Othello 2

• I feel sympathy towards all the characters except Iago. I feel the most sorrow for Othello, because of all the people Iago manipulated, it was worse with him. He instilled suspicion, jealousy, anger, and in the end grief into Othello. He drove him mad untill he destroyed the people he most loved and eventually his own life too. Ealier in the play Othello said that he would have rather not known about Desdemona’s affairs and continued living with the love he knew. Othello being the man he is had to kill Cassio and Desdemona so he planned to do so. On top of the grief of knowing that his wife has been cheating, Othello finds out, after he strangled Desdemona, that his whole love rage was false. In the end, he couldn’t live with so much grief and dishonor, so he took his life. I could not imagine going through all of that, thinking that you are doing the right thing, and then finding out that it was all a lie. The natural reactino to a play like this is to be angry ith Iago for setting everything up the way he did. However, he too was plagued by his emotions. Iago was filled with hatred toward so many people, and that alone had to be hard to live with. His anger and jealousy caused him to set Othello, Cassio, Roderigo, and Desdemona up. I do feel pity for Desdemona and Cassio; more so for Desdemona because she dies. In the end, Casio lost his reputation, honor, job, and endured a stab wound. Desdemona had to deal with the pressure of accusation, and those accusation brought upon her death. I can think of events similar to this, though not as extreme, but I would rather not blog about it.

Othello Act 2 Scene i-ii

Iago’s plan is to manipulate Roderigo, Cassio, Othello, and the townspeople/guards to his favor. He has brainwashed Roderigo to do and believe whatever he says. Iago has also led Othello to believe that he can be trusted simply because he appears to be an honest man. Iago plans to use Roderigo’s love for Desdemona to trick him into believing that Cassio is in love with her. Iago will also say bad things about Cassio to Othello to lead him into believing that Cassio is a untrustworthy and lustful man. If all goes according to plan, Othello will fire Cassio and hire Iago. In the beginning of act 2 we also find out they Iago plans to sleep with Desdemona to get back at Othello for supposedly sleeping with Emilia.

At the end of Act 2 Scene 3 all seems to be going according to Iago’s plan. By insulting women in the beginning of scene 2, he caused Cassio to whisper with Desdemona and hold her hand. To most, what Cassio did with Desdemona would be perceived as being a gentlemen; however, to those under the influence of Iago’s will, it would appear as lust. Roderigo is one of those people. He now believes that Cassio loves Desdemona and the only way to her is to get him out of the way. Iago’s plan has only begun and it seems that it will follow through. I still have doubt, though. I believe that Iago is underestimating and overlooking Othello’s greatness, and that in the end Othello will see right through Iago’s plotting and evil deeds.