Mabel Martinez
English 111
Mr, Marks

Othello’s Weakness

At the beginning of Shakespeare’s Othello we are given evidences to the great warrior Othello has been in the past. These are given through the way he speaks and how others speak to him and of him. Unfortunately, these strengths as a general do not transfer over into his personal life. The entire play is an evidence of Othello’s weakness in marriage as a husband.

The power to use another person and manipulate them is a great skill which Iago possess, but without all of Othello ‘s weakness’, it would be a pointless skill, which is why the main cause of Othello’s tragedies is his weaknesses. His passion to follow his will, not his mind, means he is credulous to jealously which, for Desdemona, means her untimely death. Othello’s biggest weakness in marriage, I believe, is that he doesn’t put enough trust in his wife. When two people get married, they are agreeing to put each other above everyone else. Othello fails at this, as he always goes to Iago first for advice and not to his wife, Desdemona.

He takes all his information second, third, fourth hand from Iago instead of just asking his wife and getting the firsthand account. This is just really confusing. Is it that Othello doesn’t trust his wife? He probably trusts his wife at the beginning, or he wouldn’t have married her, but he is so scared of being hurt that he won’t take any risks. He’d rather get false information from “honest” Iago than take a risk and confront his wife.

However Iago’s malice is the key to Othello’s downfall. This is why Othello’s weakness is as much a cause of his downfall as Iago’s Malice. Othello’s passion, or even ego, make him easily manipulated and thus can be used into making him jealous. This passion is what Iago uses to seek his revenge