Innocence vs. Immorality in Othello Essay -- Othello essays

Innocence vs. Im incorruptity in Othello In William Shakespeares tragic drama Othello we find a wide array of moral and immoral conduct, a full range of lifes goodness and badness. Let us in this paper examine the specific types of each, and how they affect the outcome. In Shakespeares 4 Giants Blanche Coles comments on the lack of veracity in Iagos speech The story that Iago tells Roderigo about the promotion of Cassio over him is not true, although it has been accepted by many discriminating scholars. Careless reading alone can account for this misapprehension, careless reading which for the moment dulls their alertness to one of the most essential requirements of Shakespearean cause analysis. That requirement is that the reader must never accept, or must always be ready to challenge, the word of any character unless the veracity of that character has been established, or unless the statement is accepted by more than one person of confirmed honesty. (76) Iagos lying is a t ype of immoral conduct which the quaint practices from beginning to end of the drama. But is lying his chief motivating evil? Roderigos opening lines to Iago in Act 1 Scene 1 perplex us to the very root of the problem Tush never tell me I take it much unkindly That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse As if the strings were thine, shouldst fuck of this. (1.1) In other words, the wealthy playboy has been paying off the ancient for the soldiers intercession with Desdemona on behalf of Roderigo. This payoff has been in progress onward the play begins, and it continues even in Cyprus. Yes, it would seem that money is at the root of Iagos moral downfall, and of all the t... ...rce of evil, namely his supposedly false wife. But genus Emilia is the one who, in asserting the innocence of her murdered mistress, resuscitates morality in this play. Emilia refutes the untrue notions which Othello says motivated him to kill she counters Iagos lies (She give it Cassio? No, alas, I run ag round it, / And I did givet my husband.) and lays the guilt for Desdemonas murder on his shoulders. And she sacrifices her very life for the truth she dies a martyr, stabbed by evil Iago. Othello also is a martyr in a sense, paying in full for the crime that he committed. WORKS CITED Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http//www.eiu.edu/multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos. Coles, Blanche. Shakespeares Four Giants. Rindge, New Hampshire Richard Smith Publisher, 1957.