Literary Analysis of Othello
“The Tragedy of Othello” by William Shakespeare is one of the many literally works that portray his talent. Shakespeare skillfully chose his characters as well as techniques to help in bringing out the theme of the play. This essay provides a literally analysis of the play by looking at the style setting and the techniques used by Shakespeare. The play was set at Venice, which is appropriate for the theme of love jealousy evident in the play. The play has a paranoid play that helps readers understand the personal identity of Othello. The play takes duality of speech style that relied on speech manipulation by Lago to compel his colleagues to act according to his will.
The setting of the play
Othello is set at Venice probably late 16 century. Venice and the Ottoman Empire were involved in a war that lasted for three years from 1970. Venice took pride in its ethnic compositions and religious identities which made it the most famous multicultural city in the European continent. Though the precise details of Othello’s racial and religious identities are unclear, Lago’s words are enough to provoke anxiety about Othello’s identity. In Act 1, Lago referred to Othello as an old black ram. Similarly, Brabantio is not happy that his daughter married a man who was not a member of their race or even religion. However, Othello has gained respect and prestige because Duke has trusted him with the fundamental military defence of Cyprus. Shakespeare skillfully chose the setting of the play to because being a non- European, possibly a non-Christian and importantly holding a significant authority, and people still fails to trust you speaks volume in this play.
Another factor that makes the setting of the play appropriate is the city’s image as a centre for prostitution. Prostitutes of the city lived a luxurious life and were well-educated too. Surprisingly, the government allowed them to carry on their activities as long as they obeyed state rules guiding their business, owing to this feature, the city gained popularity as a city loaded sexual immorality. Shakespeare included Bianca, a prostitute who bought herself clothes and bread by selling her desires helps readers to appreciate the choice of the setting. Importantly, the setting helps to understand why Othello doubted that bride would easily be involved in adultery. Generally, the setting is appropriate for the play because it helps readers understand what motivated Othello’s behaviour.
The tone of the play
The tone of the play generally brings out Lago’s view of the world. Lago views life as being motivated by self-interest, cynicism and suspicion. Lago portrays cynicism in the play at several incidences. Roderigo used to send Lago to Desdemona, daughter to Brabantio who was married by Othello. However, when Roderigo found out that he had lost the opportunity of marrying the woman of his choice, he becomes sorrow. Roderigo’s sorrows are evident when he says, it is my shame to be so fond, but it is not in my virtue to amend it” (Shakespeare 1.iii). Lago responds to Roderigo sorrows by suggesting that person’s attributes are neither static nor predetermined. Lago used an agricultural metaphor to bring out the cynicism in which he referred to our bodies as gardens and the wills as the gardeners. This metaphor successfully informs the readers that someone’s characters are not founded at a stone, meaning he is at liberty to cultivate characters that help in achieving the desired goals in life. It is Lago’s cynical philosophy of life that hinters him from feeling guilty of his actions. Lago exercises his will on the others, and since they lack suspicion about his cynical philosophy of life, Lago cannot be held accountable for his actions towards his friends. Lago believes that the blind belief on “honest Lago” by Othello is the source of problems which Lago can’t be accountable for.
Paranoid tone dominates the second half of the play in which Othello falls in the Lago’s philosophy of life. Othello begins to utter suspicious words that resemble Lago’s cynical perception of the world. Despite refereeing to the falseness of women several times, Othello calls his bride a “Whore” in her presence. Othello becomes increasingly mentally disturbed by his wife’s actions making him more confused. In one of the moments, Othello laments, “Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion without some instructions” (Shakespeare 5.i). Othello implied that if nothing sexually had happened between his wife and Cassio, then he would not have been deeply disturbed. Feeling deeply disturbed lead Othello to conclude that the adultery accusations were true.
The paranoid tone is crucial in the play has it raises some concern about the personal identity of Othello. Readers are led to doubt the greatness of Othello. Ironically, a person of higher authority, commander of military forces would be easily swayed by a typical man, Lago and buy his philosophy of life. In my opinion, Shakespeare’s choice of tone failed to match the attributes of Othello, the main character.
Style of the Play
Shakespeare choice of the style reflects on the use of language to hide the truth, reflecting the duality of speech style. Shakespeare’s ability to model characters is evident through the play’s style. Lago uses language to get others to do what he wants them to do as well as hiding his real intentions. Readers are led to understand the duplicity of Lago’s nature from how he uses manipulates language when talking to his friend’s. At one moment in Act one, Lago tells Roderigo, “I am not what I am” (Shakespeare 1.ii). When Lago was warning Brabanzio about Othello’s relationship with his daughter, he used a coarse language in saying, “An old black ram is tupping your white ewe” (Shakespeare 1. iii). When speaking to the audience directly, Lago uses a metaphoric and poetic language, “Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons which at first are scarce found to distaste, but, with a little act upon the blood, burn like the mines of sulphur” (Shakespeare 3.iii). The choice of words reveals how Lago uses Vulgarity as a rhetorical device to anger the audience instead of expressing who he is. The style used by Shakespeare is meant to bring out the intelligence and cunning nature of Lago.
Through Othello, Shakespeare portrays the power of language manipulation in getting people to reason according to your will. Lago succeeds in using language to convince Othello that the only option that Othello was left with was to murder his wife. Upon deciding to kill his wife, his speech style changed to poetic loaded with the unavoidability of what he was almost doing. Othello kisses his wife while asleep and says, “So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep, but they are cruel tears” (Shakespeare 4.ii). Despite being honest in his speech, Othello is incapable of detecting dishonest in Lago’s speech. This reinforces the duality of speech style that Shakespeare skillfully used to show how language can be manipulated to conceal the true identities of characters. Othello is a victim of his incapability to detect dishonesty in his friend’s speech.
In conclusion, “Othello” is an outstanding work whose setting, tone and style have been skillfully used to capture and maintain the reader’s audience. The setting of the play at Venice is appropriate because it was known for prostitution by then, and this explains why Othello doubted that his wife was cheating on him. Again, the city took pride in its diversified cultural and religious compositions with Othello being an outsider. The setting skillfully brought out cultural conflicts possibly between Christians, Othello’s wife and Muslim, Othello when their marriage failed to succeed. The paranoid tone of the play leads readers to understand the personal identity of Othello. Readers are directed to doubt the greatness of Othello. Ironically, a person of higher authority, commander of military forces would be easily swayed by a typical man, Lago and buy his philosophy of life. Equally important, the dualistic speech style leads readers in understanding how language manipulation would help in hiding true identities of close friends. Through the style, Shakespeare warns his readers to avoid believing people’s speech blindly.
Work Cited
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Vol. 6. Classic Books Company, 2001. Pp. 1-102
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/851/othello.pdf?sequence=1