Othello
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Othello
 Plot
The play's first act is set in Venice. Desdemona,
the daughter of Brabantio, a Venetian senator,
has secretly married Othello, a Moor in the
service of the state. Accused before the duke
and senators of having stolen Brabantio's
daughter, Othello explains and justifies his
conduct, and is asked by the Senate to lead the
Venetian forces against the Turks who are
about to attack Cyprus.
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Othello
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Othello
In the middle of a storm which disperses the
Turkish fleet, Othello lands on Cyprus with
Desdemona, Cassio, a young Florentine, who
helped him court his wife and whom he has now
promoted to be his lieutenant, and Iago, an
older soldier, bitterly resentful of being
passed over for promotion, who now plans his
revenge, Iago uses Roderigo, “a guli'd
Gentleman” in love with Desdemona, to fight
with Cassio after he has got him drunk, so that
Othello deprives him of his new rank.
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Othello
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Othello
He then persuades Cassio to ask Desdemona to
plead in his favour with Othello, which she warmly
does. At the same time he suggests to Othello that
Cassio is, and has been, Desdemona's lover, finally
arranging through his wife Emilia, who is
Desdemona's waiting-woman, that Othello should
see Cassio in possession of a handkerchief which he
had given to his bride. Othello is taken in by Iago's
promptings and in frenzied jealousy smothers
Desdemona in her bed. Iago sets Roderigo to
murder Cassio, but when Roderigo fails to do this
Iago kills him and Emilia as well, after she has
proved Desdemona's innocence to Othello. Emilia's
evidence and letters found on Roderigo prove
Iago's guilt; he is arrested, and Othello, having
tried to stab him, kills himself.
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Othello
Iago
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Theme-human nature
Othello offers a study of human nature,
which is made up principally of two warring
elements, love and hatred. Of the three
characters in Othello, Desdamona and Iago
are the antitheses of each other, with the
former stands for love and life force that
strives for order, community, growth and
light and the latter for hatred and anti-life
force that seeks anarchy, revenge, death and
darkness. Othello is the combination of the
two.
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Theme
In the first part he manages a calm control of
himself under law and order, so the love
triumphs over hatred. In the latter part,
however, when the social conditions in Cyprus are
less secure, the Iago spirit starts to undermine
the noble values of Othello. Gradually Othello’s
noble quality is poisoned by Iago spirit, and
yields to evil. The murder of Desdemona acts as
the final destruction in Othello himself of all the
ordering power of love, trust and bond between
human beings. So it is the flaw, the sin that all
flesh is heir to that destroys Othello.
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Theme （1）
—humanism
Othello can be regarded as a tragedy of humanism.
Othello is a new man of the Renaissance. He is a
great warrior, and too noble-minded to suspect
those whom he loves. Though he is a black man, he
has great moral beauty. He loves Desdemoda so
dearly just because he finds he to be the
embodiment of integrity, sincerity and loftiness of
mind. These qualities , together with her youth and
beauty, make her his ideal of a woman, and her love
the greatest reward for his long and hard life.
Desdemoda and Othello both belong to the future
world. Their tragedy shows that noble-minded
people may be led astray by evil forces in an evil
society and commit horrible mistakes if they
cannot distinguish truth from falsehood, and good
from evil.
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Theme（2）
—jealousy
Jealousy is also often regarded as one main theme
of Othello. Almost all the characters in the play
are in some way jealous or are involved in jealousy.
Othello, the essentially noble man, who is not
“easily jealous”, has been infected by Iago’s
jealousy and becomes a prey of jealousy. Evil
conquers Othello with jealousy and destroys his
nobleness. Subtle variations of torture reduce him
to a beast of fury and madness. The love that
united man and woman, youth and maturity, black
and white in marriage is shattered. So this play is a
close study of man’s nature.
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Theme （3）
—racial prejudice
Othello is also a tragedy of the coloured people in a
society of racial prejudice. Though well-known as a
soldier and in high position, Othello has been a man
living in loneliness, because he is black. The citizens
of Venice seem to be treating him as one of
themselves, but to have him marry one of their
daughter is quite another matter. Here we can find
strong racial prejudice against the black. Iago, in
carrying out his evil intrigue, sees this, and in his
hint to Othello, he touches persistently on the
unnaturalness of Othello’s marriage in the eyes of
the white gentlemen. Here lies the social
background of Iago’s success in ruining Othello’s
happiness
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