I would like to examine the evolution of the character of Othello. I did my close reading for the final on his speech about his history with Brabantio. One thing that struck me was the grandeur with which he stood before his audience of Brabantio, the Duke and the Senate. He told them how unconfident he was in his abilities to be a good speaker, but clearly he made a fantastic speech and got his point across to the men. I view this ability as a sign of power, and the fact that he knows people. However, this character trait clearly morphs into a man who is insecure about his abilities and does not know people, even when it is the closest person in the world to him (Desdemona and his fears of her infidelity). I find this evolution an interesting one in such a short amount of time; it makes me wonder if Othello is the confident man that appears before the Senate or the insecure husband who kills his wife off of merely a suspicion.
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I think Othello can be a little bit of both. A lot of his insecurities were instilled by Iago, so it's hard to blame him solely for the way he acted on that, even though he did go completely psycho. Othello is a confident man with many hidden insecurities. He tries to cover up for insecurities by acting bold and confident all the tame to give him the cover an unflappable person.
I think that he always had trouble with understanding people. He was lucky to make a good choice for a wife, but also chose a devil to be his friend. Anybody could make that kind of mistake with a friend, but in Othello’s case it wound up being a deadly one. I think Iago sees through the speeches Othello makes and quickly works on his weaknesses. When Iago starts trying to convince him that Desdemona’s being unfaithful this is just another layer of Othello’s character that isn’t present when he’s talking about his accomplishments. As the play goes on this aspect of his character continues to grow and just consumes him. I think he’s still that person who he says he is to Brabantio and the senate, but the play just emphasizes this other aspect of him more.
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