Natalia Espino 

English ll 
 
Othello Argumentative Essay 
 
Othello written by the author William Shakespeare shows many themes 
throughout the text. As seen when Othello's best friend secretly does not 
like him and only wants him to fail, rumors being spread that lead to false 
conclusions, and womanhood and sexuality due to Desdemona having no 
say to the entire situation that she is in, also many more seen throughout 
the text. Othello is about a black man who gets promoted to the highest 
state in the military position and is in love with a white woman named 
Desdemona. Othello has a best friend named Iago which is seen to be 
proud of Othello but deep down is jealous and wants to take his position. 
Shakespeare is still relevant and should be taught in schools because his 
example still happens today in everyone's lives. 
In the story, Shakespeare talks about dramatic irony. For example, 
throughout the entire text, the readers know more than the characters do. 
The readers know that Iago does not like Othello but Othello himself does 
not know. As a human being, I have dealt with this myself. For example, In 
my family, there was a situation where my grandfather had been 
diagnosed with liver cancer, everyone in my family knew the day that he 
had the symptoms of liver cancer, it took my parts a really long minute to 
tell me the big news about him. It was one day where my mom took me out 
to go get something and my dad took my older brother out to go get 
clothes. My mom and I were jamming to old school Latino music, that's 
what we both connect on the most. After a good half hour past by my mom 
parked and turned off the car, I thought we were going to go somewhere 
but she told me to stay because she needed to tell me something very 
important, then she spilled it but I honestly didn't believe her, for what 
reason? I don't know but then I turned and looked at her face and saw that 
she was starting to tear up, then I knew she was being for real. It honestly 
took me a minute for all of it to kick in. I started to ball my eyes out and 
started to think “What if I really lose him”, my grandfather and I may not 
have the best relationship but I know I'd do anything for him if necessary. 
He raised me the majority of my childhood, Not even blood related, he still 
took care of me. But I put my head up and only thought positive, I asked 
my mom if she told my younger brother, them to have the closest 
relationship ever. I don't know if he knows till this day but I know if he does, 
I know it hurt him deeply. This supports my claim by showing how what 
William Shakespeare wrote years ago, still happen till this day. 
Another topic that is seen in the story is jealousy. Othello’s best friend 
Iago was supposed to be the one to support him and push him further but 
is quite the opposite of that. Iago deeply wants to see Othello fail and lose 
everything that he has ass seen when he lies to Othello about Desdemona 
cheating. In the article “is Shakespeare still relevant today” “Is Shakespeare 
Still Relevant Today?” Salem Junior High School (SaJHS), 8 May 2017, 
sajhs.nebo.edu/news/shakespeare-still-relevant-today, it states 
“Shakespeare’s tales can spark interesting conversation and possibly even 
begin friendships”. This piece of evidence shows how something written 
years ago may spark something between two children due to the topic 
that William wrote about, they could connect by talking about how the 
same thing happened to them. This supports my claim by also showing 
and proving how William’s word from back then, still happen now. 
One final topic that is seen through the story is sexism. For example, 
when Desdemona was accused of cheating on Othello no one would listen 
to her or even believe that she was telling the truth that she did not and 
stayed faithful to Othello. Desdemona was killed because the word of a 
man overruled hers. She had no voice to the man that she loved dearly. In 
the article ¨Is Shakespeare still relevant?¨ “Is Shakespeare Still Relevant?” 
Is Shakespeare Still Relevant? I Oxford Open Learning, 
www.ool.co.uk/blog/shakespeare-still-relevant/, by Emma Somerset she 
says “Shakespearean plays are as meaningful now as they ever were 
because human nature has not changed. We are still conflicted by the 
same emotions and desires as people in the 16th and 17th century, and 
reading Shakespeare will aid our understanding of ourselves and others 
in general”. This piece of evidence supports my claim because it shows 
that the topics back then still happen to us today, maybe not to the 
extreme of murdering someone(hopefully) but women have still deemed 
liars if accused of something and rarely never heard out. 
Overall, Shakespeare is still relevant to this day and should be taught in 
schools because it reminds kids that just because something was written 
years ago doesn't mean we still can't connect to it to this day and to show 
that Shakespeare is hard to read but it is written in such a beautiful way 
that we never had the chance to experience.