‘Othello is a victim of external forces and cannot be blamed for his own shortcomings’ To what extent do you agree with this view? Remember to include in your answer relevant comment on Shakespeare’s dramatic methods

Further so, it is hard for us as audience members to truly blame Othello for his own shortcomings when we witness the way he is victimized by the evil, stage Machiavel – Iago. Through his asides and soliloquies Iago forms a unique relationship with the audience, where they become fully unaware of his deception- we know from the off that Iago plans to victimise Othello. In act one Iago tells us, explicitly, ‘were I the Moor, I would not Iago’ ; Iago is so open with audience and clear in his duplicity it makes it hard for readers not to feel they know something the other characters don’t , and that it is inevitable Othello shall fall victim. Then , in Act Three ,after Iago has suggested to Othello that Cassio’ is too familiar with his wife’ , the moment Iago is alone on stage he once again turns to the audience in a soliloquy as tell them how ‘ the Moor already changes with my poison’ .Iago is so honest with the audience , acknowledging his lies are ‘poison’ for Othello, readers understand Iago’s evil intent fully , and can once again see what little hope Othello has in noting falling victim to him. However, it would be short sighted to say that Othello cannot be blame at all for his shortcomings. Othello’s frantic jealousy appears as the play goes on, a clear personal flaw for the character. In Act one, Othello speaks with eloquent and ordered language; to those who come to arrest him for eloping with Desdemona he says ‘keep up your bright swords for dew will rust them’ ; even in a scene when the character is somewhat threaten he maintains a noble and grounded presence. However, in act three, Shakespeare transitions Othello into a state of franticness and unease, perhaps a physical manifestation of his jealousy. His speech shifts into being rash and disconnected, almost hard to make any sense of - 'Pish! Noses, ears and lips. Is’t possible? / Confess? handkerchief? O devil!'- which perhaps reveals the perturbation of his mind. The temptations in Act Three Scene Three arouses Othello’s jealously, and his language shows how this jealousy is so destructive. His speech radically changes, he begins to speak in Iago’s accents, he starts to use oaths ('zounds!') which are associated with Iago. His speeches are no longer state, but explosive and disjointed. Desdemona fears for Othello, for example, when his eye’s ‘roll so’. The madding and almost possessing nature of Othello’s jealousy, shows the sign of a flawed man; the fact that he is able to become so overtaken by his jealousy , shows that to extent he can be blamed for his shortcomings.