Compare the Ways in Which Shakespeare Show’s Protagonists Changing in Act Iii Scene Iii of ‘Othello’ and Act I Scene Vii of ‘Macbeth

Essay-Compare the ways in which Shakespeare show’s protagonists changing in Act III Scene III of ‘Othello’ and Act I Scene VII of ‘Macbeth
In this essay I will be discussing how the two protagonists; ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Othello’ change throughout the plays. Our First impressions of ‘Othello’ and ‘Macbeth’ are very similar; they are both Brave warriors who would give up their lives to save their people. Macbeth a very courageous, brave warrior who is exceedingly close to the king, and Othello labelled by his people as “brave”, “Valiant” and fearless, he was a very well respected man. Both these two change into heartless, ferocious murders that kill innocent lives for their own good. The change between these two is hugely significant after their tragic flaws takeover their lives. Macbeths being ‘Ambition’ and Othello’s being ‘Jealousy.’ Act I Scene VII of ‘Macbeth’ and Act III Scene III of ‘Othello’ are the key scenes in each play in which both protagonists change dramatically. Macbeth in less than 5 minutes and Othello in 20, both are shown changing from good to evil by Shakespeare. The way in which Othello is shown changing in Act III Scene III by Shakespeare. At the beginning of Act III Scene III of ‘Othello’, it starts off with Cassio asking Desdemona to speak to Othello about giving him his rank as lieutenant back, and as Cassio exits Iago in the company Othello draws attention to Cassio leaving Desdemona by saying ‘Ha’ which immediately casts a doubt upon Othello’s mind and he follows that up by saying “Ha I like not that” which makes Othello think that bit extra about Cassio and Desdemona, However despite the early effort of that Shakespeare uses a metaphor in which Othello shows his love for Desdemona by labelling her as ‘excellent wretch’ and Othello’s enthusiasm about his love for Desdemona shows the audience that Othello hasn’t yet changed. Sometime later in the scene Iago asks Othello if Cassio knew that Othello was in love with Desdemona when Othello was wooing her. Othello confirms that he did, and Iago suddenly begins to talk about reputation by relating reputation as a jewel saying it is of high value;”...dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls”, he the follows by talking about jealousy and labels it as ‘the green eyed monster’; he also reiterates what it is like to be cuckold which shows the audience that Iago keeps putting thoughts in Othello’s mind and Othello is obviously think about it when he replies firmly by demanding proof-“No, Iago; I’ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove” and he decides not to talk further of the topic arisen by Iago. Shakespeare late uses dramatic Irony to make the audience feel sympathy. He replies to Iagos apology “I am bound to thee for ever,” this is closely followed by significance as there is a use of repetition by Iago when he again arises the topic “hath dash’d your spirits... but I do see you’re moved...I see you are moved.” At this point in the play for the first time Othello voices a fear that it is unnatural for a white women to fall in love with a black man. Moving on, Othello begins to believe in Iago confidently and this is proven when he says the following-“Why did I marry? This honest creature (referring to Iago) doubtless sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds.” This comes to the audience as a shock because he doesn’t question Iago and trusts him more than his love. He shows that he trusts him more than his love when he says “why did I marry” this is a very strong line as it shows the first signs of Othello changing. Soon after this audience come to acknowledge of how evil and crafty Iago is, this is when he is telling the audience of his plan and he uses phrases such as : Moor, Poison, holy writs etc, this indicates once again by the choice of words that Iago is choosing to say, it clearly demonstrates to the audience of his wickedness. Then later in the scene comes the most dangerous point for Iago. Othello insists of proof of Desdemona’s infidelity or he will so something terrible to Iago. This gives the audience great hope that Othello still very much believes in his love however Iago’s response is quick and he acts as though he is deeply hurt by this, which makes Othello calm down and think again. Right at the end of the scene in my opinion is the most significant line said by Othello which shows that he has completely changed and Iago has succeeded, it is shown when Othello is going mad and wants to tear her to pieces-“I’ll tear her to pieces.” This point onwards all that Othello talks about is murder and death which now shows the audience that he has completely change when he says that he wishes that Cassio had 40,000 lives so he can kill him 40,000 times. At the end of the play, again it is demonstrated of his change when in Act V Scene II he labels Desdemona as a ‘whore’ and ‘like a liar gone to burning hell.’
In Othello the key issue raised is that, it is based on reality and things that happen in the modern world, Throughout the play, he has related to ‘Jealousy’ which was the tragic flaw of Othello and the significant thing about this is that even in today’s society these issues are still being raised and are being heard all over the news. Now in 2012 there was a similar case to Othello where a young teenager stabbed his girlfriend to death due to him being jealous of her innocent friendship with others, immediately you can see that this is exactly like Othello who killed Desdemona because he believed that she was in a secret relationship with someone else. Also in the times of Shakespeare and the time of the release of Othello, Racism was a key factor, it may be seen today as unacceptable however in those days it was something that took place more regularly and it was seen as ordinary. The main links between Othello and Macbeth, I think that the main difference is how the women use themselves. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth sexually persuades Macbeth into committing wrong. However in Othello, the thought of Desdemona having sex with Cassio is enough for Othello to go on and commit murders. Also, another link is that both are undone by their tragic flaws. Macbeths being ‘AMBITION’ and Othello’s being ‘JEALOUSY’. This also links with the fact that these tragic flaws were taken advantage of by people who are very close to them (Lady Macbeth and Iago). Another key similarity is that both men are brave; Macbeth has saved Scotland from the Norwegians and the Scottish rebels in two battles; Othello has saved the state of Venice with distinction. Adding to this, there is also a difference linking to them fighting for their countries, Macbeth fights for his country where he was born and bred however Othello is a professional soldier being born in Africa but he serves the state of Venice. Coming back to Jealousy, both men react very strongly to Jealousy but for different reasons; they both kill through Jealousy. Macbeth was jealous of Malcolm being announced to succeed King Duncan as King, whereas Othello becomes jealous of the thought of Desdemona having a sexual relationship with Cassio. Also again racism is the difference as Macbeth doesn’t suffer from prejudice as he has the same colour skin as his people, on the other hand Othello being Black compared to the people of Venice (who are white) he is repeatedly called names such as the ‘Moor’ and the ‘old black ram,’ and most importantly they are both gullible; Othello is known as gullible by everyone including Iago, this is proven when Iago discretely mentions “the moor is of a free and open nature.” Finally right at the end of the play in contrast to Macbeth, Othello redeems himself by killing himself however even after being killed Macbeth still isn’t sorry for anything he has done. The way in which Macbeth changes throughout Act I Scene VII is, at the start of Macbeth Act I Scene VII is with Macbeth having second thoughts about killing Duncan. In a soliloquy Macbeth say’s that it would be better if the murder was done quickly as he is struggling to keep it up,” If it were done when ‘tis done, then twere well”- here there is a use of Pathos as Shakespeare makes the audience feel genuinely sorry for Macbeth. This indicates the audience that Macbeth hadn’t fully changed at his point, also later in the soliloquy, he says “that we but teach bloody instructions.....return to plague the inventor,” at this point he is saying that it is him who is committing foul murders and that soon they will have to pass it on and one day it will come back to bite them, this demonstrates to the audience a real sense of the way Macbeth is feeling and showing he is not comfortable with what he is committing. Adding to this the point in the last quote where he says that something will come back at him, this is also in my opinion bought up later in the play when he kills his best friend Banquo in Act III Scene IV. His hitmen say that Fleece has escaped and Macbeth replies by saying that-“the worm that’s fled (Fleance) Hath nature that in time will venom breed” showing that from Act I Scene VII where he is saying all this in fear compared to Act III where he is saying it as if it was a challenge he is ready to face, and this immediately shows how he has change into a man that feared killing innocents to someone who kills them for the fun of it. After Macbeth’s strong soliloquy, Lady Macbeth enters and after their discussion about the murder a significant line of the play enters as Lady Macbeth compares Macbeth to the cat that wouldn’t kill the fish because it didn’t want its feet wet, referring to Macbeth as a Coward. Shakespeare then makes it very clear that Macbeth is highly offended by Lady Macbeth calling him a ‘coward’ and comparing him to the ‘poor cat’ by his strongly worded protest that no one dares to do more than him: ‘who dares do more is none.’ It is easy to imagine how a proud soldier like Macbeth would find such words insulting. Macbeth’s reaction also shows that Lady Macbeth has started to get under his skin and her words are beginning to have an effect. By making an allusion to a well known story about a cat, Lady Macbeth cleverly intends to make him feel cowardly, small and pathetic. By belittling him in this way, she clearly appears to be provoking a strong reaction from Macbeth. Later in the scene is probably the line that hit’s the audience the most, as Shakespeare uses strong words that show Lady Macbeth’s immorality.” I would, while it was smiling in my face (a baby) have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums, and das’d the brains out. Had I sworn as you.” This really gives the audience the sense of what is going through in the heartless body of Lady Macbeth when she say’s if she had sworn to Macbeth to kill the baby she would, while it was sucking on her nipple pulled the baby and smashed his brains out. These extremely strong words worry the audience. By using a baby, something very close to a mother, Shakespeare shows the audience that Lady Macbeth can go to any extent. This is also relate to the part where Lady Macbeth has just received the letter from Macbeth about the visit of the king and she at that point calls ‘upon spirits’ to ‘Unsex her’. When she says this the audience think that Lady Macbeth isn’t really at all bad because she is asking spirits to change her so she can commit the sin she was about to commit. This again relates to the part when they have killed Duncan and Lady Macbeth returns from putting the daggers back she uses the excuse that she would’ve done it as well had it not looked like her dad. This again reiterates that Lady Macbeth is forcing herself to be the women she is showing herself as.
In Macbeth, the key issue raised by Shakespeare is, when a person of good, is overtaken by their seeking ambition, exactly the same way as ‘Macbeth’ who was known as caring, brave and a great loyal warrior who was ready to do anything for his country. This is backed in Act I Scene III, where he is praised by King Duncan for his great bravery that he showed in war, however in Macbeth it is also a case of his heart being overturned which is demonstrated when he kills King Duncan, Banquo and the innocent children of Macduff. Even today in our society there was a case of Bo Xilai and his wife when they killed Bo’s business partner who was a very close friend of theirs and they only killed him due to their seeking ambition to take all in the business shares. Due to their stupidity all that is happening is that they are suffering in prison. This is very similar to Macbeth who after killing many innocents all that has happened to him was that he was killed.
Therefore to conclude, In my opinion both protagonists themselves suffered the most due to their ‘TRAGIC FLAWS’; Macbeths being ‘Ambition’ and Othellos being ‘Jealousy. In Both plays, Shakespeare uses emotions and themes to change the protagonists. Also, Shakespeare has been very intelligent and he has used two people who are extremely close to the two of them; this being Iago, who has a reputation for being honest however shown to the audience as cunning and evil. This indicates that Shakespeare has used Dramatic irony because the audience are aware of this but Othello isn’t, and in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, also known as by the audience as the fourth witch, due to her evil thoughts.