When Othello marries the white Desdemona, he presses his luck, and the tide of public favor turns against him. One of his most trusted friends turns against him and convinces him that Desdemona is having an affair with another of his friends. Othello is so blinded by jealousy and rage that he cannot see how his own band of men, his own "community" has turned against him and is pitting him against the people he used to trust the most. By the end of the play he is a beaten man, an outcast and a murderer, and his speech shows it. Shakespeare writes, "I am not valiant neither, / but every puny whipster gets my sword. / but why should honor outlive honesty? / Let it go all" (Shakespeare V, ii). Othello has been at the top, and he has reached the bottom, and the community no longer looks on...
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