Throughout the play it is obvious that Iago is deceiving Othello into thinking that his wife is unfaithful. Through Iago’s soliloquy, it brilliantly demonstrates how Othello was tricked into believing a tale that was not true, while using Cassio and Roderigo his personal puppets to carry out his vendetta. Through lies, deception, intrigue, hate and envy, we see the demise of Othello and
Claudius possesses all the qualities of a villain: ambition, greed, jealousy, selfishness,dishonesty,tyranny. He does not hesitate before he kills his brother being driven by jealousy and power thirst. Claudius is an example of the monstrous-like people of the society becauseClaudius commits the biggest of dishonesty: towards his own blood. The problem with Claudius is that between honesty and betrayal he chooses betrayal, between love and selfishness he would go for selfishness. All that selfishness causes his life to lack love and that is what leads him to destruction.
Deception is a key element in most of the Shakespeare plays. It is done in many different ways and has special purposes like creating confusion between characters and leading them into making certain decisions. Deception can be done with the help of physical disguise as we see in the two plays The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing. We have to keep in mind that it is not only the characters deceiving each other but also the author himself attempts to deceive the audience. In both plays The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing we experience deception as a major concept.
In the eye of the audience Iago is a manipulative, deceptive and jealous character whose only plan is to retaliate against Othello. Iago is believed throughout the play to be a valiant confidante, but in fact he is the villain in the play, eventually resulting in the death of everyone surrounding Othello. His carefully planned actions ensures this scheme which is driven by his jealousy of Othello’s position. His deep rooted strategy reveals the true complexity of his character. He is depicted as a malicious villain who uses deception, and manipulation to account for his jealousy in order to create the demise of those who oppose his ideas.
Deception is an action driven with the motive to employ one purpose which can be to mislead another individual in order to gain knowledge, to get revenge, or to reveal a plan unknown to the public eye and keeping it that way for the dutiful well-being of the Kingdom of Denmark. In the tragedy Hamlet by William Shakespeare, deception develops into the character trait that initiates the actions, heartbreak, and revenge driving this play. This attribute held by Hamlet is the leading cause of this same flaw development in Ophelia, King Claudius, and many others in an attempt to reinforce the theme. This theme is one of heroism, but the deceptive notion each action reveals challenges the perception the reader has on each of the main characters. In order to be able to fully analyze the part Hamlet’s deception plays in driving the plot and storyline of this tragedy, one must understand that a foil character juxtaposes each character to illuminate their shortcomings.
Shakespeare excelled in the art of presenting complex themes in the most subtle ways. Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing presents the theme of deception. The plot of the play is woven around the traps of deceit, from the ends of both the antagonists as well as the protagonists. Thus, it shows deception in two forms- in its malevolence, driven by evil notions and motives; and also its benevolence, when employed for the better good. Either ways, all the characters are involved in deceit, sometimes employing it and at the other instances, falling victim to it.
Through his thoughts that he speaks to himself through the play, the audience can understand evil in its sincerest form. Iago 's villain characteristics were evident from the beginning of "Othello" in act one scene one. Roderigo is the first person that Iago begins to infect with his manipulative ways. Iago also made his hatred known towards Othello because Othello chose Micheal Cassio to be his lieutenant instead of Iago. The other reasons given in the play for Iago 's hatred toward Othello is Iago suspects Othello and Emilia (Iago 's wife) of adultery.
As the play develops, the protagonist Hamlet deceives Claudius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and at times himself. Hamlet operates by deception which is constructed by a battle within himself that bears the question, “Kill Claudius or spare his life?’. This battle comes about after an interaction with the ghost of his father that triggers him to be deceptive, ultimately leading to the total demolition of an empire. Each of these instances of deceit contributes to the message underlying the work as a whole, which reveals; revenge is not the answer. Deception is the driving force behind this play, which in its entirety, reveals that seeking vengeance and holding grudges is not the answer to life’s many mysteries.
Main characters such as Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, Duncan, Banquo, the witches and Lennox continuously establish the theme of deception throughout the play. They seem to be good in their appearance, but in reality, they might have dark secrets that they want to hide from everyone else. Shakespeare explores the concept of deception through rhetorical devices such as, dramatic irony, characterization, and the use of symbolism Dramatic irony is a literary technique, by which the meaning of a character 's words or actions is evident to the audience/reader, yet unknown to the character. This is a literary technique that Shakespeare uses to explore to concept of deception in this play. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony firstly when Lady Macbeth orders Macbeth to kill Duncan to take over the throne.
Much like these individuals, Iago, from William Shakespeare’s, Othello, is truly diabolical. Throughout the play, he commits atrocious acts towards Cassio and Roderigo. Withal, by getting Cassio drunk and stabbing him as well as using Roderigo as a purse and murdering him, Iago exemplifies his contemptible nature and his twisted character. Furthermore, Iago is also truly immoral because of his acts towards Cassio. Iago commits atrocious acts to Cassio in order to attain revenge for not being named lieutenant instead of Cassio.