Othello

‘Race’• A black man, or an olive-skinned Arab or north African? ‘Moor’ meant ‘black’ to the Elizabethan English, but the

pic. on the left is the Moorish ambassador to Elizabeth I. Shakespeare’s Cleopatra calls herself ‘black’ (AC 1.5.28) and the Moor in MoV is ‘tawnie’ (2.1.0).

• There were black people in England. Racism was appalling. ‘…the Queen’s Majesty is discontented at the great number of negars and blackamoores which are crept into the realm..’ (1601).

• Does this matter? Remember, Othello is actually neither a black man nor an Arab but an Elizabethan Englishman’s idea of one. A Moor for Shakespeare is certainly more of a stage type than a real culture or ‘race’.

Age• Older than Desdemona. 1.3.26, 3.3.269.• He’s travelled and served as a soldier for a long time.• In his 40s?

Costume• Stage Moors and real ones would wear a turban, but

Othello is Christian and turbans were seen as Muslim.

• Would Othello’s costume represent his ‘otherness’ or his position as a Venetian general? Rapier or scimitar? Armour or a statesman’s clothes?

• Burbage, the first Othello, would have been in C17th English costume.

Poor eyesight• Seems to have bad eyes from his first scene. 1.3.293,

3.3.36, 3.3.438, 4.1.171, 4.1.214.• Is this why he depends on Iago?

OthelloTragic Hero: Evaluate this. Shakespeare had no Greek and may have known little about Aristotle, and even if he did he might have ignored him! You will tend to find these elements in any character if you look hard enough! The question is, do they help us see things in Othello we may otherwise have missed?

• Othello seems to change more completely than any other Shakespearean tragic hero. He also does not soliloquize nearly as much as Hamlet or Macbeth. His motivation and real personality remain mysterious.

• Shakespearean tragedy is typically full of uncertainty and Othello shows that.

• Gentle and savage; trusting and suspicious; suggestible and single-minded, and switching back and forth between these.

• Othello weeps, babbles, has a fit: even Hamlet in his (pretended?) madness doesn’t go that far!

• Is some of this a construction of Othello as savage, primitive, non-European?

• Othello is also sensuous: lots of images of taste and smell. Sex and violence are never far from him!

• Yet Othello seems devoutly Christian and scathing of Muslim Turks (5.2.351). Was he born a Christian or convert from Islam? Or was he born into a tribal faith (3.4.57)?

• Is Othello trying to become what he is not: a born Christian citizen with a (white) Venetian wife?

• Most of what we know of Othello’s past, he tells us, and in stories to very specific audiences like the Duke (1.3.129).

• FR Leavis says the ‘real Othello’ beneath the ‘self-idealization’ has ‘obtuse and brutal egotism’. AC Bradley says the ‘real Othello’ is ‘purely noble, strong, generous , and trusting, and as a tragic hero…merely a victim.’ So, is the ‘real Othello’ in the first or second half of the play?

• A constant theme in the play is how little anyone knows anyone: there is much talk of people nor being themselves and of the difference between thinking and knowing. 3.3.119

Iago• Othello and Iago are often regarded as equal and opposite, like Richard

and Bolingbroke in Richard II.• BUT we know far more about Othello than Iago and on stage he has a far

greater emotional range. Is Othello’s status as Tragic Hero just because of this decision about narrative focus?

• Iago is more of a stage type than Othello: a ‘Machiavel’ like Lorenzo in The Spanish Tragedy (Kyd) or Gloucester in Richard III.

• Othello is jealous, Iago is envious; both are outsiders; both are professional soldiers; both kill their wives.

• Last speech of Act 1 ‘..the motive-hunting of motiveless Malignity- how awful! In itself fiendish- while yet he was allowed to bear the divine image..’ (Coleridge)

• No motive or shifting motives?-Resentment of Cassio’s appointment 1.3.391, 2.1.171, 3.3.250-Hatred of Othello (Act One, but also 2.1.295)-Desire for Cassio’s place mentioned once, not celebrated when achieved.-Iago also resents privilege and seems to enjoy manipulation in itself, as if it proves he’s worth more than his social superiors. Napoleon said, ‘..it is as an artist that I love power. I love it as a musician loves his violin.’• Iago plays Othello, Cassio and Roderigo, but does he ever play a woman?

He sees to view women simply as sex objects or sex predators. He doesn’t realize that his wife could drop him in it, which she does at 5.2.176.

• Iago is also the main source of humour in the play, and his jokes are either at the expense of others or make him look clever.

• The public Iago is a gruff, manly, honest soldier. The private Iago is a voyeur, a joker, an artist, and above all a malcontent…

Tragic Hero: If the play were slightly different, would he be the Tragic Hero?

Villain in a Tragedy: Of the four great Shakespearean Tragedies (Macbeth, Hamlet, Lear, Othello) Iago is the most obvious villain, if only because he so clearly is out to get Othello (protagonist / antagonist). Even Claudius, who killed Hamlet’s father, acts largely in self-defence is arguably rather a good king.

Desdemona

• Othello is probably in his forties, Iago is 28 (1.3.311), Desdemona would appear to be very young (a child in modern terms, perhaps 15: remember, Juliet was 13 and her mother only 26). Her relationship with Emilia is quite like Juliet’s with the Nurse. Everyone seems to regard her as ‘perfect’ as a maiden 1.3.95, 2.3.25) and yet Othello seems taken aback by her sexual appetite in marriage 3.3.272 and she ‘backchats’ Othello at 2.1.100 so badly some Victorian productions cut that bit out! A woman should know her place!

• John Adams, 6th President of US: ‘Who can sympathize with Desdemona? She falls in love and makes a runaway match with a blackamoor.. She not only violates her duty to her father, her family, her sex and her country, but she makes the first advances!’

• Desdemona seems not to recognize their boundaries of behaviour she is expected to respect: her enthusiastic and insistent support of Cassio invites suspicion. Is this her fault, or her society’s for assuming she must have a sexual interest and lacks the bonds of honour a man might have as a motive?

• Is Desdemona too active in the first half of the play and too passive in the second? Is she, like Othello, a Shakespearean Tragic Hero(ine): responsible for her own demise?

• Is she only strong through Othello’s love and weak when she loses it?• Shakespeare probes stereotypes in the play. Desdemona is never really ‘too good to be true’.

Tragic Victim: Is Desdemona anything other than a victim of the agon between Othello and Iago? Does she bear a feminist reading: is she in any way empowered (doing) or merely a passive victim (done to)?Tragic Hero: Shakespearean Tragic Heroes are far more responsible for their own downfall than Classical ones. Is Desdemona a Tragic Hero(ine)? Does she follow the six Aristotelian characteristics? Do her decisions lead to her demise? Do we, and did Shakespeare’s audience, see her as guilty for marrying Othello (John Adams did!).

Emilia

• Emilia is often simplified and misrepresented in the theatre.• She is sometimes presented as middle-aged and frumpy, like the Nurse in Romeo & Juliet, but then why would Iago (who is 28,

if we believe him at 1.3.311) marry her and the idea Othello is having an affair with her becomes silly (2.1.29).• She is probably in her twenties: so older than Desdemona. Of course, as both characters would be played by boys in

Shakespeare’s stage and make-up was basic, it depends on how the parts were acted.• Iago may not love her but he is certainly possessive of her, as Othello is of Desdemona.• She seems outraged by her husband’s plotting and silent for most of the play out of fear. Their first scene at 3.3.304 establishes

that the relationship is abusive. If Iago is teasing and joking all the derision goes one way.• How guilty is Emilia of being complicit in Iago’s plotting? When Desdemona asks how she could have lost the handkerchief

(3.4.23) Emilia says ‘I know not, madam.’ If she had told the truth, Iago’s plot might well have collapsed.• Emilia is present when Othello demands the handkerchief at 3.4.52. Why doesn’t she speak up? She tries to warn Desdemona

without accusing Iago directly.• 3.3.296, 313, 318: Emilia repeats that Iago has always wanted her to steal the handkerchief. Also 5.2.225. • She does seem to suspect..,4..2.132 So why not say anything? And why does Shakespeare have her know, but not speak of it?

Starters (Major Female Characters)

1. Should we see Desdemona a Tragic Victim or a kind of Tragic Heroine? Create a mind- map of evidence.

2. How complicit is Emilia in Iago’s plotting? Why does Shakespeare have her suspect or even know Iago’s plot, but keep it to herself until it is pretty much too late?

Mains (Major Male Characters)

3. How ‘other’ is Othello? How does it affect our response to him to play him as a black man or as an ‘olive skinned’ north African? How would the director’s choice of typically Venetian or ‘exotic’ costume affect our response to him? Produce annotated illustrations.

4. To what extent is Iago a psychologically realistic character? Is he more than simply antagonist to Othello, a function of the plot; a stage type (stereotypical character) of the Machiavel? Produce a guide to Iago as a EITHER or complex, psychologically realistic character OR as a ‘functional’ stage type.

Desserts (Minor Characters)

5. Collect evidence that Roderigo plays a role (the courtly lover rejected by the woman he put on a pedestal) Collect evidence of how Iago disrupts this self-presentation. Organize this into columns that ‘match’.

6. Collect evidence that Cassio plays a role (the dashing, courtly knight and noble soldier)? Collect evidence of how Iago disrupts this self-presentation. Organize this into columns that ‘match’.

Please, sir, can I have some Moor?