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Idealism And Truth In Shakespeare's Othello

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Idealism And Truth In Shakespeare's Othello
Idealism and the Truth
Idealism and truth are present in every person’s life, no matter how young or how old, which greatly influence people’s actions, ideas and beliefs. It is human nature to want to achieve more and more success and the truth plays just as large of a role as idealism and is something truly, inescapable. Both hugely influence the actions of individuals. William Shakespeare’s Othello is a play that highlights the importance of these two features of humanity and from the first act to the final one, the idea that truth and idealism are powerful forces in the lives of the characters is emphasized. This is done by allowing the reader to be aware of the truth and the character’s versions of the ideal through asides, which Shakespeare …show more content…
He is a low ranking member of Othello’s force and is shown in the very first scene to be conspiring against his Lord and it is soon made known that he is doing this out of spite for Othello, after he promoted Michael Cassio to the high rank of lieutenant instead of the more seasoned Iago. The bitter man says he only serves Othello now so that he can get revenge on the Moor for not promoting him, which lets it be known that Iago’s version of the ideal was to obtain a high rank in Othello’s service, such as the coveted lieutenancy which he believes he was robbed of. By not being able to obtain his vision of the ideal, Iago puts the events of the play into motion, as he attempts to, and eventually succeeds at, ruining Othello’s life. This shows that idealism is very important in this play, as Iago’s failure to reach his ideal goal motivates him to cause the loss of innocent life and inordinate amounts of chaos in the ensuing weeks. Furthermore, Iago clearly understands the importance of idealism as he attacks Othello’s completely blissful marriage, which the war hero deems to be his ideal life, and even robs other characters of their ideal lives at the time in the process, in order to reach his new version of the ideal, a world where Othello has been ruined. This ideal, in addition to the loss of his previous vision, is what motivates Iago throughout the play and makes him ruthless and cruel, killing innocents and destroying lives, all so that he can obtain his ideal goal, which accentuates just how significant idealism is, as it can drive an individual to go to such extreme lengths to
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