A comparative essay on Othello and Macbeth

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 “"Revenge may be wicked, but it’s natural."        (William Thackeray). Human nature is both kind and gentle, but it also has a darker, unjust and cruel side to it. William Shakespeare uses his plays of Othello and Macbeth to show the kindness, loyalty but also deception and cruelty of human nature. Othello is written by William Shakespeare and is set in Cypress. Othello is about a Moor, Othello, who marries a royal Venetian girl, Desdemona, and the uncontrollable love that he has for her. Macbeth is a play about the Scottish Thane Macbeth who kills his king in order to become king himself, yet after he commits the murder he continues to kill people in order to stay on his beloved throne. Shakespeare  portrays the uncontrollable desire that people have through characters’ desires to achieve a higher goal in life, as well as character’s desire to please their partners and the way Shakespeare portrays emotion though his characters.

In Macbeth and Othello, both Macbeth and Iago have a desire to reach a higher goal in life. Iago wants to become the lieutenant of the Venetian general and Macbeth wants to become king of Scotland. Both characters will stop at nothing to reach their goals. Macbeth and his wife decide that they will kill the king of Scotland in order for Macbeth to take over the crown. Macbeth however is influenced by his wife, who persuades him to kill king Duncan, but Macbeth is a good person because he does not want to let “light see my black and deep desires.” (Act 1, scene..)Macbeth knows that his desire to become king is only possible if he kills king Duncan yet he also knows that what he does is morally wrong and hopes that his desire will never become public Iago is prepared to ruin Casio’s career and ruin Othello’s marriage so that he is uncontested for the lieutenant spot. Iago manipulates everyone around him in order to reach his goal of becoming lieutenant and eventually stabs Cassio to cover up his schemes.  Both Characters also lack enough patients to wait until their desires can be fulfilled, which leads them to killing the people that are in the way of their goals. The difference between the characters is that although they reside to killing, Macbeth is influenced by his wife and feels uncomfortable with killing king Duncan but Iago on the other hand is manipulating everyone around him without his wife even suspecting him of any wrongdoing and without even realizing how wicked the things are that he is doing.

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In Othello and Macbeth, Emilia and Lady Macbeth both have the desire to please their husbands. Lady Macbeth wants her husband to become king of Scotland because the can then lead a happy life. Lady Macbeth persuades him to kill King Duncan against his will, but he listens to her and murders the king. Lady Macbeth knows that killing the king will be hard and she calls upon “spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty.”(Act1, scene 5). Lady Macbeth gives up her sex and calls upon spirits ...

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