Shakespeare's Othello is indeed a powerful and impressive figure who is tragically brought down by Iago, a villain who goes unnoticed thanks to his great drive and intellect until the end of the work. Despite his flaws – of which lack of self-knowledge is the most obvious – Othello remains “big-hearted” (as Cassio proclaims in Act 5, scene 2) because he is fundamentally a man of integrity. Furthermore, the fact that Iago universally cheats everyone is also something to consider before harshly condemning the person of Othello. At the same time it should be added that Othello is also "outclassed" by some random cases, which the opportunist Iago then takes advantage of. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe prime example of Othello being outclassed intellectually is his lack of self-knowledge; this is about how his military background affected his logic. In Act 3, scene 3, he constantly orders Iago to bring him "proof" of Desdemona's infidelity – "Bad, be sure to prove that my love is a whore" – and yet easily mistakes the handkerchief for ocular proof when it's something else entirely. This may be related to how he believes that "it is better to be much abused / Than to know little." For him, “To be in doubt once / is once resolved” – in other words, he does not hesitate to act on things, and is therefore inclined to jump to conclusions. This is a weakness that Iago is well aware of and drives Othello to distort everything he sees into “evidence” that suggests Desdemona's guilt. But can you really blame Othello for this? His profession as a general led him to a life of “flood and field moving accidents.” Because of “the imminent deadly breach,” for him hesitation can only become a weakness, a starting point for an imminent attack. Iago, however, subtly admits that "often [his] jealousy / Gives shape to faults that are not"; from time to time he even reminds Othello that he has not yet definitively proven these insinuations (“I'm not talking about proof yet”). He is clearly aware of the faulty logic at play, so much so that he perversely hints at it, always trusting that Othello, who has never been a moderate man (“Perplex'd in the extreme”) will be too tempted by the desire to be "steadfast" and to insist that “yet there is more to this.” It is also significant that Iago himself admits Othello's greatness: "They have not another of his breath." Yet it is only a testament to Iago's power and determination that he can easily turn a good thing into something horrible: just as he speaks of "turning [Desdemona's] virtue to pitch" and says that Cassio's vice is for his virtue a “only equinox / The one as much as the other”, so he too knows how to transform Othello's “free and open nature” into its absolute opposite. Othello, a general accustomed to trusting his men in fighting collective wars and a soldier also accustomed to clearly delineated battle lines, has Iago exploit his trusting nature. Iago knows very well that he "thinks men are honest, but they seem to be" and therefore knows how easily he can be "led by the nose / As asses are." In Act 3, Scene 1, we are told that "to hear the music the general does not care much. This has an ominous echo of Iago's earlier declaration that he will "put the pegs that make this music." Even more significantly, makes an important point about the pair's drastically different perceptual abilities. Listening to music was then considered a noble and civilizing attribute, so it's significant thatthis trait is so conspicuously absent in Othello, which is more suited to the battlefield. His sense of discernment is, consequently, much less astute than Iago's. One of the most tragic features of his downfall is the way in which his former eloquence is so powerfully overwhelmed by Iago's schoolyard, pornographic language. From the moment he tells Iago to "give your worst thoughts / worst words", the relationship between deteriorating speech and crumbling self-control becomes tragically evident. Iago's equivocal language -- “Ah! I don't like this"; “Do you think about it, my lord?” -- is projected onto Othello's expression, so much so that it is reduced to an incoherent syntax, fragmented sentences and fragmented speech: “O, o, o!”; “Death and damnation!”; "Monstrous!" Yet he remains painfully unaware. After all, his ears are accustomed to trumpeting war, and are unable to detect such linguistic disintegration as to link it to his own moral deterioration. The misunderstanding is also transplanted into his communication with Desdemona, so much so that he begins to speak elliptically like Iago - "I have a pain in my forehead" - and it is certainly not Desdemona's fault that she does not understand its true meaning in the slightest. . Iago perversely mocks him in Act 3, Scene 3 with language that echoes the trial scene; for example, he transforms Brabantio's warning of "She has deceived her father, and may she also thee," into "She has deceived her father, marrying thee," thus tapping into Othello's subconscious insecurities. He constantly reminds Othello of his conduct as a non-soldier, knowing that he bases his success as a lover on his success as a soldier; significantly, he makes sure to tell Othello that Cassio saw him in his emasculating epileptic fit: “A passion very unfit for such a man.” Iago strikes where he knows it will hurt most; significantly, he casts his temptation on Othello's exaltation of Desdemona: “Excellent wretch! Perdition grips my soul / But I love you; and when I don't love you, / the chaos is back. This is one of the few times Othello admits such complete and utter dependence on someone else, and Iago then moves quickly to destabilize his newly oriented orientations. It may also be worth noting that Othello is also at the mercy of chance. . Iago admits that his plan will only work “If the consequences will but approve my dream”; and approve of it, as fortuitous events such as Cassio not mentioning Bianca's name, Emilia finding the handkerchief, and Desdemona unfortunately using the word "suitor" when describing Cassio only cement Othello's downfall as something painfully out of his depth. check. Keep in mind: this is just an example. Get a custom article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Critics like F. R. Leavis have argued that Othello's punishment is certain due to his rather despicable flaws, but the final scene gives us reasonable grounds to interpret the hero as someone still “big at heart” – a “ noble Moro” to the end. It is true that Othello's unraveling becomes despicable at some points, such as when he publicly hits Desdemona. But it is also significant that, in the end, the only criticism comes from Emilia, who in turn could be questioned for her lack of objectivity, judging by the too categorical condemnation: “O seagull! O stupid! » Furthermore, with the death of his beloved mistress and Iago's completely unexpected betrayal, he is hardly in the right state of mind to derive our final evaluation of Othello from her. Cassius, who we might expect to be furious at being dismissed and suspected of treason, says simply: "Dear general, I never gave you,.