"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

    This Shakespearean play is unique from others in that all but one single character is innocent.  Shakespeare characterizes all characters aside from Iago as being taking advantage of.  Othello has been made to believe his wife is having an affair with his dear friend causing him to feel great anger and hatred toward them both.  Through her own knowledge, Bianca concludes that Cassio is having an affair with another woman.  Though she does not necessarily like him all the time, Emilia still has a regard for her husband and is surprised to hear the rumors he has created.  She repeats the line "My husband!" (Shakespeare, 1454, Vii145) over and over again when Othello says Iago told him about Desdemona and Cassio.  Roderigo is led to believe that Iago is working diligently to get him in Desdemona's favor when, in reality, Iago has done nothing.  All of this makes Iago all the more deserving of his fate.

"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

     Though the play did not necessarily have a happy ending, Shakespeare offers a deserving resolution for Iago.  Reading Shakespeare's other works, the audience would not assume Iago to be one to survive after the others have learned of his deception.  However, Othello claims death would be too merciful for Iago: "I'd have thee live, For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die" (Shakespeare, 1458, V.ii.288-289).  For Othello, being kept alive would be a punishment to him as well.  He now knows he has unjustly murdered his wife.  This knowledge takes every human sense from him.  Othello was innocent, and he is reinstated with honor by Cassio in the end who claims he was "great of heart."  Knowing he and Iago could share the same fate disgusted him.  Yet, Lodovico reassures that Iago will be kept on the brink of death.  In the final moments of the play, Lodovico expresses his desire to see Iago brutally tortured.

"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

    Shakespeare characterizes Desdemona as an innocent, compassionate character even though Iago forces the other character to see her as an adulterer.  Shakespeare maintains this characterization even to Desdemona's final moments.  Before Othello comes to murder Desdemona, she and Emilia foresee that murder may be Othello's plan.  Because of this, the audience perceives that Emilia was "on guard" and aware of what might happen.  Not knowing Othello was in the midst of strangling Desdemona, Emilia interrupts to tell Othello about the death of Roderigo.  In the midst of this conversation, Emilia hears her mistress and asks her who has done this to her.  As a final display of loyalty and love, she says, "Nobody, I myself" (Shakespeare, 1453, V.ii.122).  This scene remotely reminded me of the deaths of Brutus and Cassius in Caesar.  Cassius dies selfishly asking Pindarus to kill him and then covering his own eyes.  Brutus dies an honorable death by telling the person holding the sword to turn his head and then Brutus would push himself against it, causing his own death.  Like Brutus, Desdemona maintains her honest, compassionate character up to and including the moment of her death.

"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

    In the first scene of Act IV, dramatic irony collides with Iago's deceptive ways nearly to the point of confusion.  By this point, Iago has become a master puppeteer.  While Iago is lightly discussing Bianca with Cassio, Othello believes them to be talking of Desdemona.  "Now will I question Cassio of Bianca...As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad, And his unbookish jealously must construe Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behavior Quite in the wrong" (Shakespeare, 1429, IV.i.91;98-101).  Iago orchestrates the situation perfectly.  Bianca arriving at the last minute with the handkerchief in hand was the cherry on top.  For Iago, the situation could not have worked itself out more perfectly.  However, the anger that Othello expresses in whispers while Cassio and Iago are speaking shows that he was truly in love with Desdemona.  No matter what she does, that love for her is still there.  This fact is below Iago's scope of awareness.  Iago obviously does not have these feelings for Emilia; therefore, he cannot comprehend how deep Othello's predicament is.  His desire to think the affair untrue can be seen in the opening of scene 2 when Othello questions Emilia about the affair.  

"Othello, the Moor of Venice"

"DESDEMONA.  What wouldst thou write of me if thou shouldst praise me?

IAGO.  O gentle lady, do not put me to't, 

               For I am nothing if not critical".

 (Shakespeare, II.i. 117-120)

This moment between Desdemona and Iago was a source of great confusion for me.  Not so much in that I did not understand what was happening rather I could not grasp why it was happening.  Why did Shakespeare decide to place this conversation in such an awkward place?  Desdemona has just found out that her new husband is lost at sea.  The idea that she would indulge in a conversation about what Iago thinks of women seems so far-fetched; most wives would be panicking and fearing for their spouse's life.  To me, this moment poked holes in Desdemona's character and made her seem superficial and naive, not recognizing the severity or emergency of the moment.  Additionally, why would Shakespeare have this as the moment to present Iago as a misogynist?  During this scene, the reader picks up on Iago's sense of resentment for Othello and Desdemona.  Yet, Desdemona can only see him as humorous and as a result their relationship becomes slightly more friendly.  For this scene, the only idea  I had was that Shakespeare may be foreshadowing something that is going to happen between Iago and a female character, but I do not quite understand the significance of educating the reader of Iago's misogyny at this particular moment in the play.   

"Othello, the Moor of Venice"

The handkerchief makes its first appearance in Othello, the Moor of Venice in Act III.  Shakespeare uses the handkerchief as a symbol, yet it is not universal.  In this, the handkerchief holds a different meaning for each character.  To Desdemona, it is a symbol of the love between Othello and herself.  To Emilia, it is a way to please her misogynistic husband even though she is going behind Desdemona's back to give it to him.  To Iago, it symbolizes evidence and proof of Cassio and Desdemona's relationship.  To Othello, the handkerchief symbolizes the sanctity of a marital relationship and how significant remaining faithful is to him.  He recounts a story of an Egyptian mind reader who gave his mother the handkerchief.  If his mother kept it, "'Twould make her amiable and subdue my father Entirely to her love, but if she lost it Or made a gift of it, my father's eye Should hold her loathed and his spirits should hunt After new fancies" (III.iv. 53-57).  Therefore, Othello sees the handkerchief as a symbol of loyalty in marriage.  This story serves to advise Desdemona that if she loses that handkerchief or if Othello finds it in the hands of another, their marriage will cease to exist in happiness.

"Othello, the Moor of Venice"

Unlike many of Shakespeare's plays, Othello, the Venice of Moor lacks many changes in setting and scenes of action.  The story is presented primarily through dialogue,  more specifically intimate dialogue rarely among more than three characters.  This projects a tone that makes the play seem as if it was acted out in secretive whispers.  Iago knows many of the other characters' secrets and often uses them against them.  For example, in Act III, Iago knows that Cassio approached Desdemona asking her to put in a good word for him with Othello.  Iago urged Cassio to do this.  Yet, he uses Desdemona's praising of Cassio to promote his case that she is cheating on Othello with Cassio.  "Look to your wife. Observe her well with Cassio.  Wear your eye thus, not jealous nor secure.  I would not have your free and noble nature Out of self-bounty be abused" (Act III.iii.198-201).  Iago uses the information he has on other characters in such a way that makes him appear sweet and innocent.  Additionally, Iago is very clever in his ways.  He gives his counterpart characters all the tools so that they may come to the assumption on their own rather than Iago blatantly telling them which only elevates his innocent appearance.