[james_h]

I've got to write the first part to my essay and it's got to be no shorter than 3 pages!! lol I've written my introduction and I'm not sure whether it's any good. We're doing Othello. Please read it and tell me what you think.

Othello is a play written by William Shakespeare in approximately 1603. First performed in November 1604, the play is tragedy about the downfall of a black valiant soldier named Othello. Throughout the play we see the main central character, Othello, going from a brave soldier who is madly in love to a ruined man cursed by paranoia. The character who is at fault for this is his trusted advisor Iago. He is plotting Othello’s downfall from the moment we meet him. Iago’s hate for Othello stems from the fact that Othello had promoted Cassio (a young, intelligent and strong soldier) over him. He is annoyed by the fact that he chose brains over experience and loyalty. Although, Iago has other reasons for wanting revenge, he believes that Othello had slept with his wife Emilia and throughout the play this pops up as another reason for his hate. Iago makes it very clear from the Act 1 that his intentions are not what they seem as he says “I am not what I am”. The definition of a villain is a wicked or evil person. Iago knows how to manipulate people and play everyone off against each other. This is how he achieves Othello’s eventual downfall.