Deception In Othello
One may readily perceive the theme of Shakespeare’s “Othello” as deception. Deception appears many times in Othello, but in almost every incident the degree of deception is different. Deception is to “deceive another, illusion, or fraud” (Webster’s New World Pocket Dictionary 69), which is seen as a wrongful act. However, deception may be used to protect someone from getting hurt therefore being used with good intentions.
The very first act of deception is done by the character Desdemona. Desdemona hides her relationship with Othello from her father, knowing he will disapprove due to Othello’s race. Brabantio says, “O, she deceives me/Past thought!” (1.1.163-164). Desdemona’s reasoning for deceiving her father was to protect him. “Desdemona’s devotion to her husband is almost superhuman, as is her courage in marrying him over the objections of her father, the Venetian senator Brabantio.” (Andrews 132). She knew her father would eventually find out the truth, but she felt that by hiding her relationship with Othello, she would be delaying the inevitable pain which her father was going to feel. Since Desdemona loved her father, her deception was done with only good hearted intentions.
Desdemona again deceives another, but this time it is her husband, Othello. Othello asks Desdemona for a handkerchief which he gave to her, for he had suspicions she was cheating on him. When asked about the whereabouts of the handkerchief, Desdemona deceives Othello by
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saying, “I have it not about meIt is not lost” (3.4.52-83). “Iago convinces him [Othello] that the innocently dropped handkerchief was actually given to Cassio (who in turn gives the handkerchief to Bianca) by Desdemona.” (Dominic 339). She tells him a flat out lie, but again, with good intentions. Desdemona loves Othello and did not want him to get angry. She thought she had just misplaced the handkerchief, and that she would soon find it, but if she told Othello she had lost it, he would become furious.
Not all acts of deception are done with intentions of protecting one you love. The character who always had bad intentions in his deception is Iago. Iago deceives many people in the play and can be compared to the devil. One incident in which Iago deceives someone is when he tricks Othello into thinking he is talking with Cassio about Desdemona, when he is actually talking about Bianca.
Iago: “Ply Desdemona well and you are sure on’t. Now if this suit lay in Bianca’s power, how quickly should you speed!”
Cassio: “Alas, poor caitiff! “Look, how he [Othello] laughs already!” (4.1.106- 109)
Iago told Othello that he would discuss Desdemona with Cassio, and that he would talk about the affair. Iago does not do this, and instead he talks about Bianca with Cassio, and Cassio laughs at things Iago says. Othello sees Cassio laughing and just assumes he is laughing at Desdemona, which in return upsets him very much. Iago used several tactics to set up Othello for deception in this case.
Though deception is defined as malicious, trickery, cheating, and as a sham, it is evident that deception can be good through its intentions. Desdemona’s deceptions were done in order to
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protect those she loved, while Iago was out to hurt. This too shows that deception is an evil act
with an outcome intended to hurt someone. Deception itself is immoral, yet it is found to be common everyday. However, if one was to deceive another in order to protect them from getting hurt, is it alright? Clearly the truth is being neglected, which is of the up most importance in a relationship. Therefore, deception with good or bad intentions should be viewed as a wrongful act.
