OTHELLO

Othello is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603. It is based on the
story Un Capitano Moro by, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565. In this drama Shakespeare
has brilliant ways of putting so many themes all together in one story. But here I am going to be talking
about Jealousy and Deception.

Jealousy generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack
of possessions. Jealousy can consist of one or more emotions such as anger, resentment, inadequacy,
helplessness or disgust. In Othello jealousy is portrayed beautifully. Throughout the play, good-natured
characters make rash decisions based on the jealousy that they feel, most notably Othello. Othello is
depicted as a typical heroic figure and holds admirable qualities, written with the intention of winning
over the favor of the audience; however, as the play goes on, jealousy will manipulate his decisions and
lead him into sin. While the majority of the evil that Othello carries out in the play can be cited as
coming from Iago, it is jealousy that motivates him to perform wicked deeds. When Iago highlights the
almost excessive amount of time that Cassio and his wife, Desdemona, are spending together, Othello
becomes filled with rage and, following a series of events, will murder the one that he loves. Iago refers
to jealousy as the "green-eyed monster." As this metaphor suggests, jealousy is closely associated with
the theme of appearance and reality. Here jealousy is a very important theme also, which creates Iago's
deception and is used and created by deception. Iago originally begins his plot to twist and deceive
Othello because he believes Othello is sleeping with his wife. Iago is also very jealous of Cassio for
becoming the new lieutenant, Iago then deceives Roderigo into doing all his 'dirty work' such as picking
a fight with Cassio and provoking Cassio. He deceives Roderigo through Roderigo's jealous desire for
Desdemona. The deception is fed from Roderigo's jealousy. Othello is also deceived through his own
jealously as Iago convinces Othello that Cassio is sleeping with Desdemona. Shakespeare explores man's
ugliest trait in this opus and perfectly represents the idea of the 'tragic hero' in Othello, who wins over
the responders early on but proceeds to make bad, almost wicked, decisions that will make it harder for
the audience to like him until his eventual undoing. This idea of the tragic hero is made clear through
the utilisation of jealousy.

Deception is an act or statement which misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea
that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation,
propaganda, and sleight of hand, as well as distraction, camouflage, or concealment. Deception is also a
very important theme in 'Othello' as the play is about how Iago twists and manipulates people's
thoughts to deceive them into causing trouble. He constantly places doubt in Othello, as Othello is
insecure about himself and therefore an easy victim. Othello as a black man, is different from everyone
else, he is also much older than Desdemona, which creates a thin barrier that Iago breaks to make
Othello assume his wife is cheating him. Iago pushes Othello's insecurity into madness and twists his
mind, being a catalyst for Othello's destruction of his wife. Iago produces this deception mainly through
his clever manipulation of words in their conversation, such as when he first puts the idea that Cassio is
very close to Desdemona, Iago points out what Othello would otherwise not realise, that Cassio is
speaking with Desdemona and walks off at their approach. Iago also uses deception through a
handkerchief, which he carefully plots to be seen in the hands of Cassio, by Othello, who had gifted it to
Desdemona. Iago's deception is the underlining foundation of the play and twists every thought of
Othello until Othello break and becomes a murderer of his own wife.

The plot of Othello tells us how Othello is a “tragic hero”, but we as readers need to understand that
Othello isn’t much of a hero but indeed was very tragic. We don’t look at the fact that Desdemona didn’t
get the benefit of doubt and was immediately judged because of which the series of unfortunate events
took place. Othello went from being the murderer of his own wife to a “tragic hero”. While Desdemona
didn’t get to voice out what she thought, even as she passed away, she told everyone that she killed
herself.

The concept of jealousy and deceit has done something that takes a sharp mind to see, it has turned
away the focus from the victim to villain. It had become so strong at a point where Iago deceives and
hurts everyone just because of his petty jealousy that has brought all focus on the villain, Iago. Now
everyone tells us how Iago is the greatest villain of Shakespeare and literature sometimes. Not many
talks about the victims who have suffered, mainly Desdemona and how Iago’s jealousy took away the
importance of Desdemona. It's astonishing to see where jealousy and deceit take some people, they will
do the most horrific things due to these strong emotions and the most innocent of people are affected
by this. This masterpiece by Shakespeare will be remembered by all, from the tiniest details about the
handkerchief to all the themes presented all at once. It allows us to sympathise or maybe even
empathise with suck work.

Finally, at the end this is how Jealousy and Deceit reduces the victim to no identity and elevates the
murderer into a position of a tragic hero. If it weren’t for the handkerchief at the end maybe
Desdemona would still be alive, if it weren’t for Iago’s lame and petty envious the plot of the story
would be different. But without jealousy and deceit Othello would just be a boring play without any
spark, and we wouldn’t know it for the tragedy it is, and we wouldn’t realise how well jealousy and
deceit go together.