Othello’s Inevitable Destruction in Shakespeare’s Play

The tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, introduces the central character Othello, as a very honorable, and dignified person who has enthralled adventures and has very good military accomplishments. Although, his insecurities make him Othello easy to be taken advantage of and manipulated by others in Venice. The dynamic of his character significantly transmutes throughout the play. The contrast is mostly noticeable when switching from being very tranquil to acts of uncontrolled rampage. Overall, Othello’s motive in his life is to be his love for his wife Desdemona, which ends up being his downfall in the end. Central character Iago tricks Othello, the Moor of Venice, into suspecting his wife, Desdemona, of adultery; thus making a tragedy of sexual jealousy. Othello becomes a victim of deception because he is resented by others due to his background of being from the land of mysterious Venetians, he has endured unique adventures, and he has exceptional military accomplishments. Though, the ultimate resentment upon Othello which gives him bad as being deemed an outsider is being a black man in the white Venice. Othello, the tragic hero, falls victim to his own uncertainties about his race as evidenced by conflicting emotions and feelings of betrayal, ultimately leading to inevitable destruction in character.

Characters throughout the play often feel jealousy, fear, or simple hatred toward Othello, and whenever this happens they give vent to their feelings by using racist slurs. One character Iago says “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise! Awake the snorting citizens with the bell, Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you. Arise, I say!. Iago uses racist slurs when he wakens Brabantio with the news that his daughter, Desdemona (a white Venetian), has eloped with Othello (an older, black man). When Iago says an 'old black ram' (Othello) is 'tupping' (sleeping with) Brabantio's 'white ewe' (Desdemona), he plays on Elizabethan notions that black men have an animal-like, hyper-sexuality. This seems geared at manipulating Brabantio's fears of miscegenation (when a couple 'mixes races' through marriage and/or sex). For much of the play, Othello resists, ignores, or seems indifferent to the racism that dogs him. But eventually he internalizes Iago’s and others’ idea that his blackness makes him barbarous. This belief, as much as his conviction of Desdemona’s guilt, allows Othello to kill his wife. When he turns the race weapon against himself, he dooms both himself and Desdemona.

Characters throughout the play often feel jealousy, fear, or hatred toward Othello, and whenever they feel this way characters vent their feelings by using racist slurs. Iago, who commonly deceives people, says “ Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise!/ Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,/ Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you”. Iago uses racist slurs when he wakens Brabantio with the news that his daughter, Desdemona, has eloped with Othello which was difficult to accept for him. For much of the play, Othello resists, ignores, or seems indifferent to the racism that bothers him. But eventually he internalizes Iago’s and other peoples’ idea that his black color makes him barbarous. This belief turns the race weapon against himself, as he dooms both himself and Desdemona later inevitably destroying their lives.

While Othello is barraged by racism, he manages to resist its pull for some time. But eventually he crumbles. Othello discusses his race throughout the play but he makes his first personal negative reference to it, suggesting that perhaps his blackness is to blame for his lack of conversational ability. This self betrayal and doubt marks a turning point: Othello has fallen victim to the same racist logic that determines the thinking of people such as Iago and Roderigo. Like those men, Othello wants to place the blame for his feelings of inferiority somewhere, and now Othello is in danger of believing all of Iago’s racist nonsense. Next, Othello compares himself to a toad living in a dungeon, as if he has begun to suspect that his blackness makes him a loathsome animal, somehow less than human. In The Bedford Shakespeare, the play is analyzed and states “Othello does not know who his enemy is until the end of the play. In fact he does not even know he has an enemy”(McDonald-Orlin). Othello believes he has no enemies until he realizes everyone against him because of his race and he becomes his own worst enemy with self betrayal, consequently leading to his self destruction in character.

Ultimately, Shakespeare’s Othello depicts the inevitable downfall of a highly respected war general because of his race . Through Iago’s manipulation of Othello and others, his claim comes to pass. In the end, people use the color of Othello's skin to condemn his erratic behavior which makes his believing that racism exists. Othello’s doubt and insecurity lead to his tragic demise in which he absorbs these attitudes and murders his wife out of jealousy and, later, executes himself.

Works Cited

1. Shakespeare, William,, Mowat, Barbara A.Werstine, Paul.The Tragedy Of Othello, The Moor Of Venice. New York, N.Y. : Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009, c1993. Print.
2. Shakespeare, William, and Russ McDonald. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. New York: Penguin Books, 2001. Print.