“REVENGE IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS”

“OTHELLO” – LECTURE/CLASS

WRITTEN: 1603-1604…. although some critics place the date somewhat earlier in 1601- 1602 mainly on the basis of some “echoes” of the play in the 1603 “bad” quarto of “Hamlet”.

AGE: 39-40 Years Old (B.1564-D.1616)

CHRONO: Four years after “Hamlet”; first in the consecutive series of tragedies followed by “King Lear”, “Macbeth” then “Antony and Cleopatra”.

GENRE: “The Great Tragedies”

SOURCES: An Italian tale in the collection “Gli Hecatommithi” (1565) of Giovanni Battista Giraldi (writing under the name Cinthio) from which Shakespeare also drew for the plot of “Measure for Measure”.

John Pory’s 1600 translation of John Leo’s “A Geographical History of Africa”; Philemon Holland’s 1601 translation of Pliny’s “History of the World”; and Lewis Lewkenor’s 1599 “The Commonwealth and Government of Venice” mainly translated from a Latin text by Cardinal Contarini.

STRUCTURE: “More a domestic tragedy than ‘Hamlet’, ‘Lear’ or ‘Macbeth’ concentrating on the destruction of Othello’s marriage and his murder of his wife rather than on affairs of state and the deaths of kings”.

SUCCESS: The tragedy met with high success both at its initial Globe staging and well beyond mainly because of its exotic setting (Venice then Cypress), the “foregrounding of issues of race, gender and sexuality”, and the powerhouse performance of Richard Burbage, the most famous actor in Shakespeare’s company.

HIGHLIGHT: Performed at the Banqueting House at Whitehall before King James I on 1 November 1604.

AFTER: The play has been performed steadily since 1604; for a production in 1660 the actress Margaret Hughes as Desdemona “could have been the first professional actress on the English stage”.

CRITICS: 1814 – Hazlitt of Edmund Kean: (Othello’s final speech was like) “the sound of years of departed happiness” 1814 – Leigh Hunt of Edmund Kean in Othello’s death scene: “Can you not mark the frozen shudder as the steel enters his frame? Death by a heart wound is instantaneous. Thus does he portray it; he literally dies standing”.

OTHELLOS: Richard Burbage, David Garrick, Edmund Kean, Paul Robeson (1930 – first black actor), Orson Wells, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Paul Scofield, Ralph Richardson

IAGOS: Edwin Booth, Henry Irving, Jose Ferrer, Ian McKellen, Kenneth Branagh, Lucian Msamati (2014 - first black actor)

DESDEMONAS: Margaret Hughes, Maggie Smith

RECENT: James Earl Jones on Broadway (1981); Shakespeare Theater, Washington D.C. (1997) with Patrick Stewart (“photo-negative production…featuring race reversal”); Laurence Fishburne (1995 Film – “fierce and smoldering”); London’s famed Donmar Warehouse with Chiwetel Ejiofor (2007)

SETTING: Act 1 – Venice; Acts 2-5 --Cypress

YEAR: The Summer of 1571 “more than likely”

ACTION: Iago, “honest soldier” and ensign to the Moorish general Othello, is passed over for promotion to lieutenant by Othello in favor of Michael Cassio, “a great arithmetician of Florence” who has “never set a squadron in the field.” Incensed with new hatred for Cassio and Othello, Iago sets out to destroy the latter. As the play unfolds vengeance multiplies like a virus and eventually destroys Othello, his wife Desdemona, his own wife Emilia and Iago himself…..but not Cassio.

NOTE: In “Othello” the Moor is assumed a Mohammedan (Moslem) and is viewed as an exotic figure who exerts a powerful sexual attraction especially over, Desdemona, the young white daughter of a Venetian Senator. Shakespeare’s source materials include the key tale from Cinthio which begins with the line: “There once lived in Venice a Moor who was very valiant and of a handsome person and a passionate southern nature.”

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F O R C L A S S E X P L O R A T I O N : I A G O

FACT: Othello is highly regarded as a man of “dignity and glory” and the Venetian Republic’s most successful leader in battle; thus he is the one with “chivalric valor” to speedily lead his army to Cypress to fight “the Turks” whose fleet is headed the short distance to that island kingdom. FACT: Iago is Othello’s “ancient” or ensign/flag officer and an experienced soldier; the “war god” Othello has been “everything to Iago, because war was everything”; there can be no doubt that Iago was burning for promotion.

FACT: Iago is married to Emilia, Desdemona’s lady in waiting; as such she accompanies the Venetian company to Cypress and eventually becomes the key “whistle blower” in the demise and fall of Iago.

THEORY: There is no reason is given for Othello’s decision to promote Cassio over Iago; “Othello, the skilled professional who maintains the purity of arms by sharply dividing the camp of war from that of peace, would have seen in his brave and zealous ancient someone who could not replace him were he to be killed or wounded; Iago cannot stop fighting, and so cannot be preferred to Cassio, who is relatively inexperienced but who is courteous and diplomatic and knows the limits of war.” (Bloom)

NEW: The first scene reveals Iago’s anger and plotting against Othello: “I follow him to serve my turn upon him. I am not what I am”; Iago is a classic chameleon – clever, inventive, manipulative, ruthless and, above all, determined; he has set out on his vengeful path before the play begins as a genius of improvisation.

NEW: Iago suspects Othello of more - Act I, Sc 3, 384: “I hate the Moor and it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets he’s done my office.” (Read aloud)

NEW: Note how often Othello, Cassio and others refer to Iago in his imaginative role- playing as “honest Iago”, “humble Iago”, “good Iago”.

NEW: With his own sense of logic, Iago justifies himself and his actions: Act 2, Sc 3, 337-351 (Read aloud)

NEW: What other new information about Iago’s persona do we gather as the play unfolds?

Class members are welcome to introduce discussion topics to augment any or all of these:

DISCUSS: The play’s “foregrounding of issues of race, gender and sexuality” continues to place it in a special category in the canon; have we thoughts on how these characteristics continued to show in future plays of Shakespeare?

DISCUSS From the facts we know and the new facts we learn, how has Iago’s past formed the man we meet at the start of the tragedy? DISCUSS: Does Iago possess a fierce delight in pulling strings, in the feeling of power that comes out of making others into marionettes who one can manipulate all the while whetting his appetite for more of the same?

DISCUSS: The truth and irony of “The green-eyed monster…” speech – Act 3, Sc 3, 165-167 (Read aloud)

DISCUSS: The appalling speed with which the action unfolds (“notoriously, there seems not literally to be time for Desdemona’s supposed adultery to have taken place”) makes it an exciting – almost unbearable—play to watch.

DISCUSS: Iago’s enveloping trance over Othello; is Othello hopelessly outclassed in intellect and drive by Iago or is Iago so powerful prophet of Revenge and a genius for improvisation that no one suspects his actions?

DISCUSS: Iago’s build to the decisive moment of the play: Act 3, Sc 3, 362 -482 with cuts (Read aloud)

DISCUSS: Iago manipulates another subtle jab at Othello: As a professed Christian Desdemona is assumed to be a virgin; with the necessary speed on the night of their secret wedding to pack and preparing for the long sail to Cypress followed by a second disruption on the night following their arrival with Othello have to attend Montano’s wounds -- some critics claim that Othello is incapable of consummating the marriage and unable to attain the truth about Desdemona and Cassio by simply consummating the marriage.

DEMISE: Iago: Act 5, Sc 2, 302-303 “Demand me nothing. What you know, you know. From this time forth I never will speak a word”

Othello: Act 5, Sc 2, 338-356 “…..and smote him – thus!”

DENOUEMENT: What might we assume Iago faces beyond the end of the play?

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F O R O P T I O N A L V I E W I N G…..

OTHELLO Oscar® nominee Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh star in a naturalistic version of Shakespeare's thrilling tale about the doomed marriage between a Moorish general and the daughter of a Venetian noble. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZiRPiIkRKo May be a rental charge of $3.99 + Tax

Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice (1981, starring William Marshall) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCdHpKXw_Tg&t=158s