Language

• in Othello, language mostly conceals the truth
• Iago uses language in order to manipulate others and to distract them from his real intentions
  
  • he tells the audience already from the beginning "I am not what I am"
  • he shifts registers depending on who he talks to: talking to Brabantio about his daughter, he uses vulgar language; talking to the audience, he uses poetic and metaphoric language
  • Iago uses vulgarity more as a rhetorical device to anger his listener as it does not really express who he is
  • his skill with language makes his manipulation of Othello credible
• Othello as counterpart to Iago: he is manipulated by language
  
  • at the beginning, he speaks in an elevated register when accepting the mission against the Turkish fleet
  • once he descends into jealousy, he constantly repeats himself which either implies that the jealousy has made him lost control over his words or which is a poor attempt to convince himself of the truth in Iago‘s statements about Desdemona being unfaithful and that thus, she must be killed
  • when Othello finally decides to murder his wife, his speech becomes clearer and poetic again
• verse and prose alternate in Othello
• Shakespeare usually used prose to indicate the class or status of a characters (lower class) or to downgrade them in a general sense
  
  • when Cassio is drunk, he speaks in prose
  • the clown uses prose
  • when Othello is enraged, he speaks in prose
• shift from verse to prose indicates a turn in emotional matters
  
  • after Iago confirms Desdemona‘s affair with Cassio, Othello switches from verse to prose
  • a little later, Othello has a seizure and is no longer able to articulate himself
  • Iago however moves fluently between prose and verse which suggests that he is able to use language to his advantage and to manage the appearance of honesty

Genre

• Othello is a tragedy that focuses on the story of a hero who is mislead and manipulated and thus experiences his and several other characters‘ downfall
• because Othello believes that Iago has the same understanding of the concept of honor as he does, he believes Iago when he lies about Desdemona betraying him
• this causes Othello to finally murder his wife and commit suicide once he realizes the fatal mistake he has made
• additionally, he misreads Desdemona even though she does not give him any reason to believe she is disloyal to her husband
• because Othello portrays himself as an outsider from the very beginning of the play, he is rather prone to Iago‘s manipulations
• his insecurities make him believe that Desdemona cannot be in love with him
• at the end of the play, Othello knows about his errors of judgement, but it is already too late to reconcile the jealous and murderous person he‘s become with the honorable and moral person that he used to be