Andy

Andy Lam December 13, 2009 English 12A Misleading Trust to death- Othello Essay There is no way you will not hear the name Shakespeare in the literature category because of the masterpieces he creates. He uses these psychological factors on his characters and creates a basis for the story line. But the most popular theme he uses in all his books are manipulation, trust, loyalty and betrayal from Romeo and Juliet to Othello. The thing is that there is always a "puppet master" in any of these books, which is a person who is the driving force of the play or a person who controls the play. In Othello, it was Iago where he is trusted by everyone in the book and back stabs everyone in the end for his selfish needs. The main question is that why did no one ever test Iago's trust throughout the book to see if he is actually trust worthy. Iago, as the puppet master, abused the trust of everyone and lead it to everyone's death. This is shown throughout the book, from Roderigo's relationship with Iago, to Emilia’s relationship. With Roderigo, you can tell he put all his faith into Iago's hand and just used him for his money. But why didn't Roderigo test Iago before he trusted him. Was he too blinded by love when Iago told him that he can separate Desdemona and Othello? But if you notice in Act I Roderigo is actually jealous of everyone else just like how Iago is through the play when Roderigo sates "/Nor the division of a battle knows."(3) This quote means that Roderigo is jealous of the people around him like Cassio and Othello which make him feel jealous towards them. This is the main reason why he paid Iago to tear apart Othello since he was jealous of his relationship while hurting Cassio’s pride. I feel that Roderigo is just trying to copy Iago because he idols him and that is the reason why Iago killed him. I guess that Iago would have thought that Roderigo would have betrayed him as Iago did to Othello since Roderigo is a jealous person. So Iago killed Roderigo because he feared his own influence on him as if it would have killed him and also because Iago wanted his money. This would lead Iago to manipulate Cassio in the handkerchief factor of the story. Since Iago and Cassio are both men that Othello trust a lot, he assigns Cassio to take care of Desdemona and Iago to go with Othello during act three, which creates the perfect setting the put a bad name on Cassio to make it seem like he's doing bad things to Desdemona. But Iago never had a strong hate for Cassio, he only wanted his position and that is the main reason why he lived in the end. Iago could have easily killed him in the end but he didn’t even though he did have a higher rank than lieutenant. Iago main goal was just as simple as killing Othello and take Cassio’s spot. He also used him in the beginning at the scene with the party. Iago, as the conniving snake he is, got Cassio drunk which caused him to not think right in which he stabbed someone in Act two scene three. for This would cause Othello to lose the trust he had for Cassio and remove him from his position from the lieutenant and made Othello respect Iago. Clearly though Iago in the right state of mind planned all of this out since he was the one that got Cassio drunk and he was the one that told Roderigo to start a commotion. He didn't care what extend it had to be to get to Othello. He is so wicked that he would allow Montano to get slice during Cassio's rage just to achieve what he wanted. He didn’t care about anything else but his evil plan to collect money and kill Othello, which was hard for him until he manipulated Emilia to do whatever he wanted.

Even thought Emilia was his wife, he didn't treat her like it. He used her as a tool to become closer with Desdemona and make Othello suffer. such things like getting Emilia to talk to Desdemona was the strategy that he used. To put more guilt into Desdemona, he convinced Emilia to talk about the handkerchief that Othello gave her. This would just put Emilia to talk about type of man that the "moor" is. Desdemona states in Act three scene four " Believe me, I had rather have lost my purse//Full of crusadoes: and, but my noble Moor/Is true of mind and made of no such baseness/As jealous creatures are, it were enough/To put him to ill thinking "(153).This quote nearly means that she has to find the handkerchief since it would hurt Othello in the most painful way by her losing a symbol of their love. But Emilia responds to this quote by just says that Othello's just jealous and letting her notice that he is. Although Iago is the main "puppet master" I guess Emilia also was playing with Desdemona's mind like how Iago played with everyone's mind unintentionally. I mean she does convince Desdemona that she doesn't know where her handkerchief is since she remains loyal to her husband till the very end. She also gives her opinion of what a man is when she states " Tis not a year or two shows us a man:/ They are all but stomachs, and we all but food;/ They eat us hungerly, and when they are full/ They belch us " (159). This quote nearly means that she thinks that men just use women till they have no use than throw them away like if they were trash or just belch them out. But Iago doesn't only use Emilia to drive the play, but also how he obtained the handkerchief. Although Othello's mind is not as fragile as believing everyone's rumors like Barbantio or the judges, the handkerchief was the main reason why he lost it and fell into Iago's trap. Since he trusted Iago so much by the time of act three and he has the handkerchief by the time,Iago could instill any type of doubt he wanted into Othello to make it seem that Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio. Othello in Act three scene four stated "  Hot, hot, and moist: this hand of yours requires/A sequester from liberty, fasting and prayer,/Much castigation, exercise devout;/For here's a young and sweating devil here,/That commonly rebels. 'Tis a good hand,/A frank one.    This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart:" (155). This nearly meant that he had questioned Desdemona about Cassio as he referred to him as the rebel and to see if she was cheating on him. He also stated that her hands were hot and moist which lead him to assume she is. But he starts to snap when he sees that Cassio has the handkerchief and kills Desdemona in the end. This may have been so easy since she did leave her father for him, why can't she do the same for a person who isn't blood related? And also the things that Iago kept saying got to him in the end since he trusted him so much yet ultimately lead to his death. Although it is good to put your trust on people like how Iago put him trust in Emilia, there are some negatives of putting all your trust on some since you can actually get killed for it like Roderigo and Othello. you never know if the person is try to deceive you or rather use you for their own good. You shouldn't judge a person by how they apper to be but the actions they took to get there.