While reading this play, Othello, I keep getting very frustrated with Othello and a few other of the characters in the play. They all think Iago is such a great guy, and as the reader who is able to see all the mischief he is creating, this is very irritating. Cassio even says to Iago at one point, "I never knew a Florentine more kind and honest" (95). They don't realize that Iago is manipulating every single one of them and essentially turning them all against each other.
I also become very frustrated with Othello when he believed Iago so easily about Desdemona being unfaithful to him. Instead of confronting Desdemona about it, he takes the false evidence Iago gives him as fact without checking if it is trustworthy evidence.
Was anyone else really irked by Iago and how he so easily pulled the wool over everyone's eyes? Or were you more irritated by the fact that everyone was so ready to believe anything he told them?
I also have some questions about the times. Were a woman's views on a situation seen as irrelevant? Were women inferior to men in that way and that is why Othello never confronted Desdemona? Do you think it would matter if she explained the situation or would Othello have still believed Iago?
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hey Lauren,
ReplyDeleteI was more irritated with the fact that everyone else in the play couldn't see what was happening...but, especially in act 5, I had a feeling that everything was going to backfire on him when he kept bringing more and more people into the situation...
I don't know if the problem of Othello not listening is more of a woman's standing in society as much as how far he was drawn in the lies...why should/would he listen to her after Iago had planted the bug in his brain from every angle? he was only able to hear the truth after he had acted and the strain was lifted off his shoulders in a sense..
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the whole being irritated with how Iago has manipulated all the other characters and how you wish you could just shake them and make them see what Iago is doing to them.
I also agree with Jesse when it comes to how far othello was drawn into other's lies. It's hard for someone to find the truth with they have been told all these lies and seem to be surrounded by them.