Good Vs. Evil in Shakespeare’s Othello

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Good vs. Evil in Shakespeare’s Othello

Arguably, Shakespeare’s Othello is characterized with multiple themes that revolve in most of his plays; for instance, love is common in these works and it revolves around the protagonist and the characters around him or her. Many themes stand out in Othello such as jealousy, which seems to drive multiple characters to the decisions they make, the disparity between races, and pride among others. Shakespeare ensures that his characters depict the intended message with utmost clarity so that audiences can identify and understand the characters and the story better. Othello narrates the story of a man known for his military escapades; he is a proud general in the Venetian military and he enjoys narrating the stories of his conquests to Desdemona, a beautiful lady that he eventually marries. Othello is a black man or a moor originally from North Africa and Desdemona is a white Venetian woman; the two fall in love and get married, but it is clear that their union is not approved by most people in Venice. For this reason, their bond sparks a lot of reaction from characters such as Iago who is the antagonist in the play (Schwartz 280). Alongside Roderigo, Iago plans to make Othello suffer for overlooking him for a military post that he thought he deserved; in essence, one could argue that throughout the play, Iago represents evil from his actions. In this regard it is necessary to analyze the battle between good and evil, which represents one of the dominant themes in Shakespeare’s Othello.

Foremost, good and evil seem to appear throughout the play, with the evil being witnessed at length as compared to the good, given the character traits of the antagonist, Iago. Seemingly, Iago’s portrayal dominates the play, making the audience notice everything he does in his quest to make Othello suffer. On the other hand, the good side of the play is portrayed by Othello, his wife Desdemona, and Iago’s wife, Emilia. Together, these characters are impacted by the actions of Iago who is portrayed to have a grudge against anyone that does not bend to his will. Primarily the battle between good and evil in Othello is based on the actions of the characters; for instance, in the beginning of the play, the audience is immediately introduced to the evil side when Iago and Roderigo are heard discussing how to separate Othello and Desdemona. Here, it is clear that Iago is evil when he agrees to help Roderigo, simply because he still holds a grudge on Othello. It follows that Iago takes charge of the quest and even turns Roderigo into a pawn in his grand scheme to hurt Othello. Iago’s evil nature is dominant such that Roderigo’s bad intentions with Othello are shadowed by the actions of Iago; since he is against Othello and everything he does, this is marked as the first instance of good vs. evil. Iago’s evil is supported by another theme that is also dominant in the play, jealousy, which drives him to do what he does.