Shakespeare explores the relationship between actions and words in Othello. One's thought process becomes powerful enough to insight action. The spoken thoughts of characters come to have the ability to become prophetical. The diction in the play is paramount in driving the action of the play. The reality of the surrounding in which Othello takes place is driven by action-action is driven by words. Battles are fought with words; these very words become the weapons. Although words can be used as simply descriptions of people, words insight chaos for all and are not enough to defend the innocent from persecution.
Words are used by the characters to describe each other, whether it be in a good or bad light. Iago uses animal imagery to enhance the negative connotation of his descriptions. The bestial images that he creates haunt the minds of the characters and make them interpret the situation in a much more "grotesque" light. In Act 1, Iago uses bestial imagery to alarm the rage of Barbantio when he says, " an old black ram is tupping your white ewe." (Lines 97-98) His statement juxtaposes white vs. black imagery along with animal imagery to enrage the senator. He also uses similar imagery to enrage Othello in Act 3, Scene 2, when he describes Cassio and Desdemona was being "prime as goats, as hot as monkeys- (Line 400) Upon hearing such, Iago instantly manipulates Othello's mind.
In Othello, the truth does not set the innocent free. Iago tricks Othello into believing that his own wife is having an affair, without any concrete proof. Othello is so caught up in Iago's lies that he refuses to believe Desdemona when she denies the whole thing. Othello allows Iago's words to turn his mind into a state of jealousy. This is the jealousy to which not even his own wife thought he was capable of, as demonstrated in Act 4, Scene 3, Lines 23-24, when she says, "Who? He? I think the sun where he was born Drew all such humors from him.
