My Part

STRICTLY NO COPYING! I'LL SUE YOU PLAGIARIZERS ;)

“Othello” is one of the most prominent works of William Shakespeare that was first performed in the earliest years of the 17^th century. “Othello” is considered as a much appreciated play because of the issues that have been depicted in the play that relate to the people of that particular era and - to a certain extent – profoundly related our era as well. There are multifarious themes that heavily influence the storyline of the play, such as the issue of race, friendship and betrayal, jealousy, honesty and pride.

            The issue of race can easily seen in “Othello”, and it somewhat brings us modern readers back into the 17^th century to have a look into how the Western society at that time perceive the people of the East, in other words, the others. In many cultures ranging from the East to West, a name is a person’s pride, and we call other people by their name to show our respect to them. By not referring a person by his name indicates that that person is somewhat of lower in status and undeserving of receiving the same level of respect from them, mainly the West. An example of this can be seen in Part I scene I, Iago, the villain of “Othello”, seems to degrade Othello by only referring him by the term “the Moor” several times as can be traced in line 39 and 57. Apart from that, Edward Said’s “Orientalism” has clearly touches on the issue of degenerating a human into smaller body parts. One can see that Iago seems to degenerate Othello into referring him by his body parts alone, not referring to him as a complete man. One can see an instance in line 66 where Rodrigo deems Othello as “thick-lips”. This act of degenerating Othello into body parts flamboyantly illustrates us that the Venetian society, primarily the whites, at that time felt they were superior in term of self-dignity and status than the Moors, or the blacks, or the entire Eastern world for that matter. The issue of race doesn’t only halt there. We can see the putrid descriptions of the Moors in “Othello” through the horrible words that Iago has put together in line 88 and 89;

“Even now, very now, an old black ram, Is tupping your white ewe; arise, arise,”

Apart from that, during the hearing at Othello’s compound yard, much to his surprised, Brabanzio was seemed to be very unpleased that his daughter, Desdemona, married Othello in secret. The instigation made by Rodrigo and Iago earlier further infuriate the enraged father into believing that Desdemona has been somewhat cursed by Othello using the dark magic to fall in love with him, (Part 1 Scene 3 line 60 – 61)

“She is abus’d, stol’n from me and corrupted, By spells and medicines, bought of mountebanks”

This further illustrates that the study of the dark arts are usually practiced by the Eastern community, indicating that the East are filled with evil and corrupted minds that often tempt to manipulate the West. This is absolutely absurd, and cannot be taken as a valid argument as the author that wrote “Othello” was from the West.

            Apart from the issue of race, the theme on friendship versus betrayal has also been placed in this play. Cassio is depicted as being extremely loyal towards Othello, while Iago is being depicted otherwise since the beginning of the play where he already started to instigate Rodrigo against Othello, (Part I Scene I). Othello, being a figure with power in the play, shows some sense of kinship with his fellow comrades, Cassio and Iago, primarily the latter one even though Iago has been masterminding devilish plots against his superior, Othello himself. Emilia is another character that strongly suggests that the theme of friendship exists in “Othello”. In Part 5 Scene 2 line 110 onwards, the bond that has been established by Emilia and Desdemona can be seen as Emilia is strictly grieved after seeing Desdemona dead on the bed. While she can easily cling to her husband, Iago, she chose to reveal the truth and this action acts as a primary enlightenment to those people presence, especially Othello, towards Iago’s misdoings, (Part 5, Scene 2). In addition to the issue of friendship, the issue of betrayal is indeed important as well, as it indirectly pinpoints us to different matters in Othello such as lust for power and greed. Iago furtively betrays Othello behind his back while plotting to raze Othello’s life because Iago did not receive the recognition that he thinks he deserves and this can be traced in line 7 to 30 in Part 1 Scene 1.

            Jealousy is another important theme that Shakespeare has centralized in “Othello”. Two main characters in this play implicitly help to reveal this theme in accordance to the plot and those two are Iago, and ironically, the main character, Othello, himself. Iago’s jealousy is sparked by his pride where he thinks he’s a better man than Michael Cassio (Part 1 Scene 1 line 20 – 25), while Othello’s jealousy is rooted from love, convinced that Cassio and Desdemona are romantically involved in a relationship where in truth both Desdemona and Cassio are working together on helping Cassio getting his position back in the army, (Part 4 Scene 1). In other words, Michael Cassio, is the root for the theme of jealousy for the play “Othello”. This is pretty interesting, as Cassio doesn’t know that he is the cause of jealousy for both the protagonist and the antagonist of the play. The theme of jealousy is being portrayed here because of its destructive nature. It doesn’t only affect one’s soul and emotions, but it also allows one to harm others physically. For example, because of Othello’s blind jealousy towards Desdemona and Cassio, it has caused Desdemona to lose her life in the hand of Othello, even after Desdemona innocently tried to plead not guilty to her husband’s accusations of her as being a whore (Part 4, Scene 3).

            In conclusion, there are many themes in Othello that deal with many issues that are still considered as relevant to our modern days such as the themes of race, friendship versus betrayal, jealousy, pride and honesty.