"Othello": the Play

It is possibly right to stipulate that Othello is rather a mere character in nature but is later maneuvered by the character Iago and falls into his own defeat. The play identifies him as “one who is not easily jealous, but being wrought, perplexed in the extreme” it can be further indicated that these description befits Othello perfectly and thus pays tribute to him as well.  Despite the fact that he was not usually affected by any of the underlying circumstances, he let his trait to opening up to the witty level of deceptions. He was therefore a victim of circumstance as he was left to act with little or no reflection. Firstly, Othello is perceived or rather portrayed as a trustful man and he is always very ambivalent when it comes to the aspect of trust. He therefore puts so much trust to his long time friend, Iago, to the point that the elements of confidence and trust are depicted on his friend Iago. Iago was his immediate friend and a dedicated soldier serving with him in the army (Shakespeare 1-34). The two are depicted to be sharing an extraordinary form of friendship which penetrates through to there marriages so that Elizabeth and Desdemona are also friends despite there status in the society. The fact that Iago and Othello’s wife are very close friends indicates or rather proves the high level of confidence Othello had put in his friend Iago. It later emerges that the confidence is misplaced and later finds its way into Othello’s heart so that he starts feeling a miss in the trust of his woman. The level of friendship between Desdemona and Iago had grown into a level of point of no return.   Unaware of the fake friendship, Othello suspects his wife to have changed drastically into something he could not understand at all; in a soliloquy he retorts aloud of his wife’s suspecting behavior. He suspects that she is having an extra marital affair outside there marriage. Despite the fact that he does not know for sure whom Desmonada is cheating with, it grows into an intense level of jealousness so that he always finds fault for every action his wife engages in. The jealous is not expected to end any time soon as it grows stronger and seems like he cannot hold it aback anymore. It is a known fact that human beings, particularly men, loose there sense of imagination when there mind gets corrupted of love. Othello loose his sense of right consciousness and embarks on perceiving everything as a threat to his success and the vulnerable place for which he can solace is stress lies in his marriage.  He is later out-done by his jealous and kills his wife as a way of putting an end to his pain for the deception he had always carried along altogether.  It is indicated that Othello was of non-European origin as his skin was black, presumably, he was black African.  As a barbaric black- man, it is expected that he gets jealous so much. The fact that he is a black man married to a white woman is a clear indication that he was ready to protect his love at whatever costs available. He was also an army commander which depicted the higher level of integrity which he posses. For this reason, he is not ready to have his wife cheat on him and because of that, turned out to be as a jealous character. It is so hard to believe that a once young and energetic man who loved his wife to the core turned out to be the murderer of the thing he loved most. This is completely illogical but as fate holds, (as Shakespeare’s puts it) men are bound to be jealous of there spouses altogether (Bradley 1-23). The real problem arises when Othello’s jealous overshadows his way of thinking so that he kills his wife. This is perceived to be the start of his downfall since he is later arrested after being demoted. He ceases from being the army commander he was once to a prisoner locked in the very chambers he used to put other criminals. He later learns that his wife, in fact loved him so much and that he incorrectly killed her. He feels so desperate and guilty and decides to confront Iago. His problems continue when he decides to kill Iago in order to avenge his wife but decides otherwise, that is, he lets Iago live with the guilt of Desdemona death.

Othello’s problem reaches its maxim when he draws his sword and commits suicide with it. It is wise to indicate that were it not for Othello’s failure to understand the morality of his wife then these problems could not have occurred. It is so sad that Othello put his trust and confidence to a friend who turns out to be ill-motivated towards Othello for he (Iago) was jealous of Othello’s level of success. It is also true to stipulate that Iago’s jealous of Othello leaked and thus derailing Othello to lead a life he was not ready for at all.

I think that it is very important for Othello to be black in the play since the issue of race and color is brought up through him (Zarate 1-10). For instance, Iago is jealous of Othello’s capability of finding himself a fine white woman yet he was black. Othello does not understand that Othello can have such a beautiful spouse and thus dismisses it as an opportunistic move on the part of Othello. In the play, Iago refers to Othello as a young black ram that is squeezes the good matter from the white snow. To Iago, Othello was just but an opportunistic lucky black ram. It is also important for Othello to be black since it is through his race that we as readers are able to get a glimpse of Elizabeth attitudes thus reconsidering our arguments wisely as the play unfolds altogether. It is notable that Shakespeare used a black character to affect a difference of his usual dominant white characters. Othello as a black character has been used to rather sensitize the readers of the importance of race and that interracial marriages are never impossible at all.

Othello’s black skin is helpful in tracing his origins and therefore acts as a platform through which we can easily analyze his character traits in that matter. It is with the great sense of race that we are able to find out the pressing factor underlying Iago’s jealousy behavior. It is also important that Othello was black since he is an army commander. Black is always associated with strength and it is therefore presumably right to argue that Othello is a black and thus holds the position of an army commander.

I think it is true to indicate that Desdemona is not a wimp altogether, she has been mistaken for something she is not at all: she is not an immoral or promiscuous woman in that matter. Othello must have lost the trust he had in her but needed to understand that Desdemona was a rather intriguing courageous woman who befits her character role so well easily For instance, she is perceived as telling off Othello whenever he finds fault with the house maid(Elizabeth). She does not fear her husband at all and goes ahead to overlook the fact that he was an army commandant, in fact she remains steady and courageous in her undertakings.  Her courageous character is also perceived when she tells Iago off when he tried to hit on her. She is a firm woman who holds her moral right and straight. Desdemona is also stubborn in her undertakings and would not allow nothing come between her and her integrity.

I do think that Iago is not a motiveless malignity or rather “a devil who does evil for it owns its own sake”. This so for the simple reason that he yearns for power. For instance, in the play Iago is depicted as a jealous character especially of Othello. Iago is after Othello’s power and works his way out in order to bring Othello down knowing very well that he would replace him as an army commandant. It is therefore wise to implicate that Iago is not just practicing evil out of fun; he is a calculative fellow whose desire is to possess everything from Othello. He is also jealous of Othello and his wife and that’s the reason that made him drive Othello into killing his wife, Desdemona. However, Desdemona’s death comes as a surprise as he did not intend her to die. He in fact wanted a relationship with her as he had always loved her so much. It will therefore be illogical to stipulate that Iago’s intention was to have Desdemona killed, though his actions actually drove Othello into doing it altogether.