Gone With Common Wisdom In Shakespeare's Othello

Gone With Common Wisdom, In With Inebriated Falsity
In the Shakespearean tragedy Othello, the eventual downfall of the main protagonist is from his lack of wisdom and flawed knowledge. However, although being vitally important to the play, these two factors were not driving reason towards his eventual death; they were just catalysts to a separate set of components perpetuated by the antagonist. Through other characters who seem just as easily manipulated due to their ignorance (up until the very end), Iago used every facet of their weaknesses to achieve his goals of revenge and monetary gain. Thus, as a result, with Othello's wisdom lied primarily on the battlefield rather in Venetian and social customs, this bred an open door for Iago to nefariously
One important part of Othello’s downfall was his wisdom being overridden by his angst and jealousy from false knowledge. In Othello, one particular trait that stood out was the persistence and cunning mindset of the main antagonist. The plot of Othello resembles those of Shakespearean plays in that it is based upon
This, in a sense, was Othello’s wisdom talking – something that he should have trusted throughout the entire play rather than the spewing lies of the main antagonist Iago. As we progress into Act IV, there is an exponential increase in evidence to show that Othello is overridden with a mix of emotions –whether it be angst, jealousy, or just outright thirst for “revenge”. With these factors added together, Iago need not put much effort into his villainous plot – Othello takes it up to his own hands and suggests that he will poison his wife, but Iago advises him to strangle her in the same bed in which Desdemona committed his adultery for true symbolic justice. Up until this point, there still was no way for Othello to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Desdemona was unfaithful. However it was too late. Othello’s mind had been precipitated with the full blossoms of the plant Iago had grown, and no amount of knowledge could stop Othello’s belief. Even with the most compelling evidence presented to him, he could not reverse his false knowledge - Othello explains away any evidence in Desdemona’s favor, by imagining Emilia and Desdemona to be