Othello: Literary Essay on Iago Essay

Humans are born with a natural capacity for good and evil. As an individual develops, he or she is taught to distinguish between the two in order to strengthen a sense of right and wrong. Through Shakespeare’s play, ‘Othello’ (Heinemann Advanced Shakespeare, 2000) we are introduced to a meticulously devious character, Iago. Ironically affiliated with the military, a substandard moral compass, channels his unreasonable code of conduct. Well educated on human behaviour, his lack of ethics enables his character to exploit this skill set to deceive those around him, ultimately disguising his true character. Between self-perception, opposing character perceptions and audience perception, Iago portrays a brilliantly, manipulative villain whose two dimensional nature is concealed beneath sheets of false sympathy, integrity and empathy. Beyond all else, Iago considers himself a man of true wit and distinction. In Act I, he furiously declares, â€Å"I know my price† (p. 3). By this statement, he admits to Rodrigo, that upon oversight for the position of first lieutenant, his dedicated service and efforts have been in vain. Having served at the front lines of the war, Iago adamantly deems that his echelon of experience proves him a more deserving candidate, than young Cassio. More so, an over confidence in his abilities, lead to the belief that he is of a superior authority, â€Å"I am worth no worse a place† (ibid). Continuing his argument of non promotion, Iago sees it unbearable, even shameful that he has been regarded with such insignificance. A man of his status and self imposed importance should not be degraded to such a pitiable standard. In having lost out on the appointment, Iago’s pride and dignity have been considerably impaired. Once a devoted soldier under Othello’s command, Iago believed it was his rightful place to gain promotion to lieutenant. When these expectations were not met, it brought out the worst in Iago and the decision was interpreted as a personal offence to his proficiency. Although having already, risen to adequate ranks, Iago could not fathom the injustice. His superior and extensive knowledge had been undermined. In comparison to the present era, this form of ‘injustice’ is experienced frequently in professions where favoured parties lose out on coveted positions to seemingly less experienced oppositions. Victims feel at loss and that their competence has been jeopardised. Due to varying circumstances, these conceited opinions cannot be voiced as it translates into bad character and conduct. Consequently, Iago set out on a conquest for supremacy. Uncannily, abiding by modern day author, Robert Greene’s, â€Å"[Law] 3: Conceal your intentions†, of â€Å"The 48 Laws of Power’ (1998), detailing observational aspects profitable in a rise to command. Within the community of Cyprus, Iago gave no obvious reason for opposing characters to suspect his cunning. In this respect, he was constantly referred to as â€Å"Honest Iago† (p. 41). Specifically, Othello, affectionately used the term, â€Å"Honest Iago, My Desdemona must I leave to thee. I prithee let thy wife attend to her† (ibid). Not only does Othello impart trust with ease, but he mistakes Iago as a dear friend. One who would never think to bring harm to Desdemona or he. This misplacement of faith encourages Iago in his surreptitious endeavours. On several more occasions we witness other characters mistakenly confer with and about Iago’s sincere nature. Following a grave night for Cassio, he bids a farewell of, â€Å"Good night, honest Iago† (p. 99) unaware of Iago’s key role in his ruin. Desdemona continues the chain of mistrust when she speaks, â€Å"O, that’s an honest fellow† (p. 113) of Iago’s phony grievances of Ca ssio’s unfortunate predicament. An individual’s nature can be concealed in various forms within the company he keeps, â€Å"Law 12: Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victims† (Greene, 1998). Iago, around such company manipulates and deceives his companions that he is faithful. Having grasped an understanding of human behavior, this wisdom is disposed through cruelty and brutality. In persuading the Cyprus population of his sincerity, unknown to the other characters, Iago fuels his perception of his superiority. Such is his wit that for a much of the play, his deceit goes undetected. When it appears that a character may unknowingly expose Iago’s ulterior motives, he buries the potential realisation beneath artificial concern. Among the audience, the consensus is that Iago is purely composed of arrogance, jealousy and hostility. Triumphant in his succession to provide false evidence of Cassio’s incompetence, Iago announces, â€Å"And what’s he then that says I play the villain, When this advice is free I give and honest†(Shakespeare, p. 99). Arrogance radiates from his gloating manner, of having provided Cassio with ingenious and true advice. Jealousy held as incentive to which Iago brought about the demotion and discredit of Cassio. Moreover, this envy fuelled his ploy in planting a seed of convincing doubt to which Othello was wrongly mislead that his wife, Desdemona, was unfaithful. Not only in determining the detriment of the Moor’s marriage, Iago displayed hostility through his own relationship with Emilia, â€Å"To have a foolish wife† (p. 133), consistent with yet another law, â€Å"Law 20: Do not commit to anyone†, (Greene, 1998). Only to the audience is Iago’s evil nature revealed for a significant portion of the play. We are exposed to his ulterior motives, lies and ultimate betrayal, â€Å"I follow him to serve my turn upon him† (Shakespeare, p. 5). Unlike any other character in the play, Iago is not fazed by the level of destruction he causes, neither to whom. In subsequent scenes, viewers witness the steady yet gradual downfall of the Moor. Unsuspecting, characters, indirectly aid Iago’s cause, particularly his ignorant, praise seeking wife, Emilia, which furthermore increases his arrogance of his unmatched brilliance. To the audience each move Iago makes is calculated methodically and only adds to the current chaos of the present scene. Iago possesses an astute two dimensional disposition. His objective throughout the play is to ensure the Moor’s eventual ruin. He becomes the bane of Othello’s existence, through conniving, unforgivable means, only recognized by the audience if not himself. Born of a natural capacity for good and evil, it is evident that Iago acquires no good, a concept hidden from other characters within the play. In relation to the present, Iago demonstrates the extremity to which an individual will go in order to sabotage the happiness and prosperity of an enemy. Persecutors hold a high opinion of themselves, as Iago displayed. Yet, by all means this strategy to pursue such an attack is achieved through clandestine, surreptitious modes. Iago can distinguish between right and wrong but still, he opts for the latter. As Nobel Prize laureate, William Golding, once said, â€Å"We need more humanity, more care, more love. There are those who expect a political system to produce that; and others who expect the love to produce the system.† (Nobel Lecture, Dec 7, 1983). Humanity is defenceless against the erroneous nature of individuals like Iago. Repeatedly throughout ‘Othello’ (Shakespeare, 2000), his master scheme endures unnoticed. As children, we are prompted to ‘recognise virtue and vice’ (Zak. J. P. The Moral Molecule, 2011) to instil a sense of ethicality, nonetheless, alongside such vindictive figures like Iago, the ‘system’ (Nobel Lecture, 1983), political or military, regresses on any potential advancement, stunting ‘humanity, more care, more love’ (ibid). Humanity is susceptible to evil, regardless encouragement otherwise. As long as rouges exist, an eternal battle will ensue between good and bad, unmistakably demonstrated through I ago’s performance. Bibliography Novel References Gray, C. (Series 2000). Othello. Heinemann Advanced Shakespeare. London: Briddles Ltd. Website References Golding, G. W. (Dec 7, 1983). Nobel Lecture. Retrieved Aug 27, 2013, from http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1983/golding-lecture.html Keltner, D. (2007-08). The Power Paradox. Retrieved Aug 28, 2013 from http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/power_paradox Unknown Author. (No date). The 48 Laws of Power. Retrieved Aug 28, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_48_Laws_of_Power Zak, J. P. (Feb 10, 2011). The Moral Molecule: Are Humans Good or Evil?. Retrieved Aug 28, 2013 from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-moral-molecule/201102/are-humans-good-or-evil

A Review of Tom Piazza’s City of Refuge Essay

It was mid-August on a hot summer day hurricane Katrina damaged a city, New Orleans, possibly for a lifetime. The novel: City of Refuge by Tom Piazza gives readers an omniscient point of view of two families lives during this tragic event. The Williams family from the Lower 9th Ward and the Donaldsons originally from the upper Midwest who had made their way to New Orleans share the same traumatic experience; in different ways of the levees breaking from hurricane Katrina changed both of their lives forever. On Friday morning Craig Donaldson saw on the news that Hurricane Katrina had moved into the Gulf, heading in their direction. Craig and Alice, his wife contemplated leaving the following day or the day after for Oxford, Mississippi. Saturday morning started out rocky. Malcolm, their son, woke up with a burning fever. With all of this going on Craig prepared for their evacuation by getting the house in order before Katrina hit on Sunday. Around mid-day they decided to get on the road; unfortunately, the highway was backed up. Craig then decided to take a different route on a two-lane highway; traffic flowed at first but that too got backed up. Due to the extensive amount of traffic and the effects of the storm, they stopped at a hotel. They had wanted to stay with Alice’s parents but there were too many complications of not having enough room space, so her mom says. They waited at the hotel until the weather was clear enough for them to continue driving. Alice’s mother insisted she call her Aunt Jean and Uncle Gus who lived in Chicago. After Alice made the phone call, they decided to make their journey back to the Midwest. When they arrived in Chicago her family presented them with great hospitality and said they could stay as long as they needed. Alice decided to enroll Annie their daughter into school. During this time Alice was still taking care of Malcolm and helping her aunt and uncle around the house. The hurricane took a toll on Craig. One particular day while at his favorite cafe shop called Blue Horizon he noticed everyone appeared to be in a â€Å"happy-go-lucky-mood,† and this began to irritate him. He became upset because everyone took their lives for granted; no one was experiencing what he was going through. Craig became depressed and easily irritated. There would be times where he would take a deep breath and tears would run down his face and he would not know why. He recognized these symptoms and labeled himself as having Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. He started to accept that his home in New Orleans would never be the same. Alice comforted him during this time, even though she was going through the same experience. After time went on, things started turning from bad to good. Craig received a phone call from his old college friend, Peter. Peter suggested that Craig write a column for the â€Å"CHI EYE†. They felt this would be a good way for Craig to vent and write about his evacuation experience as well as his experiences in Chicago. Peter told Craig he would receive $1000 a week for 1500 words. When Craig received his first check, he took Alice out on a romantic date. As weeks went by Alice settled in Chicago; she secretly started searching for apartments and houses. She looked at Chicago as the place where her growing family lived before they went to New Orleans. Alice enjoyed living back in the Midwest; she did not feel that the damaged city of New Orleans was a good place for her kids, and she did not want to live like an â€Å"urban pioneer† for the rest of her life. She was ready to settle down and New Orleans was not the place for her at the time. Alice brought to Craig’s attention that they could not live in her aunt and uncles attic any longer. She told Craig she was looking into their future by house hunting. Craig took the new information as a stab in the back. He felt hurt and betrayed by his wife because she did not want to move back to New Orleans. Craig felt that their family might not be able to make it during this rough time. He contemplated on whether he should leave and return back to what he called home (New Orleans) and break up the family or stay for the kids’ sake and feel like a disintegrate parent. Craig and Alice sat together and started expressing their feelings about how they felt on their current living situation. The heart to heart conversation made him realize he was making the wrong decision for his family. He was caught between starting a new life and returning to their old one. They both experienced self-knowledge during this time and achieved a new basis for themselves. They both realized that they were experiencing the same struggle, stress, and both wanted to be a happy. Although Alice had her opinion of New Orleans, she did miss the town but deep down Craig also wanted to start a new life. Craig has come to accept the idea of walking away from New Orleans; he saw how his friend, Bobby, experienced difficulty letting New Orleans go. Bobby and Jen, friends of the Donaldsons, became defensive when they heard Craig did not want to return to New Orleans because of Alice and their kids and also Alice’s concerns for the overall city. Craig tried to explain from Alice’s point of view why they should not return so that Bobby and Jen would understand. Craig and Bobby had different perspectives on the situation and completely different life styles. Bobby and Jen needed to realize that this was not a safe environment for Craig and Alice’s kids. They remained friends even with their new life differences. Craig returned to New Orleans acknowledging a new perspective; the importance of why he loved the city remained during Mardi Gras.

The influence of IT on Supply Chain Management Systems Dissertation

The influence of IT on Supply Chain Management Systems - Dissertation Example About the organization 2. Literature review 3. Dissertation methodology 4. Ethical considerations 5. Findings and analysis 6. Discussions 7. Limitations of the study 8. Conclusions 9. Works cited The influence of IT on Supply Chain Management Systems 1. Introduction 1.1. Background Business organizations operate in a competitive environment in which different players scramble for the market share. The organizations strive to be attractive to clients by offering services that are exceptional and conventionally accepted that are unique to the company. This aim of business organizations is not always achieved due to the other challenging forces in the in the industry. The overall costs of operation are often high at certain instances while the customers are attracted to competitive (lower) prices for different products and services. The organizations also experience labor shortage or heavy loads of tasks on the employees that slow down the operations at the organization. This leads to o verall reduced output of the employees. The manual systems that are applied by certain organizations in their operations are not only slow but are also subject to errors that can lead to huge losses to the organization. This situation has been corrected in many business organizations with the recent development of information technology. The use of information technology has improved operations in various business organizations through excellent information management. ... Two or more organizations that have a direct link of this nature form a supply chain (Mentzer, 5). There is need for proper coordination of the processes involved in the conveyance of these products, services, or finances across the supply chain. Supply chains are encountered in both the service and manufacturing industries, though with some deviations across the industries (Ganeshan & Harrison, 1). Supply chain management is the science and art applied in improving the business functions through enhanced flow of information with an aim of improving long-term productivity and customer satisfaction (Wailgum & Worthen, 1; Mentzer, 2). These steps are hardly implemented with the traditional manual system. The introduction of modern technology and the integration of the technology into supply chain management have improved the operations of many organizations. Competition then becomes between organizations and between their supply chains as well (Xia-feng, 72). Tigo Ghana is one organiza tion that has recently integrated information technology into its supply chain management in order to improve its operations. This study investigates the roles that information technology has played in the improvement of supply chain management at Tigo Ghana, a telecommunications company in Ghana. It performs an analysis of the significant milestones that have been witnessed in the telecommunication company since the beginning of technology-based supply chain management. This study focuses on the role that IT has played in improving the operations in supply chain management of the organization. 1.2. The research question The research entails an investigation of the influence of information technology on supply-chain management

Methodology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Methodology - Essay Example The policymakers may be getting substantial level of influence from the media, and we need to have a specific idea about it in order to make relevant decisions. The study will have an explorative nature, and it will set tone for future research on the subject matter. I will take a riskier road in this area of my work because governmental officials do not receive the notable level of attention regarding their political views. However, they are the ideal target population for my study because they play significant role in terms of conducting an election so they are extremely prone to experience high level of influences from the modern sources of information. Secondly, I am choosing those Baby-Boomers who are involved in the electoral process of the country as my target population, and I will survey relevant forbearers of Generation Y as well. Both of the previous generations are having notable roles in the due electoral process of their country (OShaughnessy & Stadler, 2012). They remain loyal to their traditional political affiliations, but Generation X is different because they need change and development, and if the current leadership does not cause substantial level of socioeconomic growth then, the youth will not hesitate to overthrow the gov ernment by using proper electoral means so they do not support traditional values in the democratic system (Walts, 2010). The study does not consider the Next Generation as target population because they do not have enough seniority to influence the elections in the country. In my viewpoint, there is a possibility to observe great degree of influence of media on the minds of policymakers because they are consistently integrating technology into the electoral process, and I intend to discover it through my work. The fundamental research technique applied in the course of the planned study will be surveys. I will visit

Definition paper. The word is Honor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Definition paper. The word is Honor - Essay Example variety of reasons like courage, good works, self-sacrifice and many others; though the word can also be attributed to things which are considered sacred and to gods. Respect is an equal of dignity, the value of a person to another. Being an abstract word, honor is quite difficult to explain although there are synonyms that one can use to let the word be expounded on. Probably the easiest way to understand the word honor is to point out to its value through the actions, words or other manifestations. It is like explaining the presence of air. One can not really hold air and show it to another person to let the other understand its meaning or see how it looks like. Proving there is air is done by pointing out to its effects, showing the tree move in response to the presence of air. The same method is utilized in this quest to define the word honor or honour. Honor held by a person can be seen through other people’s response to his presence. An honored man, when he speaks is taken not on a light mood but considered to speak like a god, having the authority over others, the confidence and attention of his listeners because of what is known about him. Integrity is most often the product of similar abstract things like goodness, love for others, kindness, endurance, care, hard work, determination, and other values or concepts of worthiness. Hard work may be rewarded with the honor of a position in an office. For instance, a clerk who works hard to gain the favor of his employers can be promoted to a higher level where he can enjoy more pay and more benefits as a consequence of his employers’ confidence in him because of his performance. There are also distinctions which are not brought by the hard work and confidence directly effected by the person. For instance, a prince can inherit the reputation bestowed upon his father, be coming the king next to his father after his death. Money which is one of the things that draw the respect of others can also be inherited

Why We Must Tell Lies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Why We Must Tell Lies - Essay Example Caught in a forbidden act, a two-year-old will quickly try to don a look of absolute innocence all while denying the alleged wrongdoing. Lying in children this young makes one wonder if lying is part of the human genetic code. The fact is, children probably are taught to lie by their first teachers- their parents. Brian Martin claims that parents carefully teach children how to lie and just as often lie to them (29). In teaching their children to lie, parents are preparing them to deal with the world. Once children set off for school, they must know how to lie effectively to teachers and classmates. Children who do not become good liars will not develop good interpersonal skills, and they will probably not become highly effective people. Every child needs to know how to explain the missing homework assignment and how to get along with playmates. Well-told lies are the most expedient means to these ends. In the adult world, the most successful people are those who are proficient liars. Businesses would cease to function if proprietors always told the truth.

Saudi Arabia & Bahrain Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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