Othello Essay
The play Othello, written by Shakespeare is a tragedy, a story of the downfall of a great and noble Moor due to the deception of a villainous man. One of the main themes in the book is trust. Despite the titular character, Othello, being accepted by all even and confident of the honesty of Desdemona, as he declares in the beginning, ‘My life upon her faith’, he never seems to fully trust her. He however almost never seems to question anything ‘Honest Iago’ says. However, this is highly ironic because Desdemona is fully honest whereas Iago is completely the opposite. Shakespeare shows that there are many reasons why Othello trusts Iago rather than his wife; including the fact that Othello is an outsider in society and Iago acts as his tutor and takes advantage of his trust. Othello is clearly an outsider but is accepted by all. His race sets him apart physically, through his black skin, as shown by many references by other characters to Othello as ‘the black moor’, as well as ‘sooty bosom’ and ‘thick lips’. He gets the help of Iago to help him fit into this society. Iago becomes a tutor to him. This is shown when Othello asks ‘What should I do now, Iago?’ as though he needs permission and confirmation from Iago before anything is done. Iago helps him understand his environment which Othello seems may be unclear of like when marrying Desdemona he couldn’t understand that she belonged to her Father and that Othello needed her Father’s permission for Desdemona’s hand in marriage. Iago is a master manipulator and possesses coldness in his heart and effortlessly manipulates everyone around him. He takes delight in directing the lives of the people around him and then watching how their lives deteriorate around him and his obsession with Othello’s downfall takes over his whole life. He appears to Othello to be loyal to his friends, such as Cassio, ‘thy honesty and love doth mince this matter’ and also when he makes an accusation against Othello’s true love, ‘This fellow’s exceedingly honest.’ Never once does Othello seem to question him as he believes that Iago is straightforward and ‘honest’, something which he repeats until the very end of the play. Desdemona’s own trusting and innocent nature plays a part in Othello losing trust in her. She believes that her moor ‘is true of mind and made of no such baseness as jealous creatures are’. She then sees jealous side of Othello, who is clearly obsessed with the handkerchief and she panics. Later on, her choice of words seem very inappropriate when looking at the state Othello is in, ‘for the love I bear to Cassio’ which gives more belief to Iago while making her seem dishonest. Despite the fact that she loves him dearly, she doesn’t understand Othello as well as Iago does and so she is not able to gain Othello’s trust.
