The playwright "Othello" was very different than anything that we have read thus far in the semester. The way that it was written made it very difficult for me personally to follow, but there were a couple of concepts that I found very interesting while reading. Even though Shakespeare wrote this play in the 1500’s, there were a lot of parallels that can be drawn between the goings on presented in “Othello” and things that are still happening in society today.
The concepts of betrayal, lying, and manipulation are obviously been components of societies for as far as we can look back in time. Iago’s plan to ruin Othello’s marriage ends up being put into motion only by sneaking behind Othello’s back and betraying Othello’s trust in him. Although his evil plan wasn’t all that easy for me to follow in the format that it was written it was easy to understand that the concepts and issues are still alive and well today in our society. There are still issues with friends stabbing friends in the back, betrayal of spouses, and manipulation of trust.
Along with of all of these terrible things often comes terrible misunderstanding, which is seen clearly in the end of this play. When Othello finds the handkerchief, he assumes automatically that Cassio was the one that had betrayed him and that Desdemona had been having an affair. His assumption leads him to make a terrible mistake that then causes him to take his own life. This is something that is still seen today. Misunderstandings definitely happen on a daily basis which is why it is so important to be sure of the facts before you do something that you might regret in the future.
Misunderstandings will always be a part of human nature and I agree that it is ultimately what ruins the characters. If Othello had trusted Desdemona, and searched for his own anwers instead of receiving them second-hand, Desdemona would be alive, as would he.People are always jumping to conclusions and this never leads to anything good, as we see in this play!
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