Essay On Othello, the Moor of Venice (1603)

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Othello is a tragedy of sexual jealousy about an African commander in the Venetian army who is duped into believing his wife of adultery. The play, which was first produced in 1604, is also a groundbreaking investigation of racial prejudice. Introduction: William Shakespeare\’s tragedy Othello, the Moor of Venice (1603) is one of Shakespeare\’s most poignant tragedies, both thematically and stylistically. It has an oppositional structure and characterization, which it used to investigate the universal dichotomies of human existence, virtue against evil, strength versus weakness, Jealousy, and illusion versus truth, all of which are defined by tragic irony. We analyze Othello\’s psychological fragility and terrible disillusionment because of his nobility being crushed by Iago\’s Machiavellian intrigues, finally leading to his ruin. Paragraph 1 The plays highlights Othello\’s status as an outsider and the fact that he is not a Venetian. Throughout the play Iago urges Othello against succumbing to jealousy as he makes innuendos about Desdemona\’s adultery and Othello presses him to tell what he knows. “Oh, beware, my lord, of Jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock, The meat it feeds on.”  This, along with an inexplicable vulnerability to Iago\’s \”pestilence\” and a failure to recognise that he was not as \”honest\” as his reputation suggested, allows his flaw to become his distinguishing feature. Paragraph 2 Despite the fact that he is the topic of much of the discussion, Othello remains far from the action from the play\’s opening lines. His blackness is repeatedly alluded to, and both Iago and Roderigo refer to him as \”the Moor,\” \”the old black ram,\” and \”thick lips\” to emphasis his status as a cultural and racial outcast. It\’s possible that Othello\’s sense of not belonging is what leads him to trust Iago\’s lies. This may go some way to explain why his feelings for Desdemona are able to be so easily poisoned by the Machiavellian insinuations of Iago. He is a victim of being placed into the sophisticated milieu of Renaissance Italy, a land that represented intrigue and Machiavellianism to Shakespeare\’s audience.