Othello and the Force of Love Essay - 3011 Words

Othello and the Force of Love The William Shakespeare tragedy Othello features various types of love, but none compare to the love we find between the protagonist and his wife. In this essay let us examine â€Å"love† as found in the play. In her book, Everybody’s Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies, Maynard Mack comments on the love that exists between the hero and heroine: Magical in my view, though I know how far opinions differ on this point, as a way of asking us to recognize that the love these lovers share before Iago’s corruption sets in does indeed have magic in its web, contains a â€Å"work† (3.3.296) that a relationship like Cassio’s and Bianca’s can never match or â€Å"take out,† commands a†¦show more content†¦Roderigo construes Iago’s love for him as based on the ancient’s hatred for the Moor. Thus the wealthy suitor says accusingly, â€Å"Thou toldst me thou didst hold him in thy hate.† And Iago responds, â€Å"Despise me, if I do not.† Partly out of hatred for the general and partly out of proving his faithfulness to Roderigo’s cause, Iago asserts in detail the reasons for his hatred of Othello, who has given the lieutenancy to Michael Cassio, a Florentine. Secondly, Iago suggests that Roderigo and he awake and disturb Brabantio, the father of Desdemona: Call up her father, Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight, Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen, And, though he in a fertile climate dwell, Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy, Yet throw such changes of vexation ont, As it may lose some colour. (1.1) Thus a hue and cry is raised in front of the senator’s residence – partly for the sake of Iago proving his love for Roderigo so that the financial rewards will continue coming to the soldier. Once the senator has been awakened, Iago makes a series of loud, crude, bawdy allegations against both the general and Desdemona. Strangely, the senator is not incensed by these, but rather by the fact that his daughter has indeed run away from home so that the father mustShow MoreRelatedDesdemona and Othello1198 Words   |  5 PagesIn the play, The Tragedy of Othello, Shakespeare really tests our conception as to what love is, and where it can or cant exist. Judging from the relationship between Desdemona and Othello, through Nicholson’s Othello And The Geography Of Persuasion. the play seems to say that marriage based on an innocent romantic love or profane love is bound to fail. Shakespeare is pessimistic about the existence and survival of a true type of love. 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