How could tragedy have been avoided?

How could tragedy have been avoided?

1. Othello's characteristics

   • Othellos Lack of judgment is explored throughout the play and is highlighted by the plays dramatic irony: the audience knows what is going to happen to the characters
   • Othello chooses to trust the wrong people putting trust in the villain "Honest Iago"
     • The audience knows that if Othello put trust in his faithful wife Desdemona, then the tragedy would not have occured
   • If Othello questioned defective evidence, tragedy could have been avoided. In act 3 Scene 3, Iago easily manipulated Othello convincing him that circumstantial evidence is as good as visual evidence. Iago's gullibility is explored further when Iago tells Othello a dream Cassio had about Desdemona. After this Othello is convinced of her unfaithfulness and vows for revenge against her "I'll tear her to pieces"

2. The Villainy and intelligent nature qualities of Iago

   • Iago's villainous nature is highlighted within his gripping soliloquies
     • "Now, I do love her too... Not out of absolute lust- through peradventure"
   • Iago's constant references to predator prey relationships throughout this play further highlight his villainy
     • "With as little web as this I will ensnare as great a fly as Cassio"
   • Iago's villainy fuels his revengeful ideas, leading to the eventual downfall of the plays tragic hero
   • "Yet that I put the Moor at least into a Jealousy so strong that judgment cannot cure"

3. Iago using key women throughout the play

   • Desdemona at the start of the play is introduced as powerful as the decieved her father by marrying Othello.
     • "She did deceived her father marrying you"
   • Desdemona's kindness toward Cassio "I will do all in my abilities in thy behalf"
     • It is then Iago is able to 'plant' the 'seeds' of doubt into Othello's mind"
   • Iago uses her love and trust towards to moor to exploit him being unfaithful to him "go in, and weep not; all things shall be well:
   • EMELIA
     • Uses her to seek revenge on the Moor
       • He asks her to steel Desdemona's handkerchief "I nothing but to please his fantasy"

4. Othello acts as a lesson about the power and mistrust of deception, falling for simple minded proof and the destructive forces of Jealousy.