Othello Blog Post #4

Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare

DRAMATIC IRONY: takes place when there is a discrepancy between the reader's understanding of a scene and a character's understanding of a scene, usually because the reader has knowledge the character does not
APOSTROPHE: directly addressing (often rhetorically) and imaginary, dead, or absent person, or a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea
IMAGERY: the use of sensory language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience

 The aside that Othello makes in Scene 3 of Act 3 is packed full of literary techniques. The first line of Othello's little speech starts out with "This fellow's of exceeding honesty..." (III.iii.259). We all know that Iago is the furthest thing from honest because he has told us. He has informed us of his evil plan, but all the character's know is all that they see and are told. They don't know about Iago's plan obviously. Othello uses hawk imagery throughout to compare Desdemona to a possible wild bird. He is saying that if she turns out to be "wild" then he will tell her to go and she will go because he doesn't believe she would be worth keeping. We start to see Iago's manipulation playing out in Othello's aside. This is where he first confesses wavering suspicions he has about Desdemona's faithfulness. He is playing perfectly into Iago's hand by listening to the seed Iago planted and then even continuing to be worried about it. He starts to think that maybe she is unfaithful because he doesn't think he is what she wants. He believes he would rather be a toad than to keep loving someone that is used and loved by someone else.