Othello Today Essay, Research Paper

Othello by William Shakespeare remains an amazing, well-read and often-performed drama, approximately 400 years after it was first put to paper because every person that reads it can relate to a part or many parts of the play. Both the major and minor themes in Othello are emotions that are inherent to human nature. Humans of 3000 years ago felt the same things tearing at themselves as we all do in the year 2000. The fact that Shakespeare s plays are focused on emotions, Othello especially, is why he transcends time.

Othello is an extremely complex play and breaking it down into only a few main themes doesn t do it justice. However, the pulse of the tragedy is the exchanges between Othello and Iago. These, of course, lead to Othello s jealousy that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. If you take it back to the beginning of the play, it s Iago s jealousy of Cassio that causes him to make a plan to undo both Cassio and Othello.

The same jealousy shown by Iago and Othello is seen in people day-in and day-out. People become jealous about petty, frivolous things. Being beaten out for a promotion would fit in that category. Yet, just as how in New York City jealousy can cause death (It s on the news nightly), jealousy caused death in this play. Othello s murder of Desdemona for made-up reasons and Iago s attempted murder of Cassio are perfect examples.

Often, writers can go overboard when it comes to the blood and gore aspect of a film, as even Shakespeare has done at times. However, Othello s final act of murder and death does not overstep its bounds. The reason is that while Othello s death is his body s end, that is not the real tragedy of the play. The tragedy of the play is how Iago was able to viciously delude Othello and make him even consider so heinous an act as to suffocate his wife. That is the true tragedy.

Even Othello s disillusionment is also extremely easy to relate to. Everyone has lied. Everyone has gotten away with one lie or more in their life. In addition, another very recognizable aspect of life that is portrayed beautifully is how all of Iago s plans catch up to him in the final scene. Iago s feeling of despair as he realizes he has been caught in his own web is tangible. In every day life, it only takes one wrong step to destroy everything that s been set up.

Most people have not read all off the plays written by Shakespeare. Most people have not read all the tragedies written by Shakespeare. If one hadn t read a single tragedy other than Othello, they would think all of Shakespeare s work had a soap-opera feel to them and not a science-fiction feel to them. However, in all works Shakespeare successfully portrays emotions that are basic to everyone, everywhere, any time.