The topic of the presentation on which I want to comment is "Friendship and Trust in Othello". One argument of this speech is friendship a tool for revenge. However, I disagree with this opinion. From my perspective, jealousy is the tool use for retribution rather than friendship. In the beginning of the play, after Iago tells Roderigo that Desdemona prefers a younger man, and he has a chance to get Desdemona, he says," Thou art sure of me: go, make money: -I have told thee/often, and I re-tell thee again and again, I hate the Moor./My Cause is hearted; thine hath no less reason. Let us beconjunctive in our revenge against him. If thou canstcuckold him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, me a sport(1.2.386-390). According to the quotation, Iago decided to work with Roderigo because they both suffer from jealousy and hate the Moor. Roderigo's desire for Desdemona's love led to his jealousy of Othello; where as Iago's hope for a promotion was dashed by Othello. So, Iago uses Roderigo's jealousy for Othello as a powerful tool to perfect his plans in order to get revenge.
In addition, I would like to disagree with the second argument which is that trust is a cause of tragedy. I contend that, in the end, the distrust between Othello and Desdemona caused tragedy. More specifically, the main reason of the tragedy is Othello does not fully trust Desdemona. When Iago showed Desdemona's handkerchief to Othello as the evidence that Iago had slept with his wife, Othello said, " O, that the slave had forty thousand lives!One is too poor, too weak for my revenge./ Now do I see 'tis true"(3.3.489-491). Inevitably, when Othello saw the evidence of his wife having an affair with Cassio, his first reaction was to believe his wife betrayed him rather than asking his wife about the situation. Hence, it is true that Othello fully believed Iago's words without asking Desdemona; this reflects that Othello's trust of Desdemona is too weak to resist Iago's instigation.
