Othello+Analysis

__ Personalities are People __ People experience betrayal at least once in their life. What is betrayal? Betrayal is defined as breaking trust. Emilia and Iago’s relationship was anything besides healthy. They were both dishonest towards one another and others in their life. Out of the many questions left unanswered in William Shakespeare’s //Othello//, what are Emilia and Iago’s personalities and what does betrayal for each other reveal about their characters? Iago is a self-centered and cynical character that happens to be Othello’s trusted friend. Othello, honest and clever, is the general of the Venetian army and Cassio is his lieutenant. Iago envies Cassio’s position and will go to any lengths just to take it. Iago feels that he is deserving of being Othello’s lieutenant and also feels that he deserves the position because he has more experience with the military. Iago tricks Othello into believing that his wife, Desdemona is being unfaithful to him. Iago’s want for Cassio’s position is immorally strong. His plot of wanting liutenent was so powerful, that nothing was going to stand in his way. A normal person would think about the consequences of such a plot, but Iago did not. I believe that Iago did not have a conscience. A conscience is an ability to tell whether an action is right or wrong. Iago not having a conscience affects his relationship with his wife, Emilia as well. Iago does not seem to care much about Emilia and Emilia seems to feel that way soon into their marriage. Emilia plays an interesting character in the book. During the 1600’s, women had a particular role and that was to take care of their families and maintain the home lived in. They were expected to cook and know how preserve of food. Women were supposed to learn how to provide for their families in ways that the men could not, like spinning to make clothes, brewing ale and have knowledge about medicine and first aid. Emilia contradicts the fact that women were not seen as strong figures during that time period because she is independent and outspoken. She works as Desdemona’s attendant. It was expected for Iago to tell his wife, the closest person he knows about his plan, but ends up not telling her. In result, Emilia does not know much about her husband. When Emilia finally puts the pieces together, Iago tells Emilia, “I told him what I thought, and told no more/ than what he found himself was apt and true. At first, Emilia wants to believe that Iago told a lie because why would any husband do what Iago did. He manipulated other people to get what he wanted. In a way, he answers back nonchalantly. This was the climax of their relationship. She finally realizes the kind of person Iago is. Emilia was blinded by Iago’s way of words. He told everyone what they wanted to here. So much grief is built up inside of Emilia. She feels so guilty for what Iago has done. Emilia tells Iago, “I’ll kill myself for grief” (229) When Iago tells Emilia to hold her peace she refuses to not speak. She says, “No, I will speak as liberal as the north. All, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.” It was not common for women to respond in such a way after hey husband told her to be quiet. They would have just put their head down and walk away because they felt powerless. Iago then tries to silence her once more by ordering to charm her tongue. She replies with so much anger. She said that she was bound to speak. How can she not speak when Desdemona lies dead beside her? It was almost as if Emilia was telling Iago, How can you have the nerve to even say that to me? I do not think that Emilia was a very compassionate person in the beginning. After finding out that Iago was the puppet master behind it all, made her a caring person. When she finds out that Desdemona has been murdered by Othello, Emilia tells Othello, “Thou hast not the power to do me harm/ as I have to be hurt/ O gull! / O dolt, as ignorant as dirt! / Thou hast done a deed- I care not for thy sword/ I make thee known/ though I lost twenty lives/ Help! Help! Ho! Help/ The Moor hath killed my mistress! Murder, murder!” (249) In this quote, Othello draws his sword out to Emiilia. Her response is that she does not care if she dies. In fact, she is challenging Othello in a way because she tells him, “Do thy worst!” She would be dying for a good reason. Before figuring out that her action was the major cause of Iago’s successful plot, she has a conversation with Desdemona about her opinion of husbands. In this conversation, it is evident that Emilia has a lot of resentment towards men, particularly husbands. She tells Desdemona, “Marry, I would not do such a thing for a joint ring, nor for measures of lawn...” (217). In the beginning of the discussion, Desdemona tells Emilia that she is attracted to Othello’s assertiveness and harshness. While Desdemona is asking Emilia’s opinion about marriage, Emilia is a bit hesitant. She does not speak much, until the end of their conversation. Their conversation is a good example of how out spoken Emilia is. Her opinions are not the typical responses heard from a wife. It symbolizes that Emilia is not happy with her relationship with Iago. Emilia almost persuades Desdemona to agree with her. If Emlia was caring, she would just console Desdemona and say that Othello would be back in no time, because of the fact Othello left her in the house. She does the complete opposite, and feeds her views on marriage. Emilia ultimately betrayed Iago by telling Othello, Montano and Graziano what Iago had done. Iago told Emilia to take the handkerchief, which Othello gave her, from Desdemona. It was convenient for Emilia to take the handkerchief because she is Desdemona’s attendant. Iago planted the handkerchief in Cassio’s room and told Othello that he saw Cassio wiping his beard with it. I feel that Emilia has always had so much anger towards Iago built up inside of her. Betraying Iago was uplifting for her because she got to take out all her anger towards him at that moment. She probably felt like there was always something different about Iago. By studying Iago’s actions, I came to believe that Iago can be characterized as a sociopath. People who are sociopaths lack senses of moral responsibility or social conscience. Serial killers are often diagnosed as sociopaths. Eventually, Desdemona, Emilia and Othello die in the end and Cassio is wounded. Even though Iago physically killed Emilia, he killed and injured the others by his words.