Decisions, Decisions
The choices that people make can be seen in an evil or good nature way, just like everyday people. Even Shakespeare knew this and wanted to add this theme to his plays. In Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, Othello was our hero. Every hero has flaws that lead to their undoing. Othello’s poor decision making was caused by his flaws. His tragic flaws include: making poor judgments, irrational decisions, and his insecurity. These reasons are his downfall. Shakespeare starts off with Othello making poor decisions from the start of the play. Othello made a bad choice by running off at night to marry a woman he didn’t truly know. Thoughtout the whole play Othello was making bad judgements. The worst one he made was trusting Iago with such little to go on. Othello watched in act 4 scene 1 where Iago was talking to Cassio as a great friend, trying to get Cassio to “talk” about the affair with Desdemona. If Iago can break a best friend bond why wouldn’t he lie to
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The down side to this is that he is impulsive in major life decisions, an example would be getting married to a woman that fell in love with him because she felt pity for him. Othello stated that Desdemona only fell in love with him for his lonely and depressing life. Othello said, “She loved me for the dangers I had past, / And I loved her that she did pity them.” Whiling explains how Desdemona fell in love with him (1.3.166-7). Another irrational decision he acted hastily upon was to kill his wife so soon after he thought she was having an affair. Othello didn’t really think about his decisions before he made them. He just acts upon his emotions, which is effective during a battle. When someone is driven by emotions that person has made themselves a time bomb, soon that time bomb will go off. Othello timer went off in the wrong place with the wrong
The sympathy felt for a character often remains through character revelation. In spite of the change in personality and morals the first impression of the character is not forgotten. Othello who commits violent acts throughout the play ends his life with honour, reminding us he was originally introduced as a respected man of high position. A person can be manipulated by others to act outside of their character, and their emotions can blind them from making good decisions. In the end a person’s true character is reflected upon the way they react to the results of their wrong doing.
Now, Desdemona does not get to live out her life, all because of one man’s jealousy. These two examples reveal that Othello’s stupidity and his desire for revenge influence his decision to yell at and eventually kill Desdemona, showing how an innocent woman was caught in the crosshairs of a bigger
The characteristics of Othello includes passion, obligation, courage, jealousy and intelligence. These are great characteristics to have, but proves to eventually lead to Othello’s demise. Othello was a foreigner from Africa who was sort of accepted into the Venetian society, only because of his excellent track record of winning wars, but he was an outsider and never fully accepted. Othello enjoyed the status and luxuries of being a General and leading the defense of Venice. He also understood that he
Unfortunately, he trusted the wrong person due to his growing lack of self-esteem. Iago, a hypocrite who hid his evil thoughts by appearing as a man of extreme honesty, saw that he could erode Othello’s self-esteem because of who he was, a moor living in European society. He realized he could manipulate Othello for his own evil ends. He slyly used pathos to gain his trust, saying, “My Lord, you know I love you” (III.iii.118) to convince him of his honesty and reliability. Then he suggested the unpredictable nature of Desdemona by saying, “Ay, there’s the point: as, to be bold with you, not to affect many proposed matches of her own clime, complexion, and degree, whereto we see in all things nature tends - Foh!”
Othello falls for Iago’s lies because he sees Othello as a trustworthy man. The reason Othello’s trust in Iago is high, it is because of his honesty, giving him the name “Honest Iago,” and Othello has also known him for years. Throughout the whole story, Othello is lead to believe Iago’s lies and would trust him more than anyone else even his wife Desdemona. With Iago trying manipulate Othello, it works well causing him to do things leading to disbelieve the close people around him.
Throughout the play, he would often talk about Iago in the same manner as in Act 2, scene 2, “a man he is of honesty and trust”( II,ii. 323-324). Given that Othello trusted who he thought was his best friend, it was easier for Iago to bring Othello down. The root of Iago’s evil intentions is jealousy, which he describes to be like a “green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on” (III,iii. 196-197). He speaks of it in a way that captures how it affects man because that is what he was going through after Cassio got the lieutenancy.
Othello starts to believe Iago’s lies about his friends and wife, leading Othello to change his behavior towards his closest allies. Iago instigates a fight between Cassio and Montano, and Othello must take charge of his soldiers, he says: Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter, Making it light to Cassio. Cassio, I love thee But never more be officer of mine. (2.3.210-213) Othello makes the decision to fire Cassio, and things get worse when Iago makes his wife, Emilia, steal Desdemona 's handkerchief.
The play Othello by William Shakespeare paints a picture of a noble character by the name of Othello. Othello’s nature was “noble, innocent, modest, and free” and yet he still possessed several tragic flaws that ultimately led to his downfall (Martin 47). Othello suffered from many flaws but the largest were jealousy, quick judgment, and blind trust in Iago. While Othello’s tragic flaws were clearly present these flaws would never have led to Othello’s downfall had it not have been for Othello’s greatest flaw, blind trust in Iago. Othello’s blind trust in Iago led to other flaws such as jealousy and quick judgment playing a major role in Othello’s life in the play Othello by William Shakespeare.
Othello is so blind from jealousy that Iago ends up brainwashing and manipulating Othello into killing his wife. Othello chooses to kill himself after coming to his senses and realizing what he did, he states, “I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this, killing myself, to die upon a kiss.” He now becomes aware that he made the wrong judgements towards the one person who showed him true love and commitment. It is a little too late when Othello eventually realizes that Iago has betrayed him.
The tragedy of Othello written by William Shakespeare presents the main character Othello as a respectable, honorable, and dignified man. However, because of his insecurities and good nature he is easily taken advantage of and manipulated by his alleged friends. Shakespeare is known for his exceptional ability to compose plays full of deceit, revenge, and jealousy. Jealousy is an underlying theme throughout the tragedy and has been represented by many of the main characters, such as Iago, Roderigo, and Othello. The topic of jealousy will ultimately lead to the demise of many characters throughout the tragedy.
The development of characters that Achebe Chinua (Things Fall Apart) and William Shakespeare (Othello) had done in their own stories are phenomenal. (SNT) Othello and Okonkwo’s Tragic flaws Okonkwo 's flaw is that of pride, being incredibly proud of his heritage and his refusal of allowing an alien community and its religion infiltrate daily life (Douglas, 107). Othello 's major flaw is his jealousy.
In Act 4, Iago lies to Othello saying,“What if I had said I had seen him do you wrong?” convincing Othello of Desdemona and Cassio’s affair (4.1.24). Iago knows Othello’s jealousy overwhelms him at the thought of Cassio and Desdemona, giving Iago control over Othello’s emotions and
He is manipulative and tells Othello to “observe her [Desdemona] well with Cassio” (Shakespeare, 3.3:197). Iago feeds Othello with countless lies and makes him miserable with something that is not factual. He is determined to get revenge and he does not realize Iago stands insincere. Furthermore, Iago is selfish when he tells Othello, “I am yours for ever” (3.3:479). He betrays Othello yet still let’s him depend on him for his own
He gets so angry that he smothers Desdemona, he soon realizes that this was a mistake. This is a very weak point for Othello, because he has let the world get between he and his love. He was not strong enough to carry the both of them
Shakespeare’s ability to illustrate the battle between good and evil is arguably one of his best skills as a writer. Incorporating the art of the morality play, he shows the battle of these two forces for a man’s soul. But the beauty of his writing comes to light in how he shows this process. In both Macbeth and Othello, Shakespeare portrays evil as corrupting, while the source of evil differs.