Morality and Immorality in OthelloWilliam Shakespeare's tragic drama Othello presents the audience with a picture of many different shades of morality and immorality. The purpose of this essay is to elaborate this thesis in detail. Roderigo's opening lines to Iago in Act 1, Scene 1, bring us to the root of the problem: Tush! never tell me; I take it very hard that you, Iago, who took my purse as if the strings were yours, should know. (1.1) In other words, the rich playboy repaid the old man for the soldier's intercession with Desdemona on Roderigo's behalf. This payoff is ongoing before the show begins and continues, even in Cyprus, until the end. Yes, it would seem that money is at the root of all the tragic misfortune in this drama. To ensure that Roderigo's gifts, whether in the form of money or jewels, continue to him, he initiates an intrigue that begins with the nightly assault on Brabantio's residence and ends with the deaths of Roderigo, Desdemona, Othello, and Emilia. .The intrigue begins when Iago suggests to the rich playboy that he can recover Desdemona by taking immediate strong action together with her father against the general: Call his father, Wake him up: chase him, poison his delight, Proclaim him in the streets; He incenses his relatives, and, though he dwells in a fertile climate, torments him with flies: though his joy is joy, yet it casts upon him such changes of vexation, that he may lose a little colour. (1.1) This incident leads to Braban's public accusation against the Moor... in the middle of the paper... his murdered lover, resurrects morality in this play. Emilia refutes the false ideas that Othello believes motivated him to kill; she counters Iago's lies (“Did he give it to Cassio? No, alas, I found it, / And gave it to my husband.”) and blames Desdemona's murder on him. And he sacrifices his own life for the truth; she dies a martyr, stabbed by the evil Iago. Othello is also in a certain sense a martyr, paying in full for the crime he committed. WORKS CITED Coles, Blanche. Shakespeare's Four Giants. Rindge, New Hampshire: Richard Smith Publisher, 1957. Jorgensen, Paul A. William Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985.Shakespeare, William. Othello. In Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No lines n..