Discuss the theme of betrayal as a prominent theme in shakespeare's "Othello".

In the play 'Othello' by William Shakespeare, Othello
betrayed Dessemona Even though Othello was a moor, Desdemona loved him because of his
valour and eloped away with him. Her kinsman disliked the action and yet she accompanied
Othello to Cyprus. She trusted him most and so submitted to a person hated by her
kinsman.

Shakespeare had taken the plot of Othello from
'Hecatommithi' or 'A hundred tales' by Giovanibatista Giraldi Chinthio, an Italian
novelist. There are one hundred stories and divided into ten decades. This is the
seventh story in the third decade. In the story the ensign(Iago) fwll in love with
Desdemona. But she didnot pay any attention to his love. The ensign felt insulted and
vowed to prove her infidelity. Thus we find that Shakespeare had used the source of
intrigue he found in the Italian story by
Cinthio.

Desdemona was trustworthy. She didnot betray
Othello even though he was a man of black complexion. On the other hand Othello became a
victim of the trigue hatched by Iago whether he was not promoted to the higher rank as
Shakespeare shows in the play or for not responding to his love as shown in the original
Italian story. He had no firm faith in Desdemona and so Iago could ply his as he wished.
Iago ploted very cunningly that Desdemona loved Cassio and hinted to Othello when he
cashired Cassio for killing a guard on duty. Here in the play, Iago himself mooted the
cospiracy and as a part of it and he sent Roderigo who loved Desdemona and yet he
believed to get her; to fight Cassio. Roderigo was ignorant of Iago's plan. Cassio
approached Desdemona to plead for him to Othello to restore him in the post of general
again as a part of intrigue of the ensign. So the innocent lady pleaded the matter to
restore Cassio. It gave an opportunity to Iago to fulfill his desire of proving
Desdemona's infidelity. It was easy to do so only because of Othello's weakness. He was
quite suspicious and so he believed Iago's remarks that there might be some good reason
for pleading him to restore Cassio again. At the same time Iago betrayed his own wife
Emilia and ploted the handkerchief of Desdemona in Casso's room. Cassio went to return
the handkerchief to Desdemona and was seen by Othello. It played a great role in the
betrayal of Othello to Desdemona. Now he was sure that Desdemona had really affair with
Cassio. Now he believed Iago more than his beloved and killed
her.