Question

What is the main theme of Shakespeare's play Othello?

Answer 1

The Incompatibility of Military Heroism & Love: Othello's wife is his “fair warrior,” and he is happiest when he has her by his side in the midst of military conflict or business (II.i.179). The military also provides Othello with a means to gain acceptance in Venetian society.success in love on his success as a soldier, wooing Desdemona with tales of his military travels and battles. Once the Turks are drowned—by natural rather than military might—Othello is left without anything to do: the last act of military administration we see him perform is the viewing of fortifications in the extremely short second scene of Act III. No longer having a means of proving his manhood or honor in a public setting such as the court or the battlefield, Othello begins to feel uneasy with his footing in a private setting, the bedroom.
The Danger of Isolation: Once Othello, Iago, Desdemona, Emilia, and Roderigo have come to Cyprus, they have nothing to do but prey upon one another. Isolation enables many of the play’s most important effects: Iago frequently speaks in soliloquies; Othello stands apart while Iago talks with Cassio in Act IV, scene i, and is left alone onstage with the bodies of Emilia and Desdemona for a few moments in Act V, scene ii; Roderigo seems attached to no one in the play except Iago. And, most prominently, Othello is visibly isolated from the other characters by his physical stature and the color of his skin. Iago is an expert at manipulating the distance between characters, isolating his victims so that they fall prey to their own obsessions. At the same time, Iago, of necessity always standing apart, falls prey to his own obsession with revenge. The characters cannot be islands, the play seems to say: self-isolation as an act of self-preservation leads ultimately to self-destruction. Such self-isolation leads to the deaths of Roderigo, Iago, Othello, and even Emilia.

Answer 2

Jealously and insecurity are the main theme of this play.

Noble, famous, and highly placed in the regard of his rulers, Othello has everything. His weakness is a pervading insecurity and self-loathing, which provides fertile ground for the villain Iago to capitalize on Othello's fatal flaw an unreasonable, irrational jealousy that drives him to kill what he loves best and to throw absolutely everything away, including his own life.

In fact, as early as the first Act, Iago also expresses a fundamental and irresolvable jealousy of Othello, whom he suspects "that twixt my sheets/H'as done my office (1.3.367-368)" Iago sets the tone for the unreasonable effect jealously has on the play's characters. Even though Iago is not certain that Othello is guilty of cuckolding him, his suspicion "Will do as if for surety (1.3.371)"

It is, however, Othello's raging jealous behavior that comprises a main theme of the play. Othello is center of power, and his behavior and his exercise of free will has the most profound effect on everyone. Iago, the master manipulator, uses Othello's powerful insecurity and jealousy as a means to instantly change Othello's perception of Desdemona.

Using a computer text search, I discovered that the term "jealous" or "jealousy" appears 21 times in the play and the word is used repeatedly in the dialog of Othello, Iago, Desdemona, Emilia, and Casio. Iago and Emilia, both of whom carry pivotal parts in the tragedy, use the term about seven times each.
As mentioned above, in the context of jealousy, Iago reveals his plans to even the score with Othello:

Answer 3

For Shakespeare to make a profit.