Othello is one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy plays and this may be because it has as its central theme an experience feared by everyone and yet common to everyone and that is betrayal. The Oxford Dictionary gives three definitions of ‘to betray’: “to treacherously reveal (information), be gravely disloyal to” and to “unintentionally reveal; be evidence of” and through the use of dramatic irony, metaphor and antithesis, all of these definitions of betrayal are shown in the play.
The character that best represents betrayal in Othello is clearly Iago who exemplifies the first two definitions cited above. He tells Roderigo that Othello has told him:
‘I have already chose my officer.’
And what was he?
Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine. (1.1.16-19)
Iago is passed over for promotion which means the position of Othello’s lieutenant goes to Cassio and not to him. Iago feels that he has been betrayed by Othello regarding the thing that was most important to him and so he will try to do the same to Othello. This is evidenced by what he says to Roderigo: “I follow him to serve my turn upon him. / We cannot all be masters, nor all masters / Cannot be truly followed” (1.1.42-44). This means he will begin placing doubts in Othello’s mind regarding the thing that is most important to Othello – his relationship with Desdemona. In 1.1. it is clear to the audience what Iago’s real feelings are towards Othello to the extent that he treacherously reveals to Brabantio, Desdemona’s father that “even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe” (1.1.88-89). This use of antithesis and metaphor creates a striking image that Iago uses to represent Othello and Desdemona and in particularl to undermine Othello.
It is through the use of dramatic irony that the theme of betrayal is most clearly stated. In 3.3., Othello states of Iago, “This fellow’s of exceeding honesty, / And knows all quantities, with a learned spirit / Of human dealings” (262-264). The irony here is that the audience knows this to be half-true but not in the way that Othello means. The audience knows that Iago does seem to have a good idea of how to manipulate people, especially Othello, which suggests he does know “all quantitiesof human dealings” but his manipulations mean that he is anything but honest. He has manipulated Othello into believing that he is an honest man stating, “I hope you will consider what is spoke / Comes from my love” (3.3.220-221). Iago must convince Othello that he does love him so that Othello will trust him. The plans Iago has for Othello mean that Iago must be someone to whom he will listen. It is clear that Iago accomplishes this.
Earlier in this scene, Othello speaks the words that best demonstrate the theme of betrayal and which again make the audience wince at the knowledge that it has compared to the knowledge Othello has.
And for I know thou’rt full of love and honesty,
And weigh’st thy words before thou giv’st them breath,
And therefore these stops of thine fright me more;
For such things in a false disloyal knave
Are tricks of custom, but in a man that’s just,
They’re close dilations, working from the heart
That passion cannot rule. (3.3.123-129)
Othello, without realising it, is describing Iago exactly when he talks about “a false disloyal knave” (3.3.126). This sense of dramatic irony is only further heightened by Iago later in the scene speaking the truth but in such a way that it does not sound as though he is: “As I confess it is my nature’s plague / To spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy / Shapes faults that are not” (3.3.151-153). This is what Iago meant at the very beginning of the play when he speaks one of his most famous lines . He is not who he seems to be throughout the play. Betrayal is ultimately about things not being what they seem to be and Iago is the embodiment of this.
Ultimately however it is Desdemona whom through the third definition of betrayal pays the price that Iago has been demanding. The handkerchief given to her by Othello that was the evidence of their love becomes the evidence of her adultery and brings about her death. In the final scene, after Desdemona’s death, all these betrayals are revealed and Othello, Roderigo and Emilia are also dead; all of them have been killed directly or indirectly by Iago and yet at the end of the play Iago still lives. Why?
Works Cited
“betray.” Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. 4 June, 2014. Web. 4 March, 2016.
Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice”. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997
