Compare and contrast Otello and Iago from the play of Sharespare - Essay Example

Compare and Contrast Othello and Iago from the play of Shakespeare The famous play Othello by William Shakespeare is d after the main character who is a black man making his way in white European society. His friend and fellow nobleman Iago, however, is arguably just as important to the plot of the play because he is presented as a contrast to the character of Othello. The interplay between the different attitudes of these two important men makes up much of the tension and drama in the play. Othello is of Moorish descent, and we are told that he has converted to Christianity and he marries a noble white woman called Desdemona.

He is a proud man, and he is portrayed as acting out of good intentions, even though he kills his wife out of jealousy because he thinks she has been unfaithful to him. When he realizes what he has done, and that his wife is innocent, he is bitterly sorry and says Othello: “I kissed thee ere I killed thee: No way but this, Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.” (Othello: Act 5 scene 2.) This emphasis on kissing as betrayal recalls the figure of Judas, one of Jesus Christ’s disciples. Just like Judas, Othello feels that he has no alternative at the end of the play.

He has to kill himself because he cannot bear the guilt that he feels because of his actions. This shows that he has absorbed not just the courtly ways of noble Europeans but also the deeper Christian sensibility of that culture. Iago, on the other hand, is a very bad character who enjoys a high status in his own society. Superficially Iago is Christian, but underneath he is manipulative and cynical, obsessed with wealth and glory rather than any morals or high ideals. It is Iago’s jealousy and hatred which causes him to meddle in Othello’s relationship with Desdemona.

While Othello respects religion, both his own probably Muslim background and his new Christian culture, Iago is disrespectful and at times very racist, comparing Othello to a beast: Iago: The Moor is of a free and open nature, That thinks men honest that but seem to be so, And will as tenderly be led by the nose As asses are. (Othello: Act 1, Scene 3) Iago also deliberately taunts Othello and telling him to beware of the “green-eyed monster” of jealousy (Othello: Act 3, Scene 3) while at the same time intriguing with others to ensure that this is exactly how Othello will react.

It is as if he senses a weakness in Othello, namely a proud nature and devotion to his wife, and exploits that weakness to bring Othello down to disaster and death. Iago uses people and his crimes are thought out in advance. Othello is just as guilty, because he kills Desdemona, but his crime is brought about by passion, in the heat of the moment. The two men are like mirror images of each other, each bringing out the worst in the other, and the plays ends with many tragic deaths because of their conflicting natures.

References Shakespeare, William. Othello. Edited by E. A. J. Honigmann. London: Arden, 2006.