Othello has been widely considered a tragedy. A play in which the main characters die, or fall due to their tragic flaws (i.e.-Othello's tragic flaw is his faith/truthfulness). In contrast, I think this play you be called a play on Truth. Othello dies, yes because of his flaw, but mainly because Iago plays on truth. Desdemona dies, yes because of her naivete, but mainly because Iago plays on truth. Instead of saying, "oh these characters died because of their own faults" we should say, "these characters died because one among them knew not how to distinguish between truth and lies".
Even in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth and those around him die because of puns or plays on truth. If we then take a closer look at Iago and his devious ways, we can see that he is the root of every problem in the play. His devilish trickery and twisting of action and words causes the deaths of his wife, his captain and everyone around him. His jealousy led him to misconstrue truth and lies to the detriment of his fellow characters. We touched on this briefly in class, but we never quite delved into Iago's nastiness and fiendish tendencies. I think that his role transforms the entire play from one that could end happily, or even be a comedy to one that ends in death and tears.
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You make a really interesting point. I didn't really think of it that way, but it does make a lot of sense. All of the deaths at the end were caused by Iago's acts...thats why I hate that character so much. : )
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