“Good, evil, or misunderstood.” A character paper on Othello, by Shakespeare
It seems fascinating that an interesting and clever character in a story, would
be the villain, such is the case in Othello, by Shakespeare. As a moor, Othello
has faced many challenges and prejudices throughout his life. When he becomes a
soldier of high stature and honor, and weds, he receives the jealousy and envy
of Iago, the villain. The story revolves around the mischievous acts of Iago,
his evil plans of making himself better than Othello. Iago conceives a plan of
making Othello doubtful and unsure about his wife, Desdemona. At first, Iago’s
lies have no effect on Othello, but thru his relentlessness, Othello finally
believes him. Othello, armed with anger and frustration, succeeds in killing
her. Showing no pity for his beloved wife, he kills her, without listening to
her side and story. Realizing he has been deceived by Iago, Othello in return
kills himself. The true tragedy of the play consists of Othello not realizing
how unnecessary his death and his wife’s. The person, least expected to
succeed and triumph in all his actions, was Iago. This play highlights the case
of evil winning against good, to some perspectives. Throughout the entire story
he appears, at least in every page, few pages are without him, either physically
or spoken of. Being the most complex character, Iago, himself is a mysterious
person. Many have come to question, why Othello is not called Iago, a play of
his triumph over making other people’s lives miserable. A simple answer can
not be given to a difficult question, such as this. Perhaps the reason Iago,
plays an extremely big part in the play, is because it symbolizes how evil plays
a role in everyday life, it can be the deciding factor in forcing people to make
the right, or in this case, the wrong choice. Iago, plays the major part of the
instigator. He conceives and acts upon his mischievous plans. Although his deeds
do not benefit him, he goes out of his way to make sure they go accordingly.
After reading Othello, some people debate over who is to blame for Othello’s
actions. In my opinion, Iago could be no more to blame than if he was a
bystander. Othello was not forced into believing everything Iago said. Othello
should be held responsible for all of his deeds. Murdering his wife, was at
will, even though Iago may have had a part in his decision, he certainly did not
have a part in the murder. Through all his actions, Iago can not be ultimately
blamed for the deaths. The green-eyed monster, can not be pictured to be Iago,
but can be seen as Othello, within him the monster released itself and murdered
Desdemona. An understatement would be for Iago to be the triumphant villain, he
instead is the best villain, in that his punishment is left for us to decide.
For my choice as the punishment would be that there is none. Iago would conceive
another unbelievable, yet successful lie for Cassio, and be set free. Maybe in
the future of Iago’s character, we can imagine that he slips and makes a
mistake, then he can be persecuted for all his wrong doing. Until then, for my
imagination he is free and running around conspicuously among the crowd. Iago,
is the kind of person, that never let his childhood go, in my opinion he just
wanted to spice things up and see what he could get away with. But we can also
picture a person who cared for nothing else than himself, clearly visualized
when he murders his wife, to escape getting caught. Although, even if Emilia was
to confess Iago’s deeds, being punished would still be a question presented to
the reader.