The essay response effectively discusses the statement that ‘Iago’s use of language shows “the cool logic of persuasion,”’ Othello’s “the hot power of passion”.’ The author shows a strong understanding of the play and the characters use of language through a well structured and response to the statement. The ideas discussed are concise, sophisticated and well supported by textual evidence and the analysis is strong and in-depth.
The essay is well structured making use of the PEAL formatting of paragraphs and the given excerpt material from the play to create a clear, well though out and textually backed up response to the statement. The introduction is effective in introducing the statement and briefly outlining the ideas that will be discussed to set up the rest of the essay. The strength of the topic sentence of the introduction, “In Shakespeare’s Othello the characters are drawn and realized for the audience through the language they use” lies in its ability to address the stimulus without using the exact statement. The body of the essay is well set out, with concise and specific paragraphs for each new idea and strong topic sentences, such as “ Iago’s language has a ‘cool logic of persuasion’; he knows exactly how to manipulate others and how to adapt his language to do so.” The topic sentence clearly alludes to the rest of the content of the paragraph and is strong enough to capture the audience’s attention.
The expression of ideas in the essay is sophisticated, explicit and analytical. The essay explores how the characters are presented to the audience through the language they use. This is effective as the essay is specifically language-focused, so analysis and reference to the character’s dialogue is expected. It is suggested that Iago uses ‘the cool logic of persuasion’ in his manipulation but also argues he can be passionate and illogical, as illustrated in his soliloquies. This idea is well backed up by textual evidence as the essay refers back to Iago’s animal imagery or “an old black ram” “tupping your white ewe” to display his use of ‘horrible grotesque images’ to manipulate Othello, while also exposing his passionate side in his soliloquies, such as “How am I then a villain…. Divinity of Hell!”. The essay also comments on Othello’s character through his dialogue, agreeing with the statement that Othello displays ‘the hot power of passion’ while also expanding upon it arguing Othello’s language is not consistently passionate but can display