In this essay I am going to analyse the aspects of the characters of Othello and Iago in Act three scene three which id the pivotal scene in the play because it climaxes everything that has gone on before in the play comes to a head and the rest of the plays action is dictated by Iogo’s evil descent machinations and Othello Into chaos. In this scene, Othello’s mind is completely changed about his wife Desdemona at first he trusts her then believes she is having an affair. He decides to kill her. This is the central scene in the play and its turning point.
It’s the scene in which iago gains control over Othello and turns him against Desdemona. Othello is the main character of the play he is a grand noble man jealousy feeds into him and the idea of being deceived takes over his brain. His noble background of a general made him a greatly respected person. Othello’s background also was of a sophisticated one he exceptionally trusts his ensign Iago too that he is easily corrupted by him. Iago manipulates Othello into believing that his wife Desdemona is having a liaison with his fellow lieutenant with cassio who was chosen over the veteran soldier Iago for the position.
He is a young and handsome Florentine who becomes intoxicated also a scheme plotted by Iago and wounds ontano, the governor of Cyprus. Iago is the main villain of the play he only cares for himself at the end of the play thinking like that gets him nowhere but death. Iago and Desdemona are the most constant characters of the play. Iago seeks anarchy, death and darkness and the manipulation of other characters whereas Desdemona strives for order, community, growth and light they also differ in other ways.
Desdemona is an open book and is unable to retain her emotions however iago is more introverted and wicked, has many secrets and keeps a firm hand on the surface. Each represent values and attitude that re the an thesis of those held by each other they are used by Shakespeare to express the plays central conflict between life and anti life forces, a conflict which has a battleground in the character of Othello. At the beginning of the play iago is gunning for Othello he has not given iago the promotion.
This is a start in a chain of events, which will eventually, lead to iago completely having the upper hand. By act three scenes three iago is at the top of his power, Othello is at the start of his side into chaos. Iago at this stage is simply resentful and jealous however we could argue that he is displaying traits associated with a ociopath, because the plots become dastardlier. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, as iago throughout the play starts to exhibit the point where he cannot see what he is doing.
The plots and machinations made by iago have already constructed him as a villain as he exhibits in the soliloquy, he thinks in an evil way at the beginning he just wanted cassio to lose his job but as the play progresses he becomes more and more paranoid until he reaches the point where he thinks he wants revenge of Othello. Othello has no reason to doubt iago and so iago is free to disfunction and manipulates Othello to control his actions. At first iago encourages Othello to be more curious about his wife’s activities But iago holds back from making any direct accusations at this stage.
As Othello stats to ask iago for more details just as ha did with cassio, he appears to be protecting Desdemona. Othello is convinced that iago is honest man never once considering that he could be totally evil. By nature Othello is not a jealous man But iago cunningly suggests that it is more natural for her to have empathy it cassio because they are of the same race, and he insinuates that Othello is a foreigner. Iago echoes the words of Desdemona’s father by saying that he deceived her father. He holds back from saying that she is deceiving Othello, leaving him to come to that conclusion.
Iago is very basic, in other words rough and ready he knows what he is doing although he wants to be lieutenant he rationalises everything he justifies that he will take revenge by effectuating Othello’s mind with poison. this shows idealism inj contrast to iagods self interested character, he is filled with an exaggerated sense of ones own importance throughout the play iago is constantly being referred to as: That statement is taking on a cruelly ironic tone because; ” honest Iago” is not honest at all.
Iago remains vague when Othello asks him what are up this makes Othello suspicious and once this suspicion is aroused then Othello becomes more and more dysfunctional he begins his descent into chaos. His deliberately needling reputation of Othello’s words ‘indeed? ‘, ‘honest, my lord? ‘, ‘think, my lord Quickly gives Othello the idea that he is hiding something. Iago proceeds by sustained insinuation and it is not surprising that Othello is soon crying ‘ by heaven, I’ll know your thoughts.
Lagos ‘ you cannot’ is calculated to inflame further: then comes some revelation of the ‘thought’ he is so carefully ‘hiding’, with The warning against jealousy. Act three scene three is where iago is proposed to kill individuals to get what he wants what he thinks is rightfully his. Iago wants o sleep with Desdemona as he suspects Othello of sleeping with his wife Emelia e believes Othello has taken the place that should be rightfully rewarded to him this is where he decides that he will kill individuals to get what he wants.
By the end he is no longer tricking Othello because he wants a better job but tricks him just out of spite basically he ants to be Othello. Iago as a opportunist he will use whatever comes to hand to further his ourse. Iago gains control over Othello and turns him against Desdemona. Because Othello and Desdemona are newly married. Desdemona assures cassio that she will plead his case with Othello, at that very moment Othello and iago enter, cassio leaves quickly leaving iago to manipulate his innocence and turns it around into what looks like an optical betrayal.
This shows iago is having the opportunity to turn Othello’s mind later on. Othello at this stage doesn’t notice and basically has no rejection whatsoever later on in the play he uses this to think that she I having An affair. Iago orchestrates events, manipulates situation and turns every opportunity to its advantage probably the most obvious is when Desdemona loses her ” strawberry spotted handkerchief ” it was the first present othello9 gave Desdemona.
After the handkerchief falls to the floor Emelia gives it to iago who then uses this as evidence to Desdemona’s and cassio’s affair. Othello becomes extremely upset and demands proof but iago defends himself as a well-meaning friend, but manages to skilfully send Othello over the edge with repetition of lies. This statement is a pivotal sentence in the play he says this loud enough or Othello to hear his scene of doubt iago is starting to phase into Othello’s suspicious Mind Othello becomes infected with poison.
Iago responding to Othello’s questions and answers like ”honest my lord” By reading this quote we can now establish that he is being evasive he is making Othello think something is wrong his idea of planting a little seed of doubt eventually growing bigger and bigger into a huge tree. Subsequently we can now establish that this is the turning point of Othello’s character happens his nature changes course as iago plot things into Othello’s mind about Desdemona and cassio. At this point Othello is less infers mine he knows what he is going to do next which in this case is kill Desdemona.
In Othello the word ”honest” is meaningless in other words it takes on a sinister aspect the idea of things not being what they seem is a sinister aspect of the play. This tells us that even if Othello is a brave noble soldier he is blinded with jealousy. Iago trying to change Othello’s mind because at the end o the play iago is making Othello believe that he is weak. Iago builds this up in steps to make it more believable. He felt his life was only in order if he I loved. His innocence and the ack of sophisticated are revealed.
When Othello is told about the affair he becomes jealous being the person who believes apperearances, he wanted ocular proof of Desdemona’s infidelity. Even superficial piece evidence is sufficient. The words fair and black are used frequently throughout the play, not only they show the actual and physical colouring of Othello and Desdemona. But they also contain meanings which iago is keen to exploit. At the end of the play the stage is full with dead bodies, a very important ingredient of a tragedy, but iago lives at the end and Othello becomes noble again his talk is very dissuasive.
Desdemona love for Othello is very fractures; Desdemona is nobler it is only at the end of the play when she finds out that that he’s going to kill her. This scene shows clearly that the play is a tragedy and Othello is the tragic hero and ends up murdering his wife although tricked into when he finds out and kills himself this makes him a tragic hero. Othello’s misjudgement and his pride shows him to b a tragic hero as well as all his weakness in character there is a deceptions of jealousy and revenge are all brought to light in the same showing and how they effect Othello and his mind.