As with many of William Shakespeare’s various plays, Othello contains many soliloquies that enhance the play, bringing dramatic suspense and action for the audience, whilst at the same time, providing crucial information about the plot of the play and in the direction it is heading in. These soliloquies help the audience to understand that particular character as well as giving an insight to what that character is thinking. Not only do the soliloquies in Othello do that, the soliloquies also happen to provide the audience with a sense of contrast as found in most of Shakespeare’s many plays.

As Othello is written as a play, and not a book, the audience viewing the play may not be able to tell what the characters are feeling inside. To overcome this, Shakespeare has used soliloquies to alert the audience to what the characters are thinking. Iago, for example would appear to be kind and generous on the outside and inside if it weren’t for his soliloquies which reveal his true thoughts. The audience gets a hint, from when he says to Roderigo, “I am not what I am,” (Othello, William Shakespeare Act 1, Scene 1, 66). Iago here is already hinting that “I am not what I seem to be.” Iago's soliloquies feature many times within Othello and they allow the audience to see the true feelings he has for other characters and his motives for his actions in the play. In Othello, the use of soliloquies is an opportunity for the actors in their various roles to explain his/her character’s motives and their way of thinking to the audience. Although many other characters have soliloquies, it is Iago’s that creates the plots and suspenses within the play. His soliloquies are very revealing, and constantly let’s the audience know that he isn’t honest but manipulative and selfish. He is portrayed by every character as being an honest and trustworthy person, “This fellow’s of exceeding honesty and knows all qualities,” (Act 3, Scene 3, 255). Yet, as the audience is well informed by this...