How does Shakespeare create dramatic impact in Act 3 Scene 3 of Othello?

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Hugo Gibbon 11Y

How does Shakespeare create dramatic impact in Act 3 Scene 3 of Othello?

Othello is one of Shakespeare’s later tragedies; considered to be both a political play and really a domestic tragedy. This is because the main focus of the play is the disastrous consequence of a marriage; the marriage being the one between Othello, a black mercenary soldier and Desdemona, a super-subtle Venetian woman, who have an unusually open relationship for the time. In the play the main character, Othello, is presented as a warrior, a lover, a husband, a general, a friend, and an outsider. This is important because we see his personality change throughout the play and we see these different roles come out in his character as it seems he cannot be all simultaneously, although this is what he strives for. In Shakespeare’s Othello, dramatic impact is created throughout most of the acts: we see examples of this in many of the scenes throughout the play but most of all in Act 3 Scene 3 which is a pivotal part of the play.

A prime example of dramatic impact in Act 3 Scene 3 is when we see Iago’s manipulation of the other characters in the play. We don’t only see this in Act 3 Scene 3 however, this is also portrayed in Act 1 Scene 3 when he persuades Roderigo to join him in seeking revenge over Othello by telling Roderigo that Othello and Desdemona will soon tire of one another; ‘come, be a man’, suggesting that Roderigo will not be worthy enough unless he joins him. One of the techniques he uses to do so is his use of clever, manipulative language. Clever language such as; ‘my lord, you know I love you’, this draws Othello in, who he is speaking to, pretending that he has love for him and giving him false ideas. Therefore Othello is under Iago’s wing so to speak, as Othello will not blame Iago for anything meaning that he has successfully manipulated Othello into friendship and trust. This example is evidence in favour of my next point which is that Iago presents himself as being a caring, loyal friend when really he is just manipulating the rest of the characters and getting them to do what he wants. By making them believe this he is showing reluctance to cause any trouble or upset by acting as if he has no idea what is going on; ‘Nothing, my lord; or if – I know not what’, If someone is speaking to him and suggests something to Iago, he will seem surprised and repeat the suggestion to then comment on it. We see this twice in the space of a few lines when Iago repeats the last word of Othello’s earlier question; ‘Honest, my lord?’ and ‘Think, my lord?’, both said in exactly the same manner, this portrays the image of Iago’s innocence as it seems he doesn’t know what is happening; when really he is the mastermind behind all the lies.

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Iago works around his main motive, jealousy. He is jealous of Othello because Othello has a higher rank than him in the army. This annoys Iago greatly because he has to receive orders from a black person, which in the 16th century was considered to be abnormal as the black people were usually slaves or servants for the white race; racism was therefore reasonable and there were no issues. The fact that Iago was annoyed about this is shown throughout the text as he is constantly planning to get back at Othello. One of Iago’s schemes is when he plots ...

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