Essays On Othello

To see why Othello commits his crime and why he has to be held accountable for it, we must examine his motive.It can be claimed that what actually causes Othello to commit murder is not his being mentally weakened and manipulated by Iago, but rather his own pride and lack of confidence which he allows to gain control.

Iago hates that he must play an innocent underling in his own plot, but at the same time he realizes that the easiest method to achieve his goals is to hide his true intentions under a cloak of innocence.

Othello's soliloquy in Act V, before he kills Desdemona, bears many parallels to the speeches made by Iago throughout the play.

When Iago does shatter the Moor's idealistic image of Desdemona, he is simply reinforcing what Othello believes deep down to be totally possible: that Desdemona could love another man.

Iago cleverly argues that Desdemona is quite capable of betrayal because she has already betrayed her own race and breeding to marry a Moor: Ay, there's the point!

Iago mocks himself and his feigned innocence in this speech, exclaiming “Divinity of hell!

Stanford Short Answer Essays - Essays On Othello

/ When devils will the blackest sins put on/ They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,/ As I do now” (1180).

The argument can be made that Desdemona's murder is a result of Othello's pride and rush to judgment and, as a result, he must be held accountable.

Othello, unlike Iago, is capable of forming strong, loving relationships; his genuine friendship with Iago confirms this fact.

A preliminary assumption may be that, because Othello kills his beloved wife after the devious machinations of Iago, then perhaps Othello is as much a victim of Iago's evil as Desdemona is of Othello's wrath.

Some may argue that the sin of Iago - to plot the downfall of the Moor - is worse because it blossoms in a diabolical, calculating mind, as opposed to the sin of Othello which is committed because he has become a mere pawn in Iago's hands, blinded by hurt, ruined by his own naivete.