Othello's Ambition In The Merchant Of Venice

his daughter’s husband or he has to die. In The Merchant of Venice we see that the cycle never stops, it is a constant switch between the two characters and their position as the victim or the culprit. This tells us that the Venetian society is not consistent in their laws, because what counts for a Christian does not count for a Jew. It is not right to kill or harm a Christian but it is alright to harm a Jew and this contributes to this perpetuating cycle.

In another play from Shakespeare, Othello, we can almost see the same pattern emerging between the characters. Othello, the main character, is seen as the strong outsider whom everybody looks up to. He never really does anything wrong, he is always courteous towards other, but he is labeled as the culprit. Iago is the one who for most of the play puts this label on Othello because

Firstly Othello is seen as the culprit because Iago believes that Othello slept with his wife, Emelia, “I hate the Moor, and it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets. He has done my office.” (Shakespeare, I.iii.386-388:53) and Iago is also angry at Othello because he did not get the position as Othello’s lieutenant, “Despise me if I do not. Three great ones of the city, in personal suit to make me his lieutenant, off-capp’d to him; and, by the faith of man, I know my price, I am worth no worse a place;” (Shakespeare, I.i.8-11:23), thus Iago regards himself as the victim, because he did not get the position. Iago wants Othello’s life and everything that he has achieved, because Othello is a cultural and racial outsider. Iago studies Othello’s behavior and starts to recognize his weaknesses and use them to drive Othello to his downfall, making Iago the culprit and Othello the victim. Because of the fact that Othello is an outsider and his self-consciousness and his defense about his differences from the other Venetians,