! Othello Act 1, Sc. 1.
             In this paper, we will look at these two characters from several different aspects and try to draw our own conclusion on the true essence of these characters and what they represent. To make it easier to read, this paper will be written in two distinct parts, the first will be a character analysis of Othello though the play, and then the second part will look at Iago and his character, then I would like to conclude with posing a question, whether Othello is as good a person as we think he is, and whether Iago is as evil as he seems to be throughout the play, or could it be due to the circumstances that they were in? Let's have a look...
             Othello is a confusing character, who in the first half of the play is perceived by all as a noble, wise leader, and whose manner of dealing with Brabantio's insults is an example for all men, yet who becomes in the second half a pitiless murderer. While it is difficult to argue that Othello is noble in Acts IV and V, it is equally hard to say that he has brought the tragic ending upon himself, because clearly Iago must take much of the credit for Othello's transformation. The Moor, perhaps, should be seen as a complex being, who himself cannot decide who he is or what he stands for. There is a convincing case for saying that Othello is noble, and little more than the tragic victim of a devilish - and devilishly clever - Iago. He is perceived by all in Venice as a man of great wisdom and sound judgment, and is entrusted by the Duke with the perilous and important expedition against the Turks. Towards the end of the play, the Venetian envoy, Lodovico, can hardly believe that a man with a reputation such as Othello has can strike his wife:
             Is this the noble Moor who our full senate call all in all sufficient? This the nature whom passion could not shake? Whose solid virtue the shot of accident nor dart of chance could neither graze nor pierce? Act IV Sc. 1.
             Iago, too,...