Othello Essay, Research Paper

In Othello, many events are more significant than others because of mental or psychological reasons. Shakespeare uses images to give contrasted thoughts to different parts of the play. Shakespeare also gives the excitement to internal events by giving the character or characters feelings, such as being angry, sad, happy, and scared. Another thing is how a character changes his feelings in a brief moment. In the play Othello, examples of these are, how Othello changes his trust from person to person, from Cassio to Iago; Another is how he causes his wife to be frightened of him. Also there is the mental changes of Iago and how he is out for revenge.

Othello’s character is the leading person in the play. The way he feels gives foreshadowing of what might be happening next. When he trusted his lieutenant, Michael Cassio, he had many doubts about Iago. Soon on, he changes his trustees, he stopped trusting Michael Cassio and started trusting Iago. From this, he started having doubts about Cassio. Even though Othello trusts Iago, he still does not know that Iago is out to get revenge from him. The reason he changed his mind was because Iago was putting ideas in his head telling him that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him. This, not only changes his mind about who to trust, but it also gives his character a great amount of energy.

Something else that is mentally and psychologically interesting is how he has no trust in his wife Desdemona. Most couples trust each other knowing the other would never try to do anything to hurt them. It’s different in the story though, Desdemona is extremely trustful of her husband never hurting her in any way. But Othello is just the opposite, he thinks that she is cheating on him. This causes him to be furious. Even though Othello does not know the whole story, he still is angry and he does not put any effort into trusting his own wife when she tells him that she did not cheat on him. In addition to this, when Iago tells Othello that he overheard Cassio calling out Desdemona’s name while in his sleeping chambers, Othello took it as he was calling her as a loved one. He could have been calling her name to try to get advice about the real woman he loved, Bianca. But Othello is the type of person who listens to his friends too much, and he did not honestly ask his wife and believed her. Even though everything is put out of proportion. Othello totally distrusts Desdemona and he even strikes her. Even with this, she is still deeply in love with him, but just afraid of him.

Another thing in the play is the attitude of Iago towards everyone else. To Cassio, he is an honorable person with helpful advice. To Othello, he is also honorable, but in fact he is just trying to get revenge on him. He is also trying to get revenge so bad, he does not care who he has to go through to get it. Much of his mental attitude, is to be a “green-eyed villain.” This is jealousy and how he is jealous of Cassio getting a higher rank than him with even less experience. In the story, he is very honorable to many people, but only toward them. As soon as they turn their back, he is a different person thinking of ways to get revenge.

In conclusion, William Shakespeare gives the play “Othello” excitement and suspense by mentally changing a characters attitude. Also he includes significant events that bring more thought into the play. He gives his trust of honor to Michael Cassio at first, then he changes to Iago, just because of a rumor that his wife was cheating on him. Also there is the distrust of the loving couple. How he does not trust her and what she says. Even though she is telling the truth. Then there is Iago, the mastermind that causes all the problems. It is mostly because he is out for revenge, and how he does not care who he uses or walks over to get it.