Othello Play Essays - Othello, Michael Cassio, Iago, Roderigo

Othello Play The four main characters in the play Othello represent four different character traits of manhood: Roderigo, the failure; Othello, the hero, yet the insane lover; Cassio, the noblemen; and Iago, the villain, yet the strongest character of the play. Of these four characters Roderigo reveals the weakest character traits. Iago effortlessly profits from Roderigo's deficiency in a intelligence, in fact Iago himself said he would not waste time and effort on"such a snipe"(I iii 387) except for "sport and profit." Towards the end of the play Roderigo reveals some traits that might classify him as a man with a spine. He finally stands up to Iago and threatens to expose the conspiracy against Othello and Cassio, but ultimately his flaws overpower his virtuous traits and he is persuaded by Iago to kill Cassio instead. Likewise, Othello is the tragic hero of the play but his character is also weak. Jealousy is Othello's major downfall. He reveals his insecurities in the scene where he strikes Desdemona and calls her a "devil". Similarly, in the brothel scene, Othello's insecurities arise when he cruelly questions Desdemona. He condemns her as a "simple bawd" and a "whore", which he has no real proof of. Iago also easily manipulates Othello, like Roderigo, throughout the play. Othello is naive. He demonstrates that a few well-placed suggestions can alter his train of thought, such as when Iago was talking to Cassio and made Othello believe that the lieutenant was speaking of Desdemona instead of Bianca. On the whole, Othello was a weak character and a naive man. In contrast, Cassio's character is strong. He spoke about Othello with dignity and grace, which no other character in the play does. Also, Cassio showed extreme loyalty to the Moor. Cassio's only flaw is that he temporarily lost his power of reasoning when he was drunk and let himself be manipulated by Iago. All in all, Cassio is a good example of how a man should act; with dignity and honor. Likewise, Iago's character is also strong. He is an intelligent man as can seen in the soliloquy where he is hatching a plan to frame Cassio "to get his place "(I iii). In the soliloquy Iago's intelligence is revealed in the statement "How, How? - To abuse Othello's ear / That [Cassio] is too familiar with his wife."(I iii 396-39). Iago used his intelligence to think of a plan to frame Cassio and bring down Othello at the same time. Iago is also a confident man. Throughout the soliloquy Iago is confident "That the moor ...Will be tenderly led by the nose./ As asses are " (I iii 401- 404) and will be easily manipulated. However, if Iago had used his good character traits for good he would have been the hero of the play instead of Othello. On the whole, Shakespeare did an excellent job on setting the character traits for the male characters in the play: Roderigo was the "snipe"; Cassio, the noble gentleman; Othello, the fallen "noble Moor"; and Iago, the intelligent, confident and arrogant self-made villain. All the Characters in the play had some good traits but each of them had an appalling attribute that led to their downfall.

Basic Guide on How to Write a Dissertation

Basic Guide on How to Write a Dissertation How to write a really good dissertation is the question that has probably been the cause of many sleepless nights for you. Writing a thesis is not difficult at all, as long as you remember some rules and tips that guarantee an excellent dissertation for you. You may have had awful experiences while writing dissertations, but have you ever noticed why you keep getting only Cs and Ds in your dissertation assignments when the guy sitting next to you gets an A+ every time with half the effort than you? Most students spend fortnights, even months, racking their brains, and trying to squeeze as much out of it as possible. However, the reason that they get sick grades is not that they do not make an effort, but that they ignore several essential points while writing dissertations. It does not matter how many painful hours you spent in the library or how much research you did while surfing on the net, as long as you forget to think about the crux of the subject. Following points will help you write dissertations that will earn you the grades you deserve: Make sure you have understood the topic of the dissertation completely. Never miss a chance for a wee discussion with your teacher. As long as you know the topic you are writing a thesis on, you can rest assured that 40% of the task is complete. There is nothing entirely as wrong as completing a dissertation and then finding out that the Triceratops you have just written about as a musical band in your project is dinosaurs! Now that you have full knowledge of what you are going to write, let us move on. Never ever ignore the websites, books, authors etc that your teacher has given to you for research. At least 60% of the references should be from those sources. After looking at the sources, your teacher has told you to take help from, proceed to examine for other material that might help you with your dissertation. You do not have to look too much, as Internet has already done half of your research job. However, for most common topics, you will be able to find stuff from sources like Encarta, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Wikipedia, etc. For more detailed research, you can ask your subject teacher for more references to help you. Get as much information you can gather. Keep on taking everything that seems relevant to the topic you are writing your dissertation on. Once you have enough material, shape it up into a dissertation, and then spend the rest few days cutting off the additional ‘fat’ from your paper. For more information about writing a professional dissertation or thesis paper you can visit our custom writing service for buying your dissertation immediately.