In the story Othello by William Shake spear it starts off with a guy named Iago, some guy named Cassio just passed up Iago for a promotion in the military. Iago’s superior named Othello just eloped with a girl named Desdemona, and to get revenge for Othello not giving Iago the promotion Iago tells Desdemona’s father that she eloped with Othello which this angers the father and he goes to the duke. The duke gives Othello a task to stop an invasion, which by the time he gets to the invasion the threat is gone. After that Iago takes revenge on Cassio (the guy who got the promotion) by getting him really drunk and convinces him to get into a street duel with Roderigo, once Othello heard this he removed Cassio of his rank. This wasn’t enough however so Iago made it seem like Desdemona was being unfaithful with Cassio by planting her handkerchief in Cassio’s room. , after this Othello promotes Iago and asks him to kill Cassio and Desdemona. Iago convinces his friend Roderigo to kill Cassio, which he fails at this task but Othello hears the cry of Cassio so Othello goes home to kill his wife. Cassio believe that it was his wife who wounded him to Iago kills Roderigo. Othello finds out it was all Iago’s doing and try’s to kill him but it fails so Othello condemns himself to suicide and Iago flees. But on his attempt to flee he is captured and does not make it to his freedom.
Characters:
Othello: One of the main characters who is a Christian moor and who is also a General In the Venice army. Othello is considered the protagonist and a hero. Othello is both a very strong man and a fairly smart man; he is respected by a lot of people. Othello has is free at heart and does what he thinks is right which is what leads to the eloping with his wife, Desdemona.
Desdemona: Desdemona is the daughter to a Venetian senator named Brabanzio. Desdemona and Othello elope and secretly get married before the start of the story.
Iago: Iago is a very jealous and self minded character, he is more worried about himself then others. Iago is also a troublemaker and is willing to do anything to get ahead, he is very devious, he would be considered the villain of the play.
Michael Cassio: Othello’s lieutenant. Cassio is a young soldier who passes up Iago, which leads to conflict between the two. However Cassio is devoted to Othello, Iago plays with their relationship and makes it seem like Cassio is having an affair with Othello’s wife.
Emilia: Iago’s wife and also Desdemona’s attendant. She is very devoted to her mistress and doesn’t trust her husband.
Roderigo: Roderigo is in love with Desdemona and he has a lot of money and is stupid. Iago tricks Roderigo into giving him money because Iago says that he can get Desdemona to fall in love with Roderigo. Iago tricks Roderigo into doing stupid things for Iago.
This play takes place in the late sixteenth century and is at the time where Venice and Turkey are at war. This takes place of the island of Cyprus in Venice, the Cyprus island turn to basically creating a big military encampment. The Cyprus Island was named after the goddess of love so it is the island of love. The setting is important to the story because without the war with Turkey, Othello would have no way to redeem himself. The fact that there is a war happening and they are getting invaded and that the island is a military camp the justice that Desdemona would have gotten in a normal town isn’t there so there is no way to stop Othello in his rage. The island would have been considered very beautiful and very nice water, but is taken over for the military camp so some of the natural beauties could have been ruined or hidden. They talk about Venice as being more modern than most people would picture a 16th century town with all paved streets and nice buildings and bars and shops. The war between Venice and Turkey in the story is actually considered historically accurate so that is pretty impressive. The characters originally start in Venice but are forced to move the Cyprus Island, Cyprus and Venice are really different in the settings because Venice is more modern as opposed to Cyprus which has been turned to a military encampment on an island that is not very big compared to Venice.
Man vs man: Othello vs Iago: because Othello didn’t give Iago the promotion, Iago goes out of his way to ruin Othello’s life. Also Venice vs Turkey.
Man vs Self: Othello’ trust vs Othello’s Jealousy: Because in the story Othello has to determine wither he trusts Desdemona, Iago, and Cassio.
Man vs Society: Othello vs the publics opinion on his eloping and the promotion.
Themes:
Love: love is a theme because Othello goes through a lot of challenges involving love, such as eloping with his wife, confronting the Turkey invasion to prove his love, or trying to find out if his wife is being unfaithful. Roderigo in the story does stupid things and helps Iago for love because he is in love with Desdemona
Revenge: Revenge is a theme because throughout the story Iago is trying to get vengeance on Othello and Cassio for Iago not getting his promotion. Throughout the story Iago does many different devious task for payback.
Betrayal: At the start of the story Iago feels betrayed that he did not get the promotion. Iago betrays Cassio by getting him drunk and getting him in a fight, which leads to his demotion. Othello is betrayed by what he thinks is his wife being unfaithful.
Symbols: The Handkerchief, The Song “willow” , and a Candle.
The handkerchief is a symbol of Desdemona’s faithfulness to Othello which is why when Othello finds it he is so hurt. The handkerchief is passed through many different characters throughout the story.
The Song “willow” is a symbol because Desdemona sings it the night that she is about to get murdered. Desdemona first heard the song from one of her servants who loved a crazy guy. The song is a symbol of women deserted by their loved ones.
The candle is a symbol because the night the Desdemona gets murdered Othello blows out the candle just before he strangles her. As Othello stands over Desdemona sleeping he says he’s going to put of the light then blows out the candle and kills her. The candle shows how fragile life is and is a symbol of that.
This picture is important because it shows the racial difference between Desdemona and Othello. It also show Cassio who is devoted to Othello and Iago who looks jealous. This picture shows how they are in love and that the flag and the people shows that there is conflict. The military armor shows that they are military men.