by Motavenda Melchizedek
Shakespeare’s Othello offers us many insights into the nature of the forces of good and evil. As this masterful play unfolds, we are there to witness firsthand the dangers posed by the presence of darkness in the midst of unquestioning forces of light. We see clearly how when the shadow is unseen and unaddressed, it is given full reign to move and to grow in strength and magnitude in ways perhaps unimagined. It is the fact that Iago’s motives are never in question that leaves him in the seat of ultimate power over Othello’s life and gives Iago full power to destroy all that is near and dear to Othello.
In a matter of days, the esteemed Othello is reduced to recklessness and madness as he loses everything of value to him simply because he is commanded to destroy it by evil forces. His world and all that matters to him is destroyed.
When we first meet him, Othello is a man much admired for his noble stature and his high and pure nature, but in the presence of evil he soon unravels to become a mere shadow of himself.
As Othello gives credence to Iago’s accusations of his beloved’s supposed infidelity, he loses his ability to trust his own sense of things. He makes room for things untrue and, because of this, he can no longer find the peace that had filled his life or the tranquility that true love had gifted to him. His precious life becomes a monstrosity of horror as he views it through the evil lens set before him by Iago.
As Othello defers to Iago’s version of things, he relinquishes his own source of internal knowing. Because Othello does not question Iago or his motives, he is led easily by the nose. Iago plants the evidence Othello needs to see in order to believe the lies Iago needs him to believe to incite the jealously needed to impassion Othello to fulfill Iago’s sinister ends. Othello’s much admired confidence and self assurance become the source of strength required to dismantle his own sanity and to ruin his ability to enjoy life.
Before long, Othello is nothing more than a man burning alive with jealousy and consumed by his need for vengeance. His passions turn toward destruction and this destruction is turned by Othello toward his own life. He decides he must kill his most loyal and trusted friend, he assigns himself the task murdering his beautiful beloved bride.
In the end, Othello is confronted by the sight of this presence of evil and seeing what has become of him, he returns to his heroic seat of light and destroys himself.
Othello is incapable of protecting himself from the darkness unleashed upon his sacred life by Iago because he does not see it. In the final phase, these forces are accessed from deep inside of Othello himself as he becomes consumed by the rising jealously and paranoia brought forth in seeming effortlessness through the simple calculated commands of Iago.
Iago's greatest asset is his capacity to contrive monstrosities without a flicker of conscience. He is unquestioning when it comes to his sense of righteousness in undertaking these malicious schemes. We are left wondering how on earth Iago managed to gain such close proximity to Othello. How did he arrive at such an intimate place in Othello’s life? Although we are shown the details of his final maneuvering to gain his closest seat, we are not privy to the history of his elevation to a position so near and so relevant to the preservation of Othello’s sacred life.
One detail that becomes crystal clear about the nature of evil in Shakespeare’s Othello, is that it is complex in its manifestation. How on earth could Othello conceive of the scale of Iago’s machinations once he had fallen under his spell? How could he possibly imagine that what is taking place is as deeply evil and complex in its inception and detail as the scheme is in actuality?
This is where Othello’s vulnerability becomes revealed. His innocence becomes the avenue of access down which evil travels to reach and ultimately destroy this brilliant being of light. His naiveté is essential to his state of purity yet it leaves him hopelessly at the mercy of the shadow.