Power of Persuasion free essay sample

11 April 2012 The Power of Persuasion Manipulation and persuasion, two of the major themes in Shakespeares Othello that ultimately lead to Othellos downfall. The power of words and persuasion can cause people to go crazy and do things they normally wouldnt do. Shakespeares character development and background of Othello, Rodrigo and Iago early on in the play gives the reader somewhat of a foreshadowing of the characters that are going to manipulate and be manipulated. The play according to Shakespearean Criticism is a character driven domestic tragedy of Jealousy and deception. The power of persuasion and manipulation is seen by Othello, Emelia and Desdemona, but mainly Iago. Iago uses persuasion to manipulate others in order to protect themselves, lead another down a path of destruction, and lastly out of greed. Iago seems to have all the answers to everyones problems and is the ultimate manipulator in the play. The main manipulation and persuasion seen in the play is by Iago, lagds consummate, strategic manipulation of an unstable language tempts Othello to his doom (Christofldes). Iago targets the other characters weaknesses in order to manipulate them. The first act of persuasion is seen when Iago realizes how easy it will be for him to manipulate the love-struck Rodrigo into being his puppet. The second Iago realizes that Rodrigo is in love with Desdemona he knows as long as long he promises to get Desdemona to fall in love with him, hell do nearly anything for Iago. The fact that Rodrigo is in love makes him easily persuadable. Next Iago targets Cassio, using Cassios weakness of alcohol to make him get drunk and get in a fght causing him to loose his Job. Iago acts as Cassios friend and tells him that its okay to drink, the wars over they need to celebrate. Everything seems to go lagds way and he ends up at his final target, Othello. Iago uses the fact that Othello is black and much older than Desdemona to manipulate his emotions. Iago says these things in order to make Othello question if Desdemona is really in love with him or not. Once Othello begins to question his relationship Iago continues to use Desdemona against Othello because Iago realizes the power her beautiful frame has over Othello is a weapon he can utilize to seek his Jealous revenge (Ancona). This entire persuasion technique goes back to Iago setting Casio up to lose his Job. Iago tells Cassio that Desdemona is his best hope for getting his Job back so Iago uses the communication between the two to set Desdemona up and convince Othello that it is Cassio that Desdemona is cheating on him with. Iago also uses the same scenario to convince Rodrigo to kill Cassio. Iago sets the characters up so that he can persuade them and then uses their downfalls to manipulate them in order for him to seek revenge on Othello. In the end he gets his revenge by convincing Othello he needs to strangle his un-faithful wife, which Othello does because he has driven himself crazy from lagds convincing ords. Iago is not the only character given the power of persuasion by Shakespeare. Early on in the play Desdemona and Othello have to convince Desdemonas father, Barbantio, that witchcraft was not why Desdemona fell in love with Othello. Othello has to persuade the council that he in fact did not use witchcraft, but stories to make the truth. The two lovers get their motivation from the fact that their marriage would be annulled if Othello had used witchcraft on Desdemona. The only reason the council was open to persuasion was because of Desdemonas word. In order to save is marriage and Job both Othello and Desdemona had to use persuasive techniques. Last we see persuasion by Emelia to Desdemona. Emilia isnt necessarily persuading Desdemona but Just using the power of words and the truth. Emilia and Desdemona are complete opposites but Desdemona comes to Emilia for advice. Desdemona is confused as to why anyone would cheat on her husbands or why any husband would accuse his wife of cheating. Emilia then begins to persuade Desdemona that cheating is a perfectly normal thing and wives do it all the time. She says if men do it why cant we? At this point Emelia is acting as a female Iago onvincing Desdemona that she should be in charge of her and Othellos relationship. The fact that Desdemona finds out that cheating is okay her personality somewhat changes, causing Othello to become more and more convinced that shes cheating. In conclusion Shakespeares Othello is full of characters open to manipulation and persuasion. Nearly all the main characters are easily persuaded and have some sort of weakness that leaves them vulnerable. Everything seems to lead back to Iago in someway as he is the ultimate antagonist in the play. The power of words and persuasion is a powerful technique that can lead people on to doing hings they normally wouldnt do, Just like in Othello. The play Just goes to show that jealousy and power can cause honest friends to turn evil and manipulative, Just like Iago. Works Cited Ancona, Francesco Aristide. Honest Iago and the evil nature of words. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 26. 1-2(2005):44+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Apr. 2012. Othello. Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Micheal L. LaBlanc. Vol. 79. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Apr. 2012. Christofides, R. M. Othello. Early Modern Literary Studies. 15. 1 Jan. 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Apr. 2012