Othello, the protagonist of Othello by William Shakespeare, is a tragic hero with both good and bad qualities. Othello’s most noticeable strength is his passion for Desdemona. Othello has physical strength from being a moor, but also mental strength from being well educated in military matters and language. Othello’s weakness is his suspicious nature and quick temper. Othello’s history leads to a continuous cycle of conflict. Othello’s strengths lead him to kill Desdemona out of jealousy, which leads to Othello being killed by Cassio after Othello thinks he kills Desdemona.
Othello, the protagonist of Othello by William Shakespeare, is a tragic hero with both good and bad qualities. Othello’s most noticeable strength is his passion for Desdemona. Othello has physical strength from being a moor, but also mental strength from being well educated in military matters and language. Othello’s weakness is his suspicious nature and quick temper. Othello’s history leads to a continuous cycle of conflict. Othello’s strengths lead him to kill Desdemona out of jealousy, which leads to Othello being killed by Cassio after Othello thinks he kills Desdemona.
Othello is a very passionate person, and this passion leads him into many conflicts throughout the play. Othello is a military hero with a strong history in battle and education in foreign languages. Othello has hate for deception and dislikes dishonesty. Othello is often quick-tempered and suspicious toward those around him, beginning from his love for Desdemona. Othello’s suspicion causes problems as it shows itself when he first says “I had been happy if you had been honest” as Othello is not able to trust the people around him.
Othello’s love for Desdemona causes conflict as Othello becomes very jealous and Othello’s suspicions cause him to be envious of her. Othello’s passion also causes conflict as it makes Othello kill his wife out of jealousy. Othello does not like dishonesty, but he himself kills Desdemona due to his jealousy and quick temper. Othello believes that Desdemona has been dishonest with him and killed her without a thought because of this false belief. Othello believes the lies Iago has fed him about Desdemona, which creates problems throughout Othello’s life because Othello believes Othello’s lies instead of believing the truth.
Othello kills Desdemona due to Othello’s passion for her and Othello’s ignorance of the truth, which also creates more problems because Othello believes that he has killed Desdemona. Othello is unable to solve these problems as Othello thinks Othello has killed Desdemona, but Othello is upset by his actions rather than guilt or sorrow. Othello does not come up with a solution before Cassio comes to kill him, cutting short any further conflicts that may have grown out of it.
Conflict is what Othello is all about. Othello is filled with conflict between Othello and Iago, Othello and the men of Venice, Othello and Desdemona… In Othello, characters’ relationships are often torn apart by the other characters’ actions.
The play opens with a conversation between two gentlemen who are discussing Othello. At this point, he has been in power for only a short while, but already there have been rumors flying around that his wife has been unfaithful to him. That man speaks badly of Othello’s wife: “it is thought abroad that she is untrue” (I.i).
Later on we meet Othello himself who tells us that he has never considered how his wife would look in comparison to others. Othello tells us that he is sure of Desdemona because “she loved me for the dangers I had passed”. Othello believes that nobody could ever be with him unless it was out of love, which Othello feels is true with Desdemona.
Othello starts off in this play as someone who trusts completely in their wife and in himself, Othello is definitely not a cynic. Othello does not think evil of people without any evidence or proof. Othello’s lack of cynicism allows Othello to trust Iago when he says that Cassio has been sleeping with Othello’s wife. This shows Othello’s lack of cynicism in contrast with Othello’s later character when Othello starts to feel paranoid and Othello no longer trusts anybody. Othello starts to see evil plots in almost everything that people do, Othello becomes so obsessed with the idea of Desdemona being unfaithful that Othello does not trust her at all.
Othello says that he trusts in his wife because they have gone through so much together. Othello is also very aware of how she feels about him, which Othello thinks is unusual for a woman: “she professed to me / … I know not what it meant” (I.iii). However, this line could be read in more than one way, it is possible Othello knows exactly what she meant but Othello did not want to acknowledge her honesty. Othello also says that he has “upon the instant / Of [his] most strange and sudden wooing” got married (I.iii).
He is talking about Othello’s sudden decision to marry Desdemona after knowing her for only a short while. Othello does not believe that there could have been any deception in this relationship because Othello believes that they were both so open with each other: “we told him of our love” (I.iii). Othello believes his wife when she tells Othello…
After Othello finds out about his wife and Cassio, Othello is overcome with jealousy. Othello cannot conceive of the idea that another man could have slept with Othello’s wife, Othello does not believe what Iago tells Othello:
Othello says that he would rather kill Desdemona than live this way: “I’ll chop her into messes” (IV.i). Othello believes that if she is unfaithful then Othello will be better off dead because It’s far more rational to Othello. If Othello kills Desdemona then Othello believes his life will go back to how it was before when Othello still had faith in Desdemona, Othello feels that killing Desdemona is the only way Othello will be able to cope with Othello’s loss of trust in Othello’s wife.