Two aspects of Othello play a major role in the events of the play as they are the main causes of the tragedy. Jealousy is the first aspect and it becomes victorious with the assistance of the theme of trust. Within the theme of trust there are two issues and I believe that the subject of a failure to trust derives from a matter of trusting too much. Excessively trusting characters that believe anything that the core offender of lying, Iago, says creates many problems which forces other characters to mistrust each other. I have chosen moments involving many characters from the text which discuss the three issues of trusting too much, failing to trust and the triumph of jealousy and how they interlink to become the heart of the tragedy, Othello.
Willingly trusting everyone is a characteristic of Othello which his evil friend, Iago, plays upon to destroy his life. The soliloquy in Act I clearly states Iago’s true feelings towards Othello and Othello obliviously believes his lies.
“I hate the Moor”.
This statement juxtaposes another statement he makes directly to Othello in Act III and Othello’s naivety prevails as he later suffers from trusting Iago.
“My lord, you know I love you”.
Through Iago contradicting himself, the audience can comprehend that he is blatantly lying to Othello and they can also observe that the good quality that Othello acquires, trust, turns to a flaw as Iago manipulates him numerous times, two of which lead to a failure to trust.
One of these occasions is seen in Act IV as Othello relies on Iago’s inaccurate information continually which results in a distrust of his wife. In this scene, Shakespeare uses the simile; “Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell” to display to the responder that Othello fails to trust Desdemona immediately after she promises she is his ‘true and loyal wife’. This incident opposes another moment of Othello in Act I as he makes the statement “My life upon her faith” which illustrates the change of...