{The Tragedy Of Othello}
Tags: Evil, Othello, Corruption, Tragedy

The Tragedy of Othello has some interesting moments scattered all throughout the play, some of which either make you smile from the cuteness or scream out of anger. One moment specifically, makes you so infuriated that you want to, key words being-want to, rip someone’s head off. Iago wants to get revenge on Othello and does outrageous things to get want he wants, even if it involves innocent people. Iago is furious that Othello gave Cassio the Lieutenant position instead of him. Adding on, Iago somehow believed the fact that Othello slept with Emilia, his wife, which is unrealistic. Iago pretends to be loyal and lies to everyone around him in order to succeed with his schemes. With the help of Roderigo, Iago was able to carry out his plan, however, Iago eventually ended up betraying Roderigo to prevent being exposed. In the midst of all of this, Othello should obviously trust Desdemona since she is his wife, but he instead believed Iago and his lies. What aggravates me the most is the fact that Othello didn’t even bother to ask Desdemona and Cassio if what Iago told was true, instead he just assumed that it was true. All was well between Othello and Desdemona before Iago starts to scheme and plant absurd ideas into Othello’s head about Desdemona.

In my opinion, after taking in what was presented while reading, it almost seems like Shakespeare was hiding the abuse, physically and emotionally, by what seem like true love and regret and here’s why. In the play, Desdemona would try to console to Othello whenever he was mad thinking that she did something wrong when she didn’t do anything. Othello would call her derogatory terms-a wh***, strumpet, commoner, devil, etc.- after having been “mistakenly” told by Iago that Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio. At times he would regret that Desdemona did that saying, “She’s gone, I am abused, and my relief / Must be to loather her”, but it quickly leads to him making violent threats and saying, to “I’ll tear her all to pieces!” and “chop her into messes.” Eventually, Othello got violent with Desdemona and slapped her in the face publicly. Before Othello actually killed her by suffocating her with a pillow, he would taunt her to pray for mercy, but ends up denying her when she would beg to live for a little longer, in order to do so. Once Iago’s plan starts to unfold, Othello realized that Desdemona was honest upon hearing that there was no affair, he killed himself. At first, it seems like he committed suicides from the guilt that he killed Desdemona, but after thinking about it from a different perspective, him committing suicide might be because he killed Desdemona on a misunderstanding about her love. Something that needs to be questioned is the fact that what if Desdemona did have an affair with Cassio, would Othello take his own life after killing Desdemona? Throughout the play, it was made like Desdemona doesn’t have a voice and opinion in society and is only treated as an object. For example, in the beginning of the play when Iago was telling Desdemona’s father about her secret marriage to Othello, describing it as an act of theft. “Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags./Thieves, thieves!/…you’re robbed.” The ultimate question that comes to mind, why does Desdemona tolerate Othello’s abuse and say, “my wretched fortune” as well as ask, “What shall I do to win my lord again?” when she did nothing wrong.