Compare how flaws are shown in Othello and a range of poetry you have studied.

In my essay I will be comparing how flaws are shown in the play Othello and a range of poems by Robert Browning that I have studied. The two poems that I will be analysing are Child Roland Dark Tower and Porphyria’s Lover. I have chosen these poems as I feel that both the poems and Othello have various similarities and I will explain why within my essay. In Othello the plot is driven by the flaws within the main characters, also within Robert Browning poems the plot is also driven by the flaws of the main characters.

In Othello the plot is escalated by the manipulation of Othello’s flaws by Iago. Throughout the play Iago constantly uses Othello’s flaws to his advantage by manipulating the way Othello sees situation. Othello has many flaws such as jealousy and pride, which in turn help escalate the story line. Early on within the play Iago begins to notice these flaws and in turn begins to use them against Othello. Othello seems be very uncertain a lot of the time as he is told that his wife may have been unfaithful to him, this happens in Act 3 Scene 3 where Iago is informing Othello of his wife’s unfaithfulness, for me is where we see his flaws start to appear, not only does he start to show signs of Jealousy but he starts to show signs that he is very uncertain. When Iago asks Othello if he thinks that Cassio is honest ‘For Michael Cassio I dare be sworn I think that he is honest’ Othello replies with ‘I Think so to’, the keyword word being ‘Think’, when someone doesn’t know or isn’t sure of the answer they may use the word ‘think’, for me this shows that Othello isn’t sure whether or not he truly knows if Cassio is honest, he wants to believe that he is but he has doubts and uncertainties. Iago then begins to tell Othello no to be jealous over and over again ‘O beware my lord of jealousy: It is the green eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on’ , Iago tells Othello this to provoke him into thinking that his wife is genuinely been unfaithful, this also shows that Othello is very gullible or even potentially angry.

The reason I say that Othello may be angry is that he makes some very rash decisions, one could say that when he is told that his wife has been unfaithful he becomes agitated by the thought, in turn Othello starts to believe the things Iago is telling him because he is angry. Iago uses Othello’s flaws to control the situations. Another very good example of Iago abusing a characters flaws is in Act 2 Scene 3 when Iago is on his own he has a soliloquy where he says ‘So will I turn her Virtue into pitch  And out of her own goodness make the net that shall enmesh them all’ this shows that Iago is willing to use Desdemona’s flaw which is being very nice as a weapon against her and other main characters, he is basically saying that he will turn Desdemona’s kindness into the problem that will make everyone get involved in.

In the Robert Browning poem Porphryia’s Lover, the plot moves forward after we learn that the main character is mentally unstable. Othello and Porphyria’s Lover share some of the same flaws. We learn that the main character in Porphryia’s Lover had feelings for a woman that went around with many other guys, so to make her his he killed her by strangling her with her hair. Both Othello and the main character in Porphyria’s Lover have a problem with trust. In both the poem and the play the main characters flaw is exploited in order to allow the plot to expand, just like in Othello people around the main character contribute to the downfall of the main character, in Porphyria’s Lover the woman that the main character wants contributes to her downfall by going around with other men, ‘Soiled Gloves’ tells us that she has been used by someone else before she came to the main character. Both of the characters have lustful desires, the word lustful suites the female character more than the main character as she enters the room and beings to tease him by sits very close to him and also lays her hair on him.

The main character does not feed to her sexual appetite which also gives us the idea that he does not want to have pre-marital sex. The reason I believe that he does not want to have pre-marital sex is that throughout the poem there are many references towards the bible giving the impression that the main character is religious in some way ‘And yet god has not said a word’ is just one example of biblical reference from the poem. This also shows that one of the main flaws that both Othello and the main character in Porphyria’s Lover share is that they are both very uncertain, the main character in Porphyria’s Lover does not have any solid evidence that the woman he wants has been sleeping with other men he just assumes she has from seeing her with other men, Othello is told that his wife has been unfaithful even though he has not seen her with any other men, this shows that both characters are very gullible and both are very uncertain as to what they should believe. Without the flaws in both the main character in Porphyria’s and the main character in Othello the plot would simply fizzle out and become lost, which shows that the characters flaws are the reason the plot proceeds.

My other poem that I will be comparing with Othello is another Robert Browning poem called The laboratory- Ancient Regime, in this poem the main character is a woman who believes her husband is having an affair with another woman. This poem has many similarities to Othello as both characters in the poem and the play assume that their partner is cheating on them even though they do not have any evidence to suggest that they have been unfaithful ‘that’s why she ensnare him:’ this shows that the main character in The Laboratory believes that her husband has been trapped by this other woman, this shows that the main character is very jealous, this flaw in the character helps drive the story on as we learn that she is going to try and murder this other woman and her husband. The main character comes across as being rather mentally unstable ; and her breast and her arms and her hands, should drop dead!’ this clearly proves that she is very mentally unstable, however this flaw within the character helps to drive the story of the poem on wards. The other flaw in the main character is that she is clearly very jealous of this woman ‘He is with her and they know that I know’ she is clearly aware of the situation, jealousy also helps the plot of the poem move on.

I do believe that the reason the main character reacted to the situation with violence and jealousy was because it was a marriage, during the time period this poem is set in many people were christian and they regarded marriage very highly. Not only was marriage valued highly but women were treated more like possessions than actual people.

Overall in both Othello and the two poems I have studied each characters flaw has helped with pushing the story line forward, without the flaws in each character the story would simply fizzle out and become boring and forgettable however with the flaws of each character the story becomes a much more than just a story, it adds a sort of personal touch to each character. Many writers with portray the main character as being almost perfect however by adding flaws it gives the characters a almost human touch rather than just being words on a page.