Catharsis

Now that we have finished Othello, I must say that I have indeed learned something from the play. First, though, the characters. Othello is a fool for letting Iago deceive him, though his folly is not as great as it could have been. His trust in Iago is obviously his downfall, and he should have foreseen Iago’s jealousy for Cassio. Othello is a prime target for manipulation, and with a bit more forethought he could easily have avoided the entire issue. Desdemona, I pity. She was nothing more than a pawn in Iago’s plot, and held none of the fault that Othello did, but more just as much of the burden. Iago is a cold man indeed to have caused her such misery when she is the only moral center of the play, and had done nothing to harm him.

In this, I cannot sympathize with Iago. His betrayal of Othello I can at least comprehend, and it is fair to say that Iago betrayed Othello for the same reason Othello betrayed Desdemona. In vengeance for being cuckolded both men did great damage to someone they should have cared for, and so one could argue that Iago is simply smarter than Othello and no less noble. However, when Othello lets his vengeance fall on Cassio, one starts to question. Cassio is, after all, blameless. However, Cassio’s punishment, too, can be understood because of the jealousy that is eating away at Iago. The nobility of Iago completely breaks down when he pushed Othello to kill Desdemona, a true innocent who had not engendered Iago’s hatred in any way. Emilia and Roderigo, too, are innocents slaughtered. These deaths more than Othello’s suicide and Cassio’s wounding turn Iago into the wretch he is.

This play has taught me the dangers of jealousy, and of letting any one person, however trusted, completely command your actions. At hints from Iago, a man he barely knows, Othello is willing to question the chastity of and even murder Desdemona, a woman he loves and cherishes. This speaks both of his lack of trust in Desdemona and a surfeit of trust in Iago. If one lets jealousy into one’s heart, it will grow and feed on happiness until there is nothing left. One must trust as far as one can and not let doubt cloud love. However, one must also beware of trusting too much, because anyone can be out for your death, and trusting them completely, without checking their words against your own heart and the thoughts of others, can lead to damnation. Ironically Othello has pushed me to trust less and more simultaneously, a consequence of good literature, I suppose.