![]() This away he could not get away with this action and he thought this would bring Othello to his own grave. Ruthless Iago knew that the only way to make the situation much worse was to convince Othello to murder his beloved with his bare hands. ” Iago’s manipulation is so great that Othello would kill the one he loved so much. “ Get me some poison, Iago this night! I’ll not expostulate with her, lest her body and beauty unprovid my mind again. In his mind his closest friend is using their friendship to manipulate him into thinking they are friends just to get closer to Desdemona. Othello had no choice but to recognize how close his wifes relationship with Cassio really was. Iago, the predator, purposely imbedding jealous images into Othello’s head. Othello quotes, “O! beware, my lord, of jealousy It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock. Jealousy itself it self is like a predator searching for the weak. Othello loved his wife so much, that if someone like Iago would plant seeds of lies and misjudgments into Othello, him and any other would go to the extreme as to kill her just to stop the pain. But, he who loves his wife like he loves his god, loves to the death. Helen Mears is an English teacher who sits on the education committee of the British Shakespeare Association.Jealousy and Manipulation in Othello He, who loves his wife for the lust, can run away from the situation that haunts him. She dies at the hands of her husband, but she does so leaving the audience with a strong sense of her integrity. “If he says so, may his pernicious soul Rot half a grain a day! He lies to the heart.” (Act 5, Scene 1)įinally, the truth hits Emilia and she realises that it is indeed Iago who has filled Othello’s head with lies that have led to him murdering the innocent Desdemona. What she does not yet know is that her own husband is the rogue in question. Emilia is right, this is exactly what has happened. “I will be hang’d if some eternal villain, Some busy and uninsinuating rogue, Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office, Have not devised this slander:” (Act 4, Scene 2) Again we have Emilia’s sincere pronouncement that Desdemona is honest devalued by the fact that the word has been frequently used to describe her insincere husband. The word ‘honest’ is a clear motif in the play. “I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest, Lay down my soul at stake.” (Act 4, Scene 2) Emilia acts as an honest echo of her dishonest husband. We are aware that only one of them is sincere in this warning. Just as Iago warns Othello to beware of jealousy, Emilia tells Desdemona that jealously is a monster that eats away at a person. We do not, however, know if there is any truth in Iago’s accusation towards Othello that “‘twixt my sheets He has done my office”.ĭownload for free “But jealous souls will not be assured so They are not ever jealous for the cause, But jealous for they are jealous ‘tis a monster Begot upon itself, born of itself.” (Act 3, Scene 4) It’s obvious to the audience that there are issues in Emilia and Iago’s marriage and that he treats her badly. Here she warns her about the nature of men. ![]() “They are all but stomachs, and we all but food To eat us hungerly, and when they are full, They belch us.” (Act 3, Scene 4)Įmilia is full of experience and wisdom which she often shares with Desdemona. ![]() When she dares to question him, he turns on her and sends her away. When Emilia gives Iago the infamous handkerchief, she instantly begins to suspect his motives in asking for it. “What will you do with’t that you have been so earnest to have me filch it?” (Act 3, Scene 3) Neither woman realises the implications this decision will have. “I will bestow you where you shall have time To speak your bosum freely” (Act 3, Scene 1)Įmilia inadvertently opens Desdemona to Iago’s schemes by agreeing to allow Cassio access to Desdemona to beg for her help in reconciling him with Othello. It establishes her as a character with strength. “You have little cause to say so.” (Act 2, Scene 1)Įmilia’s first words in the play are to challenge her husband when he is deriding her in front of his superiors. Although fiercely loyal to her mistress, Desdemona, she inadvertently allows her to be snared in Iago’s trap. In a play dominated by men, the scheming Iago, the gullible Othello and the beleaguered Cassio, Emilia acts as a voice of honesty and reason. ![]()
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