Shakespeare - Othello And Iago

2164 Words9 Pages
Kyle Matthew Q. Santelices

MA Literature

August 1, 2011

Black Man, White Demon and The Devil
(Analysis on Shakespeare's Othello and Iago)

In the spectrum that Shakespeare provides in his bounty of tragedies, it certainly becomes “too great” to pick out a favorite—and that is usually the case. For was it not the puzzle known as Hamlet that led us to believe that insanity was a drama instead of the real thing? Certainly, it is the same way that conflicts of power and order be set array in the world of Julius Caesar. In all justice, Shakespeare certainly has (as many already know) a great set of tragic characters, wonderful representations of the abstract human psyche and great historical narratives that almost boil one's blood into a sphere of meditation—one could not ask for more at this point. So then, my contribution to the scores of literary analysis on the works of the “great master” would seem trivial but in such, I would hope to provide at the least a view on one of his works that yet again that baffle and amaze me. As literary critic Alfred Kazin would say, “I am moved by the force of Shakespeare's mind.” I most certainly agree with this and perhaps the only slight difference would be that I am more stunned than moved—and am to be left in isolation searching for my soul. His tragedies then are that of a quasi-religious statement that moves so much the mind and paralyzes the body—in the same way stopping oneself for a time. This is the force that has moved so “many ships” and has done so in me. Here, I make an account on the tragedy of the “Moor of Venice” and his subordinate, who schemes much of the tragedy yet seems to love him like an angel. Unlike Hamlet, most of what happens in Othello is of a greater logical fit. In a sense, the character Iago tricks most of the people he loathes including the mighty moor, Othello. All of these schemes
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