Having read Act 3 how far do you agree with A.C Bradley's view of Othello?

Bradley says that Othello's trust is 'absolute' Othello at the start of the play trusted Desdemona completely and he begins to not trust her at all and places all of his trust in Iago instead. He never asks her for the truth directly and as a woman in a patriarchal society she doesn't have the power to confront him about the way he is acting. Once he has lost his trust for her there is nothing she can do to win it back. Iago is the only person Othello trusts completely due to the fact Othello relies on him to be his eyes, Bradley's view that Othello is self reliant is not true due to how reliant Othello is on Iago. Othello doesn't take advice from anyone else and his interactions with Iago are always longer than his interactions with anybody else making Iago's influence on 1ago more significant. Othello could have chosen anyone to trust but he chooses Iago as its the only person he can relate to, Iago is of lower status than any of the other charterers close to Othello and although Othello has a higher social position than Iago, he is still black in a racist society making him like Iago lower in the social hierarchy this strengthens their relationship as they can empathise with the others position (although Iago chooses to take advantage of it instead.)  Othello is vulnerable due to his race and has to rely on Iago to explain society to him this allows Iago to manipulate Othello easily , his reliance and trust in Iago is ultimately Othello's downfall.


Bradley says that to Othello 'hesitation is almost impossible' and that he 'acts instantaneously'. Othello never doubts Iago for very long he never hesitates and if he does its very short lived.He never acts on any real thought of his own and because Iago has set him on edge everything someone says that could be taken out of context makes Othello insecure, angry and jealous. He acts instantaneously and loves completely or not at all he goes from calling Desdemona his 'fair warrior' to wanting to tear her all to pieces' in a very short space of time .

Do you think Iago is an opportunist or a strategist?

Opportunist
- People don't always act the way he expects eg:nearly getting killed by Othello


Strategist
- Adapts to situations quickly and makes them work in his favour eg his bathotic story about toothache probably wouldn't have worked on anybody else but he knows how to manipulate Othello.
- He uses other people to get thinks he needs for his plans before carrying them out. eg getting money from Roderigo
- His analysis of peoples behaviour is what leads to opportunities arsing that he can take advantage of, why would he ask Emilia to steal the handkerchief if he didn't think she would become desperate enough to do it? She may be an opportunist but he knew that she would eventually make any attempt to gain his affection.