Summary: Development Of Othello As a Main Character Of The Play

Through the development of the main character, Othello, as he descends into tragedy, Shakespeare’s use of word choice illustrates how this decent creates a shift in plot, tone, and mood. All of these elements contribute to the overarching theme of being careful of who you put your trust in and who you choose to love.

Throughout the play, mistrust and love come into conflict with each other as other characters advise Othello to be wary of who he trusts. In Act I Scene II, Brabantio warns Othello to “[l]ook to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see: / She has deceived her father, and may thee.

” This line uses rhyme scheme, this makes the lines stand out auditorily to the rest of the speech throughout the play. This gives the audience a sense of foreshadowing that Desdemona will betray Othello. Even though this doesn’t happen, both the audience and Othello are starting to feel suspicious of her, even in small amounts.

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Although Iago is the character that is steering the plot, Othello allows it to drive forward in the direction that he wants. This is because of Othello’s fatal flaw which he exhibits in Act I: his trust in Iago. As Othello is preparing to leave for Cyprus, he requests of Iago, “Honest Iago, My Desdemona must I leave to thee: I prithee, let thy wife attend on her:” This is the first mood shift in the play after his soliloquy in Scene 1, due to use of dramatic irony.

Although the characters don’t know of Iago’s true intent, the audience does and tension starts to rise as his plans slowly begin to take shape. Both of these factors are the first steps that drive Othello from being trusting and kind to almost monstrous.

In the final scene of Act III, Iago has chipped Othello’s sanity away by feeding ideas into his head about Desdemona. At this point, Othello is starting to believe that she is cheating on him with Cassio. This marks the primary tone and plot change where Othello was once honorable and loved his wife to furious and mistrustful. This is especially marked by Othello’s previous words that he needed evidence of cheating before he believes the claims as stated in Act III, but is now convinced of her actions without any proof other than hearsay from Iago. This reflects the secondary portion of the main theme of trust; while Othello trusts Iago to tell the truth, he doesn’t hold the same trust in his wife, which proves to be his fatal flaw that allows Iago to ruin him and everyone else in the play. The tone, just like Othello, shifts from honorable to mistrustful.