Who in your opinion is really responsible for the deaths of Desdemona and Othello? Use evidence from the text to support your opinion.

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Amy Heath

Who in your opinion is really responsible for the deaths of Desdemona and Othello?

Use evidence from the text to support your opinion.

Amy Heath - 10 Owen. A

This essay will discuss who is the most responsible for Desdemona and Othello’s deaths in the play Othello by William Shakespeare. It will argue how many characters play a part, and how some parts are bigger than others. In the early 1600’s, society was very much defined and you socialised in your social class. Daughters were supposed to serve their fathers and not be dishonest or dishonourable to them. So when Desdemona marries Othello (a black soldier, not in the same class as Desdemona or her father) without her father’s knowledge, the marriage was in trouble from the very beginning, without anyone else’s involvement. Iago’s lies and deceit are also a very important factor to their deaths, and it would be very easy to just lay all the blame on him, but I believe that he alone did not cause the deaths of Desdemona and Othello.

One of the people who had a part in their deaths was Iago. His jealously and hatred of Othello caused him to manipulate and lie to almost everyone in the play. Iago was against Othello from the very beginning, even being one of the two people to tell Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, about the secret wedding. He informs him by saying; “A black ram is tupping your white ewe,” (Act 1, Scene 1), which is deliberately stirring up trouble and aggravating Brabantio. Iago even says in the very first scene; “I follow him to serve my turn upon him” (Act 1, Scene 1). This is saying that the only reason Iago served Othello is that it meant he could get close enough to him to exact his revenge upon him. This is already showing the audience, right at the beginning, that Iago isn’t as honest as Othello thinks. It also shows that he would go to great lengths to get revenge. Iago is the one who invents the rumours that Desdemona is having an affair with the newly appointed Lieutenant and convinces Othello to kill his wife. He does this by getting close and friendly with many of the characters and using their trust to spin his own web of lies. Each character was told a different story by him and it all came together in the end. Iago is an extremely manipulative character; he is often called ‘honest Iago’ to which he is the complete opposite. All the characters believe him to be a good, honest man, when in reality he is a lying fraud.  Iago is also not shy of speaking out about his hatred to certain people. One reason for Iago’s hatred is mentioned;

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“I hate the Moor;

And it is thought abroad, that ‘twixt my sheets

He has done my office: I know not if’t be true;

But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety.” (Act 1, Scene 3).

Iago believes that Othello has previously slept with Emelia, Iago’s wife, and does not deserve his position as the Moor. There is no proof of this accusation, but Iago thinks that just because there is a slight suspicion of that something happened; he can do Othello harm.

Othello is another person involved in his own and Desdemona’s ...

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