Thursday, January 26, 2012

Othello 3

"I'll pour this pestilence into his ear,
That she repeals him for her body's lust,
And by how much she strives to do him good,
She shall undo her credit with the Moor.
So will I turn her virtue into pitch,
And out of her own goodness make the net
That shall enmesh them all."
- II.iii.321-327

This quote comes from Iago and is another one of his soliloquies. With a play that does not give a lot of stage direction and does not have much action, dialogue has to be used to let the reader know what's going on. Shakespearre accomplishes this through Iago's soliloquies. These asides are what create suspense in the story. The characters in the story believe that Iago is an honest, trustworthy man. The reader knows that he is manipulating the other characters and is truly a jealous, selfish man. This leads to a lot of dramatic irony in the story, such as in Act 3 when Emilia thinks Iago wants the handkerchief to copy one for her, but really he is trying to set up Cassio and Othello. The suspense is created because the reader hears what Iago's plan is, and then they want to see how or if it carries out. Also, the reader wants to find out if Iago will be triumphant in his manipulation or will the characters soon discover his false persona.

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