Deceit and Betrayal in Shakespeare’s Othello

In Shakespeare’s Othello, the story is full of deceit and traitorous acts but none more so than the main character, Othello, and his betrayal of those he loves. He is introduced as a kind and gentle lover but his easy trust and manipulation left him vulnerable to the attack on both himself, and everyone he has ever loved. Shown through his word play and actions, he transforms into a wild man driven by love and hatred. This dramatic distinction ultimately plays on how the ending depicts his demise and because of this, his shift is of utmost importance to the play as a whole.

First, Othello comes to the readers as a lovable and honourable man who respects his wife, as in one of his first scenes, he is scene adoringly describing his love for his wife, Desdemona. He describes himself as thriving “in this fair lady’s love, and she in mine” which highlights the first interactions between Othello and the one he considers his deepest love. His use of the word “fair” shows how he thinks her dainty and pure, which will also provide a stark contrast to his words later used to describe her. However, before that, he professes his feelings again, as he approaches her and proclaims to “have but an hour of love, of worldly matters” that he must spend with her before departing for the up and coming war. This emphasizes his view of her being angelic and godly through his use of the word “worldly”, which shows his view on their love as being out of this world and something supernatural, as “worldly” or other-worldly is commonly used to describe God due to him being not of humans. His adoration for this woman is short lived however, as his trust for another he loves in a different sense betrays him.

Later in the play, as Iago’s plan to run Othello unfolds, Othello transforms from what readers thought to be an honourable and loving husband to a monster who feels betrayed and easily deceived by his wife, even though he is truly being deceived by Iago. This intrigues readers because the pity for a character such as him increases, due to his folly, and Othello’s actions add to the hatred for Iago’s character. This is shown in Act 4, scene 1, where Othello, blinded by rage, “falls into a trance” and Iago talks of how the “credulous fools are caught”. The use of the word “fools” is to describe Othello because his actions led him straight to Iago’s final plan, which ultimately worked because he was too blind to see the truth. In the next scene, he accuses Desdemona of having “the office opposite to Saint Peter”, which is such a contrast to his previous statements of her being godly and heavenly. Now he is accusing her of being devil-like, as instead of keeping the doors of heaven like Saint Peter, she is keeping the “gate of hell”. Readers are then not surprised by his final choice of killing Desdemona as his mental state is too twisted and corrupt to stop his actions.This dramatic shift in his opinion of her not only has reader’s pitying both him and Desdemona, but it also forces readers to really examine the word choice as shown to fully understand Shakespeare’s choices for Othello in the beginning and the end.

As shown, Othello’s plunge into madness has resulted in a result far from what reader’s expected in the first scenes, due to his utmost love and trust for Desdemona in the beginning, which transformed into his hatred for her. As the story progresses, readers are not as surprised by the ending, even more so, they expect for it to end this way because of his foolish trust in the wrong people and his lack of trust in the right people. His actions add so much dimension into the play, not just for Desdemona and Iago, but for every character. For Cassio, he had love and admiration for the man, but “Iago keeps his word” and attempts to kill Cassio for what Othello thinks is a noble and just cause, even though its ironic that his betrayal of those he trusts is only driven by the the betray of Iago towards Othello, and his blindness and naiveté forces the play to the unfortunate ending showing his death and basically everyone else’s too. He admits to both himself and readers that he is a “fool! fool! Fool!” for believing in Iago, but realizing this too little too late, he kills himself to try and make up for his actions. In a dramatic twist, Othello comes in as a hero, and dies as the unfortunate and accidental villain.

In conclusion, we see the rise and fall of a beloved character due to deceit, which adds dimension to the play as his demise is foreshadowed throughout the play, and Shakespeare’s wording given to the characters only emphasizes how readers will interpret the play. Othello was foolish and his negative growth was evident in his speech, as his trust led to everyone being stabbed dramatically. Madness took over everything, and everything became madness, which shows readers that you shouldn’t trust everyone or you could end up betrayed and probably dead.  

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