‘Othello Is a Play of Opposites and Contrasts. How Are Themes in the Play Explored Through Contrasts of Character and Language?’

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Shakespeare’s Othello is often cited as one of the few works of literature which retains the spirit and structure of the classical Aristotelian tragedy. However, despite the lack of any real side plots or comic relief, there is more to Othello than the gradual descent of a noble but tragically flawed hero into chaos, confusion and doom. The key ideas of the different forms of love, the insidious nature of illusion and perceived identity, and finally the reversal of identity and spirit are all examined through the course of the play through the use of sharp dualities and striking contrasts inherent in both language and character. Love is an integral theme in Othello. It could in some ways be considered the driving force of the play itself. The sickly jealousy which comes to consume Othello would have meant very little at all if he had not loved Desdemona with the passion and vigour that he did. There are a number of contrasts utilised by Shakespeare to convey two very different forms of love, each nearly completely antithetical to the other. The relationship between Othello and Desdemona, proved in the end to be something pure and good, is set beside the sickly, superficial relationship between Iago and Emilia. Interestingly, this makes the theme of love in Othello yet another aspect of the idea of opposites, two-facedness, the ultimate duality of black and white, good and evil, inherent in the play. Upon disembarking at Cyprus and beholding his wife, Othello claims that if he were to die at that moment he would die as happy as could be, and that...“I cannot speak enough of this content; it stops me here; it is too much of joy.” While Othello’s recounting of the birth of the love between Desdemona and himself seemed to suggest a relationship based on commiseration or empathy (“She loved me for the dangers I had pass’d, and I loved her that she did pity

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