techniques used to provide insight into the mindset of a central character - LG

 Discuss how effectively two techniques are used to provide insight(s) into the mindset of a central character in one text on your comparative course. Develop your answer with reference to the text. 

One technique Shakespeare used well in Othello to provide insight into the mindset of a central character was is use of soliloquies. Throughout the play there are a number of moments when a character confides what they really think and feel to the audience, this shows us some insight into what character is thinking and gives us more of a backstory for the character. In act 1 scene 3 Iago tells the audience his reasoning for hating the Moor, “He hath done my office”, without Iago’s soliloquies we wouldn’t understand why he hated the Moor so much, we would believe he had no reasoning for it and yet now we have insight into his mindset, we can see where his thinking is coming from. Through Iago’s soliloquies we see he hates the Moor and wants to “bring this monstrous birth to the worlds light.” 

Another soliloquies that gives us insight into the mind of a central character is Othello’s in Act 5 Scene 2. He speaks about how Desdemona “must die, else she’ll betray more men.” We see how Othello feels and what his reasoning is for wanting to kill Desdemona, we see how he feels betrayed and how confused he is. It gives us insight into how torn Othello is, he still loves her, and he will still love her after he kills her, “Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee, and love thee after”. If Shakespeare hadn’t used soliloquies in his texts, a part of the story would be miss and we wouldn’t be able to see the full picture, but the techniques he used provided insight into the minds of central characters. 

Another technique Shakespeare uses well to provide insight into the mindset of central characters is with his use of imagery throughout the play. It shows us how the characters associate each other and what they really think of each other. For example, Othello describes Desdemona has having “whiter skin than snow” and previously in the play she is described as a “white yew”, this shows that many of the characters in the play see Desdemona as something pure, white and innocent. She is pure compared to Othello’s “black ram”, and the constant use of the word “devil”. Othello is seen as something hellish, dangerous and strange; it is thought that his “black devil” will corrupt Desdemona and her pure self. 

Iago is also always described as “honest Iago”, a name that would spark trust and yet due to the soliloquies we know that he is anything but honest. The imagery in the play shows us some insight into what the characters really think, “honest Iago”, “white” Desdemona, and “black Othello”. 

Both the two techniques shown, soliloquies and imagery provide us with useful insight into the mindsets of central characters in the play Othello.