How Othello's Jealousy LED Him to a Downfall

A crisis is usually a negative distribute of emotions. When we prevent negative energy from manifesting, the balance is kept. Although it is difficult to maintain constant awareness at all times. The tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, presents the main character Othello, as respectful, honorable, and a dignified man, but because of his insecurities and good nature, he is easily taken advantage of and manipulated by his peers and alleged friends. The dynamic of Othello's character significantly changes as the play evolves. The contrast is most prominent from the beginning of the play to its conclusion, switching from being calm and peaceful to acts of uncontrolled rage. Othello's motivation in the play appears to be his love and concern for his wife, which ironically, ends up being his downfall in the end. Being too passionate about something or someone, can sometimes override one's good judgement. Too much passion can bring about ever-lasting consequences and regrets. When put into a tense, specific situation, individuals usually won't make wise choices. That is ultimately what happen with Othello's character.

Love is one of the most powerful emotions a human being can experience. In the beginning of the play, Othello exhibits behaviors that would lead one to believe that he is a respected and honorable man, but that quickly changes as his heart gets the best of him. Initially, Othello and Desdemona's relationship was everything that was desired in a marriage: mutual respect, passion, empathy and loyalty. However, while feelings of love and compassion circulate within the happy couple, their surroundings were filled with bitterness and paranoia. The differences that separated Othello and Desdemona do not disturb them, but are starkly obvious and unnerving to the judgmental citizens of Venice. Even though it was certainly rare in the 16th century for couples to have such disparities in age, social position and race, none of these differences diminished how Othello and Desdemona felt for each other, yet each spurred obstacles that threatened their relationship. While Othello and Desdemona are separated by a considerable age gap, it has never hindered their blossoming romance – at least until such a gap is exploited by Iago. A successful relationship is a relationship built on trust. It seems that as Othello loses his trust for Desdemona, the strength and love between the pair begins to diminish. Their commitment to each other despite the unusual circumstances of their marriage should serve as a model of virtue for other relationships both in their era and in modern society. It is incredibly unfortunate that something so pure could be plunged into ruin by a conniving advisor, yet Iago’s actions reveal that within any relationship lies latent insecurities and anxieties. While Othello and Desdemona thrived in spite of disparities in age, social position and race, their relationship was ultimately crippled by something much more commonplace yet infinitely more dangerous: a lack of trust.

From the beginning of the play, the friction between Iago and Othello was evident. Othello promoted Michael Cassio to be his lieutenant, a promotion which infuriated Iago as Iago had pleaded lieutenancy; it is at this point in the play that Iago holds onto his anger wanting to seek revenge. To get vengeance on Othello, Iago sees Othello's love for Desdemona as a weakness of his character and sets a trap for the guiltless Desdemona by planting a seed of doubt into Othello`s naive mind. At frequent events of the play Iago kept highlighting these doubts eventually causing Othello’s mental state to deteriorate. This is visible as Othello goes from speaking like a courageous leader to a man reduced to madness by Iago's insinuations about his wife’s infidelity. The elegance and control of Othello’s speech changes radically as his emotional state deteriorates, he begins to stammer, his sentences are broken and questions everything he thought was true. This is a consequence of his own weakness as Othello shouldn’t have been so credulous to believe Iago in the first place. However, Othello being naive to the manipulation of Iago is not entirely his fault as Iago was very cunning and sharp when making sure that people saw him as ‘honest Iago’ and not for the Iago that holds his true intentions. The final moments of Desdemona and Othello`s lives shows how Othello lets Iago controls his emotions. Othello stands above Desdemona while she`s sleeping convincing himself on why Desdemona must die. Othello almost abandons his intent to kill her but changes his mind as he believes “she must die, else she'll betray more men” which can be linked to another flaw of Othello`s which is vanity as he's ashamed by the fact that he was in a marriage where a love failed. When news travels that Desdemona is dead Othello discovers that Iago had set everything up and that Desdemona was innocent all along. He then does the most honorable thing that he can possibly think of and strips himself from life.

In conclusion Othello's jealousy is the one flaw that brings him down the most as he had succumbed to the pernicious influence of revenge which was embodied by the character of Iago. If Iago hadn't been so manipulating and Othello so naive, the event in which resulted in the downfall of Othello could have been avoided; the reason for his downfall ultimately lies with weakness of his character. Othello has, simply, encased Desdemona in alabaster. He has formed an opinion of her from which she is unable to break free. Because he has so strongly locked her into his state of mind he is unable to think of him in any other way. She is so high up on the pedestal that he puts her on that he is unable to see who she truly is. This is Othello’s failing. By making her too powerful, too divine, any minor fault is a glaring defect to her immaculate surface. Then at the first flaw, she becomes low and nothing, and he needs to return her to her former glory. He fails to see her love through her alabaster covering; and that inevitably is what causes his destruction.