Thursday, January 20, 2011

Othello - Question 3

Identify the protagonist and antagonist...
The protagonist of this story is Othello. He is very respected by everyone who knows him despite his racial background. The antagonist is Iago because he devises many plans in order to destroy Othello's loving and respectable nature by making him a jealous man, which will therefore give Iago power. "And by how much [Desdemona] strives to do [Cassio] good, she shall undo her credit with the Moor. So I will turn her virtue into pitch...that shall enmesh them all," (II.iii.322-327). I believe Emilia and Desdemona are foil characters. Emilia is unhappy with her husband and has quite a different relationship with him than Desdemona has with Othello. The rest of the characters greatly assist movement of the plot. Iago, as the greatly persuasive antagonist, uses mainly the male characters to get what he wants. They always follow through with his selfish plans to attain power. Without their trust in Iago, his plans would never be carried out which would eliminate the suspense of the story as discussed in the previous blog entry. The other characters also put their trust in Iago as do all the other main characters, reinforcing that Iago is unbelievably persuasive and cunning.

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