... traditional views of progression rather than Othello's practical promotion of Cassio as the most appropriate person for the job presents a paradoxical element of his character. When presented with a situation where he stands to benefit from traditional procedures, he is willing to support them, even though he maintains a stance ... requirements of the situation and show his motives to be inconstant and uncertain. This stance on self-determinism shows that he believes the animal instinct of self-preservation to be more important than manufactured ideals, and that the only way for a man t...

• Word Count: 2807
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Graduate

... is unworthy due to his indiscreet actions. Cassio is smooth, polished, elegant, handsome, and cultured. Many of these traits are direct opposites of the foreign Othello. Innately, Othello admires Cassio's character, but that subconscious admiration translates to jealousy when Iago nudges him in that direction. Cassio is fairly static throughout the play.  He is an honest and upstanding ... character. Roderigo Roderigo is a very weak and easily manipulated character. From the very first speech of the play, Roderigo says, "I take it much unkindly/ That thou Iago, who has had my pur...

• Word Count: 2512
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... ranking of all forms of life. Cassio believed that losing his honour was equal to losing his humanity and falling to the rank of an animal. This belief in the chain of being is also shown in his attitude towards women. He greets Desdemona, a virgin with high social status ... factors - the class of her birth and her unquestioned virtue. The subject of chastity and female honour can be further examined by exploring Desdemona's character. Desdemona is an honourable woman according to Elizabethan principals: she remains chaste until marriage and is utterly devoted to her husband, despite h...

• Word Count: 4511
• Approx Pages: 18
• Grade Level: High School

... ." Roderigo is amazed, but Iago persuades his friend into believing that Desdemona is already tiring of the black Moor and is looking for some younger, fairer person to satisfy her "animal" desires. Then Iago tells Roderigo that Cassio must be destroyed if Roderigo is to win the hand of Desdemona. Roderigo nods vigorously and listens to Iago's scheme. This very night ... to do whatever he chooses, for Othello will believe him. The tragic hero is now thoroughly brainwashed about Desdemona and still trusting and praising of Iago. He is truly a pathetic character, especially when compared t...

• Word Count: 6585
• Approx Pages: 26
• Grade Level: High School

... real feelings for Bianca. He is a lady's man, and therefore cannot be concerned with such things as true love. Even Othello, the one character who truly loves his wife, mistreats Desdemona. He ends up suffocating her because he believes she has been unfaithful to him. The fact that Othello, ... and caring Desdemona. She gives the handkerchief even after Iago calls her "a foolish wife" and "a good wench." Another female character, Bianca, also allows herself to be mistreated. Bianca believes that she is in love with Cassio and will therefore do anything for him. But ... view on women in ...

• Word Count: 4504
• Approx Pages: 18

... the ignorance by Othello on what was planned by Othello's antagonist that he was determined to carry out some way. The characters posses other character traits that allow the tragedy to occur. They both act violently and irrationally when confronted with unfavorable circumstances. They also both didn't trust the ... with nothing, all because their tragic flaws came out in unfavorable circumstances, and they didn't make the right decision. The tragic flaws in each character come out many times in the course of the play. Sophocles sets up Oedipus' tragic flaw as pride. The prologue that th...

• Word Count: 3079
• Approx Pages: 12

... do not embody desirable traits? (Shakespeare Resource Center n.pag.) The interrelation between categories does not stop there, however. It also complements his character in dealing with the play's antagonists. The evils of the antagonists are immediately contrasted by Othello's righteous traits. More important that dealing with ... As an important military figure, Othello's courage is of the highest importance in keeping his reputation and position intact. Therefore, Othello's character not only allows him to achieve the respect and adversity that tragic heroes usually encounter, but it i...

• Word Count: 2635
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... him. Later in the play Othello is tormented by his conflicting emotions of love and jealousy over Desdemona. In Act 2 Scene 1 Desdemona's character is developed further. In Cyprus she talks with Iago, Emilia and Cassio. Their conversation turns to the value of women. Iago starts to insult ... his intensity of feeling towards her. This ties in her being a personification of good and shows the audience Desdemona is a central character, not by her strong character but by the way others react to her. In Act 3 scenes 3 and 4 Desdemona is trying to persuade Othello to forgive Cassio ... chao...

• Word Count: 2631
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... a web as this I will ensnare great a fly as Cassio'. Iago uses a simile for Cassio as a fly that will be caught in this spider's web that Iago has made. Iago uses animal imagery with himself as the spider and Cassio as the fly. Line 217 - Patriarchal Power As Iago is speaking to Roderigo he shows us his misogynistic views as he describes ... ...

• Word Count: 3368
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: High School

... a code of behavior and upbringing which views someone like Othello as barbarous, uncivilized, and almost amusing in a superior cultural kind of way. Every time a character calls Othello "the Moor" a sense of derision and superiority is conveyed and all the other feelings of distance inherent in Venetians.[4] Iago says that Desdemona is ... This does finally concentrate on Venice - and makes some excellent points, which could well have come earlier. 4. This brings together the idea of Venice and the character of Othello himself, but this superior, sneering view of Othello needed a better r...

• Word Count: 3763
• Approx Pages: 15
• Grade Level: High School

... structure, almost universally occurring in one location over the course of one day, and revolving around one major plot. These Greek dramas almost universally portrayed the downfall of a hero or character of legend and high stature. Aristotle defined the classic tragedy as a story centered about the hero's noble and moral struggle against fate. To the Greeks, fate would always overpower ... a struggle against his mind and morality and not so much against fate. Hamlet has been described as Shakespeare's (maybe even all of literature's), most masterfully captivating, enigmatic and universa...

• Word Count: 3419
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... tragic gloom that he causes is only occasionally relieved by comedy, provided by Roderigo and the Clown. OVERALL ANALYSES CHARACTERS Othello Othello is a romantic character. He has not been born and bred in familiar England; instead he comes from the remote and mysterious Morocco. He has lived a life of ... knows that outside the battlefield, Othello can be "led by the noseas asses are". Iago is just as negative about the finer qualities of character, not believing in any goodness or virtue. Reputation for him is "an idle and most false imposition". He considers love as "merely a lust ....

• Word Count: 4125
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: High School

... the play even some two hundred years after the Shakespearean context (in the early 1600's). The soldier on guard duty obviously still had social and racial prejudices against Othello the character, indicated by his assertion that a "Negro- must not be allowed to murder a white woman, so atrocious he thought the act to be that he shot the actor. Negroes, in the ... led to both Desdemona's and Emilia's deaths. Emilia is introduced by being referred to Iago by Othello as "thy wife,"" [1.3.296] in relation to her male patriarch. Iago is a misogynistic character who both fears and hates wome...

• Word Count: 3595
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: High School