Roderigo Mirrors Iago's Discriminative Language Towards Othello example essay topic

Othello How Does Shakespeare Explore Jealousy in this play? The theme of jealously is so prominent throughout Othello that it is the apocalyptic element which mutilates every essence of the milk of human kindness within it's prey; Othello, aswell as fuelling contempt for the tragedy to flow through it's damned route. The first hues of this green, self destructing passion are exemplified Roderigo's spite is unleashed from him by Iago, the ring-keeper of the play who manipulates the emotions of characters such as Roderigo, Othello and Cassio, to some extent also controlling their actions, and terminally, fate. In the first scene of act one, Shakespeare demonstrates how jealously can be channelled by the human mind into a disguise of a different feeling; Roderigo mirrors Iago's discriminative language towards Othello, by doing so his jealously for Othello over his marriage to Desdemona seeps from him in racist comments, referring to Othello as 'thick lips. ' While Iago, partly thriving on the bitterness struck by Othello's appointing of Cassio to be his lieutenant, uses crude, de-human ising metaphors to describe Othello, never mentioning his name, instead denying his identity by calling him a 'Barbary horse or an 'old black ram's uggesting a perverse nature of his relationship with Desdemona.

By referring to Othello as a ram, a cloaked footed animal, the implication found later on in the text when Iago mentions his suspicion amidst his obsessive twisted thoughts that Othello 'twixt my sheets he's done my office' is enriched, we begin to taste the bile from Iago's brain. For Iago's yearn to lead Othello to his death is not fuelled by jealously but by the theory of motiveless evil which can only attempt to take on jealously as concealing excuse. Drained of the milk of human kindness that partly submerges the world into a sense of morality, Iago is an exception, with his head above the water he is the human metamorphosis of darkness in the play, with this in mind it is possible to consider that perhaps Iago is immune to the victimisation of jealously because he himself is so full of malignant sourness only able to pass it on, too saturated in the burning acid to take anymore, there is no more humanity left in him, than his deceitful shell, to be corroded. In a sense Iago's lowly status in the play mirrors his sub-human nature; a mere sergeant amongst various figures in high venetian society has hunger to pull people down from their dignity and de-humanise them into ruins. While Othello is discriminated against due to his colour, this only happens once his crosses the border of profession with that of personal life, as a soldier he is highly respected, to sicken Iago even more, he has earn this recognition, Othello himself recalls how 'Her father loved me' when referring to Brabantia before he found out of his marriage to Desdemona. It is thought by some that the dominating theme of the play is racism, although I do not agree with this view, a contributing factor to Othello's demise is the fact that he is an outsider to the environment which he is exposed to- yet this issue is more to do with the contrast of cultures than racial attitudes.

I think that jealousy is what keeps the play afloat, the green poisons which savagely uproots it's primary victim- Othello and deports him to an aided, self -made hell. Othello's speeches give us an idea as to how his mind changes; in the company of Desdemona in Act 2, scene 1 he wishes for 'If it were now to die 'there now to be most happy... my soul hath her so content' from this plea to prolong a utopias stagnancy to wanting to inflict a different type of stagnancy for a different reason. While perhaps in fury he later says 'I'll tear her all to pieces' of the woman he is so captured by, the reality of burning angst eventually takes shape. Othello's jealously over Desdemona, manipulated by Iago is like a hellish chariot which drives Othello to his tragic death aswell, the wheels spinning out of control not a gutter of self-mutilation and misery. As the script moves on, Othello's ability be an honourable soldier wears away as his preoccupation with Desdemona is the lead to his downfall, this is not due to his love which might distract him, but to a much more negative aspect of his feeling that develop as his bones crush while being wrapped around Iago's finger, the imagery of his demise similar to the pain of the torturous rack- a most feared instrument in Elizabethan prisons. Othello's jealousy for Cassio and feeling of explosive disgust at the thought of Desdemona breaking his naive wish that she be better that the average Venetian women in regards to her supposed infidelity ultimately and in arguably destroys him at Iago's desire.

With Iago's firm grip on Othello, whether it be the blood that bounds him 'forever' or the ironic false facet of the character, the only side which Othello can see and calls 'honest Iago, his ability to take advantage of this trust is not the direct cause of Othello's death. Characteristic of a true tragedy, Othello dies due to his own fault, the error being from a trusting stem, ending in insufficient strength to fight the jealous virus that infiltrates his system.