Othello Case

Othello the play from William Shakespeare embodies several themes. The main themes being social equality, conflicts resulting from love, and betrayal. The main character, Othello, shows to have a very solid, strong, and secure personality in the beginning of the play. But like many other Shakespearean characters, as the play develops, he reveals the weakness inside himself. As Othello’s sanity deteriorated, it is shown he has both villainous and heroic qualities.

The main character held a very important military position and earned it by pure effort and success in the field of war. This is especially impressive, as he is a “moor”, a character from African origins, and in the time period the play is set, racial discrimination was very common. Othello is a role model to his troops, and in times of pressure and despair he inspires them to keep going. He is also seen as an outsider in such a prejudiced society, and is often referenced as “the moor. He is not given an identity and called by his name like the other characters. The unfairness with which Othello is treated gives him more credit for the position he possesses and makes him an inspiration, and a role model. In his career achievements and skills, Othello is portrayed as a hero.

Even though Othello shows to be an extremely controlled person at the beginning of the play, this contained nature of his fades away when Iago starts manipulating him. In the first act, when Brabantio comes to attack him, instead of attacking him back, Othello says, “Hold your hands, both of you of my inclining and the rest. Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it without a prompter" (I, ii, lines 97-100). His reaction is contained and calm. Towards the end of the play, as soon as Iago starts planting the first seeds of his manipulation, Othello makes his biggest mistakes because he has a very trusting heart and confides in Iago without suspecting anything bad about him. An evidence of this is when Othello tells the duke that Iago is an honest person, when really he is being ignorant and naive enough not to suspect he is plotting against him. Othello is shown to have a very pure heart and innocent mind, which contributes to the idea of his heroic figure.

However, the absolute trust he has in Iago, is also one of Othello’s weaknesses, since jealousy and hatred are sparked inside of him because of Iago’s lies. Iago clearly wanted Cassio’s military position and manages to manipulate Othello into firing Cassio. He then uses Cassio’s and Desdemona’s friendship to try and