Preview

The Nature Of Evil In Othello

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
172 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Nature Of Evil In Othello
In the opening scenes, Shakespeare portrays Othello as a noble character. Othello maintains his calm behavior until Iago taunts him with lies. Othello’s language transforms him into a monster due to his jealousy. "Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green eyed monster which doth mock" At first, he simply doubts his wife's loyalty. Othello starts to use the animal imagery that Iago used throughout the play (3.3.407). He lat calls Desdeomna a "lewd minx" (3.3.533), the same woman that he called “his love” at the beginning of the play. Othello has transformed into a total savage when he speaks to Desdemona. "let her rot, and perish, and be damned to-/night, for she shall not live" (4.1.196-197). He continues, "I will chop her into messes"
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Sinister Soliloquy: an Indepth Look at "Othello" 2:1:308-314
    • 1669 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Sinister Soliloquy: an Indepth Look at "Othello" 2:1:308-314

    One of the reasons this excerpt from Shakespeare’s “Othello” stands above the rest is that within these lines, Shakespeare inadvertently, or perhaps not, draws the blueprint for the great archetypal schemers that can still be found in all forms of media and art today. The antagonists monologue declaring what they will do has even reached the point of cliche as evidenced in Disney’s The Incredibles, when Frozone jokes, “He starts monologuing! He starts like, this prepared speech about how *feeble* I am compared to him, how *inevitable* my defeat is, how *the world* *will soon* *be his*, yadda yadda yadda.” (imdb.com)…

    • 1669 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Does Shakespeare Present Disturbed Characters?
    • 2160 Words
    • 9 Pages

    How Does Shakespeare Present Disturbed Characters?

    At the beginning of the play, Othello is considered as a very respectable man and is even referred to as a moor, which shows his strong authority. In Act 1 Scene 3 however, we find Othello in a council room in Venice in front of the Duke, senators and officers with a concern about his marriage with Desdemona. In this scene, Othello is a highly respected man who has been promoted to a high office, despite the prejudice he has encountered. In the court he states that he is not a good talker when he says ‘Rude am I in my speech’; which shows that he is an honest and valued man. However he is eloquent speaking in Iambic pentameter, and is in fact a great speaker. Throughout this scene, it is discovered that Othello and Desdemona had run away together to get married. Brabantio, whom is Desdemona’s father, does not approve of this, and accuses Othello of drugging his daughter and using witchcraft on her to make her fall in love with her. Brabantio makes many crude comments such as “Against all rules of nature, and must be driven to find out practices of cunning hell” and “Or with some dram, conjured to this effect, he wrought upon her” and “To fall in love with what she feared to look on”. All of those negative and hurtful comments are the accusations that Brabantio used against Othello. He states that there is no real love there, and that Othello has surely tricked Desdemona into loving him. However Othello is restraint and remains calm…

    • 2160 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Miss
    • 532 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Miss

    Othello also starts to use animal imagery in his speech, he says things such as “...as if there were some monster in his thought”, “exchange me for a goat” and “I’d rather be a toad!” All of these are meant to show that Othello hates the idea of being jealous and his wife sleeping with someone else, this shows us that he still loves Desdemona at this point. This could also be showing us how Othello is becoming more and more like Iago, Iago uses a lot of animal imagery in his disturbed mind, now Othello is starting to use it, showing that Iago’s plan is working and Iago is gaining more power over Othello.…

    • 532 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Acts Of Evil In Shakespeare's Othello
    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Acts Of Evil In Shakespeare's Othello

    Throughout history, numerous acts of evil have occurred. The Holodomor is an act of evil that affected many people in a pessimistic manner. Holodomor is the Ukrainian word for “killing by hunger.” Josef Stalin, communist leader of the Soviet Union, initiated this act of evil. Josef Stalin forced an extermination of the Ukrainian race by starving the citizens in the years 1932 to 1933. The Holodomor killed approximately 5.5 million people. Stalin had a goal of eliminating the Ukrainian race and their independence. Evil also exists in multiple works of literature. In William Shakespeare’s Othello, the Moor of Venice, acts of evil take place, which result in a horrific downfall.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Othello: A Story Of Tragedy
    • 2284 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Othello: A Story Of Tragedy

    Othello is a story of tragedy; a failed marriage between a Moor and the white daughter of a political figure. Through jealousy and deception, Othello and Desdemona’s, his wife, marriage goes from a love story to two tragic and preventable deaths. Othello is a highly respected general in the defense forces of Venice; his charismatic and intelligent demeanor allows him to gain power and status in a majority white atmosphere. Desdemona is the daughter of a high ranking chauvinistic political figure. Desdemona is nothing like her father, she believes in true love which is why she falls in love with Othello even though during the 16th century, interracial relations are frowned upon. The Great…

    • 2284 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Othello Pathology of evil
    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Othello Pathology of evil

    In Shakespeare’s play Othello there are many topics that are discussed but the topic that has the biggest impact is evil. From this the pathology of evil can be pondered upon specifically when looking at Iago. The pathology of evil highlights that evil is an unforeseen disease proving that once you are infected it is impossible to fully recover.…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Othello's Speech
    • 940 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Othello's Speech

    By stating that Desdemona “loved me [him] for the dangers I [he] had passed” and that he “loved her that she did pity them” corroborates Carol McGinnis Kay’s argument that the basis for Othello’s and Desdemona’s love “is the grand romantic picture of Othello that they both admire and pity” (265). Hence, Othello’s “love” for his wife derives from “the image of Othello that Desdemona reflects to him” (265), which is, I would argue, even more explicitly indicated by Shakespeare when he has Othello proclaim to Desdemona that he “does love thee [her]”, and “when I [he] love[s] thee not, chaos is come again” (1314). Although I would insist on approaching those hypothetical nature of the roots of the couple’s relationship with a non-absolutist attitude, considering the limited access the audience has to the two characters either in the form of revealing asides or an adequacy of mutual interaction in any of the acts, I concur with Kay’s point, in that Othello’s love for Desdemona is rather self-oriented, a mirror of his own desirable self-concept as a romantic warrior, contrary to Mose Durst’s rather simplistic perception of “Othello’s love for Desdemona”, namely as having “given his life its most profound meaning” merely…

    • 940 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Othello: The Stereotypical Moor
    • 517 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Othello: The Stereotypical Moor

    Shakespeare continues to support this stereotype in Othello by showing how passionate Othello is. Moors are considered to be aggressive and passionate. Othello shows this trait in two different but equally important ways. He loves Desdemona passionately, and he also kills her aggressively. In the former, Othello swears that he would have “the winds blow till they have wakened death” if he could have the joy of seeing Desdemona (II. i. 183-184). He never exchanges a harsh word with her, and showers her with affection (II. i. 192-198). Even Cassio, his captain, expects Othello’s love for Desdemona to “[g]ive renewed…

    • 517 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Othello and Frankenstein Essay
    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Othello and Frankenstein Essay

    Othello and the Monster were constantly ridiculed by other character based on their “other” persona. Othello as a black man with such a high military position was very rare if not unheard of. Even with position he was seen as the stereo typical black male, less than human and wicked. Iago made his thoughts on Othello known, though not as himself when telling Brabantio of Othello and Desdemona’s elopement, “Your daughter/And the moor are now making the beats with two backs” (Shakespeare, I, i, 116-117). Othello is made out to be an animal based on the colour of his skin and lies that others chose to believe. As he is subjected to these stereotypes he begins to become them. These ideas of a wicked, animalistic, less than human don’t seem so far off by the end of the play. Likewise stereotypes have a large impact on the Monster transformation from a harmless creation to what is society deems a monster. Based on his appearance the characters in the story see this creation as a “Devil”…

    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Evilness In Macbeth
    • 1962 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Evilness In Macbeth

    There is a distinguishing line between evilness and poor decision making that can quickly become blurred when one looses themselves to action without thought. Martin Luther once said, “I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe” (1521). After reading Edgar Allen Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart and William Shakespeare’s, Macbeth, it becomes very apparent the unnecessary condition these men found themselves in due to their thoughtless actions. William Shakespeare’s, troubled character Macbeth and Edgar Allen Poe’s unnamed Narrator, both have a conscious, which leads them to feel convicted for their murderous actions, however, the strength of their consciousness varies, allowing one to confess…

    • 1962 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What Continues to Make Othello Worthy of Study?
    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What Continues to Make Othello Worthy of Study?

    The most apparent theme in the text is that of jealousy. Iago importantly warns, ‘O, beware, my lord, of Jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on’ (act 3, scene 3). This warning is directed at Othello, but is also important for Roderigo and Iago himself. Although Iago could be called one of the most diabolical antagonist/villains in literature, his actions are spurred by such common human emotions; jealousy and greed. Jealousy acts as a great literary device in the text because it is an extremely universal emotion which almost all living creatures are capable of feeling, and this gives the audience an emotional attachment to the characters and plot. It allows the audience to feel sympathy for the characters. ‘Othello’ plays with the jealous nature of the characters, such as Iago’s envy of power and position, along with his suspicions about his wife. These things encourage the plot, and initiate the series of events to unfold during the text. Through Iago, Shakespeare conveys the lengths to which a man will go to achieve his objective. Iago’s manipulativeness causes Othello to become…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Othello Good Vs Evil
    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Othello Good Vs Evil

    In William Shakespeare’s Othello, the characters’ personalities and motivations influence the plot heavily. Iago is driven by his jealousy of Cassio and his desire to exact revenge on Othello. Othello’s trusting nature leads to his undoing in the play. Iago takes advantage of how he’s seen in the eyes of those around him to carry out his plans. Although Othello is the protagonist of the play and Iago is the antagonist, the two characters are not the ultimate portrayals of good and evil. Othello is not a war between good and evil, but instead a demonstration on how destructive jealousy and gullibleness can be.…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examples Of Evil In Othello
    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Examples Of Evil In Othello

    Othello; the tragic tale of a man falling to the biggest killer of them all, jealousy. But why does Othello get defeated by such an easy thing to avoid? Perhaps Iago is such a good villain. More likely, it’s because, for some people, especially back in William Shakespeare’s time, honour comes first. Honour that comes with men can be a normal thing for people if it doesn’t go too overboard; however, if it does, like in William Shakespeare’s Othello, it can lead to nasty, if not deadly results.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Othello - Compared to Twelfth Night
    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Othello - Compared to Twelfth Night

    "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on…" (Othello, III.iii 169-171) In his rage, Othello charges Iago with the killing of Cassio, his lieutenant who supposedly slept with his wife. Othello then plans to kill Desdemona. Even during the course of the killing, Othello maintains his love for Desdemona (although this might seem a contradiction.) He refuses to defile her body in any way. "Yet I'll not shed her blood; nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, and smooth as monumental alabaster." (Othello, V.ii 3-5)He then proceeds to choke or smother her to death. The theme of love in Othello changed from puppy love, the lighter side of love, to jealousy, the darkest side of love.…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Othello Character Analysis- Iago
    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Othello Character Analysis- Iago

    In Othello, Shakespeare tells the story of the soldier Othello, a noble and respected man, whose insecurities enable him to fall prey to the overwhelming power of jealousy. Through manipulation and lies, Othello changes from a kind and faithful husband into a man completely taken over by jealousy, resulting in his downfall. This shift in Othello’s character is done by the antagonist, Iago. Iago’s cruelty to not only Othello, but all others around him, reveals his villainous personality. Iago acts through selfish reasons alone, and stops at no lengths in order to get to what he wants. Through the character Iago, Shakespeare, in his play Othello, explores the concept of the evil nature of man and argues that one who is motivated purely by greed and the desire for power will ultimately face the consequences of his or her actions.…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics