The Foil of One Another: Othello and Iago - Essay Example

July 24, The Foil of One Another: Othello and Iago One is good, but vulnerable; the other is evil and powerful. William Shakespeare’s Othello shows the extremes of human identity through the characters of Iago and Othello. Othello represents what is good in humanity. He is just, loving, and loyal to his masters and wife. Iago, on the contrary, is wicked. He knows he is evil and he does not even hide it from others who know him well. He has no honor and shame. The film Othello, directed by Oliver Parker, reflects who Iago and Othello are in the play. Iago and Othello are the foils of each other, mirroring good and evil in humanity. The first impressions of these characters are, on the one hand, Othello is good, but he is susceptible to manipulation because of his naiveté, whereas Iago, on the other hand, is in control as the evil mastermind of Othello’s doom. Othello is a good man because he is honorable and has, to some extent, the respect of his wife, troops and masters. He is a respectable, honorable man. He does not have an illicit affair with Desdemona, and instead, he marries her and makes her his legal wife. The way he looks at her shows his great devotion to her in the movie. He looks at her as if the world is Desdemona and she is his happiness and life. In addition, even when some people judge Othello because he is black, he remains noble in actions and words. For example, he respects Desdemona’s father, even when he calls him something that she fears “to look on” (Parker, Othello) as if he is some beast. Instead of ridiculing Senator Brabantio who has openly condemned him in public as someone who used “witchcraft” to charm his daughter, Othello stays respectful and tells the Duke and the rest of the people that the Senator “loved” him and his stories (Parker, Othello). In other words, he sees Brabantio as his own father. Furthermore, other people respect Othello, including his troops and masters. Cassio is faithful to Othello until the end. As an illustration of his devotion to his general, Cassio is heartbroken when he thinks he has failed Othello because of what he did when he was drunk. Cassio wants to serve and please Othello because he respects him as a general. Other troops and Venetian people also show respect to Othello by following his orders. For instance, when he breaks the brawl between Cassio and others, no one questions him. These people respect his authority, most probably because he is a noble person to follow. Even the Duke values Othello for his contributions to the Venetian army. The Duke tells Brabantio: “…your son-in-law is far more fair than black” (Parker, Othello). The Duke knows that Othello is a good, noble person and sees beyond his skin color. These behaviors of major and minor characters toward him demonstrate the goodness of Othello. As for Iago, he is an evil and deceitful person from the beginning who takes advantage of Othello’s vulnerability. Iago always takes away Roderigo’s money. Roderigo says to him during the first scene with Iago: “lago who hast had my purse as if the strings were thine” (Parker, Othello). Iago is a great manipulator of people that even Roderigo sees his for who he is. Iago manipulates Roderigo for his money. Furthermore, Iago is not afraid to show his true colors to Roderigo. He tells him the truth that he follows Othello only because of his ambitions and that “[he is] not what [he is]” (Parker, Othello). Iago knows that he deceives people for his selfish interests. Othello is the foil or the opposite character of Iago. Moreover, the difference between Iago and Othello is that Iago is in control of the latter’s fate. His manipulation shows that Othello’s alienation as a Moor has resulted to his inner weakness. Alpaslan Toker writes about the alienation of Othello. He says that alienation pushes the alienated to also become “estranged from himself” (Toker 33). Instead of experiencing the world through his own perceptions, Othello, as an alien, allows Iago to control his perceptions. Janet Adelman adds that Othello has let racism infect his identity. Othello has allowed racism to “dominate his sense of self as polluted and polluting,” so it becomes easy for him to think that Desdemona will fool him because he is a Moor who deserves to be fooled (Adelman 126). Iago knows the power of race on identity, and he uses that as an advantage against Othello. Though evil, Iago is more powerful than Othello because he is part of the dominating race in his society. Iago and Othello are two opposite sides of humanity. Iago, however, defeats Othello who has absorbed society’s low views of him as a Moor, and so even if Othello is good, Iago easily manipulates him. Othello shows that virtues are not enough to remain successful in life. A good person must also be cautious of snakes like Iago. These are the snakes that appear like faithful dogs, which are ready to bite their masters in a heartbeat. The Tragedy of Othello: Heroic Flaw and Destiny for Destruction William Shakespeare’s Othello is about Othello’s rise and fall as a human being. Greek tragedies are tragedies, not just because they are sad, but because the heroes are good, and yet their fates push them to disgrace in the end. These heroes are helpless to their destinies that control them. Nonetheless, Greek tragedies also show that heroes have flaws too. These flaws help shape their downfall. Othello has one destiny: to have a taste of a good life, and to have it end so swiftly and sorrowfully. The play is a tragedy because it demonstrates a hero’s tragic flaw and his doomed fate. The tragedy is in Othello’s major flaw, his internalization of his inferior black identity that society forces upon him, which has made him weak to manipulation and deception. Othello sees himself as the Moor that others see him, a Moor who is an alien to white Venetian society. Iago tells Brabantio what a Moor is to their society when he says that “…an old black ram is tupping [his] white ewe” (Parker/Shakespeare, Othello). Iago shows disgust for a black man violating what is most sacred to whites in his time- interracial marriage. In a way, Othello has absorbed his otherness, which is why he easily believes Iago’s lies. Edward Berry writes about the alienation that affected Othello’s identity. He says: “This poisonous image of the black man…informs Othellos judgment of himself…Othello…comes to see himself as his own stereotype” (319). Othello believes Iago completely because he thinks he is unworthy of a white woman’s loyalty and love. He does not think critically because, as a Moor, he knows that no white woman can truly love him. Because of his internalization of racism, Othello becomes the black monster that racist people thinks him to be. Besides an internal flaw, Othello is a tragedy because Othello is doomed to fail in life. Like other Greek tragedies, Othello is like a toy at the hands of Fate, ready to be thrown away anytime. Othello is already a famous, fortunate man. The Duke loves and respects him. His army loves and respects him. He has a young, beautiful wife who dearly loves him. He has a faithful ally, Cassio. Even in Cyprus, many people adore him for being a great and noble general. Othello is on top of his game. But Othello loses everything because he is blind to the snake beside him. He thinks that Iago is a good, honest person who loves him. Othello forgets that he is a foreigner to Venice, and that alone will earn him enemies. He should have been more careful in his judgment of people, more so, in judging his wife. Othello should have used his intelligence to analyze everything, including the motives of Iago who keeps on telling him things as if he knew what people were thinking and feeling. But he trusted Iago with all his heart and that trust brought him to his doom. His doom, however, is clear from the start. By marrying Desdemona and by being popular and well-loved, Othello is doomed to fail because others will pull him down. Othello tells everyone in the final scene that he should be remembered as “who” he is. He says that he has “loved not wisely, but too well. Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought, perplexed in the extreme” (Parker/Shakespeare, Othello). By saying “wrought,” Othello has become an object in the play, not a subject. He has lost his free will when fate decided that he is a Moor who cannot have it all. Fate used Iago to be the devil in his life, and from there, Othello’s life broke into pieces. The fate made it clear who the real boss is. Othello has no free will to have a permanently good life because his destiny is to end with destruction. He has a flaw inside him, the flaw of acceptance of his inferiority, so he has no sense of self-esteem when Iago tells him lies. Othello believes the deception because he thinks he is unworthy of his perfect life all along. Thus, fate and flaw combined, Othello is a doomed Moor. The tragedy is that his dark destiny cannot be stopped or reversed. The tragedy is that Othello has unknowingly doomed himself too. Works Cited Adelman, Janet. “Iagos Alter Ego: Race as Projection in Othello.” Shakespeare Quarterly 48.2 (1997): 125-144. Print. Berry, Edward. “Othellos Alienation.” Studies in English Literature 30.2 (1990): 315-332. Print. Othello. Dir. Oliver Parker. Perf. Laurence Fishburne, Kenneth Branagh, Irène Jacob. Castle Rock Entertainment, 1995. Film. Toker, Alpaslan. “Othello: Alien in Venice.” Journal of Academic Studies 15.60 (2014): 29-51. Print. Read More