Othello Essay

In Othello, Iago acts as the "lightning" that strikes the "tree" of Othello, who is the "inevitable conductor." As a result, the charge emanates through Othello and shocks the characters in his immediate vicinity. Among these are Desdemona, Cassio, Rodrigo, Emilia, and Othello himself. In the tragic vision of Shakespeare, several select characters are often deemed tragic because of their interactions, intentions, and end result. The tragic characters are the innocent pawns of the conductor that try to help out, but in the end, often times die because of their naive actions.

Othello, "conductor" and victim of the "divine lightning," becomes the tragic figure as he stabbed himself with the knife. His end realization of his actions proves too much for him. With Othello being "one that loved not wisely but too well," he loved Iago as a brother and trusted him in every way. This love made him susceptible to Iago's poison. As he becomes more accustomed to listening to the "honest" observations of Iago, Othello questions more and more the loyalty of others. Although he never meant to harm Desdemona and Cassio, Othello did inadvertently open them up to the pestilence of Iago. The suicide of Othello created the tragic figure because of his release of his life as a token of compensation for the awful damage he helped to cause. Othello's acknowledgement of his role in Iago’s plans, the downfall of his noble character, and the unintentional conducting of Iago's poison to other characters created the tragic figure.

Along with the tragic figure come the victims. Cassio, Rodrigo, and Emilia all fall victim to the wrongdoings of the devil-impersonator. Cassio, although a pimp, remains loyal to Othello and a brother-like figure to Desdemona throughout the entire play. His main purpose lay in winning back his favor with Othello, which he lost due to Iago. Since he never swayed in his honest intentions but fell into Iago's trap, he becomes a victim of the tragic vision. Rodrigo, the naive friend of Iago who's blinding love for Desdemona creates a translucent character easily thrust into the net of chaos. Even though he willingly taunted the drunk Cassio into a fight, provided Iago with the financial means of fulfilling his evil plan, and helped set up the downfall of Othello, Rodrigo's intentions lie with the soul purpose of winning Desdemona's affections. The tragic part of Rodrigo's death is that he died for blind love and Iago's pleasure. While his character requires Rodrigo to be gullible and loyal to just about anyone, his only true mistake was listening and obeying. Emilia resembled Rodrigo in her love and devotion to Iago. After Emilia steals Desdemona's handkerchief, she carelessly says, "[w]hat he will do with it, / [h]eaven knows, not I. / I nothing, but to please his fantasy." Her objectives are to please her husband and remain in his favor regardless of the consequences. Unknowingly, she provided a key element to Iago's masterful plan. In the end, the love she had been searching for turns out to be the monster of destruction. She died for a listless love and in attempt to make right what she had done wrong to Othello and Desdemona. While each of these characters plays the tragic role of one of the victims, none could be more tragic than Desdemona.

In Desdemona's first soliloquy, the audience is left with the impression of a loyal, honest, and respectful woman who is unafraid to speak her mind to the men in her life. Her love and loyalty for Othello crudely mixed with his jealous state of mind to create a strong, but tense relationship between the two. Then Desdemona and Cassio's brotherly friendship pushes her to help the falling out of Othello and Cassio. Much to Iago's pleasure and contentment, these two factors setup the perfect stage in which his plan will unfold. His cruel use of the most innocent, friendly, good-natured, honest woman in Othello makes Desdemona the most tragic victim of the entire play.

Each of the pawns in Shakespeare's Othello has their own level of tragedy. However, they all share a few characteristics in common: the unintentional act of propelling Iago's plan further into action, the innocent intention to do good, and the end result of a world torn apart. Whether Iago initiated the actions of the victim or Othello inadvertently caused a violent chain reaction, each of the characters mentioned play a key role in the tragic vision of Shakespeare.