The Seesaw Of Yin And Yang In Othello

The Seesaw of Yin and Yang

The great tragedy play written by William Shakespeare, “Othello”, incorporates themes such as revenge, prejudice, jealousy, passion, and hypocrisy. Othello being the military general represents the desire to be good in life while Iago’s greed, jealously, and psychological problems can be interpreted as the temptation to sin and separately Roderigo’s love for Desdemona and jealousy of Othello is a depiction of both, temptation to sin and desire to be good. All together they embody the human struggle between the desire to be good and the temptation to sin. This magnificent play is an allegory of the seesaw of Yin and Yang.

The main character of the play the general of the Venetian army, Othello, needs to be a noble

Othello is a well-known soldier in Venice and abroad. When Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, and his men were looking for Othello when he had married Desdemona in secret, Iago told him to hide from them but he said: ‘’Not I, I must be found./My parts, my title, and my perfect soul/Shall manifest me rightly.’’ (I.ii.30-32). This goes to show how Othello will not choose the wrong way to deal with situations, he would choose the right and honest way. After that, Brabantio and his men take out their swords to fight Othello. Othello replies saying; ‘’ Good signior, you shall more command with years/Than with your weapons.’’(I.ii.60-61). Othello respects Brabantio because he is older and wiser and refuses to fight him. He then proceeds to accuse Othello of using black magic on Desdemona. Othello defends himself by explaining the ‘’ black magic’’ he used

As the play begins, he trusts and pays Iago to be his wingman in getting Desdemona. As portrayed in the play, Iago is very cunning in his ways. Once they learned Othello married Desdemona, Roderigo instantly grew green with envy and hated Othello for this. Later during the play, Iago plants a seed of jealously in Roderigo’s head, against Cassio. He says: ‘’I must tell thee this: Desdemona is directly in love with him. [Cassio]’’(II.i.213-214). At first, Roderigo believes it is false and says: ‘’ She’s full of most blessed condition.’’ (II.i.242-243). He defends Desdemona because he knows she would never do that to her husband and she is a loyal wife. Now, Roderigo thinks Cassio likes her too and vice versa. He feels pressured to protect against their love. In order for Roderigo to remove Othello and Cassio out of his way he listens to Iago’s evil scheme. Roderigo must get into a fight with Cassio because he is competition and, so he loses his reputation and his post as lieutenant. Roderigo has been forced by Iago to sell all of his belongings to pay Iago in false hope of getting Desdemona and to carry out evil. Yet, deep inside has a good heart because he wants to win over Desdemona for who she is and he loves her from the bottom of his