Othello Notes

Classified as a domestic tragedy

o Written at the beginning of the Jacobean period
Tragic forms and themes of the play
o What is comic?
Iago - dark comedy
Play is preceded by games as it is beginning of tragedy
Crisis of degree at beginning of the play
o Othello has defied social conventions of race
o Desdemona defies father
Context
o There is a conflict with Christian Europe and Islamic Arab
world
o Venetians are at war with Turks
Rationale of having Othello as general
Individuals at odds with dominant group
o Venice subconsciously on side of Iago
Iago should not be in a lower position
Who is plays protagonist?
o Othello
He is the primary vehicle of apprehension in tragedy
Psychomachia
o Very clear
Good angel: Desdemona
Virtue
Honesty
TRUTH
LOVE
Evil angel: Iago
Vice
VIRTU
Dishonesty
Lies
ENVY
Falsehood
Iago is not just an embodiment of hate, also
embodiment of diabolical in human
o Iago sees himself as bermensch
Not a revolutionary, however
o Ultimately, Iago persuades Othello
Othello is a soldier who respects virtu

o The divine and demonic are both relocated in the human

Shakespeare interrogates patriarchal Christianity?
Exchange between Iago and Othello
o Iago shows us his weakeness
o Iago also demonstrates Machiavellianism
Virtu as necessity for lower classes
Virtu is not just political
Iagos take on the world is not absolutely evil
Dark tragedy with Nietzchian protagonist
Formally, very antagonistic, however
Being led on by Iago could happen to anyone
o However, Iago is not morally neutral
I am not what I am
Contrast this to the I Am of God
Iago often represents himself as that which embodies the
feminine
o However, unlike Richard, he does not have a conscience
Iago is a more perfect version of evil
We dont know anything about him
Iago is afraid of vulnerability and hostile to love
o Obsessive towards Cassius and Othello
o Driven by envy and sadistic will to
destroy
Iago may not be fully Machiavellian
o He doesnt control his objects
o Perhaps better to see him as a dark magician who
enchants everyone
Question: If Othello is Iagos antithesis, why does Othello do
exactly what Iago wants?
o Relationship between Othello and Desdemona is loving
o Iagos opposal is greater?
Act I: Scene I

Roderigo is overly passionate

o Iago is only friends with him for class-affiliation
At beginning, we see Iago as envious of classes
Despise me if I do not
o Inversion of morality of loyalty
o Parodies Othellos style
Iago feminizes men through language
o Classes Cassio as preferable to Othello
Issue of social rank?

Iago doesnt bother being logical with his dukes

o Giordano Bruno: master magician uses
phantasms of love and hate to
manipulate people/ crowds
o Magician must know his power
Prior to marriage, Othello makes good decisions
His Moorships...
o Iago is racist
Hard to tell whether racism or personal sense of
rejection is dominant in his hate of Othello
Oh sir content you, I follow
o Turns verb to follow into to hunt
Suggests Iago will pursue Othello (foreshadowing?)
Not all masters are to be followed
o Tries to manipulate social class
Divisive character!
o Those who are good, according to Iago, are knaves
Do themselves homage
o Egoistic
Not modern, however
Were I not the wooer
o States openly heaven can judge him
o Suggests ANYONE could be Iago
There is vacancy at Iagos core
He asserts identity in destruction of other men
o Element of exhibisionism?
Pact between Iago and Othello?
Silence of Iago at the end
Notable characters
o Desdemona
Represents free will
Othello: She chose me
o She has freedom to choose
Still does?
Classical tragedy is the noble encompassed by the inevitable
o Not so in Shakespearian tragedies
Desdemonas mistakes
Classically hubristic
o Pushes Othello
Why?
Needs to assert herself for
fear of his duties

Equates love with power and

influence

Othello is partly a play about FAITH

o Othellos changing faith in Desdemona
Trifles as motif?
o Othello is always in control
Yet, behavior changes during handkerchief
scene
Othello feels Desdemona is trying to
manipulate his military judgement
o Othello wants to reintegrate (recover)
He has strong impulse to not let go,
even after consummating love with
Desdemona
Desdemona tries to reestablish
Othello, but Iago keeps corrupting
him
Thomas Rhymer: saw play as farcical
Cassio hyper-idealizes Desdemona
o Cassios mistreatment of Bianca
If Cassio did not mistreat Bianca so badly, Iago could
not so easily manipulate Othello
Cassio was a go-between between
Desdemona and Othello
According to Venetian norms, Cassio ought to be who
Desdemona should be attracted to
All characters are weak in relation to Iago
o Iago envies Cassios beauty
Almost succeeds in murder
o Iago likes tuning virtue into kitsch
Sadistic
Trapped in cosmos
Has will to show domination of others in order
to demonstrate that he is right in materialistic
outlook
o Separates flesh from spirit (soul)
Erotic love as consuming soul?
Allusion to Cupid and Psyche?
However, it is not love that
kills your soul
Cassio flirts with Emilia
o He can bypass Iago to do this
Infuriates Iago

Iago feels insecure, so he exacts revenge as a

way of staying in control
o Cassio is not a virtuous man
Same is true of Emilia
Desdemona expresses thoughts, though she
doesnt act on them
o She is still human, still has flaws
Act I: Scene 2

Line 65 confrontation
o Run to thy sooty bosom
Reference to thing
Objectifies, deprives matter (Othello) of spirit
Othello is anxious of his skin and racism of others
o Desdemonas love heals that trauma
When this is questioned, Othello projects latent racist
pain onto her
Iago should appear as a regular guy
Keep up your bright swords
o Othello finds it hilarious, he is IN CONTROL of the situation
Scene in the senate
o Othello accused of witchcraft
Absurd
Heightens discourse of nature as constructed values
of Venetian culture
o Othello is spoken to as a woman
Desdemona defends him; he does not return the
favor
o Othellos language elevates Venetians to a position of
power, which is what they want to hear
Iago as predator/ devil
o Cant shake Iago
Iagos tendency to tantalize truth
o Iago drives Othello to madness/ epileptic fit
Iago acts, feigning compassion
Toys with Othellos intimay
Iago as a reflection of our personalities
Othello and Iago flow into one another
o Emergence of white devil?
Relatively late climax in Othello
o In this and many other ways, play resembles Hamlet
Focuses on a problem of evidence

In Hamlet, Hamlet needs Cladius to open up

o Hamlet resolves issue differently than
Othello
Evidence is central to the play
o In Othello, evidence is dubious at best, yet accepted
Emilia exposes the chain of deception
Results in Othellos final soliloquy
Emilia as white queen?
o Epistemological crisis: HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE
KNOW?
2 ways to approach unknowing
Socratic position (opposite of nihilism)
o We cannot be certain of anything
o Must accept uncertainty
Nihilism
o Because we know nothing, there is
nothing
Iago is embodiment of this view
o Inability to live with uncertainty
To be able to love like Desdemona, we must embrace uncertainty
o Othello moves towards the fulfillment of satisfaction
He needs certainty
Knows where this will lead
Iago wants Othello to be ruined
o However, he fails: he is discovered and
becomes uxorcide (wife murdered) like
Othello
Theme of suffocation
o Orifices are obsessively sealed and closed forcibly
Forceful suffocation
o Silencing and ignorance of womans words
The more Desdemona swears, the more she is
damned
Emilia cannot defend herself because her words fall
on deaf ears
Play is also partly about reports
o Your reports have set the murder on
Shows how inaccurate reports can be used to
destructive ends

Act IV: Scene 3

Emilia interrogated

o Anyone can deny

I saw my handkerchief in Cassios hand
o Failure of evidence
Othellos crying
o Desdemona as comforter, even in face of death
Othello lets her soothe him, then kills her
Psychologically jarring
Figure of scorn of time
o Reveals how strong external pressures are to fractioning
marriage
Insectile imagery of sexuality
o Also of body as dead meat
Othello sees life, love gone
Association of black magic
Christian dualism
Woman is associated to mortality
o Material over salvation
Shakespeare may be critiquing
dualism
I am none
o Desdemona denies being a strumpet
o However, doesnt matter how many times she says it
Othello wont listen
Iago and Emilia comfort Desdemona
o Emilia is moving towards the truth
Her relationship with Desdemona is new
Emilia can see through Iago
Emilia also tries to support husband
o Steals handkerchief for him
However, Emilia is at her best when she
disobeys her husband
Emilia and Desdemonas dialogue on female fidelity
o Emilia stands for carnivalesque of power imbalance
Necrophilic-misogynistic play world
Act V: Scene 2

Othello cannot articulate reason for killing his wife

Reference to alabaster stone
o Impenetrable?
Yet she must die, lest she hurt more men, according to Othello
o Hyperbolizes himself as a knight, minister of justice
Kiss

o Persuades him of the danger of desire

Kills her, then kills himself while kissing Desdemona
Emilia is on the bed too
Othellos final soliloquy
o Fictionalizes himself, offering report
Not one who loved wisely, but too well
Really?
Not easily jealous
Iago contradicts this
There may be something in his comparison of
weeping with Arabian gum that makes sense
o Othello divides himself in two
He prosecutes and executes himself
Sacrificially rehabilitates the Venetian Othello
Spartan dog, more fell than anguish
o Gratifying to Iago?
Venetian gentlemen quickly get to business of dividing property
o Rhyming couplets in Shakespeare typically indicate
shallowness of though?