To a great extent Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy Othello, The Moor of Venice, maintains

enduring textual integrity for contemporary audiences due to the play’s skilful treatment of
deception and weakness, explored significantly through the interplay between the internal
conflict of the dramatic protagonist Othello, and the twin external conflicts of his world and
other character motivations. As concerns highly relevant to the human condition, the
weakness of the individual in the face of immoral deception continues to resonate with
modern audiences; Shakespeare’s masterful use of the dramatic tragedy genre encourages his
audience to reflect on their own weaknesses and tendency toward acts of deception to achieve
their own ends.

The relationship created by Shakespeare between Othello’s internal conflict and the external
conflicts that influence his declining emotional state are suited to reflect universal themes and
feelings familiar to contemporary audiences. Shakespeare follows the traditional tragedy
genre structure in which hamartia, or the ‘tragic flaw’ is used in the characterisation of
Othello which evokes an empathetic response from the audience. Othello’s tragic flaw is seen
as his jealousy, however it can also be argued that his fatal flaw falls deeper than just this, as
it is his internalisation of Iago’s manipulation and the prejudices he faced based on his race
that led to his downfall. This manipulation by Iago is seen particularly in scene 3 “It is the
green-eyed monster which doth mock/The meat it feeds on” (3, 3, 170). In this line Iago
preys on Othello’s obvious insecurities by methodically introducing the idea of jealousy as a
potential weakness. Shakespeare uses foreshadowing here to suggest to the audience that
Othello will inevitably be consumed by the ‘green-eyed monster’, further solidifying the man
vs self conflict both as a result of and a constitution to Othello’s tragic flaw – the universal
theme of jealousy creates a point of weakness, relevant to contemporary audiences as the
human condition is often based on the reflection or challenge of morality.

Another way Shakespeare draws on Othello’s weakness is through using the environment
against him to establish unfamiliarity. This man vs world conflict plays into Othello’s
inability to overcome his duality as both in insider and an outsider – although he is an
established figure within the politics of Venice, he still faces discrimination due to his race.
This physical duality is juxtaposed with his emotional state as someone who is grounded in
the beginning to someone who becomes overrun with jealousy. The change in environments
from Venice to Cyprus is also important to note as a symbol of Othello’s hamartia as he is
easily taken advantage of and manipulated when he feels less grounded in his physical space.
The use of his duality against him to destabilise his mindset is shown in his treatment by
other characters and how he interacts with his environment. For example in the juxtaposition
in scene one between the treatment of Othello by Iago and Rodrigo, and The Duke of Venice
- “Thick lips” (1, 1, 68) spoken by Rodrigo to reduce him to his racial attributes, and “Valiant
Othello” (1, 3, 50) by the Duke of Venice to show how well established Othello is within the
politics of Venice. On one hand, he is seen as an animal and someone not worthy of respect
and on the other he is seen as a respectable figure that is capable of leading a significant army
in a large battle. Similarly, Othello’s struggle to maintain his division of a soldier and a lover
due to his inability to be vulnerable in Venice while also maintaining a respectable political
status. Shakespeare uses Othello’s military background as a foundation of his relationship
with Desdemona, saying that “She loved me for the dangers I had passed/ And I loved her
that she did pity them.” (1, 3, 169-170) however, as conflict arises around Othello, he
struggles to make connections to Desdemona without involving his occupation and visa
versa. This is shown in his final speech in which he says to Lodovico “Speak of me as I am…
Of one that loved not wisely, but too well.” (5, 2, 358-360). This juxtaposition between love
and his relationship with Desdemona establishes the differences in the end when Othello
finally references his heart as a separate object of his mind. Throughout the text, as Othello’s
duality becomes inextricable, the division between his humanity and behaviour are blurred.
Shakespeare uses this duality to relate to the human condition as he recognises the struggle to
differentiate between aesthetic and flaws, and how weakness can be derived from feelings of
emotional instability from being in an unfamiliar space. Shakespeare creates enduring textual
integrity by incorporating themes of the physical world in order to appeal to contemporary
audiences’ natural anxiety when facing unfamiliar circumstances.

More so, Shakespeare incorporates a man vs man conflict to build on internal doubt and
change in environment to be a catalyst of Othello’s self-destruction. As a noble and stable
minded character, it would be implausible for Othello to be solely influenced by Iago. This is
shown consistently throughout the text through factors such as racial prejudice, doubt, and
criticism from other characters – as each range in severity and increase, so does Othello’s
weakness towards Iago. For example, Othello is established before the text begins in the title
– ‘The Moor of Venice'. Shakespeare uses an oxymoron as a rhetorical device to highlight the
fact that Othello is not where he should be as a moor is not someone of Venetian descent.
This establishes the use of the word as a derogatory term throughout the text and the source
of primary conflict being racial prejudice against Othello. It is used by characters in order to
dehumanise and degrade him, particularly in the beginning; before Othello is introduced to
the audience, Iago and Rodrigo consistently refer to him as ‘the Moor’. Such as Iago's speech
about how Othello prevented him from a promotion to lieutenant - at the end of the speech,
Iago comments that Cassio was undeserving of becoming Othello’s right-hand man while he
has to remain as "his Moorship's ancient" (1, 1, 33). As a play on the word “Worship”, Iago
mocks Othello's race and character. This, with the constant use of animal imagery – “barbary
horse” (1, 1, 130) and “black ram” (1, 1, 90) is used by Shakespeare to show how easily
human beings degrade one another to achieve self-satisfaction and how quickly we will
become immorally judgemental in the face of adversity. This creates enduring textual
integrity by reflecting the impacts of conflict on the human psyche, as well as challenging the
perceptions of society when facing those who do wrong against us. In relation to the human
condition, Shakespeare uses universal themes to challenge human morality and the darkness
of humanity.

Therefore, Shakespeare uses a combination of conflicts – man vs man, self, and environment
to show how weakness can be a result of and contribute the three. Shakespeare’s Othello
continues to engage with audiences through its narrative treatment of weakness and deception
as it creates textual integrity by relating to the human condition to show universal themes of
weakness and deception in order to challenge society’s perceptions and applications of
morality. The ability to apply these themes to all contexts show an enduring value and
Shakespeare as a skilful artist that understands the implication of continuing human
behaviour, and how to reflect this to a contemporary audience.