| Carl Webb and David Palmer |
| Othello and Iago |
The play Othello by William Shakespeare is a timeless and universal work that’s themes can relate to modern works of fiction and entertainment. One theme of the story is that love can hurt sometimes, and the poem “Disease of Your Affection” and the television show “24” also portray this theme. All of these works can relate to each other through the common theme that love is not always what people expect it to be. Also, people are hurt as a direct result of love in all of these works. Characters as well relate throughout these works through their actions and intents. This also proves that although Othello is an old piece of fiction, it can still be related to today’s works.
The poem “Disease of Your Affection” by Derek del Barrio says that his “love is no longer true.” The speaker also says he is “afraid of loneliness” and that the disease of his love’s affection is penetrating him (del Barrio 5-10). The author clearly does not trust his love completely if he is only with her out of fear. In the story Othello, Othello does not trust his wife, Desdemona, completely because he believes that she has been unfaithful to him. At one point, Othello becomes so angry that he strikes Desdemona (IV.i.222-225.). Although they are in love, Othello is too blind to just ask Desdemona about a possible affair; he, instead, takes matters into his own hands along with Iago. Iago can also relate to these works because of his deception. Iago deceives Othello to get revenge upon him for not giving him a higher position in the military. In the poem, the beauty of the author’s woman deceives him into thinking that he loves her when really he does not. “(Her) beauty like a virus attacking violently” shows that her beauty is the author’s weakness and it is attacking him, forcing him to portray a false love. Iago, likewise, manipulates Othello into thinking there is a false love between he and Desdemona. Iago and beauty are related in the sense that they both deceive to portray a false love in order to benefit them.
In the first season of the television show “24,” President David Palmer is dealing with a national crisis when he discovers that his wife, Sherry, has deceived him into covering up a murder that their son had committed. When David discovers this, he must decide if his wife is truly faithful to him, like Othello. However, he confronts her about it and she admits the truth. It is obvious that their relationship is damaged by this and they are both hurting. Sherry claims she did not want David to know because she loved him. David, like Othello, becomes angry at this. She also says that Carl Webb, one of David’s co-workers, was in on the cover up as well (9:00 A.M. - 10:00 A.M.). Again, Iago can relate to another character: both Carl and Iago deceived their superiors for their own personal benefit. They both manipulated the love that their bosses had and both wound up getting caught; however, they both managed to hurt their bosses through their love with their spouses.
Sherry's evilness
In Othello, the character Iago can relate to characters of beauty in the poem “Disease of Your Affection” and Carl Webb in the television show “24” through deception by manipulating love. Also, Othello, President Palmer, and the author are all hurt by love in similar ways. Unfaithfulness is the underlying reason for their pain through love. Othello is a timeless story whose themes are portrayed through similar characters in modern day fiction and entertainment.
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| David and Sherry Palmer |
| Othello and Desdemona |
Works Cited
Perrine, Laurence. “Othello.” Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense.
Fort Worth. Harcourt College. 2002. 1361-462. Print.
Del Barrio, Derek. "Disease of Your Affection." Poems and Songs for People Who Don't like Poetry. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. <http://www.reject.org/lovepoems.html>.
Surnow, Joel, prod. "9:00 A.M. - 10:00 A.M." 24. FOX. Claremont, California, 5 Feb. 2002. Television.
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