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Othello essay- Deception
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Essay written by an A-level English literature private tutor + A* student. A high level (A*) Othello essay on deception for Edexcel A level English
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Explore how Shakespeare presents decep on in the rst two acts of Othello. Youmust relate your discussion to relevant contextual factors.
Shakespeare illustrates way in which we deceive ourselves and those around us as a result of
illusion and the stories we fabricate. Through the employment of Iago as the playwright and the
plot device of Othello and Desdemona’s unconven onal rela onship Shakespeare emphasises the
deceit engrained within stories as well as decep on as a tool for manipula on. Shakespeare uses
storytelling in order to call into ques on the correspondence between appearance and reality
further presen ng the deceit within them.
Shakespeare presents decep on as a tool to manipulate through employing Iago as the
‘playwright’. Iago is o en seen to be colluding with the audience during his soliloquies this
illustrates his intellect as a character allowing an audience to form a rela onship with him. During
an aside Iago outlines his role as the playwright ‘with as li le as a web as this will I ensnare as
great a y as Cassio’. A ‘web’ is intricately designed and suggests Iago to not only be manipula ve
but also intellectual. The spider metaphor evokes images of a predator capturing its pray, as a web
is designed for this sole purpose an audience can clearly see Iago’s intent reinforcing Othello as a
revenge tragedy. Alterna vely an audience could be in collusion with Iago as the spider metaphor
further evokes the concept of the Great Chain of Being, placing Iago in the role of the predator
naturally places Iago above Cassio in the natural order foreshadowing the tragedy Iago manifests.
However as it is Iago who places himself in this role as he is the ‘playwright’ he can be seen to be
inver ng the natural order sugges ng his social status to be a crucial mo va on. This is further
supported by the biblical connota ons of a spider. Chris an teachings believe that spider webs are
works of evil ergo likening Iago to satan, the creator of evil addi onally foreshadowing the tragedy
that Iago brings. Iago’s deceit is further presented through his story-telling and illusory abili es
‘Men should be what they seem or those that be not, would they might have seen none’. Iago
suggests to Othello that a man who puts on a false face must work at maintaining this facade.
However this irony serves to deceive Othello as an audience is aware that Iago is referring to
himself as opposed to Cassio. The enigma c exclama ve reinforces Iago’s appearance as ‘honest’
allowing for the confusion between illusion and the de ni ve to con nue to manifest. Moreover
the serpen ne syntax employed further likens Iago to the devil sugges ng his integral role of
deceiving others in order to cause chaos, much like how Coleridge believed that Iago’s sole mo ve
was to cause evil, his con nuous comparison to the devil allows me to be in support of this
cri que. Therefore it is evident that through his role as the ‘playwright’ and the explora on of his
story-telling; Shakespeare presents the theme of decep on, in par cular deceiving others for the
sole mo va on of being evil.
Shakespeare u lises the rela onship between Desdemona and Othello in to present decep on of
others through the theme of story-telling. Alterna vely Shakespeare u lises this rela onship to
present the idea of decep on of the self; however both interpreta ons serve to present the
decep on embedded in one’s own stories. Othello u lises chiasmus in his speech in order to
present him and Desdemona as equal partners ‘she loved me for the dangers I had passed And I
loved her that she did pity them’. The presenta on of equality contrasts the typical Jacobean
conven ons of a rela onship, the subversion of the typical rela onship foreshadows its breakdown
presen ng solely an appearance of truth. However whilst on appearance it may be portrayed that
their love is equal the concept of ‘pity’ suggests that he was entranced by her passivity. In addi on
to this the past tense verb ‘loved’ further foreshadows their love to con nue to feed o of illusion
and Othello’s story telling. In order to further this argument one must consider Desdemona’s rst
speech; in which ‘duty’ is repeated three mes. One may interpret this to con ict the idea of a
ti titititiflti titi ti
tift tititi ti titi ti titi titi ti
titi titi fititi tt
ti ti fititi ti ti tititi ti ti fl ti ffti titi fititi
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