Comparison of Othello, Iago, and Desdemona - Research Paper Example

Comparison of Othello, Iago, and Desdemona Othello is one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces. It is especially so because of its vivid characters and wide-ranging themes. There is the Moorish general Othello, who is out of place in Venice, who allows jealousy to get the best of him. And there is Iago, a person who Coleridge once described as embodying “a motiveless malevolence.” Together these two characters—the protagonist and the antagonist—act out the play’s greatest theme: jealousy and possessive love. Then there is Desdemona, Othello's great love who also inspires his jealous rage. The three characters together show how tragedy can be born out of both emotion and evil. All three are vividly portrayed by Shakespeare in this remarkable masterpiece. Stories and poems bring us together and lead us to embrace our common humanity. I think that this is a good and useful point, but I wonder if there are some things about different cultures that literature can’t communicate. In some cultures there are words for things that there aren’t in our language (Adler 29). Some cultures have many different words for the same sort of thing with many different aspects. It seems to be that literature can show us very broad universal themes, but it might have trouble showing what we have in common in a nitty-gritty kind of way. One of the solutions to this are different types of characters. Throughout all cultures, characters exist. In Othello, the characters exist in another time, place, and culture, and yet they are instantly recognizable to us. We know these people and we see how their weaknesses will result inevitably in their tragic downfalls. We see ourselves in these characters and that is truly what brings each of them to life. It is clear that Othello is madly in love with Desdemona and that he lives his life by a code of honour. It is equally clear that Iago does not live by a code or if he does his code is “manipulate whenever possible.” These two characters are foils for one another and the story’s drama plays out between them. This is important to indicate in the course of any such character analysis. First and foremost, Othello is a tragic hero. A tragic hero is an individual who makes a mistake that leads to his or her destruction. Often a tragic hero can be seen to be a plaything of fate, like Oedipus in Sophocles’ plays, or as someone who embraces a destructive fate like Hamlet. However, just being a tragic figure is not enough to be meet the qualification of “tragic hero.” The character must be a hero as well as being tragic. While I believe Othello does destroy himself through his own mistakes, and that he is tragic, it is clear that has military prowess has made him a hero. Everyone in the play (except Iago) thinks of Othello as a great man destined for great things. It could be said however that Othello's private actions indicate he is not a hero. He is very easily manipulated and is quick to attack those he loves. This also is hardly the behaviour of a hero. Also, the fact that Othello kills himself is not an heroic act. It is in a sense a selfish one. A hero is someone who takes a chance and puts him or herself on the line. Othello never does. The great question of Iago's character is what motivates him to behave in the way the he does towards Othello. Iago appears to be slightly angry that he has been passed over for a promotion by Othello. It can only be said that this “appears” to be the reason for what he does because he is a very strange character. He does not seem to especially care whether or not he gets any advantage so long as Othello is destroyed. In other plays villains may create situations or traps to ensnare protagonists as Iago does with a handkerchief. However, there is something more evil about Iago. He seems to enjoy not only inspiring Othello’s jealousy, but fanning its flames. He watches Othello’s face contort and sees his pain and continues to act. The intimacy of this cruelty makes this relationship, and Iago’s malevolence, very interesting. The violent aesthetic is very compelling. Indeed, Iago is sui generis and captivate the reader. Compared to Othello, he knows a lot more about politics and manipulation. The first is navigating a world he has not yet learned to judge properly, while the second appears to know everything and pursue only chaos and destruction. Iago appears to have no real human desire or characteristics—his only interest is violence and chaos (Jones 56). He has no other purpose but to cause trouble, also, he refuses to explain himself or describe how he reached this point of nihilism. When he is taken away at the end of the play he concludes his role by saying, “From this point on, I never shall speak word.” It is an open question as to whether he can’t or simply won’t explain himself. Nevertheless, the implication is that, he is born this way. The word has not formed him; he has come from some other place. Othello at times seems to be foolish as he falls for all of Iago’s tricks, going so far as to, horribly, kill his own wife. But he is also a poet and he has some beautiful lines (Halliday 98). The fact that he has a romantic, passionate side to him and is not just a powerful one-dimensional general adds a great twist to the story. His dying words are very poetic and in them we see just how horribly far he has fallen and what jealousy has undone. This is an important distinction in the play, the difference between Othello’s final soliloquy which is so moving and in which we see how great a man he is, and Iago’s final lines, as he is being led off to be tortured: “What you know, you know. From this point forth I never shall speak word.” The difference between the two characters is nowhere more clear. The unfortunate implication, however, from this comparison is that the serpent's words are more powerful than the poets. It is not Othello with his fine turn of phrase who manages to win over, Iago, it is Iago who preys on Othello's insecurities and lures him into an evil act. Indeed, it is important to note that Othello is only especially articulate and poetic when he is extremely emotional. He is by nature a suspicious person not given to flights of fancy, unless his emotions are activated. The relationship between Othello and Iago is the key to this play. The emotions generated by it leads to both of their downfalls. By creating such life-like characters and inspiring them with very human feelings—even if these are bad feelings—Shakespeare created a masterpiece. Without each other, neither character would have anything to do in this play. Nevertheless, it is important to stress that in this play it is Iago who devours, Othello. Iago destroys Othello, even though it appears to also destroy himself. His evil and desire to destroy is so consuming that he barely tries to escape its consequences, and apparently is tortured to death. He is so satisfied about the results of his perfidy that he refuses to brag or even speak of his work to anyone. He truly is a strange man. There is a third character who is at the heart of this relationship: Othello's wife, Desdemona. She does not have a great deal of stage-time but she is a truly evocative character nevertheless. She is meant to stand in for the loving, innocent bride who is the true victim of the play. More than anything, she is an object to both Iago and Othello. That is one thing they both have in common. She is a pawn for Iago, who uses her and the idea she represents to Othello, against Othello. Iago convinces him that Desdemona is cheating on him, and Othello believes Iago. Iago dreams up stories about her, about a character he has created resembling her in name only, and sells them one by one to a willing buying. Why is Othello willing to buy these stories? That is a very important question in this story. The only answer must be that his relationship with Desdemona is essentially superficial. He is unable to look her in the eyes and see that she is honest and is telling him the truth. That is his great flaw and his undoing. He is unable to see the real Desdemona. He has allowed her to become transfigured by Iago and made into someone else. The real Desdemona seems like a wonderful person, but we don't have much of a chance to get to know her or understand her on her own terms. She is the plaything of Iago's imagination. Shakespeare's Othello is clearly a play full of great passions: evil, love, jealousy, confusion. Each of the three main characters are doomed in their own way, each provide and symbolize something special to the audience. Most importantly, each characters interactions with the other characters shows us something timeless and true about humanity. Works consulted Adler, Doris. "The Rhetoric of Black and White in Othello" Shakespeare Quarterly, 25 (1974) Halliday, F. E., A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964, Baltimore, Penguin, 1964. Jones, Eldred "Othello's Countrymen" Charlottesville: Univ of Virginia Press, 1971. Read More