The play that I want to write on is Othello by William Shakespeare. This play is about the misplacement of trust that has been casted upon some people which lead to the downfall of man. The betrayal of trust is driven by the jealousy towards the main character’s achievements and stature.
The themes that I want to relate to the story are overlapping with each other which is the trust on one cannot be too malicious that it can be the downfall of your own self, jealousy is a very ill-driven motivation that will cast chaos towards one’s life and displacement of honesty can surely destroy a man’s life.
My one point is in the entanglement of three major points. The explanation would be done in a simple manner where we will see that a jealous individual that has been portrayed as honest and has been looked upon as someone who is trustworthy will lead to the downfall of the immediate friends and relatives.
In the play, we could see that Iago is the main villain in the story whereas Othello is the main character. It is said that Iago is jealous of Othello’s position and power in the Venice as he, Othello is a Moors and married to Desdemona, a daughter of a Venetican’s senator. He found that this should not be happening as he cannot see why and how is it possible for an intermarriage to happen. Below are a few lines from a dialogue that is said by Iago in first Scene first Act.
“...Against the Moor: for, I do know, the state,...Though I do hate him as I do hell-pains...I must show out a flag and sign of love,...”
Just based on the above quotation, it is already being included that Iago hates Othello but he needs to get Othello’s good side so he can instigate Othello towards his demise. Thus he masked himself with the word honesty and influenced everyone around him to loath Othello in any way possible. Besides that, he already pointed it out clearly that he hates Othello for his colour skin.
Each of everyone in the play has made a consensus within themselves that Iago is innocent, and a very honest person. He is someone who is modest and humble in front of Othello maybe due to the stature differences or he is trying to fool Othello. At the same time, he is acting very intelligent and more outspoken in front of Cassio and Iago. This implication is probably due to the fact that he is trying to instigate them to bring calamity in Othello’s life directly and indirectly. The alibi stating that Iago to be honest as a man can get was given out by Othello himself as they have been working together for as long as they can remember.
Based on that acclamation, he managed to sway everyone judgement of themselves and everyone around them easily. Thus, he gave doubt within them and paranoia between them.
“Yet, I persuade myself, to speak the truth”
(Act 2, Scene 3)
In addition to it, all of the characters in the play trust Iago’s word as if his word is an absolute truth. We can see it in many instances where people will go to Iago for advice and guidance. Iago has given out advices and suggestions to all of the characters in the play including Othello, Desdemona and even Emilia. Throughout the play, we will see Iago instigate everyone around him to do something that would cause at least a disturbance in Othello’s life. In Act 1, we can see that Iago developed Roderigo despise Othello and further complicate Othello’s life by making Brabantio rushed to Othello and ask for his’ daughter safe return. In Act 2, he instigated Cassio to be stripped out of his status and tried to make a scandal between Cassio and Desdemona. He managed to influence Othello in making him believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. One particular event that truly portrayed the absolute truth of Iago’ word when Othello and Desdemona confront each other. Othello believed in all his heart to what Iago had said that Desdemona is impure and untrustworthy even though Desdemona has claimed that it was not what he thought it is.
In conjunction to it, we can see that Iago even manipulated Emilia, his wife, a little by pulling a small trick. He persuaded Emilia steals the handkerchief that Othello gave to Desdemona so he can plot his malevolent plan towards the destruction of Othello.
Furthermore, we can interrelate all of the themes that I have stated into our own life as we also have needs and friends. We move ourselves because of motivation regardless whether it is positive or negative. We tend to compete with the people that we sometimes awe and respect. We tried to surpass everyone that is higher than us in the related field that we interested in using any ways possible. To survive in this world that people have said to be unjust, we need pillars and we will get it by having a bond of relationship with people; family and friend all the same. Thus, we invoke trust to make sure that we can depend on them in any way possible so we would not feel alone or fragile in the world.
To conclude, Othello play has multifarious themes that we also go through in real life.
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