An Assessment of The Character of Othello in The Play, Othello by William Shakespeare

As Othello minded his own business, Iago, a greedy selfish man, plotted Secretly behind his back because he wanted to be lieutenant instead of Cassio. This shows one of the most important themes of Othello. Jealousy is definitely shown clearly to be one of the greater issues held throughout the whole story of Othello. Iagos greed brought him to convinces Othello to do wrong. Othello was not the bad man; Iago was. Othello was only a puppet, but still a good man. Whether or not he was a good man can be answered by the way it is asked, the was he treated people, and the strings he was attached to Is Othello a good man? This question can be answered differently depending on different circumstances. If the question is asked as whether or not Othello did bad things? Yes, but then he did have proper reason behind his actions. In his mind was he doing bad things? No, to be a bad man, the man would have to do wrong on purpose, to enforce wrongdoing as right. However, Othellos behaviors were influenced by a man who was not a good man and convinced him that he was doing the right thing. The whole time, however, Othello had absolutely no idea he was being lied to. What he did in action to these lies was right to him. However, because the lies were wrong, it made his actions wrong too. Othello, however, had a good purpose. His ultimate goal was good. Therefore, Othello is a good man.

Some may argue that he is a bad man because of the way he treated people. He slapped Desdemona, he thinks too much of himself, some may even not like him for his race, which is another major issue in the story. He is referred to as a moor throughout the entire story. Because of the times this play was wrote, I personally feel that those actions are also not wrong. Othello may have killed his true love, but because it was not his intent to kill someone who loved him, he was not wrong. In his mind, he was doing the right thing, because he was sure Desdemona no longer loved him. He was only a mere puppet on the strings of a bad man. He was not the actual bad man himself.

In the story, Othello is a noble character full of adventurous stories, which is why the beautiful Desdemona falls in love with him. He acts upon things as he sees fit. Iago, his loyal friend if you will, manipulates the people around the moor to make it appear that his true love has fallen for another man, Cassio. Because of Iagos jealousy against Cassio, he plots to get him fired and take his job as Othellos right-hand man. He eventually sets up a seen where Cassio talks about Bianca and Othello overhears, thinking he is talking about Desdemona. This proves to him that his one true love no longer loves him and loves Cassio In conclusion, Iago convinces Othello that the only thing to do is kill Desdemona and Cassio for playing with his heart. They carry this out and in the end, Iagos wife displays Iagos lying treachery and exposes the truth. Othello then realizes what he had done and kills himself. Personally, I think that if a man would kill himself over his love, he has a good heart. Othello is a good man who was manipulated with puppet strings.