How Shakespeare creates chaos in Othello's mind

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Dana Sammut

How does Shakespeare present the chaos in Othello’s mind in Act 3.3, when he first believes Desdemona is unfaithful and in Act 5.2 where he commits murder and suicide?

Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ tells the tragic story of a man manipulated into believing his wife is being unfaithful, where throughout the play chaos is fed into Othello’s mind like poison. This is done to such an extent that he ends up killing his wife and then committing suicide, hence making the play tragic. Throughout the play Shakespeare gradually builds on this chaos level through the character Iago, Othello’s supposed ‘friend’, who uses many devious methods to make the lies seem true and eventually drive Othello crazy. I will explore these methods and techniques in different parts of the play and whether they are effective, as well as their impacts on Othello.

              In the opening of the play Othello proves to be a very rational soldier with a calm state of mind a sense of pride for his rank. He says, “My parts, my title, and my perfect soul shall manifest me rightly,” through which he clearly illustrates how he has a high opinion of himself, and despite his race he still feels worthy of praise. Where he mentions his ‘parts’, ‘title’ and ‘perfect soul’ Othello is referring to all that he has worked for and the rank he has earned, then where he says that they shall ‘manifest him rightly’ he conveys that they will be made known to people, again showing how he is proud of his job. It is this sense of nobility Othello has that makes Iago jealous of him, then leading to later events of manipulation in the play.

              In the opening of the play it is Iago’s goal to take over Cassio’s position as lieutenant, which he goes about by getting him drunk, later forcing Othello to fire him and promote Iago to Cassio’s previous position. However, later on Desdemona talks to Othello about his actions and pleads for him to give Cassio his job back. After their conversation, Othello says, “Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul but I do love thee; and when I love thee not, chaos is come again,” where he expresses his undying love for Desdemona with deep passion through his words by saying he would rather be condemned to hell than lose his love for her. At the time when he says these words, Desdemona is exiting the stage, suggesting that Othello is not only confessing his love to her but also telling himself, again showing how much meaning he put into these words.

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              After Desdemona has left, Othello is left on stage with Iago, who then begins the next part of his plan by planting seeds of doubt of Desdemona’s fidelity into Othello’s mind. This is cunningly done through the usage of short interjections, for example, Iago questions Othello, “Indeed?” then forcing Othello’s reply to by, “Indeed? Ay, Indeed.” At hearing his own voice agree with what Iago had said, Othello himself then begins to believe the lies. It is as if he is a stunned man, and with each doubt that enters his mind, ...

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