Shakespeare\u2019s Othello Commentary Alfred J. Drake, Ph.D.<\/title><meta name= \"description\" content= \"Othello commentary addresses major themes, major characters such as Othello, Desdemona, Iago, Cassio, Emilia, Bianca, literary analysis, drama theory.\"><\/head><\/p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Commentaries on<br>Shakespeare’s Tragedies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-btn__default-btn uagb-btn-tablet__default-btn uagb-btn-mobile__default-btn uagb-block-4f6cdd05 uag-hide-mob\"><div class=\"uagb-buttons__wrap uagb-buttons-layout-wrap \">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-dcba7b2a wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">HOME<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div 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class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-commentaries\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">COMMENTARIES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-57f86fdb wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-audio\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">AUDIO<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-1b812369 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-guides\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">GUIDES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-d5da63d7 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-links\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">LINKS<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-btn__default-btn uagb-btn-tablet__default-btn uagb-btn-mobile__default-btn uagb-block-19d28286\"><div class=\"uagb-buttons__wrap uagb-buttons-layout-wrap \">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-69502be5 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act1\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 1<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-0ec42142 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act2\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 2<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-6ac70dcb wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act3\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 3<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-bfd6ecc9 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act4\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 4<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-55716ff6 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act5\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 5<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-0246bad9 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#endnotes\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ENDNOTES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shakespeare, William. <em>The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice.<\/em> Folio. In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 512-86.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Of Interest: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rsc.org.uk\/othello\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">RSC Resources<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/internetshakespeare.uvic.ca\/Library\/Texts\/Oth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ISE Resources<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shakespeare-online.com\/sources\/othellosources.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">S-O Sources<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.folger.edu\/explore\/shakespeare-in-print\/first-folio\/bookreader-68\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1623 Folio 820-49 (Folger)<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/mdz-nbn-resolving.de\/details:bsb10314417\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cinthio\u2019s <em>Gli Hecatommithi, <\/em>Pt. 1<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitale-sammlungen.de\/en\/details\/bsb10310378\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Hecatommithi, <\/em>Pt. 2<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/cgi\/t\/text\/text-idx?c=eebo;idno=A05331.0001.001\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Leo Africanus’s <em>Geographical History of Africa, <\/em>trans. J. Pory<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act1\">ACT 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 1, Scene 1. (512-16, Iago reveals to Roderigo his resentment of Othello since the general has promoted Michael Cassio to be his lieutenant instead of Iago; Iago enlists Roderigo as an unwitting agent; at night, the two men inform Brabanzio that his daughter has spirited herself away to marry Othello; stunned, Brabanzio gathers an armed search party.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago may not be acting from grand motives, but in Act 1, Scene 1 he sets forth a reason that he finds sufficient cause for his hatred of Othello: his sense of injured merit is strong because Othello has given the lieutenant\u2019s job he coveted to the supposedly more bookish Michael Cassio (513, 1.1.17-31), whom Iago puts down with the damning utterance, \u201cMere prattle without practice \/ Is all his soldiership\u201d (513, 1.1.24-25). Another reason will come in Act 1, Scene 3: the mere conjecture that his wife has slept with Othello. But here in the first scene, Iago does not mention that part of his motive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like Shakespeare\u2019s Richard III or Aaron the Moor in <em>Titus Andronicus,<\/em> but with a greater degree of interiority and reflexivity, Iago is a Machiavel and a consummate actor. As he says to Roderigo, \u201cIn following him [Othello], I follow but myself\u201d and \u201cI am not what I am\u201d (514, 1.1.56, 63). This is a man who mostly keeps his own counsel, and speaks to others in a manner that allows him to get what he needs from them. That is exactly what he is up to with Roderigo, who of course is smitten with Brabanzio\u2019s daughter Desdemona and would do anything to gain her affection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To borrow a phrase from the contemporary corporate interview playbook, while Iago may be Othello\u2019s trusted underling, that isn\u2019t how he sees himself five years from now. Iago seems confident in his abilities, his superiority to the men around him, but he is not at peace with himself. There\u2019s something impish about him, too, something of the pure evildoer: the man seems to enjoy stirring up trouble. <a href=\"#_edn1\" id=\"_ednref1\">[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Throughout the play, Iago shows no regard for the gathering destruction he visits upon Desdemona, whom he knows to be innocent. He maneuvers with diabolical skill in the gap between what he seems to be and what he is, turning everything that happens to his own advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Outside Brabanzio\u2019s stately home, Iago and his gull Roderigo arrive in the night to regale the wealthy, politically connected Venetian with race-baiting taunts about Desdemona\u2019s elopement with \u201can old black ram.\u201d (514, 1.1.86ff), and the ploy works well. Brabanzio\u2019s trust and an offer of preferment flows to the previously despised Roderigo, and the wealthy father calls together an impromptu search party to find Desdemona and Othello.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 1, Scene 2. (517-19, Iago warns Othello about Brabanzio\u2019s search party; Cassio shows up and tells Othello that he must go and discuss urgent security matters pertaining to Cyprus with the Duke and Venetian senators; Brabanzio\u2019s search party arrives, but Othello overawes them and offers to let the angry father plead his case in the presence of the Duke and the senators at the security council.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago shows up outside Othello\u2019s lodgings and deviously warns Othello that Brabanzio\u2019s searchers are coming after him. The general is by no means terrified by the news: he will stand, he says, on \u201cservices which I have done the signory\u201d in Venice (517, 1.2.18), and considers himself the equal in dignity of any Venetian nobleman. Michael Cassio arrives before the search party to tell the general that his advice is needed at a private Venetian council to respond to news about the Turks in Cyprus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moments later, Brabanzio and his party are on the scene. Othello bears himself magnificently towards them, declaring to these apparently inexperienced men, \u201cKeep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them\u201d (518, 1.2.59). This verbal gesture, at once both eloquent and terse, tells us a great deal about the charismatic appeal of this supremely competent mercenary general: he is not a man to be trifled with, particularly in matters of a fighting stamp. Indeed, that\u2019s why the Venetians are paying him for his services, and seeking his advice on urgent matters of state security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the spot, Brabanzio accuses Othello of witchcraft: \u201cthou hast enchanted her\u201d (518, 1.2.63), he tells the general; otherwise, he insists, the girl would never \u201cRun from her guardage to the sooty bosom \/ Of such a thing as thou\u2014to fear, not to delight\u201d (518, 1.2.70-71). He can\u2019t even imagine the attraction of the foreign or the exotic, even though he, too, has been listening to Othello\u2019s stories with admiration. To Brabanzio, it seems, Venice is the world. The charge of witchcraft itself, with its strong association with blackness and darkness, seems racially charged as well. <a href=\"#_edn2\" id=\"_ednref2\">[2]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps this is strangely provincial of him, given that Venice is a cosmopolitan sea empire that has long known how to cut a deal with Arabs and Turks, but as we have seen already, Brabanzio immediately accepted Iago and Roderigo\u2019s grotesquely reductive \u201cdevil\u201d and bestial \u201cram\u201d characterizations of Othello. The Moorish general hardly lacks charm, but Desdemona\u2019s father welcomes demeaning, and as we would say, \u201crace-baiting\u201d descriptions of the man who has won his daughter\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello agrees to go along willingly, with the proviso that the Duke\u2019s call trumps Brabanzio\u2019s personal matter for the time being, so off they all go to the Duke\u2019s council, where Othello\u2019s advice will be required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 1, Scene 3. (519-28, the Duke rejects the claim that the Turks are headed for Rhodes; Brabanzio and his party arrive with Othello, and the Duke agrees to hear the evidence against his general; accused of \u201cwitchcraft,\u201d Othello defends himself eloquently; Desdemona, summoned by Othello\u2019s request, successfully defends her marriage, and wins the right to accompany her husband on his military ventures; Iago will help her on her way to Cyprus; Roderigo is beside himself with grief, but Iago tells him to head for Cyprus after Desdemona; Iago plots to shame Othello with talk about Cassio\u2019s alleged affection for Desdemona and to get Cassio\u2019s lieutenancy.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In council, the Duke <a href=\"#_edn3\" id=\"_ednref3\">[3]<\/a> and his counselors debate the probability that the Turks are in fact headed with their fleet to Cyprus rather than to Rhodes. This matter has just been decided when Brabanzio and his party arrive with Othello. Summoned to Venice in this manner, Othello wins the good opinions of the Duke and assembled senators because of his impressive military bearing and chivalric eloquence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the panicked, furious Brabanzio accuses him of witchcraft in taking Desdemona from him, the general promises to deliver \u201ca round unvarnished tale\u201d (521, 1.3.90) that immediately turns out to be an impressive piece of allegedly autobiographical oratory. Othello romances the assembled grandees with his words, and wins them over to his side in the matter of his just-concluded marriage to Desdemona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Moor\u201d cuts a dashing figure, and he is aware of his effect upon others. He is proud of his conquest of Desdemona\u2019s heart, like a soldier who has won the prize fairly. The tale he delivers is anything but \u201cunvarnished\u201d; it is filled with romantic extravagance. Perhaps he has been sold into slavery, fought tremendous battles, and seen many remarkable sights. But did he really see \u201c<em>Anthropophagi,<\/em> and men whose heads \/ Grew beneath their shoulders\u201d (522, 1.3.144-45)? No, these are tales he\u2019s picked up to build an image of himself as an adventurer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello exploits Desdemona\u2019s interest in such romantic, far-fetched stories, crafting from that propensity a contract-in-hand to \u201cdilate\u201d his life\u2019s journey and thereby \u201cbeguile her of her tears\u201d (523, 1.3.153, 155). His summary of success speaks best: \u201cShe loved me for the dangers I had passed, \/ And I loved her that she did pity them. \/ This only is the witchcraft I have used\u201d (523, 1.3.167-69). Faced with such an excellent defense, Brabanzio can do little but beg the Duke to move on to discussing important matters of state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our first glimpse of Desdemona shows us a strong-willed young woman who is not afraid to act boldly and speak her mind, even in the presence of her powerful father and Venetian statesmen. Her strength accords well with Othello\u2019s soldierly virtue, and shines forth when she addresses Brabanzio directly: \u201cso much duty as my mother showed \/ To you, preferring you before her father, \/ So much do I challenge that I may profess \/ Due to the Moor my lord\u201d (523, 1.3.185-88).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Desdemona also talks the Duke into agreeing that she should be allowed to accompany Othello on his dangerous military missions, lest, as she says, \u201cThe rites for why I love him are bereft me\u201d (525, 1.3.254). Once again, Brabanzio is stymied in his dislike of Othello, and can say no more to the man than, \u201cLook to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see: \/ She has deceived her father, and may thee\u201d (526, 1.3.289-90).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Soon, Iago will put Desdemona in an impossible position\u2014her considerable aplomb as a speaker and a virtuous woman won\u2019t translate into an ability to charm Othello out of the suspicions that Iago plants in his soul, so her goodness will work against her. Indeed, Iago\u2019s creed is worth noting. Roderigo, left disconsolate by Othello\u2019s successful defense of his right to be married to Desdemona, turns to Iago for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To Roderigo\u2019s passive blubbering about the defects of his \u201cvirtue\u201d (in this usage, it means \u201cnature\u201d), Iago blurts out \u201cVirtue? A fig! \u2019Tis in ourselves that we are thus, or thus. \/ Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are garden- \/ ers \u2026\u201d (526, 1.3.312-14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In terms of Renaissance psychology, Iago means that while we are subject to the pull of our appetites (which belong to the \u201csensitive\u201d part of human nature), we can control these appetites. We can let our choice-making power, our \u201cwill,\u201d be informed by reason and thereby control the effects of appetite. <a href=\"#_edn4\" id=\"_ednref4\">[4]<\/a> Iago is suggesting that while the body\u2019s and its appetites may hold sway for a while in Desdemona, she will in time become sated with Othello, and then her rational element will lead her to despise this older, dark-skinned man whose appearance and culture are so unlike hers. (526, 1.3.325-47.) Like will return to like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well, Iago hardly puts Renaissance psychology to the noble uses of the era\u2019s great humanists, such as Pico della Mirandola, who implies that the highest aim of humanity is to transcend itself for the greater glory of God, but he knows how to craft a cunning scheme from the premises of this psychology: Roderigo need only follow Iago\u2019s repeated injunction, \u201cPut money in thy purse!\u201d (527, 1.3.329) and wait for Desdemona to turn again toward Venice, the great Italian city that has shaped her from infancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At this point, Iago\u2019s second motive comes to light: he has heard that Othello may have cuckolded him. Although he may be patient in devising his wicked schemes, Iago shares Othello\u2019s disdain of long-continued suspicion. The mere supposition that his wife Emilia may have cheated on him demands payback; the matter must be resolved. As he says, \u201cI, for mere suspicion in that kind, \/ Will do as if for surety\u201d (527, 1.3.367-68). He will wage a pre-emptive war against this man who has already frustrated his hopes of advancement and who may also have insulted his marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In some cold, calculating way, Iago himself is subject to the cat-like \u201cgreen-eyed monster\u201d jealousy, and his way of dealing with the discomfort it has caused him is to pass it along. That there\u2019s also something to the charge of \u201cbaseless evil\u201d often leveled against Iago (aside from racism, fear of being cuckolded, and frustration in his quest for advancement), we may see from his brazen determination to \u201cplume up\u201d his will \u201cin double knavery\u201d (527, 1.3.371-72).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act2\">ACT 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 2, Scenes 1-2. (528-35, the Turkish fleet is wrecked by a storm; Cassio returns to port, as do Desdemona, Emilia, and Iago; Iago observes Cassio and Desdemona\u2019s innocent flirtation as she awaits Othello\u2019s arrival; the general arrives and greets Desdemona; Iago convinces Roderigo that Cassio and Desdemona are in love, and then prods Roderigo to start a quarrel with Cassio on his watch and get him fired; Iago again sets forth his suspicions about Emilia and Othello as in part the cause for his plotting. In Scene 2, a herald announces an evening of triumph and feasting in Cyprus.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Turkish fleet is scattered at sea about as thoroughly as the famed Spanish Armada off the English coast in 1588\u2014something that might easily have occurred to many people in Shakespeare\u2019s audience since it had happened just two decades before <em>Othello\u2019s <\/em>staging. Cassio\u2019s ship has landed, but Othello\u2019s has not yet made it back to port, and Cassio is anxious about the fate of his general. A ship\u2019s sail is seen in the distance, and Cassio decorously praises Othello\u2019s new wife in absentia as \u201ca maid \/ That paragons description and wild fame \u2026\u201d (529, 2.1.61-62).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the ship carrying Iago, Desdemona, and Emilia arrives at the harbor, Cassio himself kneels before Desdemona. Treating her like a princess, he asks the surrounding men of Cyprus to do the same. A contest of wits follows between Iago, Emilia, and Desdemona, with Iago jesting about Emilia\u2019s scolding tongue and women\u2019s bad habits in general, and Desdemona challenging Iago, \u201cWhat wouldst write of me, if thou shouldst praise me?\u201d (531, 2.1.116-17) Iago criticizes nearly every category of woman, and suggests that a woman who always preserves her virtue and modesty in the face of temptation is downright boring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago sees exactly what he has been hoping for, with the courtly Michael Cassio kissing his own fingers in a gesture of affection toward Desdemona, taking her by the palm, smiling, and so forth: \u201cWith as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as \/ Cassio\u201d (532, 2.1.163-64), says Iago. Cassio obviously holds Desdemona in high regard, and finds her beautiful, and his courtly Venetian attitude is on full display, with her innocent but also Venetian approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Soon, Othello returns safely to port and to a lovely, if fraught, reunion with his bride Desdemona. The two are overjoyed to be back together, but Othello\u2019s mind tends towards a certain anxiety or gloominess even in the midst of such joy: he says, \u201cI fear \/ My soul hath her content so absolute \/ That not another comfort like to this \/ Succeeds in unknown fate\u201d (532, 2.1.182-85), and a little below, sounding like Pericles in his recovery of his daughter Marina, <a href=\"#_edn5\" id=\"_ednref5\">[5]<\/a> Othello can say only, \u201cIt is too much of joy\u201d (532, 2.1.189).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With these expressions, Othello is nearly done with his military task. He simply announces to the gathered Cypriots that \u201cThe Turks are drowned\u201d (533, 2.1.194) and pleasantly chides himself for becoming overfond of the \u201ccomforts\u201d afforded to him as a commander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This leaves Iago alone with his follower Roderigo, and he does not fail to make the most of the opportunity at hand. He declares to Roderigo that as for Cassio, \u201cDesdemona is directly \/ in love with him\u201d (533, 2.1.209-10). Furthermore, he insists that Othello and Desdemona\u2019s marriage is unsustainable: beyond the initial period of attraction, he suggests, the Moor lacks \u201cloveliness in favor\u201d and \u201csympathy in years, \/ manners, and beauties\u201d (533, 2.1.219-20). In other words, Othello will not continue to seem attractive to Desdemona, and he\u2019s too old, too dark, and too foreign to suit her Venetian expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago has told Roderigo, and tells him again, that if they don\u2019t get Cassio out of the way, Roderigo himself has no chance of winning Desdemona\u2019s heart. What\u2019s the specific plan that will bring all to rights? Roderigo is to walk up to Cassio on his watch at night, and find some cause to insult him. As Cassio is quick-tempered, says Iago, a fight is sure to ensue, and Iago himself will take pains to cause a general disorder among the Cypriots. Cassio will be blamed for the ruckus, and the blame will lead to his dismissal (534, 2.1.257-64).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago\u2019s soliloquy after Roderigo departs is darkly magnificent in its revelatory quality and insight. He admits to believing that Desdemona\u2019s love for Othello is genuine, and not a mere infatuation as he characterized it to Roderigo. He also admits to the certainty that Othello \u201cIs of a constant, loving, noble nature\u201d (534, 2.1.272) and likely to prove a fine husband. He therefore has no illusions about the depth of the evil he is tumbling toward perpetrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago is sometimes said to be insufficiently motivated for the wrong that he does, but he actually gives us some insight into what he claims is eating away at him: \u201cI do suspect the lusty Moor \/ Hath leaped into my seat, the thought whereof \/ Doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw my inwards \u2026\u201d (534, 2.1.278-80). Nothing will satisfy him but some great insult: he will, he says, either sleep with Desdemona, or at least fill Othello\u2019s soul with shattering jealously\u2014\u201ca jealousy so strong \/ That judgment cannot cure\u201d (534, 2.1.284-85). Iago will, if he can, drive Othello mad. <a href=\"#_edn6\" id=\"_ednref6\">[6]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What\u2019s more, Iago says\u2014in the course of admitting that he fears Cassio\u2019s sway with his own wife, not just that of Othello\u2014he means to go farther: he will \u201cMake the Moor thank me, love me, and reward me \/ For making him egregiously an ass \u2026\u201d (535, 2.1.291-92). His basic plan is ready, though as always, he feels his way towards ever-greater clarity: \u201c\u2019Tis here, but yet confused: \/ Knavery\u2019s plain face is never seen till used\u201d (535, 2.1.294-95). Iago won\u2019t just ruin Othello and Desdemona\u2019s lives\u2014he will take sadistic pleasure in exercising his creative viciousness while doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This scene as a whole turns on trifles: witty banter, smiles, innocently flirtatious gestures and touching between Desdemona and Cassio, and Iago\u2019s own trifling and ungrounded but eventually deadly jealousy of his wife Emilia. How easy it is to weave an unflattering narrative, and thereby take advantage of others\u2019 insecurities! As Iago will say of the famous stolen handkerchief in Act 3, Scene 3, \u201cTrifles light as air \/ Are to the jealous confirmations strong \/ As proofs of holy writ\u201d (552, 3.3.319-21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Act 2, Scene 2, a herald brings word of Othello\u2019s decision to offer Cyprus a day of triumph, for the Turkish fleet has been lost and presents no further danger, and there is also the happy business of his own recent marriage to celebrate. From five in the afternoon until eleven at night, there will be \u201cfull liberty of feasting\u201d (535, 2.2.8). This, of course, sets the stage for Michael Cassio\u2019s watch at night, and Roderigo\u2019s insult may be offered at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 2, Scene 3. (535-43, Iago gets Cassio drunk and is now ripe for the quarrel that Roderigo soon picks with him; Cassio wounds Montano in the confusion; Othello, disturbed while in bed, arrives and fires Cassio, whom he holds responsible for the disorder; Iago tells Cassio to enlist Desdemona in his quest to get Othello to reinstate him; Iago insinuates to Othello that Desdemona\u2019s support for Cassio stems from her disloyal affection for him.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello tells Cassio to help Iago keep watch at night, as he goes off to celebrate his nuptials with Desdemona. Iago tries to get Cassio to confess that he\u2019s attracted to Desdemona, without much luck. No matter\u2014the plan is simply to get Cassio drunk. It takes a bit of doing, but Iago succeeds in duping Cassio into having a few too many cups of wine. Iago has also taken care to drag in three Cypriot men to help keep the watch, which should be more than enough to cause a stir tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Soon enough, a brawl takes place. Cassio wounds Montano, and the alarm bell is rung, causing consternation. Iago describes the whole affair in falsely shocked words to Othello, who declares imperiously, \u201cFor Christian shame, put by this barbarous brawl, \/ He that stirs next to carve for his own rage \/ Holds his soul light \u2026\u201d (538, 2.3.151-53). Iago, pressed to speak of the cause, implicates Cassio. Othello is easily fooled into thinking Iago speaks gingerly from love of Cassio, and the upshot is the dread sentence, \u201cCassio, I love thee, \/ But never more be officer of mine\u201d (540, 2.3.227-28).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When he sobers up, Cassio is filled with shame and self-reproach, which Iago turns to account, suggesting that the way to reinstatement is to get Desdemona to plead his case. He tells the broken Cassio, \u201cShe is of so free, so kind, so apt, so blessed a disposi- \/ tion, she holds it a vice in her goodness not to do more than \/ she is requested\u201d (541, 2.3.293-95). This is music to Cassio\u2019s ears, and he says he will seek out Desdemona in the morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago now takes stock in soliloquy of what he is up to. Without question, he sees himself as following the \u201cDivinity of hell,\u201d which he describes as follows: \u201cWhen devils will the blackest sins put on, \/ They do suggest at first with heavenly shows, \/ As I do now.\u201d (542, 2.3.321-24). As Iago says, his plot presently has him using Desdemona\u2019s generosity to plead for Cassio in a cause that <em>would <\/em>be for his good, were it not that Iago, Satan-like, will soon use Desdemona\u2019s attempt as the means to slander her and ruin her and Othello\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago will pour poison into Othello\u2019s ear, telling the general that his dear wife only pleads for Cassio because she is in love with him. As he says, delighting in his own equivocations and duplicities, \u201cSo will I turn her virtue into pitch \/ And out of her own goodness make the net \/ That shall enmesh them all \u2026\u201d (542, 2.3.334-36). This is about as bad as a person can be, in terms of sheer moral depravity, and it\u2019s no wonder why some critics think that one of the great origins of Milton\u2019s Satan in <em>Paradise Lost <\/em>is none other than Iago. <a href=\"#_edn7\" id=\"_ednref7\">[7]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act3\">ACT 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 3, Scenes 1-2. (543-44, with Iago\u2019s help, Cassio pleads with Emilia to arrange a meeting between him and Desdemona; Emilia tells him that the lady has already begun to advocate for him; all the same, Emilia invites Cassio indoors so she can arrange the meeting he has requested. In Scene 2, Othello goes with some gentlemen to look over the Cyprus citadel\u2019s fortifications.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Emilia reports to Cassio that Desdemona is making headway on Cassio\u2019s suit: \u201cThe Moor replies \/ That he you hurt is of great fame in Cyprus \u2026. \/ But he protests he loves you \u2026 (544, 3.1.43-46). This sounds promising, but Cassio still wants to talk directly with Desdemona. In the very brief second scene, Othello provides some space for a meeting when he decamps to have a look at the Cyprus citadel\u2019s fortifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 3, Scene 3 (544-55, Desdemona speaks with Cassio, then presses her suit to Othello about him; Iago later suggests to Othello that Cassio\u2019s departure was suspicious, yet admonishes him against jealousy; Desdemona offers to wrap her handkerchief around Othello\u2019s head to cure his headache, but she drops it, and Emilia gives it to Iago; Othello now stricken by jealousy, demands proof of Desdemona\u2019s disloyalty; Iago claims that he has heard Cassio sleep-talking about Desdemona and seen him wiping his beard with her handkerchief; Othello swears he will kill Desdemona, while Iago agrees to kill Cassio; Othello names Iago as his new lieutenant.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Emilia\u2019s presence, Cassio and Desdemona speak for a while and she promises to do her utmost to help him regain his lieutenancy. Iago and Othello soon arrive, and Cassio makes away stealthily, but both men catch sight of him, which sighting Iago professes to find startling. Right away, Desdemona starts in with her attempt, plying Othello strongly to take Cassio back. She even brings up the fact that when Othello was her suitor and she criticized him, Cassio took his part and served as a go-between: \u201cWhat, Michael Cassio \/ That came a-wooing with you \u2026?\u201d she asks pointedly (547, 3.3.68-69).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello seems annoyed with the full-court press, saying, \u201cI will deny thee nothing. \/ Whereon, I do beseech thee, grant me this: to leave me but a little to myself\u201d (546, 3.3.82-84). Still, he is impressed with Desdemona\u2019s tenacity, and utters one of the play\u2019s most memorable exclamations: \u201cExcellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul \/ But I do love thee; and when I love thee not, \/ Chaos is come again\u201d (546, 3.3.89-91).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What happens next is painful to see, for Iago\u2019s great skill in drawing on Othello to begin to doubt the virtuous woman he loves will go so far that by the end of this very scene, Act 3, Scene 3, Othello will be reduced to the astonishing outcry, \u201cDamn her, lewd minx! Oh, damn her! Damn her!\u201d (555, 3.3.469) followed by a vow to murder her. Chaos, which Othello has just conjured for us, is Iago\u2019s decreative aim, his material as an artist, and out of it he will generate doubts in Othello\u2019s mind that will destroy both him and Desdemona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago\u2019s mastery shows in his ability to take full advantage of Othello\u2019s turn of mind, one that (at least when he isn\u2019t waxing extravagant about his worldly experiences) would have all things spoken as they are: plainly, straightforwardly. As Iago puts the case to him, \u201cMen should be what they seem \u2026\u201d (547, 3.3.125), and Othello couldn\u2019t agree more. Men should say what they mean, and not conceal things, or hem and haw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello doesn\u2019t like half-measures, ambivalent gestures or words, and so forth, and he now starts supposing\u2014because Iago is phrasing things \u201cjust so\u201d\u2014that that is exactly what the man is using with him. Iago has apparently long cultivated a reputation for honesty and plainspokenness with Othello, but now he seems to be hedging on the truth, holding something back. Iago has half-indicated some consternation about Cassio\u2019s experience as a go-between for Othello, and at his sudden departure a while ago. \u201cIf thou dost love me, \/ Show me thy thought\u201d (547, 3.3.114-15), requests the general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What happens next is almost operatic: as Othello becomes more and more anxious, Iago more insistently claims he\u2019s only doing right by hiding his thoughts. In the form of this refusal, he brilliantly introduces the operative word, <em>jealousy,<\/em> that will prove Othello\u2019s ruin: \u201cOh, beware, my lord, of jealousy! \/ It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock \/ The meat it feeds on\u201d (548, 3.3.163-65). Better far, insists Iago, to be cheated on, \u201ccuckolded,\u201d and to know it than to remain in doubt while still loving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Evidently, Iago knows that Othello lacks \u201cnegative capability\u201d (to borrow a term from one of John Keats\u2019s letters <a href=\"#_edn8\" id=\"_ednref8\">[8]<\/a>): he can\u2019t exist for an extended time in the midst of uncertainty. If there\u2019s a problem, it must be dealt with presently, not left to fester. Othello is the kind of military man who insists on gathering hard evidence and rendering a firm decision, court-martial style, the way he judged Cassio. His lack of knowledge about Venetian mores and subtlety <a href=\"#_edn9\" id=\"_ednref9\">[9]<\/a> makes him vulnerable to the overblown trifles in which Iago trades, and very susceptible to the honest-sounding counsel his deceiver offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We may recall, too, that Iago has already acknowledged Othello to be remarkably free from petty jealousy, <a href=\"#_edn10\" id=\"_ednref10\">[10]<\/a> so it is not surprising to hear him insist that his trust in Desdemona is great: \u201cFor she had eyes and chose me. No, Iago, \/ I\u2019ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove; \/ And, on the proof, there is no more but this: \/ Away at once with love or jealousy\u201d (549, 3.3.187-90).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago now brings in the heavy guns, so to speak: he plays Othello\u2019s guide to Venetian culture in a way that profoundly affects the dark-skinned foreigner. Iago says ominously, \u201cIn Venice they do let heaven see the pranks \/ They dare not show their husbands; their best conscience \/ Is not to leave\u2019t undone but kept unknown\u201d (549, 3.3.200-02). Othello cannot challenge Iago effectively here since he is <em>not<\/em> a Venetian, he is either an Arab from the Maghreb, or a black man from sub-Saharan Africa. <a href=\"#_edn11\" id=\"_ednref11\">[11]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago drives home what will seem to modern readers a deeply offensive point: Desdemona, he says, surely turned down many European suitors in favor of Othello. These were men, he says, \u201cOf her own clime, complexion, and degree, \/ Whereto we see in all things nature tends. \/ Faugh! One may smell in such a will most rank, \/ Foul disproportions, thoughts unnatural\u201d (549, 3.3.228-32). In other words, Iago is suggesting that something must be wrong with Desdemona\u2019s senses and judgment for her to choose a dark-skinned, foreign man of lower social rank than her over so many fair-skinned suitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago is picking up on what Othello himself had already suggested when he mused, \u201cAnd yet, how nature erring from itself\u2014\u201d (549, 3.3.226). Othello has stated Iago\u2019s argument that it is <em>natural <\/em>for people to prefer mates of their own race, region, and social rank. In this, Iago and Othello (who must have internalized this ungenerous view) agree, so it is no doubt devastating when Iago drives the knife in with, \u201cHer will, recoiling to her better judgment, \/ May fall to match you with her country forms, \/ And happily repent\u201d (550, 3.3.235-37). She may, that is, think better of her supposedly unnatural match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago\u2019s deceptive advice to Othello is that he should continue to put off his decision about Cassio, and note how this affects Desdemona. With that, Iago takes his leave and Othello is alone with his churning thoughts. He worries about his color, his age, and his inexperience with \u201csoft,\u201d courtly Venetian conversation. His resolution? \u201cIf I do prove her haggard, \/ Though that her jesses were my dear heartstrings, \/ I\u2019d whistle her off, and let her down the wind \/ To prey at fortune\u201d (550, 3.3.258-61). As the Norton margin-note points out, this is a falconry metaphor. If Othello ever found Desdemona \u201cwild,\u201d he would cut her loose forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello has shown himself to be quite the absolutist for the concept of honor, and he now considers himself doomed to the status of cuckold by a wife Iago has led him to suspect may be an all-too-typical supersubtle, untrustworthy Venetian. Othello still has some doubts to allay, but even by this point, Desdemona\u2019s character has effectively become the miserable construction of Othello\u2019s need for certainty. In short, he can\u2019t imagine her as anything but either a saint or a whore, and Iago has overrun all chance of confidently considering her the former. Othello\u2019s reserves of resistance are rapidly diminishing. <a href=\"#_edn12\" id=\"_ednref12\">[12]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a setup for the disastrous \u201chandkerchief\u201d episode in Act 3, Scene 4, Othello enters with a headache and Desdemona offers to wrap her handkerchief around his head. The thing doesn\u2019t really fit, and together they end up dropping it on the floor. After they leave the room, Emilia picks up the handkerchief, which Iago has asked her many times to steal, though she doesn\u2019t know why. Iago promptly demands it from her, and won\u2019t enlighten her as to why he needs it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With this petty theft and transfer, Othello, Desdemona, Emilia, and Iago himself have come much closer to disaster. Iago knows the symbolic significance of this piece of fabric: \u201cI will in Cassio\u2019s lodging lose this napkin, \/ And let him find it. Trifles light as air \/ Are to the jealous confirmations strong \/ As proofs of holy writ\u201d (552, 3.3.318-21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The pseudo-sacramental event that occurs soon after this theft is so stark as to be shocking. Othello bursts in on Iago, almost out of his mind with torment at the remaining quantum of uncertainty he still feels. He encapsulates this frantic state well when he declares, \u201cOthello\u2019s occupation\u2019s gone\u201d (552, 3.3.354). He is unnerved, unmanned, no longer fit to command an army. He had until now identified as a soldier, a leader of men in battle, but that is now behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello is filled with rage, and he turns it at once towards Iago: \u201cVillain, be sure thou prove my love a whore; \/ Be sure of it! Give me the ocular proof \u2026\u201d (552, 3.3.356-57). After some mock self-pity, Iago comes round to using this mood of Othello\u2019s for his own advantage: \u201cYou would be satisfied?\u201d (553, 3.3.389) he asks. Yes, Othello needs \u201ca living reason\u201d why he should set his view of Desdemona forevermore to \u201cdisloyal\u201d (553, 3.3.406).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As it turns out, Iago has two dubious \u201cproofs\u201d of Desdemona\u2019s supposed whoredom ready to retail. The first one is patently absurd. This is the purported incident wherein the sleeping Cassio, according to nobody but Iago, tried to make love to him in his sleep, as if he were Desdemona. The second so-called proof is more dangerous, for it concerns the handkerchief by which Othello himself holds so much store. Iago claims that he recently saw Cassio wiping his beard with it. That settles matters for Othello, whose standard for \u201cocular proof\u201d clearly isn\u2019t high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello now kneels as if at a Church altar, and utters a blood-curdling prayer: \u201cArise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell; \/ Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne \/ To tyrannous hate\u201d (554, 3.3.442-44). His uncertainty is gone. Iago\u2019s protestations yield only Othello\u2019s naming of his words \u201ca sacred vow\u201d (555, 3.4.455), and Iago himself now kneels alongside Othello and declares his absolute dedication to his general\u2019s revenge. <a href=\"#_edn13\" id=\"_ednref13\">[13]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello rewards Iago by tasking him with the killing of Cassio, while he himself will go devise \u201csome swift means of death \/ For the fair devil\u201d Desdemona (555, 3.3.471-72). Iago is now Othello\u2019s lieutenant\u2014the position he had coveted all along but had been denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 3, Scene 4. (555-60, Desdemona, still advocating for Cassio, frets about losing her handkerchief; Othello demands it of her and reproaches her when she fails to come up with it; Iago, in conversation with Desdemona and Emilia, pretends he is surprised by Desdemona\u2019s discomfiture, and offers to help; Desdemona and Emilia exchange views on what has caused Othello\u2019s anger; Desdemona delays her attempt to help Cassio; Cassio\u2019s girlfriend Bianca shows up; Cassio discovers the handkerchief in his own room, where Iago put it, and asks Bianca to copy the pattern for him.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Desdemona\u2019s anxiety over the misplacing of her strawberry-patterned handkerchief soon finds its justification when Othello enters and, insulting Desdemona for her allegedly \u201cmoist\u201d and \u201chot\u201d hands (556, 3.4.36), declares that he has watery eyes and asks her for the handkerchief. Desdemona doesn\u2019t have it. Othello dramatically recounts the magical properties of the handkerchief\u2014a gift to him from his own mother, who said its possession would guarantee loyalty <a href=\"#_edn14\" id=\"_ednref14\">[14]<\/a> \u2014and then Desdemona ratchets up her pleas on behalf of Cassio even as Othello keeps requiring her to produce the handkerchief: \u201cThe handkerchief!\u201d (557, 3.4.50) he bellows repeatedly, only to be met with renewed pleas about Cassio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, Othello can stand no more and stalks out of the room, leaving Emilia and Desdemona to ponder the cause of this strange, belligerent behavior on the part of the usually serene general. Emilia, ever worldly-wise, says that men \u201care all but stomachs\u201d (557, 3.4.96) and women their food, to be chewed up and belched out in due time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just then, Iago shepherds Cassio in for a progress report from Desdemona, who is constrained to tell him that Othello is too upset to hear more on the matter at present. Iago pretends to be shocked at his general\u2019s anger, and claims that he will go visit him right away. Desdemona defends Othello\u2019s conduct to Emilia, saying that surely there must be some great matter of state, or some plot, that is making him so unpleasant to deal with in smaller matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Emilia still wonders whether it might be jealousy, but Desdemona protests that she has given her husband no cause. Emilia points out that jealousy doesn\u2019t work that way: \u201cBut jealous souls will not be answered so. \/ They are not ever jealous for the cause, \/ But jealous for they\u2019re jealous: it is a monster \/ Begot upon itself, born on itself\u201d (559, 3.4.150-53). Bianca enters after Emilia and Desdemona leave, and Cassio asks her to copy the handkerchief pattern before he returns it to the owner. The object makes Bianca somewhat jealous, but she complies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act4\">ACT 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 4, Scene 1. (560-66, Iago plies Othello with graphic sexual details pertaining to Desdemona, and Othello has an epileptic seizure; Iago positions Othello where he can see Cassio and Iago talking in a sexual way about Bianca, and falsely claims that they are talking about Desdemona; Othello is enraged; Lodovico comes from Venice with the Duke and Senators\u2019 orders recalling Othello to Venice and replacing him in Cyprus with Cassio; Othello slaps Desdemona, cruelly dismisses her, and stalks out of the room as a horrified and disbelieving Lodovico looks on.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello, already driven a day earlier into an epileptic fit at the loss of the handkerchief (561, 4.1.47-48), will now be subjected to additional provocation: Iago conjures a vision of Desdemona \u201cnaked with her friend in bed \/ An hour or more, not meaning any harm,\u201d and brings up the lost handkerchief. (560, 4.1.3-4, 9) This, and more, with the end result being that Othello falls into a second epileptic fit. Iago chortles, \u201cMy medicine works! Thus credulous fools are caught, \/ And many worthy and chaste dames, even thus \/ All guiltless, meet reproach\u201d (560, 4.1.42-44).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago has in mind one further supposed proof: he will get the now-recovered Othello to stand in a concealed place and watch (but not hear) the conversation that Iago himself will steer with Cassio. With his guidance, Othello will take what he sees for lewd and contemptuous talk about Desdemona when in fact Cassio is making jests about his relationship with Bianca (562, 4.1.81-86).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bianca soon arrives, bringing with her the handkerchief (563, 4.1.140-46), which leads Othello to think that Cassio must have given it to Bianca out of contempt for Desdemona. Othello sees this spectacle and becomes deranged with contradictory impulses: \u201cO Iago, the pity of it, Iago!\u201d and \u201cI will chop her into messes. Cuckold me!\u201d (564, 4.1.185, 188) Iago comes up with the idea of strangling Desdemona in her \u201ccontaminated\u201d bed. (564, 4.1.196)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Othello strikes Desdemona (565, stage dir. before 4.1.228), Lodovico, who has come with a letter announcing that Cassio has been installed in Othello\u2019s place as commander in Cyprus, is there to see it, along with some very strange words and gestures besides. Lodovico assumes that Othello is an abusive husband, and says, \u201cI am sorry that I am deceived in him\u201d (566, 4.1.269). Othello had said earlier that his \u201coccupation\u2019s gone\u201d (552, 3.3.354). If it wasn\u2019t then, it certainly is now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 4, Scene 2. (566-72, Othello interrogates Emilia about relations between Cassio and Desdemona; Othello calls Desdemona a whore; she tries to defend herself, but to no avail, so she seeks solace from Iago; Roderigo enters, angry that his expensive gifts to Desdemona have netted him nothing; he threatens to demand their return; Iago claims that Desdemona will be off to Mauritania with her husband unless Roderigo can stop them; Iago tells Roderigo that he must kill Cassio to stop Othello from leaving.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello questions Emilia and proceeds to structure his interaction with her and Desdemona as an assignation with a prostitute facilitated by a madam. What is so maddening about this scene is that we know Othello isn\u2019t making a mountain out of a molehill; he\u2019s making a planet\u2019s worth of misdeeds from thin air. When Desdemona asks what her fault may be, Othello talks a stream of insulting nonsense: \u201cHeaven stops the nose at it, and the moon winks; \/ The bawdy wind, that kisses all it meets, \/ Is hushed within the hollow mine of earth, \/ And will not hear\u2019t\u201d (568, 4.2.76-79).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piety and honesty are manifestly the hallmarks of Desdemona\u2019s character, but by this time, Iago has warped Othello\u2019s mind into taking signs of virtue for their opposite: evidence of cunning whoredom. From now on, everything the lady says \u201ccan and will be used against her\u201d: she is essentially under house arrest. Desdemona\u2019s self-defense, while touching, is ineffectual: expressions such as \u201cBy heaven, you do me wrong\u201d and \u201cNo, as I am a Christian!\u201d (568, 4.2.80-81) make no impression on Othello\u2019s conscience, and only drive him into an even greater rage. <a href=\"#_edn15\" id=\"_ednref15\">[15]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As many people caught up in even a tolerably fair justice system like that of the United States could affirm, simply being <em>accused<\/em> of an offense may so strip a person of others\u2019 good opinion that it\u2019s tantamount to conviction. We solemnly intone that a person is \u201cpresumed innocent until proven guilty,\u201d but too often, the reverse is the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What happens to Desdemona is similar to what happens to the protagonist in Kafka\u2019s <em>The Trial <\/em><a href=\"#_edn16\" id=\"_ednref16\">[16]<\/a>or to Winston Smith and Julia under interrogation in George Orwell\u2019s <em>1984: <\/em><a href=\"#_edn17\" id=\"_ednref17\">[17]<\/a>to come under suspicion is already to have no identity except that constituted by one\u2019s presumed malefactions. Most people have never been accused of a crime, so they may find it hard to empathize or even sympathize with someone who has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under such pressure, Desdemona is reduced to tears, and seeks solace first from Emilia, and then from Iago, who frames his face to the occasion and utters the right words: \u201cDo not weep, do not weep. Alas the day!\u201d (569, 4.2.123). Together, Emilia, Iago, and Desdemona hash out her predicament, with sensible Emilia suggesting that Othello must have been duped: \u201cThe Moor\u2019s abused by some most villainous knave\u2026\u201d (570, 4.2.138). This ought to warn Iago that if his plan should go awry, the cause could well be Emilia, but at present the villain indicates his agreement with Emilia\u2019s assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Desdemona remains prayerful, saying, \u201cIf e\u2019er my will did trespass ‘gainst his love \/ \u2026 \/ Comfort forswear me\u201d (491, 4.2.151-58). She is as patient as the long-suffering Griselda who is severely tested by her husband Walter in Chaucer\u2019s \u201cClerk\u2019s Tale,\u201d <a href=\"#_edn18\" id=\"_ednref18\">[18]<\/a> but alas, her patience will not deliver even the questionable \u201chappily ever after\u201d ending granted to Chaucer\u2019s heroine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago continues his work on a justifiably angry Roderigo, who half-accuses him of stealing the gems he bought for Iago to give to Desdemona. Iago scarcely bothers to deny it, and easily reconfigures this fool\u2019s perspective by involving him in a plot to murder Cassio, who, as Iago says, is about to replace Othello in Cyprus. If Roderigo is to have any chance with Desdemona, Iago points out, he certainly won\u2019t have it if the Moor decamps to Mauritania. Killing Cassio, he reasons, will keep Othello in Cyprus for the time being. Roderigo agrees to hear more (572, 4.2.235).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 4, Scene 3. (572-74, While strolling with Lodovico, Othello orders Desdemona to bed, and says she must dismiss Emilia, too; Emilia helps prepare Desdemona for the night\u2019s sleep, and the two women talk about marital disloyalty; Desdemona sees infidelity as all but impossible, while Emilia insists that women\u2019s desires are just as strong as men\u2019s.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking with Emilia, Desdemona recalls a song of frustrated love sung by a maid that her mother employed, one who died when her lover went mad and abandoned her: \u201cSing willow, willow, willow\u201d (573, 4.3.39ff). Emilia is livid with Othello, and tells Desdemona, \u201cI would you had never seen him!\u201d (572, 4.3.17) Desdemona, however, is not of the same mind, and her reply is a declaration of love for Othello: \u201cmy love doth so approve him \/ That even his stubbornness, his checks, his frowns \/ \u2026 have grace and favor\u201d (572, 4.3.18-20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the talk turns to whether or not women may prove untrue to their husbands, Desdemona thinks not, but Emilia thinks there may be sufficient grounds to prove so: \u201cWhy, who would not make her husband a cuckold to make \/ him a monarch?\u201d (573, 4.3.71-72) <a href=\"#_edn19\" id=\"_ednref19\">[19]<\/a> A fit opponent for her own controlling husband, Emilia tries to temper Desdemona\u2019s moral absolutism, which rivals that of Othello. Although not quite advocating female adultery, Emilia says bluntly to men in general, \u201clet them know \/ The ills we do, their ills instruct us so\u201d (574, 4.3.97-98).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act5\">ACT 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 5, Scene 1. (574-77, at night, Roderigo unsuccessfully assaults Cassio and is in turn wounded; Iago wounds Cassio\u2019s leg; Othello hears Cassio\u2019s cry, and assumes that Iago has murdered him as planned, so he goes off to kill Desdemona; Iago kills Roderigo to silence him; Iago, Lodovico, and Gratiano render aid to Cassio, and Bianca arrives; Iago slanders Bianca and falsely accuses her of plotting the present violence against Cassio.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago arranges for Roderigo to kill Cassio, but the bungler fails to injure him and is himself badly wounded, so Iago has to step in and knife Cassio in the leg. Othello enters unseen, and hears Cassio\u2019s cry, which makes him think that Iago has fully succeeded at his task, which of course was to kill Cassio: \u201cO brave Iago, honest and just, \/ That hast such noble sense of thy friend\u2019s wrong; \/ Thou teachest me\u201d (575, 5.1.31-33).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago takes advantage of the dark and the confusion as Graziano and Lodovico arrive to render aid, and stabs Roderigo without anyone else noticing. Iago blames Bianca for the fighting, claiming that she urged it on, and concludes the scene with a remark that shows him to be very much an actor in the play he has been scripting since the very first act: \u201cThis is the night \/ That either makes me or fordoes me quite\u201d (577, 5.1.127-28). He knows that the tragedy he has spun consists not just of his own will but of moving human parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 5, Scene 2. (577-86 end, Othello kisses the sleeping Desdemona, but then wakes her and accuses her of adultery; she protests, but he smothers her; Emilia arrives with news about the brawl, and Othello admits to her that he has killed Desdemona; Desdemona briefly regains consciousness and speaks; when Emilia shouts \u201cmurder,\u201d Iago, Montano, and Gratiano come; Iago confesses that he first accused Desdemona; Emilia reveals the truth about the handkerchief, and Othello then attacks Iago; Iago knifes Emilia; Othello realizes his tragic mistake, declares how he wants to be remembered, and commits suicide; Iago refuses to speak further, and is dragged away.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello looks at the sleeping Desdemona and kisses her, but still resolves to kill her: \u201cI\u2019ll not shed her blood, \/ Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow \/ \u2026 Yet she must die, else she\u2019ll betray more men\u201d (577-78, 5.2.3-6). He continues with reference to his candle and his wife\u2019s soul, \u201cPut out the light, and then put out the light\u201d (578, 5.2.7). His speech is eloquent, but the deed he intends is no less damnable for the softness with which he intends to carry it out, or the indications of continued love he gives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello seems surprised when Desdemona wakes up, and he turns his efforts to ensuring that she sets her soul right with God before he strangles her\u2014but this resolution goes by the wayside the moment she tries to defend herself from his accusations. It comes down to the handkerchief: \u201cI saw my handkerchief in’s hand!\u201d (579, 5.2.63) shouts Othello, and he is so enraged with Desdemona for denying the significance of this that he now willingly admits to being about to perpetrate \u201ca murder, which I thought a sacrifice \u2026\u201d (579, 5.2.66).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the most chilling things about this final scene is that nothing Desdemona says has the slightest chance of changing Othello\u2019s mind. He has cast around his wife such a web made of another man\u2019s malice and lies that he can\u2019t hear what she is saying anymore: his mind and soul are bent upon murder. Desdemona\u2019s pleas and her fear have no effect upon Othello, and he smothers her in two successive bouts, the second time because he has heard her stirring. When Emilia enters, Desdemona\u2019s dying words amount to an attempt to remove all blame from Othello: \u201cCommend me to my kind lord\u201d (580, 5.2.122).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello initially wrangles with Emilia and engages in some waffling and denial: \u201cYou hear her say herself it was not I\u201d (581, 5.2.124). When he cites Iago as the backing for what he has done, Emilia is dumbfounded and makes him repeat this new bit of information several times, and finally braves Othello\u2019s physical threats intended to shut her up, shouting \u201cThe Moor hath killed my mistress. Murder! Murder!\u201d (581, 5.2.362)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Emilia proves vital to the unearthing of the truth about Iago\u2019s diabolical plot. When Othello once again refers to the handkerchief as proof of Desdemona\u2019s adultery, Emilia blurts out that Iago had solicited her to steal it, and then received it from her when she found it in Desdemona\u2019s room: \u201cHe begged of me to steal\u2019t\u201d (583, 5.2.223). Emilia is mortally wounded by Iago, and dies singing the \u201cWillow\u201d song she heard Desdemona sing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, her final burst of truth proves devastating to Othello\u2019s whole being\u2014he is reduced to abject misery when he is temporarily disarmed while charging at Iago, saying, \u201cwhy should honor outlive honesty? \/ Let it go all\u201d (583, 5.2.238-39). Speaking with Graziano alone, Othello begs the devils in Hell to torment him for what he has done, and stabs Iago when he is captured and brought in. What Othello really wants to know is, of course, <em>why\u2014<\/em>for what reason has Iago thus \u201censnared\u201d him in a fatal plot against his wife?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iago now turns enigmatic, and the words he speaks seem plausible as a prediction, projected tortures notwithstanding: \u201cDemand me nothing. What you know, you know: \/ From this time forth I never will speak word\u201d (585, 5.2.296-97). Cassio reports that Roderigo, not dead after all, has confessed in a letter how \u201cIago hurt him; Iago set him on\u201d (585, 5.2.321-22). Othello is duly relieved of his command by Lodovico, and told he must be held prisoner until the Venetian state is apprised of what has happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All that we are going to know is now known, and nothing remains but for Othello to make his quietus with whatever small weapon remains to him. The once proud general makes himself an example in all strictness, preempting Venetian justice. Supposing that his service to the state entitles him to some control over his image going forward, he characterizes himself not as a base murderer but as a man who \u201cloved not wisely but too well\u201d (596, 5.2.337). Othello\u2019s eloquence and dignity reassert themselves in his final speech, and he stabs himself as soon as he is done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello\u2019s death seems necessary since his mere words and bearing, as he understands, cannot make up for the destruction of a faithful wife. His final self-description indicates a desire to control others\u2019 interpretations of his downfall; perhaps that is a tragic hero\u2019s right, <a href=\"#_edn20\" id=\"_ednref20\">[20]<\/a> but the play\u2019s conclusion remains disturbing. Othello had twice asked essentially the same question: \u201cHa! Ha! False to me?\u201d and \u201cCuckold me?\u201d (552, 3.3.330, 4.1.188) as if incredulous that he, of all men, should suffer the indignity of betrayal. Most of our sympathy goes to Desdemona, not to Othello, in spite of his sincere horror at what Iago\u2019s treachery has led him to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How should we assess Othello as a tragic hero? The moral quality of Shakespeare\u2019s protagonists varies: Richard III is a stage villain; Macbeth an introspective man who appreciates from the outset the evil nature of the path to power he contemplates; Brutus and Cassius reveal dueling motives against Julius Caesar, noble and base; Romeo and Juliet die because of pitiable misunderstandings and accidents rather than grievous faults; King Lear is brought down in part by a fundamental confusion between his public and private selves; Hamlet the revenger undergoes strange alternations of stricken dawdling and rashness; Coriolanus isolates and debases himself in his patrician rage, etc. What of Othello?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello is a warrior who becomes the victim of his own deeply ingrained, absolutist attitude towards everything and everyone. He is a man who is treated as an exotic Other, and he is the victim of cultural misunderstandings that put him at the mercy of the subtle Iago. <a href=\"#_edn21\" id=\"_ednref21\">[21]<\/a> Othello\u2019s fall from grace seems classical in that he commits his deadly errors because of his noblest qualities: a soldierly, unwavering commitment to right conduct, fidelity and truth. His generosity of spirit towards Desdemona, once put in question by Iago, gives way to cruel resolution and a refusal even to hear the accused\u2019s honest plea. <a href=\"#_edn22\" id=\"_ednref22\">[22]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It may be that what underlies Othello\u2019s downfall is in part the basic fact that if we turn heroic values over and view their obverse, what we will find is an equally strong counter-sentiment or counter-anxiety against which the heroic code is posited. Only those who act from some level of awareness of this unsettling relationship have any real chance of success: they are not so likely as others to be trapped by the productions of their own heart and imagination, or indeed of other people\u2019s selfish devices, as Othello is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Othello, it seems, lacks that awareness and never\u2014not even after the worst is known and all lies exposed before him\u2014shows an ability to mediate between the ideal and the anxiety that both underwrites and threatens it. Ideals are necessary and noble, but they are also potentially lethal: \u201cHandle with care,\u201d this play may be understood to advise us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Edition.<\/strong>\u00a0Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors.\u00a0<em>The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies + Digital Edition.<\/em>\u00a03rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93860-9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Copyright \u00a9 2012, revised 2025 Alfred J. Drake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Document Timestamp: 1\/21\/2026 7:47 PM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"endnotes\">ENDNOTES<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">*To return to exact part of the text referenced by the endnotes below, left-click on the endnote’s numbered link. By contrast, the blue scroll-up button at the bottom right of the page returns to the top of the document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref1\" id=\"_edn1\">[1]<\/a> Iago may be partly responsible, as some critics have long suggested, for the diabolical energy of John Milton\u2019s Satan, the great original of the destructive, decreative power in evil. Satan says in Book 4 of <em>Paradise Lost, <\/em>\u201cEvil be thou my Good,\u201d and declares that his mission from the Fall onwards will be always to turn God\u2019s good acts to bad outcomes. The fuller passage runs, So farewel Hope, and with Hope farewel Fear, \/ Farewel Remorse: all Good to me is lost; \/ Evil be thou my Good \u2026\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/milton.host.dartmouth.edu\/reading_room\/pl\/book_4\/text.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Milton Reading Room edition<\/a>, 4.108-10.) Accessed 6\/16\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref2\" id=\"_edn2\">[2]<\/a> See Karim-Cooper, Farah. <em>The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking about Race. <\/em>Viking, 2023. For the reference to witchcraft, see pg. 119. The author also sees a switchover in the depiction of Desdemona from \u201cfair\u201d to \u201cpitch,\u201d with the term being invoked to indicate a loss of moral status. 130-31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref3\" id=\"_edn3\">[3]<\/a> Shakespeare uses this familiar word rather than the Italian term <em>Doge.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref4\" id=\"_edn4\">[4]<\/a> According to Renaissance humanist theory, the elements of the rational part of human nature are \u201cunderstanding\u201d or reason and \u201cwill\u201d or rational appetite, the inner power of motion that can incline toward God and reason or toward our lower appetites. See \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/guide_ren_theory_of_humors_revised.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Theory of the Humours<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref5\" id=\"_edn5\">[5]<\/a> Shakespeare, William. <em>The Play of Pericles, Prince of Tyre.<\/em> In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Romances and Poems,<\/em> 3rd ed. 150-206. See 201, 5.1.181-83: \u201cGive me a gash, put me to present pain, \/ Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me \/ O\u2019erbear the shores of my mortality \u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref6\" id=\"_edn6\">[6]<\/a> Some critics certainly bristle at the idea of such ordinary motives as jealousy and promotion-envy. A. C. Bradley, for example, reads Iago as a character possessed of supreme intellect and supreme evil. See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/16966\/16966-h\/16966-h.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A. C. Bradley\u2019s <em>Shakespearean Tragedy, <\/em>2nd ed. (Gutenberg e-text.)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref7\" id=\"_edn7\">[7]<\/a> Bloom, Harold. <em>Shakespeare and the Invention of the Human.<\/em> New York: Riverhead Books, 1998. \u201cSatan, exploring the untracked Abyss in <em>Paradise Lost,<\/em> is truly in Iago\u2019s spirit. Who before Iago, in literature or in life, perfected the arts of disinformation, disorientation, and derangement? All these combine in Iago\u2019s grand program of uncreation, as Othello is returned to original chaos, to the Tohu and Bohun from which we came\u201d (436).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref8\" id=\"_edn8\">[8]<\/a> Keats, John. \u201cLetter to George and Thomas Keats,\u201d Dec. 22, 1817. Keats writes in reference to Shakespeare, \u201cI mean <em>Negative Capability<\/em>, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.\u201d In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/35698\/35698-h\/35698-h.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Letters of John Keats to His Family and Friends, by John Keats, Edited by Sidney Colvin<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em>(Gutenberg e-text.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref9\" id=\"_edn9\">[9]<\/a> An English stereotype for the Italians generally\u2014subtle, devious, sly. See, for example, Marrapodi, Michele. <em>Italian Culture in the Drama of Shakespeare & His Contemporaries: Rewriting, Remaking, Refashioning. <\/em>Routledge, 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref10\" id=\"_edn10\">[10]<\/a> See Norton <em>Tragedies <\/em>3rd edition<em>, Othello <\/em>534, 2.1.272. Iago says that Othello \u201cIs of a constant, noble, loving nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref11\" id=\"_edn11\">[11]<\/a> There is no critical consensus on this issue of race or ethnicity. It seems obvious from references in the play that Othello is dark-skinned, not \u201cwhite,\u201d but it\u2019s hard to be more precise than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref12\" id=\"_edn12\">[12]<\/a> Shakespeare explores this kind of rigid idealism and its effects in a number of his plays, and he appears to consider it a dangerous trap. For example, we need name only the rigidly honorable Brutus in <em>Julius Caesar,<\/em> or the starchily aristocratic, plebeian-despising title character in <em>Coriolanus.<\/em> There are many shades of gray, nuances, roles a man or woman must play, imperfections and exigencies to deal with, and idealism is a surefire way to render oneself incapable of dealing with any of it. Idealism is noble, Shakespeare seems to say, but it is also a disabling quality in a saucy, sublunary, ever-changing world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref13\" id=\"_edn13\">[13]<\/a> Othello\u2019s own damnation consists in swearing by Christian symbols to do the devil\u2019s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref14\" id=\"_edn14\">[14]<\/a> Apparently, Othello expects the same romantic extravagance from Desdemona as he lavishes upon her: the handkerchief, he tells her, is an emblem of the romantic magic, the charm, that underlies his erotic fidelity. Its loss is catastrophic now that it has come to symbolize her chaste loyalty. (Norton <em>Tragedies<\/em> 556, 3.4.53ff) Othello is a romantic idealist as well as a military idealist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref15\" id=\"_edn15\">[15]<\/a> It\u2019s common in Renaissance plays for virtuous characters to prove themselves helpless when abused by the wicked and the cunning. For those who find fault with Desdemona\u2019s seeming paucity of resources in combating Othello\u2019s violent and deranged misprisions, it should be remembered that innocence can seldom defend itself as eloquently as evil can, even when the innocent person is as intelligent as Desdemona. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moreover, even if good people have considerable linguistic capacity and courage, the disposition we call \u201cgoodness\u201d seldom, if ever, gains by rhetorical sleight: the problem seems intractable. King Lear\u2019s daughter Cordelia may be rather stiff and clumsy as a speaker in Act 1, Scene one of <em>King Lear,<\/em> but we all feel the rightness of her lament, \u201cWhat shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent\u201d (Norton <em>Tragedies, <\/em>3<sup>rd<\/sup> ed., <em>King Lear <\/em>766, 1.1.60). Or consider Machiavelli\u2019s characterization of the problem: to quote from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/1232\/1232-h\/1232-h.htm\">Chapter XV of <em>The Prince<\/em><\/a><em>,<\/em> \u201ca man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so much that is evil.\u201d (Gutenberg e-text.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref16\" id=\"_edn16\">[16]<\/a> Kafka, Franz. <em>The Trial. <\/em>Dover Thrift Editions, 2009. Orig. pub. 1925.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref17\" id=\"_edn17\">[17]<\/a> Orwell, George. <em>1984. <\/em>Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. Orig. pub. 1949.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref18\" id=\"_edn18\">[18]<\/a> Chaucer, Geoffrey. \u201cThe Clerk\u2019s Tale\u201d in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/2383\/2383-h\/2383-h.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Canterbury Tales<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em>(Gutenberg e-text.) Accessed 6\/16\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref19\" id=\"_edn19\">[19]<\/a> Emilia\u2019s bawdy pronouncements on gender relations are the stuff of Shakespearian comedy (one thinks of Portia and Nerissa\u2019s \u201cring scheme\u201d in <em>The Merchant of Venice<\/em>), but here they only deepen the sense of impending tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref20\" id=\"_edn20\">[20]<\/a> See, for example, Hamlet\u2019s plea toward the end of <em>Hamlet <\/em>that Horatio should tell his story: \u201cAbsent thee from felicity awhile \/ And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain \/ To tell my story\u201d (Norton <em>Tragedies <\/em>3rd edition<em>, Hamlet <\/em>446, 5.2.325-27).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref21\" id=\"_edn21\">[21]<\/a> There is also reason to explore the final act while taking into account the play\u2019s treatment of race: we could read Othello\u2019s downfall in light of a set of assumptions that take him from a kind of \u201cnoble exception\u201d to his alleged racial characteristics to an unfortunate exemplar of those alleged characteristics. In effect, the play may be treating him as the supposedly rare noble black man to a supposedly all-too-common ignoble black man. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">See for instance Karim-Cooper, Farah. <em>The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking about Race. <\/em>Viking, 2023. The author suggests that when Lodovico sees Othello strike Desdemona, \u201cThis marks the beginning of the end for Othello as he slips into stereotype.\u201d 128.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref22\" id=\"_edn22\">[22]<\/a> For those interested in source materials for the play, comparing the end of the play with the conclusion of the tale in Cinthio\u2019s <em>Gli Hecatommithi <\/em>is instructive. In that story, the Moor\u2019s Ensign (our Iago) comes up with a very different plan for killing Desdemona, one full of devious cunning and completely devoid of dignity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To wit, he and the Moor will \u201cbeat Disdemona with a stocking filled with sand until she dies\u201d (250), and then they will crack her head open and ensure that part of the ceiling collapses on her. It will look like a terrible accident. The two men almost succeed, but in the end the truth comes out and both the Moor and the Ensign die miserable deaths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the fuller account, see Bullough, Geoffrey, editor. <em>Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare. <\/em>Vol. VII. Major Tragedies: <em>Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth.<\/em> London: Routledge and Kegan Paul; New York: Columbia UP, 1973. See section on <em>Othello<\/em> sources: from <em>Gli Hecatommithi, <\/em>by G. B. Giraldi Cinthio. Trans. Geoffrey Bullough. Pp. 239-53.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shakespeare\u2019s Othello Commentary Alfred J. Drake, Ph.D. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. Folio. In The Norton […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"iawp_total_views":44,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[268,36,266,269,243,244,253,271,267,270],"wf_page_folders":[11],"class_list":["post-229","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-tragic-plays","tag-desdemona","tag-elizabethan-drama","tag-i-loved-not-wisely-but-too-well","tag-jealousy-in-shakespeare","tag-shakespeares-african-characters","tag-shakespeares-black-characters","tag-shakespeares-tragedies","tag-shakespeares-venice","tag-the-anthropophagi","tag-venetian-republic"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ajd_shxpr","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/author\/ajd_shxpr\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Shakespeare\u2019s Othello Commentary Alfred J. Drake, Ph.D. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. Folio. In The Norton […]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11122,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/229\/revisions\/11122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":229,"date":"2024-04-13T21:54:09","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T04:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/?page_id=229"},"modified":"2026-01-21T19:47:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T03:47:06","slug":"othello-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/othello-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Othello"},"content":{"rendered":"