You are on page 1of 2

This essay will examine and evaluate Shakespeare's Othello, specifically discussing

Shakespeare's use of dramatic devices in depicting Othello as an outsider despite the character's
valor and position in the Venetian Army.
While Othello is considered a cultural outsider, having been born in a foreign country,
Shakespeare never specifies Othello's race, allowing the dramatic device of imagery to maintain
Othello's [race] ambiguous but allowing the reader to form an image of Othello. For example, in
the first scene Rogerigo and Iago compare Othello to an animal or a beast, calling him a
"Barbary horse" and commenting on his "thick lips". Othello's rank and valor in the Venetian
Army prevents him from being an outsider to "white" Venetian society, but Shakespeare's use of
dramatic devices convey a strong message that Othello is often considered less than human, and
therefore, less deserving of respect.
In Act I, scene II, Othello's race is once again used, with Shakespeare masterfully describing
Barbantio reasons for believing his daughter could not have willingly fallen in love with Othello.
Barbantio speaks of the "charms" or witchcraft with which Othello has convinced his daughter,
and for much of the scene focuses on Othello's origin and race. This scene is a critically
important in understanding not why Othello's race furthers his alienation, but rather how. While
his position and valor in the Venetian Army allows Othello a certain latitude and acceptance,
Shakespeare plants a seed that his race was considered so outside of the norm that persons may
even believe Othello to be capable of witchcraft or other [societal] crimes for a woman to find
him attractive, or even to find love among the "white" and accepted Venetians.
Shakespeare's dramatic devices explain why Othello is perceived as an outsider. For example,
when Othello promotes Cassio above Iago, although Iago believed he was better suited for the
role, Iago, Othello's villan, reacts by furthering Othello's alienation-- spreading lies, going as far
as saying Othello slept with his wife. While Shakespeare never truly outlines Iago's motivation to
take such actions against Othello, he uses dramatic devices which point to various reasons,
including the promotion of Cassio. For example, in Act 3, scene 3, line 314, Othello is heard
saying " 'tis the plague of great ones..." , which Shakespeare uses as a dramatic device of hubris
to possibly shed light on Iago's motivations, wherein Othello's overly large ego is clearly
described and to further reasons why Othello is considered an outsider, regardless of his valor
and position. However, this device is interpretive, given that the reader or audience may find
Othello's comment as blusterous but used by Othello to overcompensate for his internal
understanding that he is not accepted fully, and in every way possible is an outsider. Essentially,
Othello may bolster his skill and persona knowing that he is only sought out because of his valor
in the Venetian Army. Shakespeare uses this hubris device in such a way that the reader or
audience member may apply it to either Othello accepting his alienation or Othello alienating
himself.
The play Othello incorporates several dramatic devices, carefully placed and masterfully
executed by Shakespeare; however, the most prominent device used is dramatic irony. The
dramatic irony of the play Othello is evident to the reader, but not to Othello himself, which is, in
fact, what dramatic irony refers to:"the moment the reader, or audience knows a secret but the
characters do not" (St. Rosemary Education, 2010). While dramatic irony is apparent throughout
the entire play, Act 1, Scene 3 displays one of Othello's most pivotal dramatic ironies in which,

Othello unknowing of Iago's deceits to separate him from his wife says " My life upon her faith!
Honest Iago,/ My Desdemona must I leave to thee"
The ultimate dramatic device becomes desperately clear in Othello's suicide at the end of the
play. Othello's fate is one he cannot escape; he began the play an outsider and with his suicide,
the play ended with him as an outsider. Except, with Othello's suicide Shakespeare's last
dramatic device is revealed- while the reader and audience see the dramatic irony, it is only after
Othello kills his wife that we fully understand that Othello always felt an outsider and alienated.
This self-recognition is evident in the use of Shakespeare's hubris and ironic devices found in
Othello's speech (Act V) where he announces " speak of me as I am", as if though, still, given the
tragedy that has occurred, he is worried about his image and how he is perceived by others. His
ego, built by the alienation which he is forced to experience causes Othello to lack remorse for
killing his wife-- but rather remorse's because his motives were wrong and for someone who
feels out casted, being wrong would only further the occulted thinking Othello knew existed of
it. The final act not only ends Othello's life, but ends the doubts of Othello's own recognition of
the very ambiguous dramatic devices Shakespeare painted of the perceptions of Othello
throughout the play.
References
Dramatic Devices of Shakespere. (2010, July 24). Retrieved January 26, 2015, from
http://schoolworkhelper.net/types-of-dramatic-devices/
Shakespeare, W. Othello, The Moore of Venice. Retrieved January 26, 2015, from
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/othello/full.html

You might also like