Examples Of Manipulation In Othello

In the tragedy “Othello” by William Shakespeare, it illustrates how easily one can be filled with poison and be manipulated in such little time. Throughout the play, Othello is fed lies from the antagonist of the story, Iago, but does not question his source of knowledge. By Othello believing those falsehoods, it causes him to lose trust and question his wife, Desdemona. Ultimately, one lie led to another and caused Othello to kill his wife and then resulted in him taking his own life. In the beginning of the book, Othello was introduced as an influential general, but throughout the story, he begins to morph into an insecure, skeptical, self-conscious mad man. Othello is solely responsible for his own downfall. Othello’s first flaw was that he invested all his trust into an unreliable source, Iago, who was determined to kill him from the …show more content…
His constant vulnerable state allows him to be easily manipulated by Iago. Iago has used his skills of manipulation on several characters throughout Othello. One example that displays his flaw includes Iago’s view of Othello saying, "The Moor is of a free and open nature that thinks men honest that but seem to be so; and will as tenderly be led by the nose as asses are."(1.3.390-393). The antagonist, Iago, strategically identifies Othello’s weakness of vulnerability and uses it as a strength and tool of Othello’s corruption. One can also see Iago’s influence on Othello’s vulnerability through an example from the play when Iago and Othello are conversing with each other about speculations between Cassio and Desdemona and Iago remarks with "Ha, I like not that" (3.3.33). The continuation of that conversation led Othello into a dark road of speculation. Othello repeatedly denies it all, while revealing his vulnerable state. He then became engulfed and overwhelmed with uncertainty and doubt. This vulnerability contributed to his