Wednesday, December 24, 2014

How does evil overcome good in Shakespeare's Othello?

In Shakespeare's Othello, there are times when evil overtakes good.  For example, Othello is a good, noble character who is undone by Iago's evil actions.  Othello loves his wife Desdemona, and his love is clear to all who know him.  However, he also has a sense of insecurity that Iago abuses to overtake him.  Iago knows that Othello is insecure about his race and social status, so he chooses Michael Cassio, an educated, attractive white man, to use as bait in the plot.  Iago is able to manipulate the situation to make it seem as if Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio, and Othello is so hurt that he does not think or act rationally to find out the truth.  So in this case, Iago's evil intent is able to overtake good--in the end, Othello murders his wife because he is led to believe that she has been unfaithful.

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