Consider Othello as a tragedy of Intrigues

Othello is essentially a play of intrigues.  It is one of the finest tragedies of William Shakespeare. Othello is a tragic hero in this tragedy. He is a victim of intrigues and plots hatched by a very clever wicked villain named Iago. It is lago who catches Othello in his net of fraud and destroys him. So, it is rightly a tragedy of intrigues which are all planned and executed by Iago. A single person plans and executes the intrigues. In each and every case the villain is Iago.  The plot of Othello is dominated by the intrigues of Iago. If we go through the play,  We experience four well-defined intrigues -

I. His intrigues against Roderigo ;

ii. His intrigues against the place of Cassio;

iii. His intrigues against the love of Othello and Desdemona ;

iv. His intrigues against the life of Cassio.

At the beginning of the play,  the logo intrigues Roderigo. He uses Roderigo as his tool. Roderigo is a fool and is easily duped by the logo. the logo uses his purse freely as if it were his own.  He always promises that he was spending his money to give presents to Desdemona. Lago knows that Roderigo is a rejected suitor of Desdemona.  He also uses Roderigo to bring about Cassio's dismissal from the post of Lieutenant and then again to murder him. In the end, when Roderigo becomes petulant,  he charges logo for having deceived him. and demands his money and jewels back from him, lago does not feel the slightest hesitation in killing him in the dark. Then lago intrigues Cassio. Lago hates Othello because he believes that the Moor has done a great injustice to him by appointing Cassio as his Lieutenant. He thinks himself to be a far more deserving candidate for that post. He decides to take revenge upon Cassio for his insult. Besides this, Cassio has a beauty in his daily life which is unbearable to him. So, he intrigues to bring about his downfall. Othello is very angry at Cassio's irresponsible behavior and dismisses him from the post of lieutenant  Thus llogosucceeds in his intrigues against Cassio.

The main intrigue of Iago the in the play is directed against Othello and Desdemona. His intrigue against Othello and Desdemona is successful. He poisons Othello's mind with the false suspicion that Desdemona has an unlawful relationship with Cassio. When Othello takes a firm resolution to murder Desdemona, logo thinks that it is safer for him to plan the murder of Cassio also. Here his intrigue is obvious. Finally, the logo intrigues the life of Cassio. Cassio. Cassio is a handsome, light - hearted, and good-natured young man. He is evidently very attractive and popular. Othello is fond of him. Desdemona likes him.  But the logo wants to make Cassio's life impossible.  He knows that he is very inferior to Cassio as far as personal appearance and pleasing manners are concerned and so thinks of killing Cassio.

In fine, we can add that logo uses Roderigo as his tool for killing Cassio in the dark. But Roderigo fails to wounds Cassio.  Then lago himself succeeds only in cutting Cassio's leg. In this way, Cassio escapes death and Iago's intrigue against his life misfires. Thus Othello introduces us to the four intrigues of Iago.  These intrigues play a vital role in the development of the plot of his tragedy,. So, Othello is a tragedy of Intrigues.