How Does Othello Engage The Audience

Shakespeare's timeless dramas predominantly centre around conflict between two opposing characters: Macbeth and Macduff in Macbeth, Romeo and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, and of course, Othello and Iago in Othello. I have since concluded that it's really the best way to engage an audience because it encourages stronger audience opinions and alignment to one side or the other; and in the case of Othello, creates a division within the audience as the "correct" or "good" side is less obvious than in the majority of Shakespeare's tragedies. Through my personal reading of Othello, I have come to realise that Iago can be accurately defined as a cynical practical joker throughout the drama of the play; and it is this attribute that wins over much of the audience, and the more naive and ignorant characters like Cassio and Roderigo. It wouldn't be hard to imagine Iago in today's context, conducting cruel or troublesome YouTube pranks, either loved or …show more content…
In doing this, Iago uses dramatic irony to educate the audience on his deceptive nature, but retain his façade of false appeal to the characters around him; by reducing each of the main characters to an object easily manipulated. Roderigo is described as Iago's purse, Cassio is a simple and handsome pawn easily placed to spark jealousy, and Othello is "As tenderly led by the nose as asses are" painting him as an inhuman figure incapable of understanding what is to unfold. Iago's wife Emilia is even referred to as Iago's office, a tool he uses to conduct his business. The conclusion of this soliloquy with a metaphorical comparison of Othello and Desdemona's marriage to a monstrosity in "Hell and night, must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light," which Shakespeare uses as a tool to position the audience against or alongside Iago's ideology depending on which faction they have aligned