othello

In his play Othello, Shakespeare uses many elements to enhance the tragedy of the piece. He uses Desdemona as the ultimate innocent victim and he uses true love to arouse our pity. However, most important is the way in which he uses the journey from order to chaos to allow us to trace how the tragedy progresses. He uses the physical journey from Venice to Cyprus, Othello’s emotional disintegration, and the fall of Iago’…

…Othello contrasts order and chaos in order to emphasize the tragedy. As Othello begins to abandon reason and language, chaos takes over. His world becomes ruled by chaotic emotions, with order pushed to one side. This chaos rushes him into tragedy, and once he has sunk into chaos, he is unable to stop his fate from taking him over. Iago suffers a similar fate and the setting of the play emphasizes both of their falls.