| Iago, the Deceiver |
The play Othello, written by William Shakespeare, presents many timeless themes. These themes include love, passion, jealousy, and many more. The theme that is most universal and timeless is the theme of deception. Throughout the history of American entertainment and literature, this common theme of deception of others appears quite often. This theme can be traced to many novels, movies, and songs from our culture. A novel that this connects to is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Also, this theme can be traced to the song “The Pretender”, sung by the Foo fighters. These are just two examples of American culture that have been influenced by the universal theme of deception.
In Othello,
deception is the cause of the majority of the drama and conflict that appear in
the book. Much of this drama is caused by the mastermind, Iago. He controls people by using cunning and wit, and gets them to perform his dirty work. All of his plans revolve around the common theme of helping himself out, no matter what it takes. His main target in the play is Othello, the Moor. By utilizing jealousy, he controls Othello and his temper to get him to believe that his beloved wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him with Othello’s general Cassio.
A
song that connects to this plot of Othello
is “The Pretender” by the Foo Fighters. The reason that this song connects to Othello is because it is about someone
being lied to and they eventually realize it and try to fight back and rebel
against their "puppet master", or the one controlling them. This
happens in the play when Roderigo realizes that Iago’s been lying to him. He
tries to fight back with questions, but Iago turns them around and subdues Roderigo’s suspicion. The lyrics that are relevant to this theme of deception
are: "What if I say I'm not like the others? What if I say I'm not just
another one of your plays?", "In time or so I'm told, I'm just
another soul for sale", and "Keep you in the dark you know they all
pretend." These lines are talking about someone only being used for a
bigger plan that they are just a pawn in.
The pretender in the play Othello
is Iago. He uses people like Roderigo in his schemes and exploits them for his
personal gain.
Along with deception in schemes, deception also appears
in the aspect of love. Othello is worried that Desdemona is cheating on him and
he becomes jealous. Iago convinced him to believe this through the use of
deception. The plan of him talking to Cassio in front of Othello was brilliant.
He convinced Othello that they were talking about Desdemona, but they were
talking about Cassio’s woman, Bianca. This theme of deception in love can be
used in different ways. In The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, Katniss
Everdeen is forced into an arena and pitted against twenty-three other people
in a fight for survival, last man standing game. In order to win and come out
on top, Katniss is thrust into a plan of deceiving the Capitol, the city controlling these games, into
believing that her and Peeta Mellark are madly in love and will do anything to
save each other in these games. She uses deception to appeal to the masses of
people that watch the Hunger Games and their fights for survival. Suzanne
Collins uses deception very interestingly in this book. She makes the characters
use it for the benefit of others and not just for themselves like Iago in Othello.
The themes of
deception and cunning have appeared throughout American entertainment history. The fact that it relates to a novel written
in 2008, and a rock song written in 2007, proves that this is a timeless theme.
Deception has been used in a number of plays, books, movies, and songs to get
the point across of jealousy and personal gain. Shakespeare utilized this theme
very well and it appeared in many of his plays.
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