Othello: Love, War and Jealousy as One

As a mercenary of the highest order, the Moor Othello climbed the ranks of the Venetian army. His exceptional reputation allowed him entry into the elite, white, Venetian society and helped him earn the love of the senator's beautiful daughter Desdemona. Initially, Othello is presented as the epitome of military expertise and masculinity, yet as the play progresses the qualities that have elevated his rank contribute to his tragic downfall. His inability to separate the worlds of love and war is Othello's tragic flaw, and from the earliest moments in the play, his career affects his marriage. Preying on the weaknesses of the renowned Othello, Iago insinuates Othello's loyal lieutenant Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona. This lie is a catalyst for the horrific chain of events that begin with Othello heartlessly murdering his innocent wife before committing suicide.
Othello confuses the worlds of love and war from the very beginning of the play. As soon as he arrives to Cyprus, he greets Desdemona with the cry, “Oh my fair warrior!” (II.i.167). He uses the term fair to describe Desdemona’s light skin, which represents purity as well as beauty. However, calling Desdemona a warrior, rather than his wife or lover, is where readers first see Othello’s two worlds dangerously enmeshing.
Along with the fact that he is unable to keep his personal life separated from his career, Othello is a jealous man, and Iago wastes no time identifying this. After Iago suggests that Othello would become jealous of Cassio and suspicious of Desdemona, Othello responds by saying, “Think’st thou I’d make a life of jealousy, / To follow still the changes of the moon / With fresh suspicions? No! / ….The smallest fear or doubt of her revolt, / For she had eyes and chose me.” (III.iii.182-195). Othello continues and, in the same passage, says “No, Iago, / I’ll see before I doubt, when I doubt, prove, / And on the proof there is no more but this: / Away at once with love or jealousy!” (III.iii.195-198). In eighteen lines of verse, readers see Othello transform from a man who refuses to succumb to jealousy to a man who would trust a suspicion if there was evidence. A few scenes later, circumstantial as it may be, the handkerchief planted in Cassio's possession along with constant gossip is enough evidence for Othello.
Othello’s worst worries and concerns are apparently confirmed; he, the strong, manly, heroic general has been betrayed by Desdemona as a lover and dishonored by Cassio as a soldier. “I had been happy if the general camp, / Pioneers and all, had tasted her sweet body, / So I had nothing known. Oh, now forever / Farewell the / tranquil mind! Farewell content! / Farewell the plumèd troops and the big wars / That makes ambition virtue! Oh, farewell! / Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump, / The spirit-stirring drum, th' ear-piercing fife, / The royal banner, and all quality, / Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war! / And O you mortal engines, whose rude throats / The immortal Jove’s dead clamors counterfeit, / Farewell! Othello’s occupation’s gone” (III.iii.355-377). Othello begins with saying that he would have rather had the whole military base have sex with Desdemona and not known about it than know. He then starts talking about horses, troops, trumpets, banners, cannons -all implements of war- and how they are all lost to him now that he knows he has been made a cuckold. Here, these components on the battlefield become symbols of Othello's sexuality. Othello is confused, jealous and angry; the solid man he was he is no longer, and by the end of Act 3, Scene 3, he is prepared to have Cassio killed and murder Desdemona.
A victim of his own ignorance, Othello is entangled in Iago's web of lies. His soldierly ways, unfortunately take over and he loses the ability to use common sense. As the action climaxes, he destroys Desdemona, their marriage, himself, and in a way, his reputation. By the end of the play, Othello’s reputation has been tainted, both as a husband and as a soldier. While Iago plays an important role in this, it is Othello's guileless and jealous nature and his reluctance to see himself as anything other than a soldier that ultimately destroys him.