Rage in Shakespeare of All the Emotions,

Rage in Shakespeare

Of all the emotions, rage is one of the most unpredictable and often ends with unexpected consequences. William Shakespeare used rage as a major theme is many of his plays because of the unexpected consequences of the emotion. In his play Othello, for instance, rage was used as a tool by which tragedy ultimately occurs. On the other hand, in The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare used tragedy to invoke a comedic response on the part of the audience. These two plays demonstrate how rage can be used in different ways with different results.

One of the most prominent themes of Shakespeare's Othello is that of rage, it dominated the entire play. It began with the rage of Iago, who has been angered because he had been passed over for a promotion. His rage unleashed a series of events that caused a great deal of destruction, not only for those whom he was angry at but also innocent people as well as he himself. This is the reason he told Brabantio about his daughter, Desdemona, and Othello, in the hope that Brabantio would cause Othello trouble. And this plan worked as Brabantio confronted Othello stating "O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my daughter.." (I.ii.62-64) This confrontation then led to an argument in the presence of the Duke and his council as they were preparing for war. Interrupting their war preparations, Brabantio forces Desdemona to come and profess her love for Othello.

But the most consequential result of Iago's rage is the plan that he set into motion against Othello himself, and this plan included Othello becoming enraged as a principle component. Iago rage led him to deceive Othello into believing that his loving wife Desdemona was actually having an affair with Michael Cassio. In response, Othello cried out "I'll tear her to pieces…blood! blood! Blood!" And took a vow to kill her stating "Now, by yond marble heaven, in the due reverence of a sacred vow I here enrage my words." (III.iii. 459-62) Othello's rage at this false discovery led him to become enraged himself and set about on his own plan of revenge resulting in an ambush on Michael Cassio and ultimately his own murder of his wife Desdemona.

Iago's rage set into motion a plan that ultimately resulted in Othello becoming enraged and killing his wife. Rage, the main theme of Othello, was the cause of death and destruction. In the end Iago was revealed as conniving and treacherous, Cassio was wounded by mistake, Desdemona was killed and Othello committed suicide. Rage in the story of Othello is the cause of tragedy.

Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors is an example where rage was used with a much different result. Instead of having tragic consequences, rage results in comedic consequences. In The Comedy of Errors, rage is often the result of the confusion caused by two twin brothers and two twin servants, both pairs unknown to each other, both in the same city of Ephesus and being mistaken for the others. The rage began in the first act when the Ephesian servant Dromia was beaten by the Syracusan master Antipholus when he insists that his wife expected him home for dinner. The Ephesian Antipholus' wife was enraged when the Syracusan Antipholus denied that he knew her, which led to an argument between Adriana and her sister Lucia where Adriana chastised her sister for not understanding the rage of a wife toward a seemingly unfaithful husband. She stated "So thou hast no unkind mate to grieve thee, with urging helpless patience wouldst relieve me. But if thou live to see like bereft, this fool-begg'd patience will be left." (II.i.38-40)