Deception in Shakespeares Othello :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Deception in Othello  Ã‚   In the play Othello, the very evil and conniving character Iago deceives the main characters. He prays mostly on the main character Othello. Othello is a black general who is married to a white woman named Desdemona. In the beginning of the play Othello promotes a man named Cassio to be his right hand man in his army. Iago, thinking that he was going to get the promotion, is furious by this and swears revenge on Othello. In his revenge he uses many people. One of these people is Rodrigo. He is in love with Othello’s wife Desdemona. Iago prays on Rodrigo and causes him to have a battle with Cassio. Iago prays very heavily on Othello towards the middle of the play. He begins to tell him that his wife Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio. Iago plans this perfectly. Iago tells Othello to keep close watch on his wife Desdemona. At the same time he told Cassio to be very good to Desdemona. Iago tells Cassio that the only way to be back on Othello’s good side was to get close to his love, and that is Desdemona. So while Othello’s suspicious are up, Cassio is being especially nice to Desdemona. Iago chose a very good time to attack Othello’s emotions. At a time when Cassio has wronged Othello, he tells Cassio to get close to Othello’s wife, the love of his life. For a lot of Othello’s rule, Iago has been like Othello’s advise giver. He has been like a best friend to Othello. Iago was not only Othello’s advise giver but to many persons of power. This puts him in a great position already to do his evil bidding. Othello plays right along with Iago’s plan. Othello believes everything that Iago says. In a way, he falls into Iago’s plan a little to well. For Iago, everything happens at exactly the right time. Othello listens to what Iago says because Iago has gained much trust from Othello. He has no reason not to believe what Iago was saying. He played a part in his own downfall because he falls for every lie that Iago throws at him. He needed to have a stronger mind for things like that. Othello needed to think harder about what was being said to him by Iago. At the time that Iago was telling him these lies, it all seemed to make sense.