Nature Of Evil In Othello

Does light entirely perish the darkness? The answer is no, it does not. With everything light is casted upon, darkness looms in its shadows. It is just one of nature’s many ways of balancing the universe out; black matches white, light goes with dark and good balances evil. Nature has many ways of neutralizing the world so that it is forced to harmonize together in order to create an aesthetically interesting environment. Ever notice how on a blazing sunny day, there is always a shadow lurking behind every tree to help provide a wintry feel away from the heat? It is almost as if too much light, or good for that matter, is not as gratifying as some wish it would be. This explains how in every person, no matter how good, has dark thoughts that
consume a fraction of their mind one way or another. Shakespeare’s Othello presents a precise example of good people who are unable to escape their flaws no matter how hard they try.
Othello depicts this concept in a hyperbolized manner in which every character’s downfall is because of the nature of evil that lies within themselves.
The nature of evil takes form within everyone as various traits. One being the green-eyed monster that surfaces more often than not. Jealousy is a dangerous force to be reckoned with seeing as it is one of the few things that can drive someone to do drastic things they would not normally do. Just as in Shakespeare’s Othello, the antagonist is possessed by the monster rendering him to transform into a sociopath who destroys people’s lives. He is a Venetian soldier who goes by the name Iago. Iago’s jealousy of Cassio and Othello induces him to making everyone his puppets that are under his control. Iago’s jealousy of Cassio is what strings the whole ordeal together. His green-eyed monster comes from the way Cassio seems to always better than him at everything. Cassio is more chivalrous, liked, skilled, but he is also more naive. When Cassio was chosen for the lieutenant job, it tipped Iago over the edge since he believes that he was the only one good enough for the position. In the very beginning of the book Iago reveals his spitefulness towards Iago as he
confesses, “Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city (In personal suit to make me his lieutenant) off-capped to him, and by the faith of man I know my price, I am worth no worse a place” (1.1.8-12). At first, Iago was only trying to get the lieutenant position from Cassio. On their first night in Cyprus, an island under attack by the Turks, Iago convinced Cassio to get drunk and set up a fight that would ultimately cause Cassio to lose his job. However, as Iago began to realize that with Cassio around, he will always only be second place; no matter if he received the lieutenant title or not. To fix this ‘problem’ Iago decides to ruin Cassio’s reputation as well. By somehow managing to convince Othello, with false facts and imaginary scenarios, that his wife Desdemona was cheating on him with Cassio. He starts this diabolical mission when he and Othello see Cassio step away from Desdemona and Emilia the day after Othello stripped Cassio of the lieutenant title. As Iago jumps on the opportunity to plant a seed of suspicion in his brain by saying, “Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it that he would steal away so guilty-like seeing you coming,” (3.3.37-39). Not only would this add on to a broken reputation from the fight, it would lead to Iago thinking once again. This time about how the only way to be first and make sure Cassio will never one-up him again is to terminate him. Iago is willing to create such plans but when it comes to doing the dirty work he was able to convince Othello to do it for him. It is no coincidence when Iago decides that Othello would be the man for the job seeing as Iago was jealous of him as well. If not the fact that he, too, is one of the few people better than him, there has been a rumor that Othello slept with his wife, Emilia, as well. As Benjamin Beier in "The Art of Persuasion and Shakespeare's Two Iagos" has noted, “He does not know if Othello has cuckholded him, but he will act as if he is sure,” (39) stating how Iago acted on jealousy and impulse when it came to judging Othello’s persona. Instead of being the noble Moor everyone else sees, Iago sees the man who had slept with his wife. Considering the fact that Iago was the reason Othello did many horrid things, it was not totally his fault. If Othello had no flaws to play with, Iago would not have been able to manipulate him.
At first glance, Othello is a noble Moor who does not let anything get to his head, it is just a bit of extraneous jealousy that drives him to do the things that he did.
Although once one reads in between the lines, it becomes clear that it was not jealousy the was the cause of his demise, but his insecurities. While everyone has their insecurities, Othello’s is heightened even more seeing as he is considered to be an outside being a black Moor married to a white ewe in a racist white community. The color of his skin has always been used against him. When Iago and Roderigo had gone to Barbantio’s house to inform him of Othello and Desdemona’s decision to elope, they utilize the fact that Othello is black to further enrage Barbantio by stating,
Even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe Because we come to do you service and you think we are ruffians, you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse. You’ll have your nephews neigh to you. You’ll have coursers for cousins and gennets for germans
(1.1.88-118).
Being isolated from the rest of the community with nothing but alienation as company is hard enough as it is but having to be reminded by everyone that Othello is different. Alienation to Othello was point where his insecurities push him to many different limits. For eample, in Othello: Alien in Venice by Alpslan Toker states, “Othello desperately strives to accommodate himself into the perfect Venetian concepts of race, gender, religion,matrimony, sexuality, and power and to break away from the typical characteristics of a stereotypical ‘Max’” (29). Toker basically states just what Othello, and the other characters, have to deal with throughout their journey. Although since Iago knew Othello’s struggles from the beginning he was able to play upon his insecurities in order to wield his actions in a way that would always benefit him. It is no wonder that Othello has more insecurities than anyone else in the story because of the way he was always treated as an outsider. From the very beginning his marriage to the beautiful Desdemona was always criticized because of his skin color; something that he cannot control. Being deemed unfit for the love of hi life based on the color of his skin set the bar high. Imagine having built such a noble reputation to be seen as an equal to those around you only to have all that work go to waste when it comes to something that should only be your business. This is why when Iago decided to toy with Othello, he was able to easily do this using Cassio. Cassio was a white Venetian soldier who was incredibly chivalrous and handsome. Solely based upon the fact that he is white, he is thought of as the same rank as Othello without exactly going through the same struggles as he did having Iago fill his thought constantly about having to watch for signs that his wife was cheating on him with another man did not help the situation at all. Even without the lies and deceit, Othello would have be driven mad from the saplings of suspicion planted in his mind enough to do pretty drastic things. After everyone was expecting Desdemona to leave Othello for someone like Cassio especially when Iago states, “Her eyes must be fed, and what delight shall she have to look on the devil, (2.1.205-206),” implying that Desdemona will eventually get tired of Othello and go for someone better. Nonetheless his insecurities led to his paranoia which edged him to do such irrational things. Although the failure of his marriage was one of the things that lead to Othello’s demise, it was not entirely his fault.