OTHELLO ESSAY
Othello is a play written by Shakespeare, published in the 17th century. Othello is a
tragedy, as many of Shakespeare works, which ends in the dead of the main
character. The play is about the treason of an officer of the army of Venice, Iago, to
his general, Othello, who thinks Iago is trustworthy, by manipulating his feelings to
make him think his wife, Desdemona, has deceived him.
In this essay I will explain the different types of love in the relationship between the
different characters, Othello and Desdemona, Iago and Emilia and Cassio and
Desdemona and how they vary a lot depending on the persons that form them.
Firstly, I will analyse the love between the main couple of the play, that was Othello
and Desdemona. They were both from a noble family but the racism of that time
made it difficult for them to get the approval of Desdemona’s father for the
relationship. That didn’t prevent them from marrying. They were at the start of the
story shown as passionate love as shown in the next quote: “How happy I am to see
you here! I thought…” on page 48 line 11. This quote is after the storm that sank the
fled of the Turkish, and shows how the pair worried about each other as Desdemona
also shows herself worried thinking if the ship of her husband had also sank. In
addition to the characteristics of its relationship at the start is that, unlike other
couples of the time, Desdemona had some degree of equality with Othello. He took
into account what his wife said. To illustrate this, on page 33 line 21: “I agree with
Desdemona. Her place is with me.'' In this quote Othello agreed with Desdemona to
go with him to Cyprus, while other men of that era would have told her to be
quiet.The last feature of Othello and Desdemona’s love was, that it became
poisoned by Iago’s lies which made Othello believe that Desdemona had been
unfaithful to him. We can conclude that Othello didn’t know Desdemona very well as
he did not trust his wife while Desdemona was always loyal to him. Unfortunately,
both of the characters died at the end of the play because of Iago’s lies.
Secondly, I will describe the love relationship between Iago and Emilia. We know
from Iago he was ambitious and disloyal, and from Emilia that she followed the
image of women in that era, which means she was obedient and didn’t complain, as
shown on page 74 line 25 when Iago gave her an order and she followed it without
hesitation: “Give it to me”. This couple didn’t show any type of love in any part of the
play, moreover, Emilia says: “What a cruel husband you are! You never say nice
good things to me.” on page 46 line 16. This shows that nor in private or in public
Iago wasn’t a passionate lover as Othellos was with Desdemona. As Cassio said on
page 48 line 1: “Iago understands war better than he does women” We don’t know
why Iago is married with Emilia but from the time when the plot is developed, and the
personality of Iago itself, probably is for the money Emilia’s family could give him. As
a result of the inexistent love of Iago to his wife, Emilia betrays his husband: “I see
the truth now. Iago lied to you.” ,on page 106 line 19. This is also because Emilia is
