The Tragedy of Othello and the Cask of Amontillado

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home. His goal is to entrigue Fortunato, making him want to continue, while at the same time eliminate any signs of suspicious towards himself. It was successful as Fortunato rejects the offer of coming home and accepts wine as his antidote. Being gullible and naive, Fortunato falls for Montresor’s mind tricks. The foolish Fortunato continue to follow Montresor through the wine cellar as he states, “let us go netherless, The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado” (Poe). Being as sick as he is, Fortunato should be in bed instead of in the wine cellar; he has already fallen into Montresor’s trap. Montresor took advantage of Fortunato’s naive and gullible personality in order to initiate his plan for revenge. Iago and Montresor are two comparable antagonists because of their ability to take advantage of the protagonists’ naivete. They are able to trick and manipulate others in order to complete their own evil plan and purposes.

Although they were manipulate by the antagonists, the protagonists in both stories fail to recognize their ignorance; when they do recognize it, it had already been too late. Throughout the entire course of both stories, the naive protagonists was always ignorant to the antagonist plans that led them to their demise. After Iago’s words of accusation had poisoned Othello’s thoughts, he is filled with jealousy, rage, and anger. Iago continues to manipulate him as he was the one who convinced Othello to kill Desdemona; he tells Othello to do so by strangling her. As Othello is killing Desdemona, Emilia enters and is in completely disbelief. Emilia is furious because of what had happened and reassures Othello that Desdemona has always been faithful to him. She then calls ‘murder’ triggering the arrival of Iago, Montano, Lodovico, Graziano, Cassio, and the everyone else. Emilia reveals that fact that she was the one who stole the handkerchief at Iago’s request and is stabbed by Iago right after. It was clear that Desdemona has always been faithful to Othello and that everything that happened was all part of Iago’s devious plan. At this point Othello realizes that he had let himself be blinded and consumed by jealousy. Although he recognizes his mistakes, it was too late; Othello must now face the punishment from the state for his actions. As Othello is standing in the bloody and gruesome scene that he had allowed to occur he asks that to the state they, “speak of [him] as [he is]; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak of one that loved not wisely but too well; of one not easily jealous, but being wrought Perplex’d in the extreme” (5.2.341-345). When Othello realizes what had happened and that his naivete had led to Desdemona’s, it was too late; Nothing can be done to fix the problem that he created. He asks that they speak of him a someone who was naive and ignorant to what was happening. When he accused Desdemona of having an affair with Cassio and decided to kill her, he was blinded by jealousy. Being naive led to Othello downfall and destruction. As his true love lays dead on the bed, Othello proceeds to kill himself. The protagonist, similar to Othello, also realizes his ignorant way too late. As Montresor and Fortunato continues deeper and deeper into the catacombs, Fortunato becomes more and more intoxicated. They reach a stopping point. Montresor informs Fortunato that the Amontillado is being stored in a small recess on the wall. As Fortunato reaches the recess, Montressor suddenly chains his leg to a stone. At first the naive Fortunato still thinks that it is a joke. However as Montresor begins building the layers of the wall Fortunato loudly pleas, “for the love of god, Montresor” (Poe). The entire story, Fortunato had been naive and oblivious to what had been happening. As a result, it allowed Montressor to be able to take advantage of him. Even when he realizes what had been happening; it was too late for him to do anything about it. Fortunato’s naive and gullible personality has led him to his death. Both The Tragedy of Othello and the Cask of Amontillado shared protagonist that realized their mistakes way too late. Although they eventually realize their mistake, there was nothing they could’ve stop or prevent what had happened or about to happen.

Othello and Fortunato were sceptical about the wrong things while also being gullible about the wrong things; they were the cause of their own destruction. The naivete of both protagonists led them to believe all the lies and misleading words told by the antagonists. Iago was able to gain Othello’s trust, which he uses to get revenge Othello. Fortunato had to reason to have any doubt in Montresor and therefore believed him without any question. The devious and malicious antagonists was not afraid to take advantage of the naive protagonists in order to accomplish their plan of revenge. Iago was able to take advantage of Othello’s naivete as he poison Othello’s mind with the accusation that his wife, Desdemona, was having an affair with Cassio. Despite being sick, the naive Fortunato continued to follow Montresor without a single hint of susception. When the protagonists had their moment of realization, it was too late to turn back and too late for them to do anything. When Othello found out that Desdemona have always been loyal to him and that it was all part of Iago plan, he had already killed Desdemona. At this point there was nothing he could’ve done so he proceeded to kill himself. He realize that his naivete has cause him to kill the love of his life. As Montresor began to trap Fortunato inside the recess, he finally realizes what was going on; However it was too late and the only thing he could do was beg one last time for mercy. Although being naive means a person is trusting, it leaves the individual vulnerable to those who desires to harm them; as a result these individuals’ naivete can eventually lead to their downfall.

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