Othello

Othello is in essence one of the greatest tragedies of William Shakespeare. The play has several very important issues that are interwoven into the body of the play. Issues such as race relations, jealousy, and of personal deception. To me the most important of these is the issue of personal deception, to be more precise the relationship of Othello and Iago. Iago is the master of deception. We, as the audience, are the only ones who really know that Iagos goal is to destroy Othello in any way that he can. It may seem as though Othello is very naïve in believing the things that Iago tells him, and that someone of Othellos status and experience should be wary of such things, but that is not so. On the contrary, Iago not only deceives Othello, but throughout the whole play, he also deceives everyone else.

From the Library of Congress: TITLE: Thos. W. Keen...

English: Photographic full-length portrait of Edwi...

Illustration of Othello and Iago

Emilia, his own wife, Cassio, the innocent lieutenant, Desdemona, the wife of Othello, and Othello, who is the main victim of the whole play.

Emilia is Iagos wife, and it would seem to the conventional "eye" that she should have played a leading role in the ploy to ruin Othello. This is definitely not the case. Iago not only fools Emilia along with everyone else, but he uses her to get the very thing that will ruin Othello and Desdemonas relationship, that being the handkerchief. Emilia is a loyal servant to Desdemona, and she would never dream of doing anything to hurt her. It is obvious that Emilia has no clue that her husband is scheming to ruin Othello. When she is struggling within herself and is debating whether or not to give Iago the handkerchief, she says, ""¦and give't Iago. What will...