The Function of Brabantio in Othello Author(S): Aerol Arnold Source: Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol

George Washington University

The Function of Brabantio in Othello Author(s): Aerol Arnold Source: Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Winter, 1957), pp. 51-56 Published by: Folger Shakespeare Library in association with George Washington University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2867518 . Accessed: 22/03/2013 07:56

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This content downloaded from 140.233.2.215 on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:56:09 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Function of Brabantio in Othello

AEROL ARNOLD

CHRACTE RIZATION", Northrop Frye wrote, "depends on function", and dramatic function "in its turn depends on the structure of the play: the character has certain things to do because the play has such and such a shape."' This judgment, I believe, ran be illustrated in the characterization of Bra- bantio. His function as the father of a daughter who elopes is to behave in a way that makes necessary Desdemona's and Othello's public declaration of their love. For developing such a father there was little help in Cinthio. All he says is that "although the parents of the lady strove, all they could to induce her to take another husband, she consented to marry the Moor."2 In dramatic tradition, however, there was a pattern of fathers whose daughters betrayed them. Marlowe is credited with establishing a stock plot "by introducing the rebellious daughter who steals from her usurious father. Shake- speare [in The Merchant of Venice] carries this one step further by making the rebellious daughter elope."3 Actually, the father who guards his gold and cannot control his daughter is as old as the miser Euclio in Plautus, who is the model for all later misers.' Shakespeare, therefore, had a traditional pattern for the deceived father, which he could call up and modify to suit his needs in Othello. My argument will not be that Brabantio must be considered a miser or usurer because there is a tradition of miserly and usurious fathers whose daughters elope, often with suitors deemed unworthy by the fathers. Rather I shall attempt to show that by changing the Cinthio story to an elopement story and by inventing the father who feels robbed, Shakespeare, from the beginning of his play, motivates the important scene in the council-chamber (I.iii). I shall also argue that in Brabantio remnants of the miser-father of the elopement plays remain, and that the differences between Brabantio and the stock miser-father result from the differences in their dramatic functions. The stress is on the dramatic explanation of character as opposed to the "portrait gallery" approach so common in the nineteenth century, for I share Kenneth Burke's conviction that Shakespeareis making plays, not people. And as a dramatisthe must know that the illusion of a well-roundedcharacter is produced,not by piling on

Northrop Frye, "Characterization in Shakespearean Comedy", Shakespeare Quaterly, IV (July, k953), 271. 2Variorum Edition of Othello, ed. Horace Howard Furness (Philadelphia, '914), p. 377. All quotations from Shakespeare's plays are from Shakespeare: Twenty Three Plays and Sonnets, ed. Thomas Marc Parrott (New York, x938). 3John Edwin Bakeless, The TragicaU History of Chritopher Marlowe (Harvard University Press, 1942), 1, 372-373- 4Elmer E. Stoll, Shakespeare Studies (New York, 1927), p. i67.

This content downloaded from 140.233.2.215 on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:56:09 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 52 SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY traits of character. .. but by so building a character-recipein accordwith the demands of the action that every trait the characterdoes have is sali- ently expressedin action or through action. . .. Let us now look at scene one of Othello. As part of his plot to poison Othello's delight in his new marriage by incensing Desdemona's kinsmen, Iago arouses her father by crying: Awakel what, ho, Brabantio!thieves! thieves! Look to your house, your daughter,and your bags! Thieves! thieves. (I. i- 78-8I) Iago's words recall Shylock's cries, as reported by Salanio: "My daughter!0 my ducats! 0 my daughter! Fled with a Christianl 0 my Christian ducats! Justice!the law! my ducats, and my daughter! A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats, Of double ducats,stol'n from me by my daughter! And jewels, two stones, two rich and precious stones, Stol'n by my daughterl Justice!find the girl; She hath the stones upon her, and the ducats."(II. viii. 15-22) To which Salerio adds: Why, all the boys in Venice follow him Crying his stones, his daughter,and his ducats. (IX.viii. 22-24) Iago's cry also recalls Marlowe's Barabas,who pairs his love for his Abigail with his love for gold: "O my girl, / My gold, my fortune, my felicityl" (II. i. 47-48) and "O girl! 0 gold! 0 beauty! 0 my blissI" (II. i. 54) In both The Jew of Malta and The Merchant of Venice much is made of this pairing. In Marlowe's play the scene between Lodowick and Barabasis con- structed on a play on "diamond." Lodowick wants Barabas to help him to a diamond and Barabas uses "diamond"to refer to Abigail, to whom he certainly will not help Lodowick (II. iii. 50-95). Marlowe may have been influenced in the writing of this scene by Plautus' Aulularia (V.3), in which Euclio thinks Lyconides is confessing to the theft of his gold when he is in fact confessing to the seduction of his daughter, so that the daughter and the gold are confused. ITe scene between Tubal and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice reinforces such pairing, for the bitter Shylock, lamenting the loss of his jewels, including a diamond that cost him two thousand ducats, says, "I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her earl would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin! No news of them? Why so-and I know not what's spent in the search: why, thou loss upon lossl the thief gone with so much, and so much to find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge, nor no ill luck stirring but what lights o' my shoulders, no sighs but o' my breathing, no tears but o' my shedding" (-HI.i. gi-0ox). He then learns that Jessica spent "in one night fourscore ducats" and gave for a monkey the turquoise ring Leah gave . Like Shylock, Brabantio had had a warning dream, although we do not know the content of the dream (I. i. 143-144). We learn about it only after he 5 "Othello: An Essay to Illustrate a Method". HudsonReview, IV (1951), 187.

This content downloaded from 140.233.2.215 on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:56:09 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE FUNCTION OF BRABUNTIO IN OTHELLO 53 has heardof Desdemona'selopement, whereas Shylock tells us that he is reluc- tant to leavethe housebecause "I did dreamof money-bagstonight" (II. v. 18). Brabantio's words, "This accident is not unlike my dream", follow Roderigo's news of Desdemona's flight with Othello (II. 120-142), the first full, orderly account of what has happened, for lago's words to Brabantio anger rather than inform him. The contextsuggests that Brabantio,like Shylock,dreamed of gold or somethingvaluable that couldbe stolen.Often in Shakespearethe contentof an undiscloseddream can be inferredfrom the context,as in The Merry Wives of Windsor,where we can assume that Ford's undiscloseddream had to do with horns (III. iii. I6). An importantdifference between The Merchantof Venice and Othello is that the lines reminiscent of Shylock's are spoken by lago and not by Brabantio. Looking at them from the point of view of lago's imagery, Professor Heilman interpreted them as Iago foisting "his moral derangement on the rest of the world",7 a case of the thief, who alreadyhad Roderigo'spurse, crying thief. Structurally considered, they must be interpreted differently. They help us get oriented in a play in which the characters are still unknown. We know Iago is a villain. He has so declared himself: "I am not what I am." But we don't know what Brabantiois like or how we should take him. Iago's lines tell us that Brabantiohas a daughterand money and that they have been stolen.If Shake- spearecould count on Jacobeanaudiences recognizing a stock situation,Iago's words "Look to your house, your daughter,and your bags!" would tie this situationto other plays of elopementand would preparethe audienceto side with the lovers against the father.8Such partisanshipis necessaryin Othello becausethe audiencedoes not have a full glimpse of the Othello who won Des- demona'sheart until scene three; in scene one only his enemies speak of him and then as "thick lips" (I. i. 66), "old black ram" (I. i. 88) and "lascivious Moor"(I. i. 127). If our sympathiesmust be with the lovers,something must be done in the first scene to modifythe esteemthe audiencefeels for the fatherop- posed.to the marriage. The techniqueof the first sceneis one of partialdisclosures for the purpose of suspense.Roughly speaking,the first third of the scene establishesIago's relationswith Roderigoand Othello; the next third tells us what has happened to Desdemona,so that we and Brabantioreach full understandingat the same time; and the last third shows Brabantioacting upon the informationgiven him, set in motion by Tagothat great manipulatorof men. This scene offended Thomas Rymer, but then his sympathieswere with Brabantio,and he could not tolerate Iago's speech to him. "But besidesthe Mannersto a Magnifico,humanity cannot bear that an old Gentlemanin his misfortuneshould be insulted over with such a rabbleof Skoundrellanguage, 6 Barabasdid not dream, but Abigail, addressing "gentle sleep", says: Give charge to Morpheusthat he may dream A golden dream, and of a sudden walk, Come and receive the treasureI have found. (II. i. 36-38) 7 "The Economics of lago and Others", PMLA, LXVIII (June, '953), 56!. sPlays with such plots were produced through the 17th century (Bakeless, p. 373). The re- semblances between the two Shakespeareplays would have been clear to the audience at court who saw them within a few months of each other: Othello was produced at court on November I, x604, and The Merchantol Venice was revived, by special command of the king, on February iI, i605- Joseph Quincy Adams, A Life of William Shakespeare (New York, 1923), pp. 370, 372.

This content downloaded from 140.233.2.215 on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:56:09 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 54 SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY with no cause of provocation."9Nor did Rymer understandIago's function in this scene. Of course Iago has "no cause or provocation"to insult Brabantio, except the desire to infuriate him into action against Othello. The "Magnifico" who impressed Rymer is created in the third scene; he is potential in the closing -lines of scene one (i76ff.) but not realized there. Our first view of him in the play, "Above, at a window", not fully dressed (Tago says, "For shame, put on your gown"), confused by the din and clamor, may suggest that, like other fathers in elopement plays, he is slightly ludicrous. In most of scene three, however, Brabantio is presented as a senator of dignity and force, a worthy antagonist to Othello. We never learn anything more of his profession than that he is a senator. From the first, Roderigo, who has cause to dislike him, calls him "most grave Brabantio" and "most reverend signior" (I. i. io6, 93). The Duke calls him "gentle signior" (I. iii. 50). Othello's attitude toward him is one of defiance, the attitude of one who feels the need to assert his equality (I. ii. 17-24); but in direct address he calls him "good signior" (I. ii. 6o), and I do not believe we can read contempt into "old man" in the line "That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter / It is most true" (I. iii. 77-78). If we examine what Brabantio does in scene three, we see that his function is to make dramatically necessary Othello's account of how he won Desde- mona's love and to give Desdemona the opportunity to choose Othello in the conflict of duty between her father and her husband. Although the nobility and directness of Othello's speech convince the Duke and the audience, Brabantio must remain sceptical until Desdemona has been given her first chance in the play to speak. Then he bestows "with all my heart" on Othello that which he already has and which Brabantio, with all his heart, would have kept from him. TIle scene makes clear to all that Othello does "love the gentle Desdernona', as he confessed to lago in scene two, that he is not the "foul thief" Brabantio accused him of being, and that Desdemona was not "abus'd, stol'n" and "cor- rupted / By spells and medicines bought of Montebanks" (I. iii.6o-6i). She must speak so that it is known to all why she loves Othello; she must freely choose him rather than her father; and she must be able to say publicly: That I did love the Moorto live with him, My downrightviolence and stormof fortunes Maytrumpet to the world.My heart'ssubdued Evento the veryquality of my lord: I saw Othello'svisage in his mind, And to his honoursand his valiantparts Did I my soul and fortunesconsecrate. (I. iii. 249-255)

Without an elopement, without a father to bring charges against Othello of theft and spells cast, there would have been no motivation for this important scene. I cannot agree with Professor Heilman (p. 555, note i) that Brabantio should be sarcastic when speaking "jewel" in these lines:

9 A Short View of Tragedy (London, 1693), p. 99. Samuel Johnson agreed that a "modern audience would not easily endure" lago's language, but did not agree that the scene at Brabantio's window injured the scheme of the play -"Preface to Shakespeare",in Johnson on Shakespeare,ed. Walter Raleigh (Oxford, University Press, 1931), p. iS.

This content downloaded from 140.233.2.215 on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:56:09 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE FUNCTION OF BRABANTIO IN OTHELLO 55 For your sake, jewel, I am glad at soul I have no other child; For thy escape would teach me tyranny, To hang clogs on them. (I. iii. I95-198) The term grows out of the preceding lines, in which Brabantio bestows on Othello something valuable, something he would, with all his heart, have kept from him, and jewels are common symbols of value. Othello speaks of murdered Desdemona as a "pearl . . . richer than all his tribe" (V. ii. 348); and as I have already demonstrated, in plots where daughters elope, daughters and gold or jewels are commonly related. Since jewels are often stolen, "jewel" also suggests the imagery of the Duke's consolation speech:10 The robb'd that smiles steals something from the thief; He robs himself that spends a bootless grief. (I. iii. 208-209) Brabantio refuses to be comforted with mere words. He knows, because Desde- mona chose Othello freely, that his "jewel" was not stolen, that his love for her was not enough to keep her for himself; and so was Othello to think before he killed her. Thus, when Shakespeare put into Brabantio's mouth the warning- Look to her, Moor,if thou hast eyes to see; She has deceiv'd her father, and may thee (I. iii. 293-294) he planted an idea which Iago was to develop later in the play. Although Brabantio does not figure in the action after the first act, he is spoken of in the final scene of the play in a way that points up the consequences of Desdemona's choice of Othello over her father. Her marriage to Othello killed her father and led to her own death, so that, in death, Desdemona is seen as both killer and killed. And to heighten the pity for her, Gratiano describes Brabantio's great love for his daughter: Poor Desdemona!I am glad thy father's dead: Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief Shore his old thread in twain. Did he live now, This sight would make him do a desperateturn, Yea, curse his better angel from his side, And fall to reprobance. (V. ii. 204-210) Brabantio's function, then, is largely to create situations in which other characters reveal themselves or are revealed.11Nothing in Cinthio required that 10 Professor Heilman thinks the image in the first line "not altogether tactful, since in effect it re-converts Brabantio into 'the robb'd' and Othello into 'the thief'" (p. 562). Yet in their love duet, Lorenzo and Jessica use "steal" and "stealing" to describe their actions, and in Lorenzo's "In such a night / Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew", "steal" is ambiguous, for not only did Jessica secretly leave her father's house to run with "an unthrift love" as far as Belmont, but she also robbed her father before she left (V. i. 14-20). 11 In producing the play, Stanislavsky felt he had to invent for the actor portraying Brabantio a background and a history-Stanislavsky Produces "Othello" (London, 1948), PP. 32-33, 35, 56-66. Of Stanislavsky'smethods Kenneth Burke writes: To read Stanislavsky's notes on the staging of Othello is to realize that, in our novel- minded age, at least, the actor is helped in building up his role by such portraitureas Bradley aims at. We will hypothetically grant that the novelistic method may be best for aiding the actor to sink himself in his role. . . . But we would still contend that, so far as the analysis of the playwright's invention is concerned, our proposed way of seeing the agent in terms of the over-all action would be required of a dramaturgic analysis of the characters (p. I89).

This content downloaded from 140.233.2.215 on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:56:09 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 56 SHAKESPEAREQUARTERLY Desdemona'sfather figure largelyin the play, nor that there be an elopement. Desdemona'sparents merely failed to dissuadeher from marryingthe Moor. But by inventing an action in which Brabantioforces Desdemonato choose Othello publicly, Shakespearemakes clear that Desdemonachose freely and proudlythe one who was to kill her. Universityof SouthernCalifornia

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