ipl-logo

Othello Appearance Vs Reality Essay

1173 Words5 Pages

The contrast between appearance and reality is a recurring theme in Shakespeare’s plays especially the Tragedies. He uses this theme to corrupt the truth and show the fallibility of human perception both of which serve to intrigue the audience. Mistaking appearance for reality is the action that produces the tragic effect in Othello and Macbeth. The theme of appearances versus reality is a prevailing theme in both plays.
William Shakespeare is one of the most famous tragedy writers in English literature. He began writing tragedies because he felt the tragic plots used by others during his time were lacking artistic purpose and form. There is a general consensus that Shakespeare wrote ten Tragedies with the most famous of them being Romeo …show more content…

Iago intends to hurt Othello by provoking him to believe that his loyal wife, Desdemona is intimate with Cassio. His status as a Moor and an outsider to the Italians cause him to feel internally insecure, perhaps this explains his abilities in conquest. Macbeth is characterized as being a valiant, loyal and honorable nobleman of Scotland who lacks strength of character. He is ambitious on and off the battlefield, which fuels his desire for power and ultimately leads to the tyrannical behavior that destroys him.
Both men begin the play either returning from battle or entering battle as the Kings preferred right hand man. This shows that they were loyal, honest and trusted. Although both men appear to be noble and honorable men at the beginning of the play they both allow their character flaws to dictate their actions. Macbeth is driven to his down fall by his overzealous need for ambition. Othello is driven to his down fall by his personal insecurities and jealousy. Both men allow external causes to further enflame their personal internal …show more content…

When Duncan comes to visit they appear innocent but in reality have already decided to kill him. Lady Macbeth shares with the reader exactly how they plan to look innocent while having murderous thoughts. Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth, “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it.” King Duncan is unaware of the reality of the situation and precedes to make Macbeth Thane of Cawdor because he believes that he is loyal. It is worth noting that King Duncan has made this mistake before with the former Thane of Cawdor who betrayed him. The following quote shows that King Duncan couldn't see past Macbeth’s false appearance and therefore trusted him

Show More
Related
821 Words | 4 Pages

According to A.C. Bradley, Shakespearean tragedy have the following elements “although a tragedy may have many characters, it is pre-eminently the story of one person or at most two. The story leads up to and included the death of the hero. The story depicts also the troubled part of the hero’s life which precede’s and leads up to his death. The hero is a conspicuous person, a person of high degree. The suffering and calamity are exceptional, of a striking kind.

Read More
785 Words | 4 Pages

This shows that Macbeth is still a good person and doesn’t want to kill Duncan. However, Macbeth had already been persuaded by Lady Macbeth to go through with it, for they would be richer and

Read More
856 Words | 4 Pages

Macbeth wrote a letter addressed to his wife telling her the recent events in his life, Lady Macbeth wants to take the crown just as much as Macbeth does, or more. While Kind Duncan visits Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth plans to have him kill the king. She tells him, “Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t.” (I. vi. 67-68). He should look like an innocent flower, greeting the king with a welcoming expression, but be the snake hiding under the petals.

Read More
311 Words | 2 Pages

Iago has jealousy and hatred towards Cassio from the beginning. Iago was not chosen to be lieutenant and Cassio was by the passing down from Othello. Iago has a selfish personality and throughout the story tries to bring down other characters with his jealously. Jealousy is the basis of the story on why things go wrong with Othello and Desdemona. Othello and Desdemona’s relationship takes a turn because of the confits Iago puts upon everyone.

Read More
516 Words | 3 Pages

Over time Othello come to trust Iago and exclaims how honest he is. Iago uses this misplaced trust to convince him that his wife has cheated on him. Othello enraged kills Desdemona his “whore” of a wife and then a few minutes too late finds out from Iago’s wife that there was never any sort of affair. As common with Shakespeare's plays almost all of the main characters suffer because of their own stupidity, a motif of the story.

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

None of the characters understand Iago’s intentions and believe his honest act is his true identity when in reality Iago is manipulating his master to fulfill his intentions. Iago influences Othello, and exploits his weaknesses; “till [he] is even with [Othello]” (1,2,288) essentially achieving his desires. Iago uses Othello as a pawn to influence, and stimulate jealousy creating chaos around him. He does this by manipulating everyone close to Othello into believing Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona, causing him to direct all of his attention to

Read More
818 Words | 4 Pages

Macbeth believes that since the witches first prediction of him becoming Thane of Cawdor rang true, perhaps him becoming King of Scotland will as well. Therefore, through an apprehensively cautious tone, figurative language, and appeals to logos Macbeth catalogs arguments on why he should not kill King Duncan which is effective, but is eventually foiled due to Lady Macbeth’s manipulations. To begin, Macbeth uses a apprehensively cautious tone while expressing all the reasons he should not be the one to end Duncan’s life. First, he very clearly voices is concern of being caught or punished for killing the King. “This even-handed justice commends the ingredients of our poison’d chalice to our own lips” (Shakespeare 27).

Read More
712 Words | 3 Pages

In the tragic play of Macbeth, three witches foretell Macbeth is the Thane of Glamis, the Thane of Cawdor, and soon to be the future king. After telling his wife of his encounter with these witches, Lady Macbeth manipulates him to “Look like th’ innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t” (Sparknotes). In order to become future king of Scotland, she insisted that Macbeth had to kill the current King of Scotland. Macbeth was hesitant at first, he was always loyal to King Duncan, but with enough persistence from his ambitious wife, he concluded that he would slay the king in his sleep, blame the king’s guards, and take the

Read More
673 Words | 3 Pages

Macbeth shows that he is willing to kill King Duncan because he is interested in the witches prophecy, after they tell him that he will become ‘Thane of Cawdor’ and then the King.

Read More
1001 Words | 5 Pages

Appearance and Reality     What may appear as real, may not always be the case. The tragic Shakespearean play Macbeth holds many meanings but one really sticks out. There are discussions of the allusion that the situations in the play hold special meaning to the fact that Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and even the witches are not who the characters in the play think they are. Shakespeare forces the reader to question the appearance versus the reality by making the audience contemplate what is real and what is not.     Macbeth as the main focus of the play is presented as an honorable, worth man.

Read More
1513 Words | 7 Pages

The passage is taken from Act 1, Scene 3, where the Venetian senate has gathered for an emergency meeting. Cyprus is under threat from the Turkish army and negotiations within the chamber are active and alive. Portrayed in real time, where the action advances from the last scene without noticeable pause, the late hour and urgent gathering of central characters creates tension, and alerts the audience to a sense of urgency. In relation to the background and reasons surrounding the passage, the setting of the extract also provides a sense of ‘symbolic geography’ from which Venice relates to the play as a whole (Pacheco, 2012, p.20).

Read More
1935 Words | 8 Pages

Without detailed analysis he believes in their words. He treats them as an infallible oracle, but he forgets that they represent the evil. Macbeth has never thought that they may deceive him by making him feel undefeated and safe which results in his demise. As Hecate has said the wrong feeling of security can be pernicious. Macbeth acts like a child, he is very naive.

Read More
1021 Words | 5 Pages

The audience can now see his desires as well as his ambition. At this point, Macbeth is still hesitant of revealing his true nature, but the audience gets a peek of what he yearns for. In addition, the witches’ predictions are known to be paradoxical, their predictions are never straightforward; they tend to have different interpretations. Macbeth kills King Duncan to obtain the power he was told he’d get. Despite that, the witches never said to kill King Duncan; they told him he would become king.

Read More
1158 Words | 5 Pages

When Iago takes a knife and stabs his wife because she told Othello what she did with the handkerchief. Let me tell you about Othello and Desdemona, they were two lovers and they loved each other very much and they thought that nothing was going to tear them apart. But then Iago comes in the picture and does otherwise. Othello was a moor (black) and Desdemona was a white.

Read More
773 Words | 4 Pages

In William Shakespeare’s Othello the two main characters are Iago and Othello. The entire story centers around Iago 's plan to achieve revenge on Othello for not promoting him to lieutenant. Throughout the story Iago tries to convince Othello that his wife Desdemona has cheated on him with his lieutenant Cassio. Iago’s plan is successfully and easily executed. Othello is tricked into believing that desdemona has been unfaithful and in the end he kills her.

Read More

More about Othello Appearance Vs Reality Essay

Related Topics

Open Document