A second problem that Othello has is his appearance towards the public. Throughout town Othello is portrayed as a good man and is well respected by everyone in town. As the Venetian general and married to the love of his life Desdemona, whom is also well respected, Othello’s life was on the right track. He was known by the people as a noble, honest, and brave man. With having such a high status in town his personal life plays a big role. If anything came out about adultery his rank in town would slowly go down and would hurt his pride. In those days, for a black man to get such a high position was very difficult. With all of Othello’s hard work, everything would be lost with negative talk about him. The people of the town trusts Othello to keep them safe, and with a failed marriage the people would look down on him because of this failure.
Another problem of Othello is how he handles his fury. When Iago tells Othello about Desdemona and Cassio, he immediately turns his jealousy into anger. Instead of staying calm and talking to Desdemona about all of this, he is so outraged he uses physical pain towards Desdemona. Othello’s anger was illustrated when he strikes Desdemona and says, “O, devil, devil! If that the earth could teem with woman’s tears, Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile. Out of my sight (4.2.273-276). This is when Othello was accusing Desdemona of her affairs with Cassio. Othello does not even let Desdemona talk or explain anything. If Othello gave her a chance to speak he would have found out that these accusations were all lies. Also Iago’s lies would have been revealed and everything would have been well between Othello and Desdemona.
Othello’s problems may have seemed serious, but his true problem was Iago. Even though Othello did not realize or know about Iago’s lies, it still ruined Othello and brought him to his doom. Iago’s jealousy of Othello was one of his many problems. He was jealous and angry with Othello because of his decision of choosing Cassio as his lieutenant and not him. Iago has strong feelings about Othello and says; “I hate the moor…” (1.3.429). Iago plans a revenge on both Othello and Cassio. He decides to make Othello think his wife is sleeping with Cassio. This is where all the problems in the book begin. If it were not for Iago’s plans nothing would have gone wrong in the story. His revenge is the main part of the plot in the story.
All of Iago’s planning does not only hurt Othello but he also gets Othello to turn his back on Cassio. He does all of this because he was not chosen by Othello to be his lieutenant. Iago not only makes Othello frown on Cassio, but he also gets Cassio dismissed from the army. Iago gets Roderigo to help him with his plans by telling Roderigo lies about Cassio and Desdemona. Iago talked Cassio into drinking by saying:
Iago. Come lieutenant, I have a stoup of wine…
Cassio. Not tonight, good Iago. I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking…
Iago. …But one cup; I’ll drink for you. (2.3.30-39)
Afterwards Cassio ends up getting drunk and Roderigo enrages Cassio to get into a physical feud. He ends up getting into a brawl with both Roderigo and Montano. This angers Othello and he strips Cassio out of his lieutenant job.
Iago’s jealousy towards others provokes his actions. This jealousy affects their life and brings out their feelings of selfishness. All of his lies hurts others and ruins their life but even though Iago knows what he is doing, he does not stop. When lying to Othello he says, “O beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock. The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss…(3.3.195-197). This was when Iago was trying to explain to Othello that he should not be jealous of Desdemona even though he is doing just the opposite. Iago uses the word cuckold which means a man cheated sexually by his wife. This gets Othello pondering about his relationship. Iago knows that Othello would become angry and plays with his head. This slowly brings down Othello’s confidence towards his wife and his marriage.
At one point of the story, not only the main characters Othello and Iago, but also other characters at one point or another let their jealousy towards others take over. For Othello his life was going perfect, but after letting his emotions take over it became the end for him. It is not only his problems that bring him down; it is also Iago’s personal problems that caused everything to crumble into pieces.