Felicia Ooi; Othello Acts I & II

I found the plot of Shakespeare's Othello to be one full of deception and intrigue as well as a lot of political conflict. While Othello is the protagonist of the play, Iago definitely has to be the antagonist, albeit one who does not outwardly portray himself as an antagonist. In fact, Iago plays the role of Othello's supposedly faithful ancient (ensign bearer). What we do know though is that Iago is nursing a grudge against Othello for not choosing Iago to be his liutenant, overlooking him in favor of Michael Cassio. The first act itself shows Iago plotting with Roderigo against Othello in an attempt to overthrow Othello's from his current position in the military by convincing Brabantio that Othello had stolen Desdemona away. However, this plan failed as Othello managed to convince the Duke of his and Desdemona's mutual love for each other.

The second act showed us more of Iago's devious plots, even convincing Cassio to turn against Othello. Iago plays on the fact that both Roderigo and Cassio are in love with Desdemona and uses this to his advantage. Iago is certainly the epitome of a conniving and treacherous back-stabber. What puzzles me though is how Othello can be so oblivious to Iago's treacherous actions.