Othello's Colors

Othello's Colors

Othello was a strong influential man that admired by the people around him. He considered himself a true and just individual and walked with dignity into any situation. He fell in love with a young, beautiful woman and secretly married her without her father's blessings. Othello gave his new bride a white handkerchief adorned with small red strawberries which was to be with her at all times. This handkerchief was a symbolist item creating jealousy, hatred, misery, and death in a close quartered setting of Shakespeare's Othello. The handkerchief, being red and white, first represents purity but soon ends the story with characters wearing white blood stained tunics which seems to represent the final stage of the devastation the gift created. A very dramatic scene during which Othello's mind, poisoned with visions of his new wife cheating on him, imagines her betraying him in their marriage bed with another character. In Othello's mind, his wife is now a harlot in which the color red is sometimes associated with women of this nature. The story revolves around the deceit of Iago, who, step by step, plays each character to do his bidding, placing him closer to his goals. There are various other characters, equally important, just as a chess piece in the story's plot. The story ends with five dead characters, four of which die in the same bedchamber with witnesses all in awe over the sly workings of Iago. Although Iago seems to want revenge over a military position, some might suggest he actually had a special respect for Othello, which he wanted all for himself.

LDMILLER