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  • Essay / Deception and Betrayal in Shakespeare's Othello

    In Shakespeare's Othello, the story is full of deception and acts of betrayal, but none more so than the main character, Othello, and his betrayal of those he love. He is presented as a kind and gentle lover, but his easy confidence and manipulation have left him vulnerable to attacks on himself and everyone he has ever loved. Shown through his puns and actions, he transforms into a wild man driven by love and hatred. This dramatic distinction ultimately plays into how the ending describes his demise and for this reason his change is of utmost importance to the play as a whole. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay First of all, Othello presents himself to readers as a lovely and honorable man who respects his wife, as in one of his first scenes he is scene adoringly describing his love for his wife, Desdemona. He describes himself as thriving "in this fair lady's love, and she in mine," which highlights the early interactions between Othello and the one he considers his deepest love. His use of the word "fair" shows how delicate and pure he thinks she is, which will also provide a stark contrast to the words he later uses to describe her. However, before this, he confesses his feelings again, as he approaches her and proclaims that he "has only one hour of love, of worldly things" that he must spend with her before leaving for the coming war. This emphasizes his view of her being angelic and pious through his use of the word "worldly", which shows his view of their love as being out of this world and something supernatural, like "worldly" or otherworldly is commonly used to describe. God because he is not a human being. His adoration for this woman is short-lived, however, as his trust in another whom he loves in a different sense betrays him. Later in the play, as Iago's plan to rule Othello unravels, Othello transforms from what readers thought would be an honorable and loving husband. to a monster who feels betrayed and easily deceived by his wife, even though he is actually deceived by Iago. This intrigues readers because pity for a character like him increases, due to his madness, and Othello's actions add to the hatred for Iago's character. This is shown in Act 4, Scene 1, where Othello, blinded by rage, "falls into a trance" and Iago recounts how "gullible fools are caught." The use of the word "fools" is used to describe Othello because his actions led him directly to Iago's final plan, which ultimately worked because he was too blind to see the truth. In the next scene he accuses Desdemona of having "function in front of Saint Peter", which contrasts so much with his previous statements that she was pious and celestial. Now he accuses her of being evil, because instead of guarding the gates of heaven like St. Peter, she guards the "gate of hell." Readers are then not surprised by his final choice to kill Desdemona because his mental state is too twisted and corrupted to stop his actions. This dramatic change in his opinion of her not only makes the reader pity both him and Desdemona, but it also forces readers to really examine the word choice as shown to fully understand Shakespeare's choices for Othello at the beginning and at the end. As noted, Othello's descent into madness resulted in an outcome far from what the reader expected in the early scenes, due to his greater love and..