Hello, and thanks for the question.
Background
________________
Othello, is the Moorish commander of the army of Venice. At the start
of the play he has secretly married Desdemona, the much younger
daughter of the respected Senator Brabantio.
Othello's ensign, Iago, who has earlier professed his desires to
Desdemona without receiving her love in return, is extremely jealous.
Iago has also been passed over for promotion as the Moor’s new
lieutenant chief of staff. ( The Moor instead has chosen a loyal
Florentine, Michael Cassio.)
It is these two perceived slights that drive Iago, and ultimately lead
to the violence acts that end the play.
It is violence, and the threat of violence that drives the plot.
Iago’s wicked genius enables him to play the other characters off
against each other, leading to duels, abuse of a wife by a husband,
riots in the streets, murder and finally, suicide.
How the violence is started
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Firstly, Iago sends his follower, Roderigo, to tell Brabantio of the
illicit marriage between Othello and his daughter.
At this point racism almost leads to violence, which although it
ultimately doesn’t happen, brings increased tension in the plot. The
thought of his daughter marrying a Moor without consent, leads the
Senator with his guards to Othello's house, but before violence can
erupt there is a report of an imminent attack on Cyprus from armed
Turkish galleys.
Othello is summonsed to the senate chambers. Desdemona appears and
professes her love for Othello and the Duke is moved, and clears him
of wrongdoing, telling the duke that the colour of Othello’s skin does
not make him a lesser man. Then the Duke sends Othello to lead the
Venetian forces to Cyprus in its defense. Before they get to Cyprus a
storm destroys the Turkish fleet and scatters the Venetian vessels but
all of Othello's ships returne safely to Cyprus and he is reunited
with Desdemona.
Iago's plan is in tatters, but he notices that Roderigo is
infatuated with Desdemona. He promises Roderigo that he can get
Desdemona's to love him, and at the same time get "revenge" on
Othello, saying:
"I hate the Moor. My cause is hearted: thine both no less reason. Let
s be conjunctive in our revenge against him. If thou canst cuckold
him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, me a sport. "
Iago also plots to get rid of Cassio the man who he thinks took a job
meant for him. He tells Roderigo that, in order to get Desedemona, he
would have to engage Cassio in a fight during the lieutenant's night
watch. ( Iago later racks up Roderigo's anger by claiming that Cassio
is secretly seeing Desdcmona's latest love. )
Later Iago gets Cassio drunk, and the ensuing fight turns to more
violence in the form of a riot. Othello is forced to demotc Cassio.
When Desdemona appeals to her husband on Cassio's behalf, Iago sees a
way to drive a wedge between the Moor and his wife by insinuating an
affair between her and Cassio.
Iago arranges a meeting between Cassio and Desdemona, for them to
discuss Cassio’s reinstatement, but Iago tells Othello of the meeting
and shows him Cassio "wooing" Desdemona.. He also begins to gossip of
a prior romance between the two, keeping up a steady stream of
innuendo and bringing jealousy in Othello's heart.
Matters begin to come to a head. Othello finds it difficult to control
his emotions, and explodes in jealous rages against his wife. Iago's
plan gets even more devious when he finds a handkerchief Othello has
given to Desdemona and secretly plants it in Cassio's bed. This
finally sends Othello over the edge, and starts the cycle of violence
in motion.
(Othello) Get me some poison, Iogo, this night
(Iago) Do it at with poison. Strangle her in her bed, even the
bed she hath contaminated.
(Othello) Good, good. The justice of it pleases. Very good.
(Iago) And for Cassio, let me be his undertaker ...
Overwhelmed with madness, Othello promotes Iago to his lieutenant and
gives him his first order: to kill Cassio.
The Culmination of the plotting
_________________________
Iago, with Roderigo ambushes Cassio. Roderigo fights Cassio in a
duel, and is wounded. Then Iago comes out of hiding and wounds Cassio.
To keep Roderigo from revealing details of their plot Iago kills him.
Pretending to have been a passer-by who has seen the fight and has
come to jelp Cassio, Iago helps take Cassio back toOthello's home.
That night Othello confronts Desdemona in her bedroom demanding a
confession. Desdemona denies any wrongdoing... But Othello tells her
that Cassio has been killed, and when she starts to cry he takes it as
a sign of her love for Cassio, and turns on her:
"O strumpet! Weep'st thou for him in my face?" Lost in rage and
jealousy, he kills her by smothering her with a pillow.
Emilia, Iago’s wife, at the door arrives at this point, and tells
Othello that Cassio is still alive. Othello tells Emilia that it was
Iago that told him of Cassio’s infidelity with Desdemona "My friend,
thy husband, honest, honest Iago,"
When Iago arrives back at the house, Emilia urges him to tell the
truth. Watching, Othello sees the lie in Iago’s eyes, and now knows
the truth - it was all Iago's doing.
Emilia also sees it, and confronts her husband, who draws his dagger
and stabs her. Othello then attacks Iago wounding him, but the other
nobles present hold him back to stop him killing Iago.
Emilia dies, still defending Desdemona's innocence. Othello, mad with
guilt, asks Cassio to remember that he had acted in good faith: "…one
that loved not wisely but too well."
This said, Othello kills himself, stabbing himself with his dagger. As
he lies dying, he hears the promise that Iago would be tortured to
death at the hands of the governor-general of Cyprus.
Summary
________
Othello and Iago are two very different men but share a few similar
personality traits. Othello is gullible, passionate, eloquent, and
courageous, a simple man who’s emotions can sometimes overwhelm him.
Iago, on the other hand, is deceiving, greedy, selfish, and egocentric
while being emotionally cold and intellectually brilliant.
Shakespeare shows that while it appears they are opposites, both are
jealous. The playwright shows us the power of jealousy by examining
the motivations of both men, showing us that both are capable of
extreme violence, one through emotional overload, leading him to
violence and eventually murder against the only thing he loves,
another through a cold contempt for everything and everyone leading to
plot, intrigue and an overwhelming jealousy that would ultimately be
his downfall.
Hope thats what you were looking for, but if you need any
clarification, just ask
willie-ga
Google search used
Othello violence
"violence in Othello" |
Clarification of Answer by
willie-ga
on
15 Nov 2002 00:17 PST
Jealousy pervades the whole play. My answer above relating to violence
could just about be rewritten, referring to jealousy as the driving
force, for it is the jealousy of the main characters that leads to the
violence. It is given form by Iago's words to Othello,
"O, beware, my lord, of Jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster."
in act 3, scene 3 and the warning was a foreshadowing of what was to
come, for Roderigo, Iago, and Othello.
Roderigo is is infatuated with Desdemona and has been for some time.
He is willing to do anything to win her love. He is jealous that
Desdemona loves Othello and not him. He pays Iago large amounts of
money to conjure up a scheme to acquire Desdemona. In act two, he is
prompted by Iago to cause a commotion and begin a fight with Cassio.
Later in act four, scene two, Roderigo is convinced by Iago to fight
Cassio, leading to his eventual death. Roderigo's jealousy brought
upon his downfall.
Iago is cunning, crafty, intellectual and intelligent, but even he
falls prey to jealousy. Iago can not accept the fact that Othello
overlooks him and appoints Cassio as his lieutenant. Iago finds it
appalling and is jealous that he wasn't promoted. Near the end of
the first act, Iago explains to Roderigo that Othello and Desdemona
will be undone by his wit.
"If sanctimony and a frail vow betwix an erring barbarian and a
supersublte Venetian be not too hard for my wits and all the tribe of
hell, thou shalt enjoy her."
Perhaps Iago's plan would have been successful if he wasn't so
persistent in destroying Othello and Desdemona. He was already
successful with destroying Cassio's reputation and his own reputation
was improving drastically. Jealousy and his thirst for power made
him continue and ultimately lead to his failure.
Jealousy has the most profound effect on Othello. Othello is a simple
man. He has never had to deal with this type of situation. As a
result, he has very extreme reactions because of his jealousy. His
love for Desdemona is so strong and jealousy overpowers him, making
him lose his ability to reason logically. In fact, Iago has been so
successful with his plan that he puts Othello into a state of madness.
At the end of the play, after Othello smothers Desdemona to death, it
is
brought to his attention that he was set up by Iago. In horror, he
realizes his mistake. Just before his suicide, Othello explains that
all will have to refer to him as "one that loved not wisely but too
well" (act five, scene two, line 344). His lack of experience brought
upon his ruin, and he finally realises that jealousy has been his
downfall.
As I said in my previous summary:
Othello and Iago are two very different men but share a few similar
personality traits. Othello is gullible, passionate, eloquent, and
courageous, a simple man who’s emotions can sometimes overwhelm him.
Iago, on the other hand, is deceiving, greedy, selfish, and egocentric
while being emotionally cold and intellectually brilliant.
Shakespeare shows that while it appears they are opposites, both are
jealous. The playwright shows us the power of jealousy by examining
the motivations of both men, showing us that both are capable of
extreme violence, one through emotional overload, leading him to
violence and eventually murder against the only thing he loves,
another through a cold contempt for everything and everyone leading to
plot, intrigue and an overwhelming jealousy that would ultimately be
his downfall.
willie-ga
Google search used
Othello violence
|
