SHAKESPEARE OTHELLO ESSAY
To what extent does Shakespeare encourage the audience to view Othello as
naive in Act III?
In Act 3 Othello is subtly manipulated by Iago to be convinced that Desdemona is cheating
on him with Cassio. Iago first puts the thought in Othello’s mind leaving it to brood and
develop using Othello’s own insecurities, then provides very questionable evidence to
Othello convincing him that Desdemona has laid with Cassio. This slowly drives him insane,
to the point where he kills his wife. Over the course of the act Othello is completely
manipulated by Iago. Although I do not think Shakespeare was trying to portray him as
naive, rather that Iago is so clever and so subtle; there are definitely some elements of
Iago’s manipulation that Othello should have been aware of but wasn’t.
On the one hand, Othello is not naive and it is Iago's skill in manipulation that convinces him
to distrust Desdemona. At the start of scene 3, Iago acts questionable, asking a few
questions but not giving a reason why he asks them, this is powerful as it gives the
impression that he knows something but won’t reveal it, ‘why doth thou ask’ . From then on,
he paints the picture that he has to keep a secret in order to protect Othello, this makes
Othello search for Iago’s thought: ‘Nay yet there's more to this’: he uses great skill in tone of
voice and choice of words to convey that what he knows is true even though it isn’t. This is
much more effective than telling Othello his thoughts, and also allows him to cover his tracks
in case Othello finds out the truth. Moving on in the scene, Iago softly hints at the fact that he
is referring to Cassio and Desdemona, revealing this slowly yet uncovering every part of his
story, so that Othello has to find it out. This makes it so much more shocking to Othello; ‘I
see this hath dost your spirits’, and because the thought of this has never crossed his mind it
becomes so much more shocking. These subtle yet powerful segments of manipulation
concretises the dialectic that Othello is not naive, Iago is just really very good.
Furthermore, we see throughout the play Iago’s manipulation. He managed to make
everyone do exactly how he wants so it is not Othello’s fault he is just another one of those
people. He makes Roderigo give him his time and his money while he does whatever he
wants with it, he makes Cassio fight Montano thus stripping him of rank and then manages
to send the same Cassio to Desdemona for help. He even makes his wife do whatever he
wants, like get a random handkerchief. He manipulates everyone so his manipulation of
Othello is more down to Iago’s skill than his naivety. We also know that Othello has a
naturally trusting personality, ‘this fellows of exceeding honesty’. This forces him to believe
the things Iago is saying because they are coming from Iago, a person he thinks he should
trust because of countless other times when he has had to trust Iago. Overall, during act 3
Iago is very Mephistophelean and displays incredible skill while manipulating Othello, as he
does with every other character in the play. Othello also naturally has insecurities and is
quite trusting so that enhances the fact that he is being portrayed as naive but just unlucky.
Conversely, Othello is naive and it is mainly his fault for getting manipulated by Iago. Firstly,
while Iago’s manipulation tricks were very good, some of his proof was questionable and
Othello did not question them indicating naivety. Iago states he ‘lay with Cassio recently’
while this doesn’t make any sense as to why he would lay with Cassio and him going on to
add that Cassio would ‘then kiss me hard’ and Iago would do nothing about this. The whole
story seems odd to anyone would a little bit of sense, it almost seems like Shakespeare
exaggerated it, making it seem more odd than it was, to emphasises that Othello is naive,
rather than Iago being smart. Othello also falls for the handkerchief without even questioning
anything, all of this in one acts leads the audience to believe that Shakespeare definitely
wanted Othello to be naive.
To what extent does Shakespeare encourage the audience to view Othello as
naive in Act III?
In Act 3 Othello is subtly manipulated by Iago to be convinced that Desdemona is cheating
on him with Cassio. Iago first puts the thought in Othello’s mind leaving it to brood and
develop using Othello’s own insecurities, then provides very questionable evidence to
Othello convincing him that Desdemona has laid with Cassio. This slowly drives him insane,
to the point where he kills his wife. Over the course of the act Othello is completely
manipulated by Iago. Although I do not think Shakespeare was trying to portray him as
naive, rather that Iago is so clever and so subtle; there are definitely some elements of
Iago’s manipulation that Othello should have been aware of but wasn’t.
On the one hand, Othello is not naive and it is Iago's skill in manipulation that convinces him
to distrust Desdemona. At the start of scene 3, Iago acts questionable, asking a few
questions but not giving a reason why he asks them, this is powerful as it gives the
impression that he knows something but won’t reveal it, ‘why doth thou ask’ . From then on,
he paints the picture that he has to keep a secret in order to protect Othello, this makes
Othello search for Iago’s thought: ‘Nay yet there's more to this’: he uses great skill in tone of
voice and choice of words to convey that what he knows is true even though it isn’t. This is
much more effective than telling Othello his thoughts, and also allows him to cover his tracks
in case Othello finds out the truth. Moving on in the scene, Iago softly hints at the fact that he
is referring to Cassio and Desdemona, revealing this slowly yet uncovering every part of his
story, so that Othello has to find it out. This makes it so much more shocking to Othello; ‘I
see this hath dost your spirits’, and because the thought of this has never crossed his mind it
becomes so much more shocking. These subtle yet powerful segments of manipulation
concretises the dialectic that Othello is not naive, Iago is just really very good.
Furthermore, we see throughout the play Iago’s manipulation. He managed to make
everyone do exactly how he wants so it is not Othello’s fault he is just another one of those
people. He makes Roderigo give him his time and his money while he does whatever he
wants with it, he makes Cassio fight Montano thus stripping him of rank and then manages
to send the same Cassio to Desdemona for help. He even makes his wife do whatever he
wants, like get a random handkerchief. He manipulates everyone so his manipulation of
Othello is more down to Iago’s skill than his naivety. We also know that Othello has a
naturally trusting personality, ‘this fellows of exceeding honesty’. This forces him to believe
the things Iago is saying because they are coming from Iago, a person he thinks he should
trust because of countless other times when he has had to trust Iago. Overall, during act 3
Iago is very Mephistophelean and displays incredible skill while manipulating Othello, as he
does with every other character in the play. Othello also naturally has insecurities and is
quite trusting so that enhances the fact that he is being portrayed as naive but just unlucky.
Conversely, Othello is naive and it is mainly his fault for getting manipulated by Iago. Firstly,
while Iago’s manipulation tricks were very good, some of his proof was questionable and
Othello did not question them indicating naivety. Iago states he ‘lay with Cassio recently’
while this doesn’t make any sense as to why he would lay with Cassio and him going on to
add that Cassio would ‘then kiss me hard’ and Iago would do nothing about this. The whole
story seems odd to anyone would a little bit of sense, it almost seems like Shakespeare
exaggerated it, making it seem more odd than it was, to emphasises that Othello is naive,
rather than Iago being smart. Othello also falls for the handkerchief without even questioning
anything, all of this in one acts leads the audience to believe that Shakespeare definitely
wanted Othello to be naive.
