Othello Characters

Iago and Cassio are foil characters. Although Iago makes it seem like him and Cassio are best buds, as the play unfolds it is clear that Iago does not care for Cassio. After all, he tries to kill him. One minor character that plays a major role is Emilia. Emilia is a dynamic character. She goes through a major change throughout the play. At the beginning of the play, Emilia is very obedient to Iago and takes all of his insults with grace. By the end of the play, Emilia reveals Iago's evil plan and is the main reason that everyone was able to figure out what happened. Emilia disobeys Iago and stands up for herself.

Dramatic Suspense

Othello by William Shakespeare is a play with a lot of dramatic suspense. After all, it is a tragedy, and none of the characters die until the last act of the play. Iago's plan goes exactly as planned almost throughout the entire play, which causes suspense because the audience knows something bad has to happen eventually. The audience knows that there has to be some flaw in all the evil that Iago creates among the characters. The audience must anticipate that some of the characters will die as well. Shakespeare keeps this suspense alive throughout the first four acts of the play. This keeps the audiences attention. Any type of suspense in a play is used to help captivate the audience and keep them focused and thinking throughout the work.

Death, Death and more Death

So, Act V had a few murders in it. And of course, Iago, being the one who caused all of the murders, survived. I feel that Iago's living represents that evil can never fully die; it will always exist. Othello said that he didn't think that Iago deserved to die because death brings happiness. I agree with Othello's thinking in that if Iago died, then he would've kind of gotten the easy way out. Now Iago is put in the hands of Cassio, who gets to decide the ways in which Iago will be tortured. This part of the play is kind of ironic in that Iago was controlling Cassio's life. Iago was convincing Othello to kill Cassio by telling Othello that Cassio slept with Desdemona. Now, Iago's life is completely controlled by Cassio.

Othello-Emilia's Role

Emilia plays an important role in the play. At the beginning, the audience sees her as a wife who is not treated with the least bit of respect by her husband. However, Emilia is faithful to Iago and does as he wishes. She steals the handkerchief from Desdemona in order to facilitate her husband's evil scheme. Emilia can be seen as innocent because she is unaware of the implications of her actions. She is a friend to Desdemona and gives her comfort when its needed. She represents the ideas and beliefs of many of the other characters. She is trusting in the fact that she believes what other people will tell her or in other cases just doesn't care enough to know what her actions are causing. Emilia is a mediator between Iago and Desdemona and indirectly to Othello.

Othello-tragedy

Othello by William Shakespeare is a tragedy. The audience's awareness of this idea allows them to think more deeply about the action that is taking place during the play. If the audience knows what type of play they are experiencing, then they will be more able to predict the outcome and understand the words and action of the play. This play is also romantic. At the beginning and through the middle of the play, Othello's relationship with his wife is a key factor involving romanticism. Knowledge of the classification of this particular play would give the audience the opportunity to read in to the details. They will understand why Iago acts the way he does and plans evil to befall on Othello. An understanding of the themes also facilitates the audience's ability to know the play.

Othello-themes

This play is characterized by a few different themes. Jealousy is a theme throughout the work that leads to some of the characters downfall. Othello becomes full of jealousy when he suspects that Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio. His jealousy is already starting to separate him from Desdemona. Othello's jealousy is caused primarily by Iago's jealousy. Another theme is that things are not always as they appear. To Othello, Iago appears to be an honest and trustworthy friend; however, Iago is jealous and plotting to destroy Othello and Cassio.