Free Essays on Othello

Heroic Men and Women in Othello In Shakespeare’s Othello many terrible situations befall on the characters contained in the play. Our main and title character, Othello, is especially ravished by evil deeds. He looses his mind, his wife and his own life all within the span of about two acts. It is all the more tragic because Shakespeare builds up the character of Othello as one of his greatest literary heroes. However to combat Othello’s truly heroic personality Shakespeare creates a character as evil as Othello is good. It is Iago, the antagonist of the play, who seems to hate Othello and his heroic image with no apparent motive present. Although Othello’s heroic nature fails him when Iago manipulates his thoughts to be against his wife, Desdemona, another heroic character steps in to finally put the evil to rest. In a twist of irony it turns out that Iago’s own wife, Emilia, who picks up the sword of heroism to combat the evil of Iago. It is for about only one act that this play is wit hout a truly honorable hero. It is because Othello looses his trust for Desdemona that his heart is turned to madness. However it is because Emilia keeps her trust in Desdemona that allows her to be heroic. Othello, the man, is one of the greatest generals in Venice. However Othello is also an outsider in Venice. He is described as a moor or a member of a Muslim people of mixed Berber and Arab descent. His skin color is what sets him apart from the Venetians. However instead of deeming him with negative qualities because of his skin color Shakespeare blesses him with heroic abilities as well as the heart of a hero. The audience sees how much Othello trusts his wife in the first act. Barbantio, Desdemona’s father, takes great offense to his daughter marrying a man of dark skin. He claims that Othello has wooed Desdemona â€Å"By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks† (1.3.70). However we see that Othello’s heroism transcends any r... Free Essays on Othello Free Essays on Othello Iago’s opinion of women. Shakespeare’s play Othello is based on tragedy of Othello’s jealousy, which ironically leads Othello to kill Desdemona, his beloved (wife). Evil Iago is above all Shakespeare’s villains. Iago is a person with evil emotions, and as a result he deceives everybody, he also is exceptionally influential character who has taken in everyone, above all his own wife Emilia. His public face of bravery and honesty conceals a satanic delight in manipulation and destruction, and he will stop at nothing. Iago’s opinion on women is that he detests women in all kinds and shapes, and finds faults even when they have little or no faults. It is evident that Iago refers to Desdemona as a piece of property, when He wakes up Brabantio (Desdemona’s Father) and tells him about the marriage to Othello. In Act 1 Scene 1 Line 80 he states, â€Å" Thieves, thieves! Look to your house, your daughter and your bags! † Further on Iago comes to Brabantio’s house and says to him that his daughter has been stolen, rather than saying she ran away with Othello, which reveals to us that he thinks women are the property of men. Act 1 Scene 3, Iago tells Roderigo that he shouldn’t be an inane man to even think of taking his life for a female. â€Å"Ere I would say I would drown myself for the love of a guinea hen; I would change my humanity with a baboon †. Act 1 Scene 3 Line 310. Again this reveals to us that Iago says that he would never drown himself for a female, he rather change his humanity with a monkey which is totally degrading because he sees a monkey more fit than women. Further on He refers Desdemona as a guinea hen, which denotes a whore. One might think Evil Iago is a man who hates women, for he shows no love or sympathy to women as he constantly slanders them of things they didn’t do or even think about, this is evident on Act ii Scene 1. He states "Come on,... Free Essays on Othello The ill-fated hero that so honorably battles evil only to be tripped by a single, yet fatal, character flaw is as much a part of William Shakespeare’s work as any theme in literature. This dynamic plot structure has been worked, and reworked into some of the worlds most well known, critically acclaimed literary selections, among which, Shakespeare’s Othello is a prime example. Within the text of this tragic drama, Othello’s fatal flaw can be seen to be his simple idealism, his trusting innocence to the world, and his failure to see through his jealousy. From the onset of the play, Othello is revealed to have the attributes of the most honorable of heroes. This celebrated Moorish general has lived a hard, yet ultimately victorious life to date, and has found love for the first time in Desdemona. In fact, the first hints to this innocence can be seen in his explanation of the â€Å"charms† used in the winning of Desdemona’s hand in marriage. In this, his greatest conquest, he whole-heartedly believes that his tales of battle were the driving force behind Desdemona’s love for him. This rather simple take on the complex workings of love reveals the innocent idealism behind the character Othello and his simplistic, yet pure love for the fair Desdemona. However, more pressing examples of this hero’s innocence to the world can be witnessed, by the reader, in his interactions with the evil Iago. Using Othello’s trusting soul against him, Iago plants the seeds of Desdemona’s infidelity in Othello’s head, and allows the jealous rage to fester in his mind. Refusing to believe that Iago could lie about such a matter, yet just as strongly refusing to accept that Desdemona could have betrayed him so callously, the General is wrought with frustration. This anger, facilitated by his simple, idealistic views on love and the world, causes a collapse in Othello, who initially demands physical proof, but then begins to accept... Free Essays on Othello "If Othello didn’t begin as a play about race, history has made it one." The Venetian society that Othello is set in is representative of the writers context. The attitudes and values that Shakespeare reveals through the text are those same attitudes and values of Elizabethan society in England in the sixteenth-century. Although Othello is set in Venice and Cyprus, the attitudes and values shared in the text are probably reflective of the attitudes and values of Shakespeare's own society. It is difficult to assess the attitudes and values of people in sixteenth-century Britain to the relatively few blacks living amongst them. We are given an insight into those attitudes and values through the representation of race and gender in the text of Othello.These attitudes and values are indicative of what a culture believes in and supports. By the time Othello was written the English were becoming more and more aware of the existence of other races in the world besides themselves. There had been a lot of travelling and blacks were beginning to be used in Europe for the slave trade. During the time the play was written, the Queen of England had banned all blacks from entering the city. She spoke of them as "Negars and Moors which are crept into the realm, of which kind of people there are already here too many". It seems that Shakespeare is almost mocking the Queen by characterising Othello as a black man who has a high ranking position in the Army and who marries a white aristocratic women, against her fathers will. Ruth Cowlig suggests that the presentation of Othello as the hero must have been startling for Elizabethan audiences. This may have been the case, but through the representation of Othello we are able to see that some members of society such as the Duke, looked over his colour to assign him his position whereas, others such as Iago, look on his colour as a way to mock him. Hostility is shown to Othello by c... Free Essays on Othello Othello~Is Racism The Predominant Factor Throughout The Play? Many people consider Shakespeare’s Othello to be a racist play. The main character in this controversial play is a black moor who marries a white woman, but their marriage is later destroyed by treachery, jealousy and deceit. Although there are many instance in this play that suggest that this is a racial play, racism does not actually control the play, even though it has a racist theme that is the romantic union of a black man and a white woman. This theme takes precedence over the entire play and sets up what is one of Shakespeare’s most controversial works of the time. The majority of the racial comments come from characters that are either irritated or upset. For example, when Emilia found out that Othello had killed her best friend, Desdemona, she was extremely infuriated and referred to Othello â€Å"And you the Blacker devil"(5.2.129), this was the only time in the play that she had said anything racial in reference to Othello. Her emotions could be considered to be out of rage or could also be considered that to come out because she was afraid to show them before. The major characters that have racial tensions toward Othello are Iago, Brabantio, Roderigo and Emilia, with the hatred of Othello as the basis for their racial actions and comments towards him. Roderigo speaks the first racial comment in the play, when he refers to Othello as â€Å"thicklips†(1.1.65), which is spoken out of Roderigo’s jealousy toward Othello. Iago is the most racist character in the book though, as he has it in for Othello right from the start. The event that causes this hatred of Othello and also his hatred of Cassio, occurs when it was time for Othello to choose his Lieutenant, it was Cassio who was chosen instead of Iago, even though Iago’s war experience was much greater than that of Cassio’s. Iago does not say anything racist to Othello's face but he has a lot to say against ... Free Essays on Othello Reeti Choudhury Ms.Cerrini English 11 AC 16 October 2004 Othello: Questions that lead to a Gender Approach Throughout history, it has been said that â€Å"behind every successful man, there is a woman’s hand.† â€Å" O heavy ignorance thou praisest the worse best. But what praise couldst thou bestow on a deserving woman indeed- one that in the authority of her merit did justly put on the vouch of very malice itself?.† (Shakespeare 35) This quote is the main idea of feminism in most work that Shakespeare portrays. This quote happens to be portrayed in Shakespeare’s Othello. In William Shakespeare’s works, female characters represent the foundations upon which the climax is built. â€Å" Do not doubt that; before Emilia here I give thee warrant of thy place. Assure thee, If I do vow a friendship, I’ll perform it†¦.† (Shakespeare 57) This quote shows how although women are considered less than men, they still have a right to express themselves. Women in Othello, are portrayed as secondary to the male characters. â€Å"Yet I beseech you, if you think fit, or that it may be done, Give me advantage of some brief discourse, With Desdemona alone.† (Shakespeare 56) This quote is said by Cassio, when he needs help from Emilia, so he could try to get his job back. You can notice that the women aren’t being portrayed as bad or evil in Othello, but they are portrayed as someone that could be trusted. This following quote also shows how women were portrayed as to be secondary (meaning although they were looked up to they were not thought of as to be as smart as a male character): â€Å"Emilia. Villany, villainy, villainy! I think upon’t- I think I smell’t!- O villainy! I thought so then.- I’ll kill myself for grief.-O villainy, villainy! Iago. What are ... Free Essays on Othello It is unclear whether Shakespeare intended Iago to appear as evil as he does but one thing is for sure; Iago remains one of Shakespeare’s most debated villains. It is Iago’s motives for scheming that continue to be the most intriguing aspect of his existence. Often critics tend to concentrate on discrediting his motives. Describing Iago’s motives as being weak has almost become a given. There are two general ideas from the sources that I found. One of the ideas sees Iago as a conspicuous character whose sole purpose is to generate evil. Another analysis of Iago is that Shakespeare has created Iago to be a very dramatic villain rather than an evil one. These broad generalizations do not correlate in any kind of rationalization for Iago’s demise. That is what my theory intends to elaborate on. By not establishing a clear motive, Iago’s plan becomes so broad that he involves too many people for the result to be favorable to him. His aggression against Othello starts when Othello names Michael Cassio his lieutenant rather than Iago. This motive would have been valid if he had not involved Desdemona and Emilia. He could have easily gotten revenge at Othello and Cassio by just going after them. Another possible motive is that Othello has committed adultery with Emilia. This motive brings Desdemona and Emilia into Iago’s plotting. He now feels he needs to involve everyone in his evil scheme. When Iago convinces Roderigo to start a fight with Cassio at a party, it appears obvious that Iago’s plot to become lieutenant will come full circle. But Iago consulting Cassio after the altercation makes no sense for his motive to become lieutenant. On a very surface level, Iago comes off as being just plain evil. Many critics would agree with this and would be content to think that Shakespeare created Iago to merely show evil. Richard Flatter feels that due to weak motives as a soldier and as an angry husband, I... Free Essays on Othello The Tragedy Of Othello The Theme Of Two Lovers Life In Which Was Ended Due To A Jealousy Man Othello’s downfall, which was due to Iago mass manipulative plan, is the reason the play is know as a tragedy. Tragedy is defined as a drama or another literary work that ends in the downfall of its main character. According to Greek Philosopher Aristotle, the function of tragedy is to arouse in the audience the emotions of fear and pity in order to produce a catharsis, or cleansing, of these emotions by the play’s end. The protagonist, or tragic hero, is usually a high ranking or respected person whose personality is married by a fatal weakness, or tragic flaw, that causes his or her downfall. In other words, Othello is the protagonist throughout this drama. I think Iago is one of those people who is just plain evil, kind of like a pathological liar. A pathological is someone who lies just to get a response and in Iago’s case, besides the fact he is hungry for power, he makes a scene just for fun, just to get a rise out of the people around him. He can be considered pure evil, without true motive, but he does have his stated reasons and very human excuses which still motivate people today. Iago states in act one that he has heard rumors that Othello had an affair with Emilia, Iago’s wife. Thus his revenge is to make Othello believe his own wife, Desdemona, is unfaithful. The subject of jealousy, friendship, race, and power, all comes up in Iago’s character as well. Othello is black and yet above Iago. Othello appointed the younger Cassio to be lieutenant over Iago, betraying the bonds of age, experience, trust and friendship. Othello, weakness is carried throughout the play due to jealous of his wife, Desdemona. Furthermore, Othello has been a soldier for several years but when it comes down to his wife Desdemona he like a soldier that is inexperience in his position. Othello would do anything for Desdemona even when he didn... Free Essays on Othello Role of Women in Othello In Shakespeare’s Othello, the role of women is greatly emphasized. The important characters of the play, Othello, Iago, and Cassio, each have a women that stands behind him. These women each have an obligation to remain loyal and respect their husband's wishes, especially Desdemona and Emilia. We see Desdemona as a young beautiful white female, madly in love with a powerful black man. She is strong inside but doesn't tend to show that side of her as much as she would want to. She tends to play the peace-maker in her marriage and is always trying to understand Othello. Throughout the play she struggles to prove her loyalty and respect to her husband, no matter what it takes she tries to be a good wife. At the beginning of the play when Brabantio, confronts Othello and Desdemona about their relationship, she does not hesitate to defend her husband to her father, regardless of the consequences she faced. She is brought in by her father to the court to be questioned for her actions, she replies with utter respect to her father, but devotion to her husband". To you I am bound for life and education....I am hitherto your daughter. But here is my husband. And so much duty as my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father...(act1,sc3L210). In other words, she is grateful to her father for what he has given to her but will stand by the side of her husband, as any women should. Even while Othello is accusing her of having an affair with Cassio, and insulting her calling her a whore, her responsibility of standing by her man and trying to understand him still remains. As angered as she may be with what he just called her, she questions him politely, as to why he is saying such things. She knows she doesn't deserve that but how could she defend herself to her husband, without disrespecting him. In her mind a women should never disrespect her husband, or suggest that he is wrong. In her mind when he ca... Free Essays on Othello â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† Lorraine Hansberry wrote the award winning play† A Raisin in the Sun.† It is set in Chicago’s Southside in the late 1940’s. The story reflects her own experience of racial harassment when her successful family moved into a white neighborhood. She got her title from a line in a Langston Hughes poem named,† Harlem (A Dream Deferred) (534) –What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? (1-3) This title is in reference to one of the main characters. He has a dream but racial tension going on at the time and his family’s opinion and interference does not help his dream come true. Walter Lee Younger is a man in his mid 30’s. He is a chauffer. He lives with his wife Ruth, his son Travis, his mother Lena, and his sister Benetha. Walter has a serious conflict with his wife. They are talking about a plan that he and his friend have to open a liquor store. He has it all figured out but his wife shuns him because she things his partner, Willy Harris is â€Å"a good-for-nothing loud mouth†(1.1.992). He sarcastically reminds her about the last â€Å"good-for-nothing loud mouth† she didn’t like-â€Å"Charlie Atkins was just a good-for-nothing loud mouth too, wasn’t he! When he wanted me to go into the dry cleaning business with him. And now he is grossing a hundred thousand a year. A hundred thousand dollars a year! And you still call him a loud mouth!† (1.1.992). Walter is very upset and bitter with his wife over the fact that they could have been getting this money and been successful. He also feels that she isn ’t being supportive of him. Everything he tries to do she talks down upon him. He tries to explain that he and Willie have everything figured out she stops him and shows no interest in what he has to say-â€Å" Walter leave me alone! Eat your eggs they gonna get cold â€Å" (1.1.993) his point of why he thinks she is not supporting him pro... Free Essays on Othello The Webster’s dictionary defines a motif as a recurrent thematic element in a musical, artistic, or literary work. In the play Othello, by William Shakespeare, an overriding motif is animals. The characters use reference to animals to show their hatred and scorn to other characters in the play, especially Iago towards Brabanzio, Roderigo, and Othello. There are occurrences in the speech of other characters that also play a significant role. The reference to animals conveys a sense that the laws of nature, rather than those of society, are the primary forces governing the characters in the play. Iago is a manipulative character, and uses his wise tongue to influence others and their feelings. In the beginning of the play, when Iago informs Brabanzio of the whereabouts of his daughter, he refers to Desdemona and Othello to be, â€Å"Making the beast of two backs.† (I.i.117-118). He does this so Brabanzio becomes angry with Othello and possibly cause enough harm and havoc in his life to give Iago what he wishes, power. Iago is manipulating Brabanzio because he secretly is plotting the fall of Othello, but wants everyone else to seem at fault. He is thinking about no one else except himself. We see the overriding concept of the motif when Iago continues his devilish ways with Roderigo by ridiculing him for his foolish attempt of killing himself. After Roderigo failed at gaining the love of Desdemona, suicide became an option. When Iago became aware of this, he told Roderigo, â€Å"Ere I would drown myself for the love of a guinea-hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon.† (I.iii.312-313). He does nothing to encourage Roderigo after a very emotional moment in his life. He makes the situation worse when he says that drowning is only for â€Å"Cats and blind puppies.† (I.i.330-331). Instead of helping Roderigo in the time of need, he uses this opportunity to anger Roderigo and uses him as a pawn in his game against Othello... Free Essays on Othello â€Å"Othello’s stature as a tragic hero is severely compromised by the alacrity with which he turns against his wife, and by his failure to achieve any real self knowledge† To what extent do you agree? Othello’s stature as a tragic hero is severely compromised by the speed and ease with which he turns against his wife, and by his failure to achieve any real self knowledge. In the Shakespearian tragedy of Othello, we witness the character of Othello fall from a position of control in Venetian society due to a combination of different reasons. Othello has a deep self-love for himself, and it is because of this he turns against his wife Desdemona with a great speed and ease. A traditional ‘tragic hero’ portrays four major characteristics: firstly, the tragic hero is a figure of high standing/esteem in the community; secondly, there is an agency that leads to the fall of the hero whether within the hero himself or from an outside figure/source; the third characteristic is a moment of self-realisation or self-awareness and the last characteristic is that the fall of the hero results in death. Othello is portrayed as a well-respected citizen within the Venetian society. He can be seen as an intelligent and heroic military leader whose skill is indeed very valuable and necessary to the state and he knows this. His military success has promoted his position within Venetian society, and as a ‘Moor’ within the white dominated society, he has a strong desire to maintain his social standing, and is prepared to sacrifice anything which threatens his reputation, which leads to the eventual death of Desdemona. Othello is trusted by everyone in Venice being called, â€Å"valiant Othello† and â€Å"brave Othello† and described as â€Å"...more fair than black† (I, iii, 286). He has been given full martial and political command of Cyprus and is a figure of high standing and esteem within the Venetian community. Othelloï ¿ ½... Free Essays on Othello In the play Othello, by William Shakespeare, the main character, Othello, experiences a heroic struggle within his own mind, which leads to his downfall. He feels that it is directly based on his cultural background. The villain in the play, Iago, puts this in his mind when he tells Othello that his wife, Desdemona is having an affair and claims that he saw Cassio with Desdemona’s handkerchief. Othello becomes angry of this and reflects his cultural background, how his is black and the fact that he is a soldier and begins to experiences his own heroic downfall. The affair between Cassio and Desdemona really starts to become true to Othello when Iago claims that he saw Cassio with Desdemona’s handkerchief. The handkerchief was a gift Desdemona received from Othello. The handkerchief has been passed down from generation to generation. Othello’s mother used it to keep his father faithful to her, and it was given to Othello who gave it to Desdemona to be used in the same way. The handkerchief is a symbol of love and marriage between two people. During the play Desdemona leaves it behind and Iago plants it on Cassio. He then uses this to further convince Othello of the affair between Cassio and Desdemona. The handkerchief then changes from a symbol of love to a symbol of betrayal. This handkerchief has been in Othello’s family and is a part of his cultural background, so it is very special. The thought of Desdemona having an affair is seen, in Othello’s eyes, as an insult to his love and also to his background and th is enrages him.... Free Essays on Othello In Shakespeare’s play Othello, Iago is the antagonist. That is, he is the villain in the play Othello. He is the person who causes an action to occur which affects the other characters in the play. This action may not necessarily be a good thing. Iago is the catalyst for Othello’s change. He is the reason behind Othello’s changing views of his wife Desdemona, which results in the deaths of many of the characters in this tragedy. In order to understand the role Iago plays in destroying Othello, it is important to understand how Iago uses other characters in Othello to set his devious plot into motion. Iago successfully manipulates the characters involved to further his evil plans. He does this in such a way that the majority of the characters’ perceptions of each other change dramatically. Thus leading to Othello’s transformation and Othello’s changing views and behaviour towards his beloved wife Desdemona. Iago firstly uses Roderigo, a Veneti an gentleman, in love with Desdemona and then Cassio in the process of annihilating Othello. Cassio is Othello’s Lieutenant. Other characters Iago exploit include his own wife Emilia and Desdemona herself. Iago goes to a lot of trouble to conquer Othello. When Iago’s interaction with the other characters is understood then it can be perfectly recognised, acknowledged and understood how Iago causes Othello’s perceptions of Desdemona to change so drastically and quickly. Roderigo is the first fall under Iago’s spell of manipulation. Roderigo is convinced that Iago is genuine and does everything Iago tells him to. Iago easily convinces Roderigo to tell Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, of Desdemona’s elopement with a ‘moor’. Iago and Roderigo tell Brabantio of Othello’s marriage to Desdemona who rushes over to Othello to unsuccessfully reclaim his daughter. â€Å"An old black ram Is tupping your white ewe.† (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 90). Brabantio’s perceptions of both his daugh... Free Essays on Othello Heroic Men and Women in Othello In Shakespeare’s Othello many terrible situations befall on the characters contained in the play. Our main and title character, Othello, is especially ravished by evil deeds. He looses his mind, his wife and his own life all within the span of about two acts. It is all the more tragic because Shakespeare builds up the character of Othello as one of his greatest literary heroes. However to combat Othello’s truly heroic personality Shakespeare creates a character as evil as Othello is good. It is Iago, the antagonist of the play, who seems to hate Othello and his heroic image with no apparent motive present. Although Othello’s heroic nature fails him when Iago manipulates his thoughts to be against his wife, Desdemona, another heroic character steps in to finally put the evil to rest. In a twist of irony it turns out that Iago’s own wife, Emilia, who picks up the sword of heroism to combat the evil of Iago. It is for about only one act that this play is wit hout a truly honorable hero. It is because Othello looses his trust for Desdemona that his heart is turned to madness. However it is because Emilia keeps her trust in Desdemona that allows her to be heroic. Othello, the man, is one of the greatest generals in Venice. However Othello is also an outsider in Venice. He is described as a moor or a member of a Muslim people of mixed Berber and Arab descent. His skin color is what sets him apart from the Venetians. However instead of deeming him with negative qualities because of his skin color Shakespeare blesses him with heroic abilities as well as the heart of a hero. The audience sees how much Othello trusts his wife in the first act. Barbantio, Desdemona’s father, takes great offense to his daughter marrying a man of dark skin. He claims that Othello has wooed Desdemona â€Å"By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks† (1.3.70). However we see that Othello’s heroism transcends any r... Free Essays on Othello Cassio and Desdemona Cassio was the Othello’s lieutenant, but he didn’t have a lot of experience. His habit was opposite to Othello, but Othello admired him because he was the polite and respect soldier. Othello had believed that Cassio had something with Desdemona, but Cassio was only honorable toward her so that Iago tried to make the devil plan to Cassio in that scene. Cassio was too innocent, and he fell to Iago’s devil plan which made Cassio to get drunk and had the fight with Roderigo. Iago wanted to use Roderigo to make Cassio to have bad reputation among other people. Desdemona was the Othello’s wife, and she had the high birth and good breeding from her family in Venetian. She was a very truly wife which caused her to defend Cassio in the public area and every where. In the scene, Iago’s plan was to convince Cassio to ask for the help from Desdemona because Othello would get angry from the conversation between Desdemona and Cassio. Desdemona was stronger than Othello, but Othello didn’t believe that because he thought she was a little woman. She was not the private woman that Othello expect her to be because she liked to go to the outside world.... Free Essays on Othello Shakespeare on Film Review of Othello The American Repertory Theatre’s Othello certainly did not live up to the expected standard of the previous productions of this theatre company. I think that the directors of this show (in the end) sought to bring the audience a classical version of Othello, though not a Shakespearean version of the play. Despite this classical vision, the acting was clearly not classical, but rather, a very modern approach to classical acting. The indicating nature of the performances, particularly by Iago, was merely an attempt at a classical performance that did not echo throughout the show. The inconsistency of the performances in this show had a strong contribution to the downfall of the production as a whole. Although there were two directors with two different visions for this particular show, the quality of the acting should not have been affected. Actors still have the ability to make conscious choices about their characters regardless of a director’s overall vision of th e play. Because there was a severe lack of set and scenery in this production, the focus of the audience was continually on the actors. Thus, the moments of poor performance were intensified. One of these moments that struck me the most was the opening scene between Iago and Roderigo. This scene, until Brabantio entered, was extremely weak and did not engage the attention of the audience. At the beginning of a show this is crucial. Othello is a play that I am very familiar with. However, I found myself uninterested during this first scene, to the point where I was not sure who was the character of Iago and who was the character of Roderigo. Brabrantio’s entrance pulled the audience back into the action onstage. His entrance was powerful because I really believed that he had just been woken up and was annoyed about it. His voice was clear and thunderous. He, in a manner of speaking, woke the audience up and bro... Free Essays on Othello Analysis of Shakespeare’s Othello & Machiavelli’s The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince serves as a guideline to attain and remain successful in power. He explains what obstacles a new â€Å"prince† faces when he comes into authority. Machiavelli’s The Prince was seen as a set of instructions inspired by his experiences dealing with war and revolt. His writings are concerned with the principles on which such a state is founded, and with the means by which they can be implemented and maintained. In his most famous work, The Prince, he describes the method by which a prince can acquire and maintain political power. In his view, a prince should be concerned only with power and be bound only by rules that would lead to success in political actions. Machiavelli believed that these rules could be discovered by deduction from the political practices of the time, as well as from those of earlier periods. Cocco 2 Shakespeare’s Othello portrays the growth of unjustified jealousy in the protagonist, Othello, a Moor serving as a general in the Venetian army. The innocent object of his jealousy is his wife, Desdemona. In this tragedy, Othello's evil lieutenant Iago draws him into mistaken jealousy in order to ruin him. Shakespeare’s Othello demonstrates the usage of imagery to create a vivid account of the characteristics of the persons represented in the play. In act 1 scene 1 of Othello, two men are plotting against Othello because they feel they were deceived. One participant is a man named Roderigo, who is in love with Desdemona, Othello’s wife. The focus of the scene is Roderigo telling Desdemona’s father, Brabanzio, that she has run off to marry Othello, a moor and valiant general, but not a man of great monetary assets. The visual imagery that Shakespeare uses in this particular speech by Roderigo strongly describes the main character, Othello, as a grotesque, bestial figure who has taken Brabanzio’s d... Free Essays on Othello Not the unjust suspicions of Othello, not Iago's unprovoked treachery, place Desdemona in a more amiable or interesting light than the conversation (half earnest, half jest) between her and Æmilia on the common behaviour of women to their husbands. This dialogue takes place just before the last fatal scene. If Othello had overheard it, it would have prevented the whole catastrophe; but then it would have spoiled the play. The character of Iago is one of the supererogations of Shakespear's genius. Some persons, more nice than wise, have thought this whole character unnatural, because his villainy is without a sufficient motive. Shakespear, who was as good a philosopher as he was a poet, thought otherwise. He knew that the love of power, which is another name for the love of mischief, is natural to man. He would know this as well or better than if it had been demonstrated to him by a logical diagram, merely from seeing children paddle in the dirt or kill flies for sport. Iago in fact belongs to a class of character, common to Shakespear and at the same time peculiar to him; whose heads are as acute and active as their hearts are hard and callous. Iago is to be sure an extreme instance of the kind; that is to say, of diseased intellectual activity, with the most perfect indifference to moral good or evil, or rather with a decided preference of the latter, because it falls more readily in with his favouri te propensity, gives greater zest to his thoughts and scope to his actions. He is quite or nearly as indifferent to his own fate as to that of others; he runs all risks fo a trifling and doubtful advantage; and is himself the dupe and victim of his ruling passion-an in-satiable craving after action of the most difficult and dangerous kind. "Our ancient" is a philosopher, who fancies that a lie that kills has more point in it than an alliteration or an antithesis; who thinks a fatal experiment on the peace of a family a better thing than...