Othello Character Analysis

Othello Character Analysis

Major Characters:

Othello: Protagonist and hero. He is a highly valuable and respected general of Venice, and an eloquent and powerful figure. He is nevertheless easy prey to insecurities because of his age, his life as a soldier, and the fact that he is a racial and cultural outsider. He sometimes makes a point of presenting himself as such, whether because he recognizes his exotic appeal or merely because he is self-conscious of his difference from other Venetians. In spite of his eloquence in the first act, he protests, "Rude am I in my speech, / And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace". In the end, it is the tension between his victimization at the hands of a foreign culture and his own willingness to torment himself that makes him a tragic figure.

Nevertheless, Othello is also tactful and wise in dealing with authority. When his father-in-law accuses him of bewitching Desdemona, Othello does not argue but instead politely and courteously stands before the Duke and proves his marriage is one of love. However, he later allows the threat of Desdemona's supposed infidelity to drive him to murder her to avenge his own pride.

Shakespeare also intensely contrasts Othello from Iago by making one black and the other white, one unprincipled and the other noble and upright.

Iago: Possibly Shakespeare's most heinous figure due to the manner in which he effortlessly manipulates those around him to do his bidding by taking advantage of their trust and using his victim's own motivations. It is his talent for understanding and manipulating the desires of those around him that makes him both a powerful and compelling figure.

Another aspect of Iago that elevates his apparent malevolence is his seemingly utter lack of plausible motives. He often hints that his prime motivation is bitterness for having been passed for promotion. His racist disgust at seeing black Othello and white Desdemona together, and his supreme confidence in his ability to destroy Othello also present potential motives. It is also revealed later in the play that Iago suspects his wife of infidelity with both Othello and Cassio.

Some possible motives include:

1. Failure to be promoted

2. Racism

3. Jealousy (of Emilia, of Desdemona, or of Othello)

4. Homosexuality

5. Insecurity

6. Supreme intellect regulated by emotion or conscience (sociopathy)

7. Sadism

The biggest problem Iago faces is concealing his malignant, manipulative behavior from those who trust him implicitly (to their undoing). His greatest misjudgment is his own wife. She stands up to him to defend Desdemona's fidelity to Othello, unraveling Iago's twisted web of manipulation. He differs from many of Shakespeare's villains in that he is left alive at the end of the play, rather than killed at the hands of those he oppressed.

Desdemona: "Desdemona" is considered to be a name for a siren and love icon, the name meaning "ill-fated one". She is continuously distrusted by those who should love and trust her the most. Well meaning, she tries to help Cassio regain his position but this only earns Othello's wrath since he sees it as proof that she is having an affair with Cassio. Loving and loyal, she refuses to tell Emilia that Othello killed her in order to protect him. She is somewhat naпve in that she finds it impossible to believe any woman could be unfaithful.

Desdemona is often criticized as being a stereotypically submissive character. However, she proves herself to be quite independent and bold when she stands up before her father and the court to defend her marriage, and later to defend her husband for her murder. The way in which she is murdered-smothered by a pillow in a bed covered in her wedding sheets-is symbolic: She is literally suffocated beneath the demands put on defending her fidelity. At first she seems capable of meeting those demands, but in the end Othello stifles the speech that made her seem so powerful. Tragically, she seems aware of her