on Othello’s insecurities about Desdemona’s fidelity.
Iago’s manipulation of Othello is the most significant in the play Othello. Although, Iago’s elaborate plan would never have worked without careful manipulation of Othello’s honorable lieutenant, Cassio. In the third scene of act two, Iago uses his established credibility and pathos to manipulate Cassio’s emotions. The scene starts with Othello telling Cassio to assist Iago in standing guard through the night. When Iago arrives, he begins his manipulation by shifting the conversation to Othello’s wife Desdemona, which leads Cassio to say, “She is indeed perfection” (Shakespeare, 2.3.22). Iago uses this conversation to direct Cassio’s emotions. Immediately after Cassio confesses his feeling for Desdemona, Iago tells Cassio he has a “stoup of wine,” and wants to have a toast to Othello’s health (2.3.23). With persuasion from Iago, Cassio takes part in the toast and gets drunk. Shortly after Cassio leaves, Iago sends Roderigo, a former suitor to Desdemona, to start a fight with him. Not long after, Roderigo runs back pursued by Cassio. Iago, knowing
Evidence of jealousy in Iago is more prominent and very evident in the beginning of the play when he explains to Roderigo that Othello has moved Cassio to lieutenant (the position Iago desires) although three of Venice’s most noble nobleman have informed Othello and Iago has fought in front of Othello in Rhodes and Cyprus (Shakespeare 1.1. 10 - 30). Iago’s sly behavior and ability to use other character’s roles and trust such as Othello’s love for Desdemona, Cassio’s pride in serving as Othello’s trustful lieutenant, and Rodrigo's over commitment to win over Desdemona from Othello allows his plan to fall through. His motive throughout the play is to get Cassio demoted from the
determine as to which one will win, so that is why one cannot exist without the other. However, there are some whose emotions are unbalanced, which causes them to near towards one side more than the other one and many times the side a lot of people prefer to lean on is evil. Shakespeare’s play Othellois set in 16thcentury Venice and Cyprus. Othello, a noble black general from the Venetian army has secretly married Desdemona, daughter of Venice senator Brabantio. Othello chooses inexperienced Cassio to be his lieutenant, while he decides to give the ensign position to Iago, a malicious but very experienced man who, with his stealth and knavery, will ultimately ruin almost everyone’s life since for a long time, he was desiring the position of lieutenant just like Cassio. At the end of the play, Othello, Desdemona, Iago’s wife Emilia, and his sidekick Roderigo die due to his revenge against Cassio, for obtaining the position he wanted and Othello, for being the man who he hates the most. The play ends with Iago being told that he will be punished and tortured for his actions. However, despite the fact that Iago is punished at the end of the play for doing all of the malicious things he did, he still manages to wear down Othello’s relationship with Desdemona, get Cassio demoted from his lieutenancy, and cause Othello to show his cowardness by
Throughout Othello, the dramatic irony of “Honest” Iago is detrimental. Iago serves as Othello’s main attendant and is expected to get the promotion to lieutenant. Unexpectedly though, Othello gives the promotion of lieutenant to Michael Cassio. In all, this catalyzes Iago’s plot for revenge and destruction that will destroy every
William Shakespeare’s Othello, the Moor of Venice is a play of great manipulation and jealousy. Iago is the antagonist character of the play Othello. Iago becomes irate and filled with jealousy when Othello names Michael Cassio as his lieutenant, because Iago believed he should have been the one promoted not Michael Cassio. By manipulating everyone around him, Iago portrays himself as an honest noble man whom can be trusted. Iago being known for the honest man he earns everyone’s trust and therefore learns their weakness for his ultimate plan of destruction. Iago’s greatest skill is disguising his manipulative schemes of destroying and betraying the ones around him with what he leads people to believe as honesty. Iago uses their
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.
Manipulation is a very powerful word. People utilize it everyday to get what they want. By deceiving someone and tricking them into seeing a desired opinion or point of view, people gain power. To effectively take advantage of the power of manipulation, a person must exploit and use another person's weaknesses. By using a person's own thoughts and feelings against them, they are able to be manipulated with ease. In Shakespeare's tragedy Othello, these tactics are used almost to perfection by Iago and as is Othello, Trickery and manipulation are ever present in the comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Both of these iconic works of literature are riddled with acts of deceit and treachery and contain overarching themes related to manipulation.
Othello, not knowing that Cassio was in fact speaking with Desdemona in hopes of being reinstated as Lieutenant, mistakenly believes that the two are having an affair and that Desdemona has lost her chastity. Iago skillfully capitalizes on the situation by developing his attack further: "She did deceive her father, marrying you" (3.3.220). Othello begins to see Iago's reasoning: if she could deceive her father, she could just as easily deceive her new husband. Once Othello's bliss has been decimated, Iago concentrates on weakening Othello's perception of himself; Iago very carefully and very tactfully chooses words and metaphors that subconsciously pit Othello against the Venetians. Othello begins to perceive himself as an outsider in his own country, "a malignant and turbaned Turk" (5.2.365). A fruitful marriage with a Venetian woman becomes out of the question in Othello's mind. Iago's successful manipulation takes a self-confidant man and reduces him to one at ends with himself and with the woman he loved.
In Othello by William Shakespeare, there are many instances of manipulation, and when characters go behind people’s backs, it is guaranteed to end badly. After Othello names Michael Cassio as his new lieutenant, Iago becomes enraged and comes up with a manipulative plan in order to become the new lieutenant. This plan includes tricking Othello to make him think his wife is cheating on him with Cassio, making Cassio look bad while he's drunk, and putting misleading ideas in the heads of people involved. Previous to the manipulation, Iago is known around town as a nobel, honest man; so his plan works just as he wanted it to until the very end. By using Iago, Shakespeare makes the theme of manipulation very relevant; he uses everyone in his circle and it quickly has a ripple effect and turns everyone against each other.
Michael Cassio is Othello’s army lieutenant. Michael Cassio is predominantly used by Iago as a tool to inflict jealousy upon Othello. Cassio’s good looks and his friendship with Desdemona makes him an easy target for Iago to plant the seed of doubt in Othello’s mind about his wife cheating on him. Cassio’s personality is gregarious and loyal; he is respected by all of the town folk. At the beginning of the play, Michael Cassio is a proud, humble, army lieutenant of Othello’s.
In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Othello, Iago demonstrates a mastery of manipulation over people who had previously trusted and confided in him. His sudden turn from Othello’s loyal ensign to rage-filled villain seems indicative of a man who can no longer accept his position in life. Iago’s plotting of Othello’s demise starts as idle talk of a disgruntled 28 year-old career military man passed over for promotion. Iago believes that such a promotion may never come after Othello rejects his candidacy and makes it clear that he did not believe him suitable. He sees Othello is only concerned with personal and political gain with his choice of Cassio as lieutenant. When Iago teams with love-scorned and desperate Roderigo, he begins
In other words, Cassio is a man who knows as much about war as an old woman does, unless it is what he has read in books. Therefore, Iago finds him hardly qualified for the job he has gained. Iago is also jealous toward Othello because it is rumored that he has slept with his wife Emilia. (Find Quote In Book) Iago now has a motive to make Othello think that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair to get revenge on Othello and achieve his goal. His hatred and jealously toward Othello and Cassio seem to turn Iago, himself into “the green-eyed monster” (III.iii.1203) that leads him down a path of destruction.
Secondly, the abuse of power by males through manipulation has great effects on the freedom of women and creates a never-ending cycle in which the misuse of power allows them to gain more of it. At one scene in the play Iago tries to console Othello’s lieutenant Cassio after a drunken fight results in the stripping of his lieutenancy. Iago uses the phrase, “You or any man living may be drunk at a time, man” (2.3.332-333). His remark displays awareness of the fact that there are different expectations for the actions of men and women, which he uses to lessen the blame on Cassio. Instead of relinquishing Cassio’s position, Iago takes his aforementioned power and uses it to proclaim that men have a right to be drunk and thus cannot be held accountable
A wave generates in the bountiful, tranquil ocean gradually it gains momentum swelling and growing until colliding, crashing, splattering, destroying everything in its wake. In Othello, Shakespeare creates a vivid drama that incorporates controversial social standards of race, class distinctions, as well as gender, he weaves these ideas using bold striking characters. These characters are molded in such a way that they are vulnerable to Iago’s manipulative scheming that consumes him. While on the surface, it may seem like jealousy is the driving force of manipulation, it is, in fact, isolation that more dramatically impacts the manipulation of the various characters. Throughout Othello, manipulation is increasingly developed through isolation,