Why is Othello vulnerable?
Othello is one of the famous tragic plays written by William Shakespeare along with Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Anthony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus. Othello was written around 1603 and was adopted from an Italian short story titled Un Capitano MoroÃ¢â‚¬ or A Moorish CaptainÃ¢â‚¬ created by Giovanni Battista CinthioÃ¢â‚¬ Giraldi.
The play is about an African prince and general in Venice named OthelloÃ¢â‚¬, the Moor. He was deceived by his so-called friendÃ¢â‚¬ and ensign Iago who was vengeful because he was not made lieutenant by Othello and instead chose Michael Cassio for the position. Throughout the story, Iago made devious schemes to manipulate Othello, making him believe that his beautiful Venetian wife Desdemona was having an affair with his newly assigned lieutenant. The play escalates when Othello killed his wife before he learned the truth from Emilia, Desdemona’s maidservant and Iago’s wife. Iago then killed Emilia after exposing him and was confronted by Othello who stabbed him, but did not kill him. Othello then committed suicide and in the end Iago was assumed to be punished for the evil deeds that he had made.
There are many reasons why Othello, despite of his military power and glory, was said to be vulnerable to Iago’s evil schemes and it is primarily linked to his personality of having self doubt, perfectionist, jealousy, and naive character which was used against him. First and foremost Othello is a Moor, a black man living in a Venetian society. Because of his social condition, Othello is viewed to have low self-esteem which he only hides through his military achievements. It is also because of his insecurity that made him doubt the loyalty of his wife as well as their relationship since interracial marriage during those times was a taboo. Othello’s jealousy was so heightened that he did not listen to Desdemona’s reasons. Othello became irrational because of his anger which led to killing his own wife. Othello was gullible enough to trust his ensign Iago thinking that he was concern about his welfare, but instead he and his wife became the victim of Iago’s wicked desires.