Othello Essay, Research Paper

Othello Essay

In the play Othello, the very evil and conniving character Iago deceives the main characters. He prays mostly on the main character Othello. Othello is a black general who is married to a white woman named Desdemona. In the beginning of the play Othello promotes a man named Cassio to be his right hand man in his army. Iago, thinking that he was going to get the promotion, is furious by this and swears revenge on Othello. In his revenge he uses many people. One of these people is Rodrigo. He is in love with Othello s wife Desdemona. Iago prays on Rodrigo and causes him to have a battle with Cassio. Iago prays very heavily on Othello towards the middle of the play. He begins to tell him that his wife Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio. Iago plans this perfectly. Iago tells Othello to keep close watch on his wife Desdemona. At the same time he told Cassio to be very good to Desdemona. Iago tells Cassio that the only way to be back on Othello s good side was to get close to his love, and that is Desdemona. So while Othello s suspicious are up, Cassio is being especially nice to Desdemona. Iago chose a very good time to attack Othello s emotions. At a time when Cassio has wronged Othello, he tells Cassio to get close to Othello s wife, the love of his life. For a lot of Othello s rule, Iago has been like Othello s advise giver. He has been like a best friend to Othello. Iago was not only Othello s advise giver but to many persons of power. This puts him in a great position already to do his evil bidding. Othello plays right along with Iago s plan. Othello believes everything that Iago says. In a way, he falls into Iago s plan a little to well. For Iago, everything happens at exactly the right time. Othello listens to what Iago says because Iago has gained much trust from Othello. He has no reason not to believe what Iago was saying. He played a part in his own downfall because he falls for every lie that Iago throws at him. He needed to have a stronger mind for things like that. Othello needed to think harder about what was being said to him by Iago. At the time that Iago was telling him these lies, it all seemed to make sense. Still Othello did not give it much thought. He may have questioned him a few times but he believed Iago to easily. That was the biggest part that Othello played in his own downfall, in my opinion. Another thing that he should of done was ask who ever he was suspicious of from the beginning. Even though most people wait until some sort of proof is evident, asking Desdemona and Cassio of what was going on from the beginning would of proved….. less deadly. Why didn’t he seek some other sort of advice? He should of looked at the position that Iago was in. He was not promoted. He had been along side Othello for many, many years and still he did not get the promotion that he thought he really deserved. I think that if Othello would of even considered that fact that Iago was trying to get revenge on Othello than maybe things wouldn’t have ended up the way that they did. Othello should of took some time to think of what Iago was saying. The accusations that Iago was making were very great. Othello made some irrational decisions after hearing the things that Iago had said to him. Taking time to think about what was going on should have happened as soon as Iago had mentioned anything to him about Desdemona and Cassio. This time of “thinking” should of been taken by not only Othello, but by all of the characters. Cassio is one of these characters. In the middle of the play, Iago tells Cassio that the only way to be good again with Othello was to treat Desdemona very nicely. It seemed perfect for Iago to do. Cassio only wanted to make Othello happy, so Iago knew that it was perfect for him to sujest that course of action. Cassio only wanted to get his extremely good and well known reputation back. This desire and will came from a good man. Iago included Cassio into his plan because Cassio had taken his position at the side of Othello. Cassio had done nothing to deserve what Iago was doing to him. He had no reason to deserve Iago’s not liking. The reason why he made it to be in the highest position next to Othello was because Cassio had proven himself to Othello. He was more than fit for the job. Iago targeted him due to jealousy and envy. Still, Cassio is good for Iago’s plan. He is the man that took Iago’s place. Everything that Cassio has done has been done justily and right by the law. Throughout the play he had never seemed to have any evil in him. After having the fight with Rodrigo, the only thing that Cassio wanted was to make everything right with Othello. Cassio had a good reputation and wanted it back again. This was why he was a perfect target. For Iago, removing Cassio would put him in the second in command. Iago thought that he would be able to take Desdemona down also. He would use Cassio and make it seem as though her were having an affair. It worked.

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