Hell, demons, and monsters are a re-occurring theme throughout the play Othello. Iago tells Othello to beware of the “green-eyed monster” known as jealousy. He describes it as one that mocks the meat it feeds on. Iago’s wife, Emilia, also describes the green-eyed monster of jealousy as dangerously self-generating. Imagery of damnation and hell occur in the play and especially at the end when Othello wants to murder Desdemona. Othello can’t stop thinking about the moral and religious judgment of Desdemona and himself. Once Othello learns the truth about Iago in Act Five, he calls Iago the Devil and a demon several times. Earlier in the play, Othello made a reference to some monster in his thoughts. Sadly, this ironically turns out to be Iago. Also earlier in the play, he refers to Desdemona’s betrayal of him as monstrous. Right before Othello kills himself at the end of the play, he asks for eternal torture in Hell. The imagery of the monster begins to take over. The jealousy-crazed character is grotesque, deformed, and demonic. Something else that is interesting about all of this reference to devils and demons are the characters actual names. Othello includes the word hell and Desdemona includes the word demon. Othello is dark and supposed to be like the devil in hell. But Desdemona is white and is supposed to be like the light. However, her name includes the word demon. This makes her character seem more questionable and not as pure as everyone thought she was. It’s hard to determine whether or not Desdemona is a good person or was faithful to her husband. But after looking at her conversation with Emilia, it seems like she would never consider betraying her husband Othello. This is why it is hard to determine the reasoning for including “demon” in the name Desdemona.
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