The Theme of Appearances versus Reality in Othello, the Moor of Venice
Created | Updated May 13, 2006
In the play Othello, the Moor of Venice, one of the key themes is Appearance versus reality. There are many people for whom this applies, but the main characters whom personify this adage are Iago, the Ancient of Othello; Emilia, the wife of Iago; and Othello, the Moor of Venice himself.
Iago is the master manipulator. He is also one of the two deuteragonists in the play, the other being Michael Cassio. He controls Othello, Cassio, and Roderigo, all with his kind words and guiding hand; and yet, he plots the downfall of both Othello and Cassio, and sees Roderigo as being expendable. The reason for this is that he jealously believes Othello and Cassio have slept with his wife Emilia. He is a very ironic character, as he claims on many occasions to be true to his supposed friends, even saying in Act Two, Scene Three, that;
“I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth than it should do offence to Michael Cassio”,
yet also claims, to Brabantio in Act One, Scene One, that;
“I hate him [Othello] as I do hells pains”, and “I am not what I am”
. Iago maintains his victims loyalty, and is often referred to by both Othello and Cassio throughout the play as “honest Iago”. Iago represents the male embodiment of the theme of appearances versus reality. Iago has been completely embittered by the world as he sees it, and is driven by the thought of revenge, but will not show this face to the world, but locks it away deep inside and only demonstrates it through his soliloquy’s, which ruminate on the darkness of his soul; in Act Two, Scene Three for example, after counselling Cassio to approach Desdemona if he wants to win his popularity back, he says to himself;
“And what’s he then that says I play the villain, when this advice is free I give, and honest, Probal to thinking, and indeed the course to win the Moor again? ……How am I then a villain To counsel Cassio to this parallel course directly to his good? ……When Devils the blackest sins put on, they do suggest first with heavenly shows as I do now”.
Iago is shown, through the soliloquy’s and his actions, to be twofaced, and Shakespeare uses this to his great advantage, to show that, although someone may seem to be your friend, they will likely stab you in the back if you present it to them for long enough.
Emilia, who is the wife of Iago, is also the lady-in-waiting to Desdemona. She is one of the two tritagonists in the play, the other being Desdemona. She is a very interesting character; like her husband, she maintains different personalities, and uses them with different people, as people do in the real world. To her husband she portrays a cunning woman who likes to please her husband but will not do anything that society would frown upon; an example of this is in Act three, Scene three, when she takes Desdemona’s handkerchief and gives it to her husband, who says;
“Hast stolen it from her”,
to which she replies;
“No, faith; she let it drop by negligence, and to th’advantage I being here took’t up”.
This attitude of loyalty to her husband, as long as she was not expected to do anything illicit, is quite in contrast to the attitude she shows to Desdemona. Desdemona is like a daughter to her; Emilia always gives mothers her and tries to make her get a better grasp on the world. An example of this is in Act four, Scene three, when, asked by Desdemona if she would commit adultery for the world, she replies;
“The world is a huge thing; it is a great price for a small vice”
and later, in the same conversation;
“I would not do such a thing for a joint-ring, nor for measures of lawn, nor for gowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty exhibition. But for the whole world! Ud’s pity, who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for it”.
She makes her stance on the matter quite clear though, when she tells Desdemona that;
“…I do think it is their husbands’ faults if wives do fall”.
Shakespeare puts Emilia to even greater use, and uses her to show his opinion that the female and male genders are equal, having her tell Desdemona that;
“Let husbands know their wives have sense like them: they see, and smell, and have their palates both for sweet and sour as husbands have…Let them use us well; else let them know the ills we do, their ills instruct us so”
These two scenes show completely different sides to the character of Emilia. On one side she is the adoring wife, who loves her husband enough to take her mistresses things; on the other side she is the powerful feminist figure, who would nonetheless do anything to protect her young mistress from the world, mainly by making Desdemona see the world for what it is. She appears at once to be a perfect model of femininity, and the perfect model of male/female equality, especially as she also presents the light side of the light/dark motif, to which her husband is her opposite.
Othello is the main protagonist. He is a great character to show the themes, especially of appearance versus reality, and yet he is mainly overlooked. His appearance is of a hard man, a man who has been baptised in blood, a man who’s very existence is a battlefield, more at home on the field than actually at home. This man seems to be a soulless battle machine, and, although he is black in a world ruled by whites, he has risen far in the Venusian Armed Forces. He seems impervious, and yet he has a very basic flaw; he loves his wife, who took him even though he was a battle machine, and the very thought that she could be committing adultery is enough to rip him apart internally. This starts to show in Act Three, Scene Three, when, after being told by Iago that his wife is not true to him in an earlier scene, he tells Iago that;
“Thou hast set me on the rack. I swear ‘tis better to be much abus’d than but to know’t a little……What sense had I of her stolen hours of lust? I saw’t not, thought it not, it harm’d not me. I slept the next night well, fed well, was free and merry; I found not Cassio’s kisses on her lips. He that is robb’d, not wanting that is stolen, let him not know’t and he is not robb’d at all……Villain, be sure to prove my love a whore; be sure of it. Give me ocular proof, or by the worth of mine eternal soul, thou hadst been better have been born a dog than answer my wak’d wrath!”
Iago finds it incredibly easy to control Othello’s emotions, and does so to the destruction of all; in Act Five, Scene One Othello has let his heart crack under Iago’s lies, and kills his wife under the impression that she has wronged him. He finds the task hard, and debates with himself for a while, saying;
“She must die, else she’ll betray more men … Once I put out thy light, thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature, I know not where is that Prometean heat that can thy light relume. When I have pluck’d thy rose, I cannot give it vital growth again”
When, in act Five, Scene Two, Emilia tells him that Iago has been leading him by the nose, Othello experiences first denial than grief at his actions. Shakespeare set Othello up to be the one character for which all of the main themes apply; setting him up as a character that seems too battle hardened for feelings at the start, then letting him softly slip sideways into love, retaining his overpowering control, so he seems little changed, then destroying his character as appearance merges with reality for the finale. Othello is the one character who’s essential being changes with time, to change both his appearance and his reality, and, as he is the main protagonist, he is especially effective.
In conclusion, the theme of appearances versus reality in Othello is very important, indeed the main theme, and the above characters demonstrate this admirably. Iago through his contortion of appearance and reality, Emilia through her many-faceted nature, and Othello through his evolution and merger of appearance and reality.
Iago is the master manipulator. He is also one of the two deuteragonists in the play, the other being Michael Cassio. He controls Othello, Cassio, and Roderigo, all with his kind words and guiding hand; and yet, he plots the downfall of both Othello and Cassio, and sees Roderigo as being expendable. The reason for this is that he jealously believes Othello and Cassio have slept with his wife Emilia. He is a very ironic character, as he claims on many occasions to be true to his supposed friends, even saying in Act Two, Scene Three, that;
“I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth than it should do offence to Michael Cassio”,
yet also claims, to Brabantio in Act One, Scene One, that;
“I hate him [Othello] as I do hells pains”, and “I am not what I am”
. Iago maintains his victims loyalty, and is often referred to by both Othello and Cassio throughout the play as “honest Iago”. Iago represents the male embodiment of the theme of appearances versus reality. Iago has been completely embittered by the world as he sees it, and is driven by the thought of revenge, but will not show this face to the world, but locks it away deep inside and only demonstrates it through his soliloquy’s, which ruminate on the darkness of his soul; in Act Two, Scene Three for example, after counselling Cassio to approach Desdemona if he wants to win his popularity back, he says to himself;
“And what’s he then that says I play the villain, when this advice is free I give, and honest, Probal to thinking, and indeed the course to win the Moor again? ……How am I then a villain To counsel Cassio to this parallel course directly to his good? ……When Devils the blackest sins put on, they do suggest first with heavenly shows as I do now”.
Iago is shown, through the soliloquy’s and his actions, to be twofaced, and Shakespeare uses this to his great advantage, to show that, although someone may seem to be your friend, they will likely stab you in the back if you present it to them for long enough.
Emilia, who is the wife of Iago, is also the lady-in-waiting to Desdemona. She is one of the two tritagonists in the play, the other being Desdemona. She is a very interesting character; like her husband, she maintains different personalities, and uses them with different people, as people do in the real world. To her husband she portrays a cunning woman who likes to please her husband but will not do anything that society would frown upon; an example of this is in Act three, Scene three, when she takes Desdemona’s handkerchief and gives it to her husband, who says;
“Hast stolen it from her”,
to which she replies;
“No, faith; she let it drop by negligence, and to th’advantage I being here took’t up”.
This attitude of loyalty to her husband, as long as she was not expected to do anything illicit, is quite in contrast to the attitude she shows to Desdemona. Desdemona is like a daughter to her; Emilia always gives mothers her and tries to make her get a better grasp on the world. An example of this is in Act four, Scene three, when, asked by Desdemona if she would commit adultery for the world, she replies;
“The world is a huge thing; it is a great price for a small vice”
and later, in the same conversation;
“I would not do such a thing for a joint-ring, nor for measures of lawn, nor for gowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty exhibition. But for the whole world! Ud’s pity, who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for it”.
She makes her stance on the matter quite clear though, when she tells Desdemona that;
“…I do think it is their husbands’ faults if wives do fall”.
Shakespeare puts Emilia to even greater use, and uses her to show his opinion that the female and male genders are equal, having her tell Desdemona that;
“Let husbands know their wives have sense like them: they see, and smell, and have their palates both for sweet and sour as husbands have…Let them use us well; else let them know the ills we do, their ills instruct us so”
These two scenes show completely different sides to the character of Emilia. On one side she is the adoring wife, who loves her husband enough to take her mistresses things; on the other side she is the powerful feminist figure, who would nonetheless do anything to protect her young mistress from the world, mainly by making Desdemona see the world for what it is. She appears at once to be a perfect model of femininity, and the perfect model of male/female equality, especially as she also presents the light side of the light/dark motif, to which her husband is her opposite.
Othello is the main protagonist. He is a great character to show the themes, especially of appearance versus reality, and yet he is mainly overlooked. His appearance is of a hard man, a man who has been baptised in blood, a man who’s very existence is a battlefield, more at home on the field than actually at home. This man seems to be a soulless battle machine, and, although he is black in a world ruled by whites, he has risen far in the Venusian Armed Forces. He seems impervious, and yet he has a very basic flaw; he loves his wife, who took him even though he was a battle machine, and the very thought that she could be committing adultery is enough to rip him apart internally. This starts to show in Act Three, Scene Three, when, after being told by Iago that his wife is not true to him in an earlier scene, he tells Iago that;
“Thou hast set me on the rack. I swear ‘tis better to be much abus’d than but to know’t a little……What sense had I of her stolen hours of lust? I saw’t not, thought it not, it harm’d not me. I slept the next night well, fed well, was free and merry; I found not Cassio’s kisses on her lips. He that is robb’d, not wanting that is stolen, let him not know’t and he is not robb’d at all……Villain, be sure to prove my love a whore; be sure of it. Give me ocular proof, or by the worth of mine eternal soul, thou hadst been better have been born a dog than answer my wak’d wrath!”
Iago finds it incredibly easy to control Othello’s emotions, and does so to the destruction of all; in Act Five, Scene One Othello has let his heart crack under Iago’s lies, and kills his wife under the impression that she has wronged him. He finds the task hard, and debates with himself for a while, saying;
“She must die, else she’ll betray more men … Once I put out thy light, thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature, I know not where is that Prometean heat that can thy light relume. When I have pluck’d thy rose, I cannot give it vital growth again”
When, in act Five, Scene Two, Emilia tells him that Iago has been leading him by the nose, Othello experiences first denial than grief at his actions. Shakespeare set Othello up to be the one character for which all of the main themes apply; setting him up as a character that seems too battle hardened for feelings at the start, then letting him softly slip sideways into love, retaining his overpowering control, so he seems little changed, then destroying his character as appearance merges with reality for the finale. Othello is the one character who’s essential being changes with time, to change both his appearance and his reality, and, as he is the main protagonist, he is especially effective.
In conclusion, the theme of appearances versus reality in Othello is very important, indeed the main theme, and the above characters demonstrate this admirably. Iago through his contortion of appearance and reality, Emilia through her many-faceted nature, and Othello through his evolution and merger of appearance and reality.
