The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice

By William Shakespeare

Characters

Characters

Othello

"Speak of me as I am", Othello asks us in his final speech. Difficult. He is introduced as "as old black ram", "a lascivious Moor" with "thick lips". The picture built up is of a foreigner to Venice, inhuman and savage, whose chief interest in life is "tupping" the fair ladies of Venice. The reference to "Moor" rather than "Othello" strengthens our initial conception of something subhuman.

The contrast between this image and the character that appears in act I, scene 2 is deliberately strong. His first words are noble, "Keep up your bright swords..." and he proves himself very eloquent in the scene that follows. More interesting, however, is something he says earlier to Iago:

My parts, my title, and my perfect soul

Shall manifest me rightly(1.2.31-32)

This is ironic considering what has already been said of him and what is to follow, but particularly considering the word "manifest". The visual manifestation of Othello is as a black man, as a Moor. Yet he would have himself manifested as otherwise. When he is before the senate, his manners are those of the most eloquent and civilised Venetian. Though he claims to be "rude" in his speech, he is anything but that. It is an example of apologia, a rhetorical device where the speaker undermines his own speech to give it a greater effect. Though he speaks of the exotic, of the Anthrophagi, of "men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders", his challenge is surely that he is not such a savage. It is as though Shakespeare is challenging his audience to see beyond the inescapable fact that Othello is a black man: that he is "not what he seems".

Othello is a man of words. At first and last, he creates an image for himself, of a civilised Venetian with an exotic and beguiling past. This image, conjured with his eloquence, is the more powerful for his identification as a soldier. He appears to talk as a soldier, of martial life, of battles and sieges, but his words are poetic rather than brusque. He excuses himself as, "little blessed with the soft phrase of peace", with "little of this great world" to speak. But his rhetoric is indeed blessed and charming and he has more than anyone of "this great world to speak".

But he too, is vulnerable. Perhaps being so passionate, he is the most vulnerable to the words of others, particularly Iago's. As Iago works his spell over Othello, his character seems to change and this is reflected in his language. He loses authority. In tense situations, he no longer comes out with gems like "Keep up your bright swords for the dew will rust them." but instead litters his speech with oaths. He becomes passionate, crazed, screaming of "Handkerchiefs! confessions! handkerchiefs!". He is reduced to a bestial savage. It is once he falls under Iago's spell that his language really becomes soldierly. His treatment of Desdemona becomes brusque, his tone loses its earlier softness. He is decisive and resolute, unyielding to Desdemona's unassertive protests.

Othello is always, though, a man of honour even if his honour is misdirected. Iago cannot change characters, just direct them. His murder of Desdemona he sees as a sacrifice not a murder of hate and, in his remorse, he describes himself as an "honourable murderer". His own suicide is one of warrior's honour. He would not let himself be punished by the state. He admits his guilt and does the punishing himself.

There is some debate as to whether Othello is "black" as night or dark olive-skinned "brown". He comes from North Africa and would more likely be "brown", and there is evidence to suggest that some inspiration for his character was drawn from the Moorish ambassador to the court of Elizabeth. This debate is fairly academic but what is certain is that due to his colour he is an outsider no matter how he may act in the minds of the Venetians (Brabantio certainly takes little convincing). However, he seems over the course of the play to allow himself to become the black devil some see him as. The apparent racism in this is undermined by the fact that it is Iago's 'white-man' influence that, by bestowing him with the tag of innate depravity, drives him to inhuman extremes. Parallels with Kurtz in Conrad's Heart of Darkness seem appropriate.

Othello's love for Desdemona, on the other hand, is unchanging. His love is as strong when he kills her as when he serenades her. In his relationship with her, this man of contradictions is best understood:

Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul

But I do love thee! and when I love thee not

Chaos is come again(3.3.90-93)

Desdemona is for Othello the absolute of beauty, virtue and purity and he has united himself to her absolutely. Doubt her and he must doubt himself; destroy her image and his own is shattered; break her integrity and he disintegrate; kill her and he must kill himself. The agony for him is that he still sees this perfection but is convinced at the same time that it is false. The challenge is equivalent to that posed by Othello: he is black but can you see him as white? Othello manages. He knows Desdemona to be white and pure but at the same time knows - that is, he convinces himself totally - that she is black and false. The "sense aches" indeed (4.2.69). Her protests "cannot remove or choke the strong conception / That...groan[s] withal" (5.2.55). This is"the pity of it" (4.1.193).

Iago

In many ways, Iago seems to be one of the most transparent characters in the play. He might not be what he seems as far as the other characters are concerned, but the audience enjoys the privileged strip show of Iago's intricate plot as he weaves his mesh around the rest of the unsuspecting cast. The audience see of all his guises: the honest soldier, ancient and adviser; the fat controller, directing the likes of Roderigo with facile contempt, treating the more astute characters with playful charm; the resentful malcontent revealing all in his soliloquies. But he is far from transparent, especially when he most appears so. The more we "see" of him, the less we understand. Othello we see talking of himself, his background, his life, in his relations with the other characters, playing over a much larger emotional range. Iago is much more confined. Whilst he has a number of guises, the driving force beneath them remains stable and mysterious.

This can be seen, if not in the text, in the disagreements between critics. Most will agree with Coleridge that he is a character of "motiveless malignity". Is he from the first scene to the last hated and despised as Dr. Johnson would argue? Or does he somehow manage to elicit a more sympathetic response as Charles Lamb suggests: "we think not so much of the crimes which [he] commit[s], as of the ambition, the aspiring spirit, the intellectual activity which prompts them to overleap these moral fences."?

W.H. Auden refers to him as "the joker in the pack...practical joker of a peculiarly appalling kind". His humour, though, is never directed against himself, nor is it ever innocently playful. It serves, rather as another decoy, distracting us from a deeper understanding of his character than that which he reveals to us. It is a humour in which he couches his cruel visionary taunts and in which he reflects his superiority over the likes of Roderigo.

What of his motives? There are many and they are varied but do not seem to add up to anything more consistent. The first is his resentment of Cassio, who was chosen over and above him as Othello's lieutenant. There is his hatred of the Moor, "as loving his own pride and purposes...Horribly stuffed with epithets of war" (1.1.11-13). Then there are motives that are not expressed in such a clear fashion. These hidden motives, the multi-faceted chip that he wears on his shoulder, which is seen as much in his relationships with the other characters as in his soliloquies.

He resents privilege; he is disgusted by the "courtesies" of the Venetian upper classes, and what he sees to be their condescending patronage of him. "Thou art a villain!" cries Brabantio to the voice hidden in the darkness. "And you are a senator!" Iago replies mockingly. (1.1.116). He feels patronised by Cassio when Cassio greets his wife with a kiss saying, "'tis my manners and breeding / That give me this bold show of courtesy" (2.1.98-99). "Ay, smile upon her, do: I will / gyve thee in thine own courtesies" (2.1.169- 170), courtesies which he equates later to "Lechery" (2.1.255). He is keenly over courteous in his address, referring to Othello as "my lord", Cassio as "lieutenant" and the likes of Ludovico as "gentlemen". Though this most obviously is said with a sneer, it is also at times an attempt to ape those courtesies that he seems to despise.

Iago, like Othello, is an "other". Just as Othello was born into a different culture and religion; so he is from a different class and both strive to be accepted. This is why he is so contemptuous of Othello's "bombast circumstance / Horribly stuffed with epithets of war"; why he claims hopelessly that Othello is in "manners and beauties...deficient" (2.1.228); why he is so angry that he was not seen as "officer-class material" in the election of lieutenant. His inferiority complex is most obvious when he talks to Roderigo about masters and servant. From this is born his philosophy to follow his master to "serve [his] turn upon [his master]" (1.1.41), his praise for those who "do themselves homage" (1.1.53) and contempt for the "duteous and knee-crooking knave" (1.1.44).

He also has a problem with women. He does not know how to manipulate them except in the brusque manner which he treats his wife from whom he expects unquestioning obedience. He gives himself away most in his coarse reference to sex, and in the images that he delights in painting of Cassio and Desdemona. He sees women only as sex objects and in this sense he seems to be somewhat deficient in his relationship with his wife. This perhaps underlies his unfounded jealousy - his suspicion that Othello has done his office. As a character that delights in controlling others, in having power over them, he is particularly upset by the thought that Othello might have succeeded where he has failed. Similarly, this might explain in part his resentment of Cassio's smooth manners and ease in the company of ladies. He is particularly vehement on the subject of Venetian women in general, on whom he comments, "let God see the pranks / They dare not show their husbands" (3.3.205-6). Are these jealous words of one who does not have his share in "pranks"?

What of his methods? These are clearer. He is a master with words, a charmer in his own right. With words he can direct the minds of others, with outright lies as with Roderigo, with "honest advice" as with Cassio or with suggestion, particularly visual, as with Othello. These methods are not mutually exclusive, one confined to one character, another to the other, but are all used in varying degrees in each case. In each case, however, he relies on his reputation as "honest Iago", which he skillfully maintains, despite his scheming, to the end. Towards the end, much of the dramatic tension relies on the threat that he might be exposed at any moment, either by a direct confrontation between Othello and Cassio, or, later, by Emilia's confession about the handkerchief. Desdemona asks for half an hour more which, in the event, would have saved her. But it was "too late".

Iago has a reputation for being clever. He is. His scheming, his manipulation, his deceit are all clever but they must not be over-exaggerated. His schemes are masterful but only in the short-term. In the end, as Emilia says, "'Twill out, 'twill out!" (5.2.217). He understands the characters enough to see how best to manipulate them but he does not understand love and it is love, Emilia's love for her mistress, that finally undoes him.

Desdemona

Desdemona is a young Venetian woman. Brabantio refers to her "delicate youth" (1.2.74) and describes her as "A maiden never so bold, / Of spirit so still and quiet..." (1.3.95-96). Like Othello, the character we see is not quite the character that is introduced by others. Her speech to the senate is indeed gentle and respectful, "My noble father...you are the lord of duty" but it is also bold, "But here's my husband" (1.3.180- 185).

This speech not only shows a certain strength of character but also shows her to be eloquent, a woman of upbringing and manners. Iago often refers with contempt to "Venetian women" and to Desdemona as one of these. Whilst he says this as "evidence" to prove her infidelity to Othello, his relationship with her and what he says of her is important. He plays word games with her on the shore when they arrive in Cyprus (2.1.117-160). His play is littered with innuendo: his muse "labours" and his invention "is delivered/i>" (125- 128), he talks of "folly" (137) and "foul pranks" (142). Her part is playful, "Come, how wouldst thou praise me" (124)"How if..." (131, 135) but is also innocent. This is what Iago cannot understand. He cannot understand how any such play between man and woman can be non-sexual. This sort of playfulness, her well-bred manners and "courtesies" identify her as a "Venetian woman". But, in spite of her appearance, she is naive and her astonishment at unfaithful women, "there be women do abuse their husbands / In such gross kind?" (4.3.61-62) is genuine. She is not as worldly wise as she seems, "I do not think there is any such woman" (4.3.82).

Her love for Othello is not the sort of love that Iago ascribes to Venetian women. Her courtship was not one of playful word games. It was one in which, listening to Othello, her heart was "subdued / Even to the very quality of my lord" (1.3.251-2). Theirs is a unity of souls, "My soul hath her content so absolute" (2.1.189). It is a love that is pure and strong to the end, on both sides, despite the tragic end to their mortal relationship. It is an immortal love. For her love, she dies a mortal death but also an immortal death, perjuring herself with her dying words for love of Othello.

Her strength as a character seems to diminish in the second half of the play. She does not stand up to Othello with the boldness that she stands up to her father. She does not fight back with the vigour that Emilia fights Iago. But she is strong nevertheless, as strong as she is innocent. She is resolute in her obedience to Othello, her lord, because she knows that she is innocent. What can be seen is not a loss of strength but a naive bewilderment. She cannot understand, even when Othello tells her that he is about to kill her. All she knows is that she has done nothing wrong, that she loves Othello and that Othello loves her.

Emilia

Emilia is worth studying, particularly for her relationships with Iago and Desdemona. She is an important character as a go-between between the two. Iago is not good at handling women. He is unable to manipulate Desdemona as he is Othello. Emilia is a vital link in the formation of Iago's plot. She provides the handkerchief that serves as the "ocular proof" which Othello demands of Iago as evidence of Desdemona's infidelity.

Given Iago's poor handling of women, how does he manipulate Emilia? It is partly through their duty- bound link of marriage but more importantly, it is through fear. Consider Emilia's behaviour over the handkerchief. When asked by her mistress whether she knows where it is, she replies, "I know not, madam" (3.4.24). This short line is of great significance. Emilia lies to Desdemona. Is this through duty to her husband? Is it through love? The exchanges between Emilia and Iago suggest that there is little love left between them. This is hardly surprising given his attitude towards women and his treatment of her. In the end, her love of her mistress proves stronger than her husband who she damns with her confession. This may be the only time when she is asked directly whether she knows where the handkerchief has gone but Shakespeare deliberately has he present in the unpleasant scene between Othello and Desdemona when he asks Desdemona for it (3.4.32-99). So, why does Emilia not confess earlier to the truth about the handkerchief? It seems to be out of fear. This only is the control that Iago can exert over her.

Emilia's knowledge of the truth of the handkerchief is important dramatically. She appears more and more suspicious of her husband's scheming. She is puzzled by her husband's curious interest in the handkerchief which he "hath a hundred times", "so often" been "so earnest" that she should steal (3.3.296, 312, 318). After witnessing the harrowing "handkerchief!" scene between Othello and Desdemona, she dares not confess but she understands that the situation is serious. She tries to warn the naive Desdemona without mentioning the handkerchief, "Is he not jealous?" (3.4.29). Stronger evidence that she is suspicious is when she says bravely but indirectly to Iago,

I'll be hanged if some eternal villain

Some busy and insinuating rogue,

Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office,

Have not devised this slander, I'll be hanged else!(4.2.132-135)

By veiling her accusations and by directing them anonymously rather than directly, she is able to unleash a vehement condemnation of this "cozening slave". "A halter pardon him, and hell gnaw his bones!... most villainous knave, Some base notorious knave, some scurvy fellow...O fie upon them!" (4.2.138, 141-2, 147). She entreats heaven "that such companions thoud'st unfold"(4.2.143). More directly, she addresses Iago,

some such squire he was

That turned your wit seamy side without

And made you to suspect me with the Moor! (4.2.147-149)

He sees through the thin veil but can still command her through fear. This balance between fear of Iago and love of Desdemona creates enormous dramatic tension as the play reaches its conclusion. In the end she finally becomes fearless and confesses all. She no longer fears death because her fear has killed the mistress she loved.