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Othello: A Tragedy of Perception
By
Susan Abbassi, B.A., B.A., M.A.
A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English
California State University Bakersfield
In Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Masters of English
Spring 2014
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Copyright
By
Susan Abbassi, B.A., B.A., M.A.
2014
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Othello: A Tragedy of Perception
By Susan Abbassi
This thesis has been accepted on behalf of the Department of Eng! ish by their supervisory committee:
Dr. Andrew Troup
Dr. Susan Stafinbil v
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my parents, Mina and Mostafa, whom despite not being here with me, always supported me emotionally. Their motivations and kind regards have empowered me to move forward and perform my very best in my education and life. I also would like to thank Dr.
Andrew Troup and Dr. Susan Stafinbil for their assistance in helping me write this thesis.
Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Michael Flachmann who initially inspired me to write this thesis.
Susan Abbassi
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Table of Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..1
Summary of the Play……………………………………………………………………………2
Who are the Moors?...... 6
How is the Portrayal of Moor in Othello?...... 11
How Does Othello’s Moorishness Influence His View of the World?...... 14
What Happened to Othello’s Positive Worldview………………………………………………19
Othello’s Thought Pattern……………………………………………………………………….23
Othello’s Identity………………………………………………………………………………..28
Othello’s Need for Social Space………………………………………………………………...31
Othello’s Chaotic Mind………………………………………………………………………….36
How Does Desdemona Respond to Othello’s Change in Perception?...... 46
What is The Difference Between Desdemona and Othello?...... 49
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………….....54
Work Cited……………………………………………………………………………………....56
1
Introduction
In the play of Othello, Shakespeare perfectly explores the issue of racial tension that existed in the Elizabethan era. Othello, a loyal soldier and the protagonist of the play, appears as an outsider in Venice because of his dark skin; he is repeatedly and often harshly judged by others based on his different ethnic background and special outward characteristics. Despite being a warrior of high status, he cannot be fully embraced by the white people around him due to his otherness.
He is further alienated from other Venetians, and almost all characters—including
Othello himself—acknowledges his blackness and therefore his differences. Edward Berry, one of this play’s critics, argues in“ Othello’s Alienation” that Othello portrays the stereotypical view of white men toward Africans in the Elizabethan era. In fact, Berry sees Othello as “a tragedy of perception,” believing the characters’ negative view point toward the play’s protagonist leads to its tragic ending (317). In other words, Othello loses his high reputation and becomes capable of destroying his own life only after he began internalizing the Venetians’ poor perception of him.
In his article, furthermore, Berry argues that Othello is set apart from other characters in every respect—in his blackness, culture, past, and even his language, but he finds the most significant difference in Othello’s Moorishness—the characteristic that, to Berry, gradually and surely influenced Othello’s life and view point. Berry believes that Iago’s evil plan creates a situation in which Othello is forced to reveal his repressed Moorishness: "his uncontrollable passion, for example, his superstitious interpretation of the handkerchief, or his ritualistic attempt to make the murder of Desdemona a sacrifice” (316-7). Berry, however, does not regard Othello
2 as an inhuman savage; he asserts that the self-prejudice, or poor-self-image, was latent in
Othello, and Iago, through his evil plan, guides Othello to reveal his concealed self-prejudice.
Although I broadly agree with the arguments of Berry and believe that Othello is a tragedy of perception, I do not see Othello as a realistic portrait of a Moor. What Berry does not seem to acknowledge is the importance of Othello’s final realization. After knowing the truth, and recognizing the reality of his mistake, Othello seems to return into his previous way of looking at the world. Though he is still as black as before, a Moor, a man without a past, he is capable of admitting to his mistakes and accepting the truth, proving that jealousy, cruelty, and evilness were not deeply embedded within him. In other words, Othello’s Moorishness did not destroy his idyllic life; instead, the negative perception of Othello toward his Moorishness was the main cause of his final annihilation. For this reason, I will seek to present Othello as the main cause of tragedy within this play, for I believe it was Othello, himself, who submits his thoughts, mind, and will to Iago through his chaotic thoughts, unmanageable fears, and wild suspicions.
Summary of the Play
Othello begins on a street in Venice, where Roderigo and Iago are arguing. Roderigo has been paying Iago to suit Desdemona for him, yet he has found out that Desdemona has married a black general named Othello. Iago argues that he also hates Othello since Othello has recently
3 given the position of lieutenant to Michael Cassio, an inexperienced soldier, who according to
Iago does not deserve to have this position.
Roderigo and Iago then go to Brabanzio’s house and cry out to him, claiming his daughter, Desdemona, has been stolen by Othello. Shocked and betrayed, Brabanzio finds out that his daughter is in fact missing, so he decides to gather some officers to find Othello and thus rescue his beautiful daughter. Iago, not wanting to reveal his hatred toward Othello, quickly leaves to join Othello before Brabanzio gets to see him. At Othello’s lodging, Othello is informed that his help is needed in Cyprus, and he must go and speak with the duke about this matter. At this time, Brabanzio and his group arrive and begin accusing Othello, claiming he has stolen Desdemona using witchcraft.
The duke and the senate, however, are quite sympathetic toward Othello, and Othello, too, defends himself and asserts that he has wooed Desdemona through his stories of adventure and not witchcraft. In this moment, Desdemona enters the scene and confidently defends her marital choice and bravely declares her pure and true love for her husband. Disappointed and upset, Brabanzio leaves the senate meeting, and soon Othello and Desdemona get ready to go to
Cyprus.
In Cyprus, Montano, the governor of Cyprus, along with three gentlemen stand on the shore. One of the gentlemen states that the Turkish fleet has been wrecked in the storm. Cassio’s ship soon arrives, and soon after that, the second ship carrying Roderigo, Iago and his wife, and
Desdemona arrives. Cassio politely treats Desdemona and claps her hands, and in this moment,
Iago addresses the audience by stating that he will use this incidence to destroy the reputation of
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Cassio. Then Othello’s ship arrives, and he greets Desdemona and states that in the evening, they will celebrate the Cyprus’s safety from the Turks. When everyone has left, Roderigo complains to Iago, arguing he has no chance of getting to Desdemona. Iago, however, once again assures
Roderigo that Desdemona, herself, will soon change her mind when she faces the black body of
Othello; he argues that Desdemona will look for someone else to fulfill her sexual needs. Iago, however, claims that Desdemona may search for Cassio to fulfill her needs, so Roderigo must destroy Cassio’s high reputation by getting him into a fight at the revels. Then Iago explains to the audience that this is the first and important part of his plan for ruin Othello.
At night, Iago gets Cassio too drunk and then asks Roderigo to go and start a fight with him. Being so drunk, Cassio chases Roderigo across the stage and later stabs Montano.
Othello, who had left with the intention to consummate his marriage, soon returns to manage the problem. Seeing Cassio as the main cause of the problem, Othello strips Cassio from his position. Cassio expresses his melancholy to Iago and asserts that he can never regain his previous high status; however, Iago argues that Cassio can easily get back his position through getting help from Desdemona. Then Iago explains to the audience that he wants to raise the jealousy in Othello by portraying Cassio and Desdemona as lovers.
Cassio sends some musician to play beneath Othello’s window in order to please Othello, but Othello orders the musician to go away. Cassio then tries to speak with Desdemona, and Iago tells him that he will take Othello away so that Cassio could privately talk to Desdemona. When
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Iago, Othello, and some other gentlemen have gone to examine some of the town’s fortifications,
Cassio gets to talk to Desdemona. Desdemona is quite sympathetic to Cassio and promises him to do all she can to make Othello forgive Cassio. As he is leaving, Iago and Othello return, and
Cassio leaves without speaking to Othello. Othello then asks Iago to find out if Cassio was the person talking to Desdemona, and Iago, in this scene, begins to kindle the fire of jealousy in
Othello. Iago claims that Cassio and Desdemona are involved in a sexual relationship.
At night, Desdemona goes to call Othello for supper and finds him feeling unwell. She offers her handkerchief to wrap around his head, but Othello rejects it. The handkerchief drops to the floor, and Emilia comes and picks up the handkerchief and later gives it to Iago since he had repeatedly asked her for it. Iago uses the handkerchief as an evidence to prove Desdemona’s infidelity. He tells Othello that he has personally seen Cassio wiping his beard with
Desdemona’s handkerchief. This really upset Othello, and he promises to take revenge on both his wife and Cassio. Later that day, he asks Desdemona about the handkerchief. She asserts that she does not have the handkerchief at the moment and tries to change the conversation by speaking about Cassio and his former position—a fact that further drives Othello in rage.
Iago then make another plan to prove Desdemona‘s unfaithfulness. He talks with Cassio about a prostitute name Bianca while making Othello to think that he is talking about
Desdemona. When Bianca comes with Desdemona‘s handkerchief, Othello becomes convinced of his wife’s infidelity and is also consumed by jealousy. In the next scene, Othello strikes
Desdemona in front of Lodovico, whom has come to give Othello a letter from Venice asking him to return to Venice while instating Cassio for his replacement. Later that day, Othello calls
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Desdemona a whore and ignores her; he also asks her to wait for him in bed and send Emilia away.
At night, with Iago’s instruction, Roderigo intends to kill Cassio; instead, Cassio wounds
Roderigo, and Iago wounds Cassio. When hearing the sound of Cassio‘s cry, Othello assumes that Iago has killed Cassio. He then prepares to kill Desdemona, but she wakes up and starts pleading with him. Othello ignores her attempts of rescuing herself and smother her in the bed.
He soon regrets his action when he hears that Cassio is alive and he has been betrayed by Iago.
In front of Montano, Graziano, and Othello, Iago kills Emilia in order to silence her and then flees, yet he is cut by Lodovico and Montano. Othello then wounds Iago and becomes disarms.
Othello lastly gives a speech about how he likes to be remembered and then kills himself with a sword that he had hidden. The play ends with a speech by Lodovico, giving Othello’s house and goods to Graziano while ordering Iago to be executed.
Who Are the Moors?
Before I begin presenting my argument, I will attempt to introduce Othello as a Moor. Some readers may not fully understand who a Moor is and why the play refers to Othello as the Moor of Venice. Othello is a seventeenth-century play that deals with a black protagonist, a character that most likely came from West Africa and was born out of African tradition. It may be interesting to note that in the seventeenth century, most black people were mainly originated in
7 the African continent, and by that time, Queen Elizabeth had shown her discontent of the numbers of these Africans since they were viewed as pagans who did not believe in God or
Christianity. Queen Elizabeth’s racist attitude toward these black people can be overtly seen in the following passage:
Whereas the Queen's majesty, tendering the good and welfare of her own natural
subjects, greatly distressed in these hard times of dearth, is highly discontented to
understand the great numbers of Negroes and blackamoors which (as she is informed) are
carried into this realm since the troubles between her highness and the King of Spain
[emphasis added]; who are fostered and powered here, to the great annoyance of her own
liege people that which co [vet?] [sic] the relief which these people consume, as also for
that the most of them are infidels having no understanding of Christ or his Gospel: hath
given a special commandment that the said kind of people shall be with all speed avoided
and discharged out of this her majesty's realms; and to that end and purpose hath
appointed Casper van Sender, merchant of Lubeck, for their speedy transportation. (qtd.
in Little 16)
This passage vividly portrays the biased attitudes of people, Queen Elizabeth in particular, in the early seventeenth century; this also displays their negative perceptions toward black people—especially toward black Africans. Most of the black people arriving to England through the slave trade were also non-Christians, so Queen Elizabeth considered this fact as a valid and convincing reason to send these Africans—like objects—out of England. In this way, she was trying to protect other people from being in content with these supposed infidels.
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In Othello, a similar image of black people has been presented, and indeed
Shakespeare fused Moorishness with blackness and consequently creates a more focused discourse of racial Otherness. I may assert that even though Shakespeare might not have been fully conscious of banishment of Africans, he was, more likely, aware of the labeling them since he, himself, indicated such a categorization in this play. Diana Adesola agrees with my assertion, and she argues that Othello, the black African, “epitomizes that category of other established by
Queen Elizabeth” (49). In other words, Othello symbolizes the non-European outsiders—people who were not welcomed in England.
Moreover, based on this play and also the English literature on Africa in the early modern period, “Moor” was a synonym for “Negro” (Adesola 49). Adesola writes, “the black Moor (i.e.,
Othello) is equated with Negro, a term for the inhabitants of the numerous kingdoms along and below the Niger [River]” (52). Such a literature had an influence on Shakespeare’s’ construction of Othello’s character. For example, he refers to the budding slave trade and "fantastical notions about non-European peoples: "Of being taken by the insolent foe / And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence / And portance in my travel's history [...] / And of the Cannibals that each other eat, / The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads / Do grow beneath their shoulders"
(1.3.136-44). These lines show the great influence of History of Africa by Leo Africanus on the construction of Othello. In his English version, Africanus depicts Africans as savages by writing:
"There are also people without heads, called Blemines, having their eyes and mouth in their breast" (qtd. in Jordan and Carroll 1264). This influential English text was published in 1600, only four years prior to the publication of Shakespeare’s Othello (in 1604). Critics like Adesola
9 see Africanus as an important and influential factor regarding the creation of Othello since there exist many parallels between Othello and History of Africa. Africanus and Othello also display some similarities since they both are black Moors who traveled extensively in Africa and are further embraced—to some extent—within European society and their religion (Christianity).
I should note here that the word Moor also referred to blackness and otherness, especially
African blackness, and Othello is a perfect example of a Moor since he has been presented as the black other with various negative associations. Othello’s “thick lips” and “sooty bosom,” for example, signify his Moorishness and African’s, and his famous handkerchief is a critical example of African belief in object supernatural qualities (fetish or juju). The handkerchief was given to Othello’s mother by an Egyptian, or African, who noted that the object (the handkerchief) had the power to "almost read / The thoughts of people" (3.4.57-58). Othello believed that the handkerchief also had the potential to “seduce men or drive them away”
(Adesola 55).
In this play, the handkerchief works as a prefatorial object that provides another visible token of Leo Africanus's A Geographicalf Historie of Africa (Little 312). In this text, African refers to a custom in which:
A certaine woman standeth before the bride-chamber doore, expecting till the
bridegroome hauing defloured his bride reacheth her a napkin stained with blood, which
napkin she carrieth incontinent [i.e., immediately] and sheweth to the guestes,
proclaiming with a lowd voice, that the bride was euer till that time an vnspotted and pure
virgine (QTD 312).
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Similar to napkin in Africanus's text, which mainly illustrates the loss of women’s virginity, I would argue that Othello’s handkerchief signifies loss and displacement. Through being lost, the handkerchief immediately becomes an important object which further appears as a displaced object. In addition, its origins are textualized in the loss of life: there's a magic in the web of it
sibyl, that had numb'red in the world
The sun to course two hundred compasses,
In her prophetic fury sew’d the work;
The worms were hallowed that did breed the silk,
And it was dy’d in mummy which the skillful
Conserv’d of maidens’ hearts. (III.iv.69-75).
Othello obtains the handkerchief while he was about to lose his mother: “She, dying, gave it me (I.i. 63), and he explains that if his mother “lost it / Or made a gift of it, [his] father’s eye /
Should hold her loathed” (11. 60-62). Therefore, the handkerchief is a mean of relating Othello to people presented in Africanus’s text or other pre-texts, or “to narratives of foreign rites of
Devirgination” found in those narratives(Little 312). In this way, the audience is encouraged to read the play while unconsciously making a connection to those texts, always remembering the blackness and unnaturalness of Othello.
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I may argue that this is one of the ways in which Othello represents the stereotype of
African people. In his critical article, Adesola explains that the term “Moor” referred to “an inclusive term applicable to racial and religious Others” (51). In the case of Othello, this otherness refered to Africanness and blackness, and importantly, the history of Africa, as
Adesola writes, has been written “either by westerners, or by Africans trained in western traditions” (53). I may take Adesola’s argument further and assert that such a history or description was also highly influenced by personal and cultural biases.
How is the Moor Portroyed in Othello?
I may now illustrate how Othello, the Moor of Venice, has been presented within the play; I will also demonstrate how other characters react to Othello’s Moorishness. Most characters within the play are aware of Othello’s blackness and its association; they see the black body of Othello as a representation of his metaphorical blackness. Even though some characters, the Duke in particular, try to defend Othello by declaring, "If virtue no delighted beauty lack, /
Your son-in-law is far more fair than black," both Desdemona’s father and the audience still suspect the unseen blackness of Othello (1.3.284-85). The play is constantly moving toward “the origin and essence of [Othello’s] black presence,” similar to Othello’s search for Desdemona’s faithfulness (Little 305). I may assert that the audience looks for Othello’s black nature because of their pre-text understanding of the Moors with their savage and libidinous essence.
With this pre-understanding of Moors, as Little argues, the audience are the ones who
“reactively and proactively construct the signification of race” (305). To understand this point,
Edward Said's Orientalism appears as quite useful. In his book, Said explains how in the 19th
12 century, the European culture came to view the "Oriental" as Other and also believed that their representation of Orientals would lead to “their discovery of the Oriental's ‘Platonic essence’”
(Little 305). According to Said, “knowledge of the Orient, because generated out of strength, in a sense creates the Orient, the Oriental, and his world" (QTD 41). Therefore, Othello’s blackness remains, from beginning to end, a site of interplay between the literal and the metaphorical, created by the historical memory and imaginative construction of its audience.
Based on the audience’s pre-text understanding of the play, I believe that Othello is presented as other by having a black body, by getting married to white Desdemona, and by eventually killing her. These three elements are indeed closely related to one another. The fact of Othello murdering his wife depends upon their marriage, and their marriage is highly invested in
Othello's blackness. Little also agrees with my argument and explains that the blackness is the
“originary moment of the play's anxieties” (306). Although, at the beginning of the play,
Othello’s blackness is simply allegorical, his blackness becomes more literal and real as the play moves toward its ending. Little believes that Othello eventually comes to “invest blackness with the audience's allegorical presumption” (306). Therefore, Othello is the one who responds and creates the audience’s presumption of him as violent Moor.
Consequently, the relationship between Desdemona and Othello functions as the main point of the play’s racial anxieties. These racial anxieties are well presented through mocking the sexual coupling of Othello and Desdemona and further associating their relationship with other culturally horrifying scenes of bestiality and homosexuality. The possible result of marriage between the white Desdemona and black Othello would be most likely a black child, a fact that
13 emerges from the "natural infection" of the father. This similar concept has been presented in Sir
Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646), where he argues, "in the generation and sperm of Negroes, that being first and in its natural white, but upon separation of parts, accidents before invisible become apparent; there arising a shadow or dark efflorescence in the outside"
(QTD 308). These examples depict whiteness as the real truth while they represent blackness as hidden horrors or aberrations. To a seventeenth century audience, this horror rises from the assumption that a white English woman would give birth to a black child, seeing the father as the source of the infection. In this case, blackness represents a black birth, and the black identity finds itself in an “imaginary scene of some horrific copulation” (Little 308). These elements, along with Othello’s representation of the black other, illustrate how “from the late sixteenth through the middle of the seventeenth century, one finds the otherness of the black persona increasingly transformed into a truth” (Little 307). This truth not only represents a different identity, but also a lost identity for black people.
For this reason, Shakespeare does not specify Othello’s ethnic background, thereby depriving him of his sense of cultural and racial identity. In the play, I notice that Othello has been portrayed as a rootless man who does not belong to any particular place; he is not a member of a specific society but a composite "African." Othello's "African" qualities have been well presented within the play. He is portrayed as a "credulous fool" (IV.i.45) with a "free and open nature" (I.iii.399). In addition, most characters—Iago in particular—see him as "an old black ram" (I.i.88), "the devil" (I.i.91), and a "Barbary horse" (I.i.lll); the consummation of his marriage is a making of "the beast with two backs" (I.i.115-16). Othello is accused of being a
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"foul thief," of being"damned," of arousing Desdemona's love by witchcraft (I.ii.62), of working against her by "practices of cunning hell" (Liii.102), of being a bond-slave and pagan (I.ii.99).
These epithets vividly reveal the negative stereotypes of the African in the Elizabethan era. This poisonous image of the black man gradually and eventually destroys Othello’s judgment of himself.
Additionally, Othello himself does not speak about his background or past life, and as
Berry notes, he “never defends his blackness; nor does he defend the religion or culture that lies behind him” (322). As a result, Othello’s racial and cultural identity remains a mystery for others while his portrayal is highly complicated by the racist view of other Venetians toward him. Iago, for example, refers to him as "a lascivious Moor" (1.1.127), a reference which according to
Philip Butcher, “is in agreement with the Elizabethan belief that lasciviousness was a characteristic of people born in hot countries” (245). The linkage between hot climates and hot passions was also an Elizabethan cliche. Further in the play, Iago remarks that Othello may have a plan to go to Mauritania (4.3.229), suggesting that Othello may be from Mauritania,” a region of northern Africa corresponding to modern Morocco and Algeria, which was supposed to be the land of the Moors” (Butcher 245). So, throughout the play, Othello has been overtly linked to his past origin and Moorishness, a fact that gradually obliterates Othello’s peaceful mindset.
How Does Othello’s Moorishness Influence His View of the World?
In order to understand how Othello’s Moorishness played a part in changing his perception of the world and therefore his life, I consider the way in which Othello perceives himself and his world from beginning to the end. Though other people’s view of Othello was
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truly destructive and disparaging, it was Othello’s own negative perception toward himself that
completely changed his life. None of the characters, with their detrimental perceptions, could
initially influence Othello’s positive self-image and worldview, and despite all the negative
stereotypes about the Moors, (some of which were mentioned earlier in this paper,) Othello
consciously strived to create and maintain his version of the reality—an understanding that
helped him to gain a high reputation among Venetian people.
This, however, may beg an important question for many readers: what causes Othello to
alter his positive perception and view of the world? To answer this question, I will examine the
meaning of perception. Perception is reality, and people, based on their different appearances,
culture, religions, or background, develop a different perception or understanding of themselves
and the world around them. They interpret the events based on what they see, hear, or experience
in their lives. Some people are in charge of their perception, meaning they choose what kind of
perception they choose to obtain. They also give less attention to the negative attitudes of other
people around them. On the other hand, some people base their perception and consequently
their reality on their external environments and as a result make themselves slaves of their
surroundings. Most likely, the reality of people with the second kind of perception is unstable,
unpredictable, and unreliable. This is the kind of perception that Othello adopts after being
deceived by Iago.
I should assert that Othello is initially in charge of his perception; he views himself and his world positively, regardless of the harmful attitudes of other Venetians around him. Though, throughout the play, different characters speak of Othello in a way that emphasizes his blackness and dissimilarities, he remains harmless from their poisonous words and actions. He vividly understands that other characters try
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to alienate him and consequently denigrate him. Other Venetians, in addition, refuse to refer to him by his
name, and instead, they call him using racially prejudiced terms. Berry believes that “the most pervasive
sign of Othello’s alienation is to be found in the use or, more precisely, the avoidance of Othello's name”
(321). For the most part, characters—Roderigo and Iago in particular—try to accentuate Othello’s
otherness by speaking of him with racial references such as “the Moor” (1.1.57), “the thick-lips” (1.1.66),
“an old black ram” (1.1.88), and “a Barbary horse” (1.1.113). Berry argues that with such racially prejudiced terms, these characters aim at “reducing the individual to a class, the person to an object”
(321). In addition, characters within the play try to force Othello to doubt the genuineness of his marriage. For example, Brabanzio addresses Othello by stating, “Look to her, Moor, have a quick eye to see: She has deceiv'd her father, and may thee” (I. iii. 292-3).
However, Iago is the one who constantly tries to remind Othello of his black origin. Iago repeatedly states that the love between Othello and Desdemona will not last. He states, “The food that to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be to him shortly as acerbe as the coloquintida. She must change for youth; when she is sated with his body, she will find the error of her choice” (I. 3. 350). He later directly links Othello’s dark skin with his inner blackness by asserting, “Mark me with what violence she first lov'd the Moor, but for bragging and telling fantastical lies. To love him still for prating?-let not thy discreet heart think it. Her eye must be fed; and what delight shall she have to look on the devil?” (ii. i.
219). In this scene, as Little asserts, “symbolic reading of the black devil or beast “transforms into a literal understanding of blackness” (321).
Regardless of all these biased attitudes of Venetians, however, Othello possesses a high
opinion of himself and in fact believes “that Venice cannot do without him” (Mason 153). The
Black Othello owns a pure mind and heart; he is trustworthy, brave, and quite honest about his
deeds; Orkin sees him as being all “about love” (170). He is a heroic figure with a lofty vision
17 who is willing to defend Cyprus against the Turks, and Shakespeare “gives to him the richest language in the play” (Orkin 172). He is exceptionally eloquent, and many of the characters within the play praise his fine qualities.
I may continue to assert that Othello perceives the world as he wishes, not as he sees or hears it. For this reason, Othello manages to maintain a positive perception toward himself and his world. Othello is aware of his blackness even before being deceived by Iago’s evil plan, yet regardless of his physical differences, he possesses a positive perception and view point toward himself and his life. He sees himself as a noble man and an important figure within Venetians’ military, seemingly giving less attention to the biased attitudes of people around him. “He,” as
Mason asserts, “speaks with modesty yet firm certainty and tells Iago, whom he regards as a faithful friend, that he is no upstart but of high birth” (154). Seeing himself as an honest soldier,
Othello even expects that Brabantio should show his approval regarding his marriage, believing his " services, which [he had] done the signiory, Shall out-tongue [Brabantio's] complaints”
(1.2.18-19). He considers himself as eligible for getting married with a white Venetian girl because he can dismiss the reality of his blackness and Moorishness.
Othello is capable of adjusting himself within the new Venetian society. He is a general who is in a powerful role, and the people of Venice and Cyprus respect him because of being a noble leader. He has a high reputation, is trustworthy and responsible, and is revered by the cord and Senate.
He focuses on his positive, attractive, and noble qualities, and as a result, he is well capable of wooing and marrying Desdemona. He has a strong self-confidence and can well
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present himself in front of Desdemona’s father and his other friends: “Not I, I must be found: My
parts, my title, and my perfect soul, Shall manifest me rightly” (Iii.30-32). I believe that
Othello’s inner world is what gives him a sense of satisfaction. Arthur Kirsch sees Othello as an
innocent young man with curious qualities: “coming to marriage late in life, he seems innocent
as well as vulnerable and, without depriving him of his actual manhood; Shakespeare endows
him with many of the emotional responses and much of the peculiar vision of a very young boy”
(Kirsch 727). The curious quality of Othello's imagination, along with his feelings and fantasies,
are a heroic energy within the play (Kirsch 727). An example of this would be in act one, where he speaks of his childhood memories:
I ran it through, even from my boyish days
To th' very moment that he bade me tell it;
Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances:
Of moving accidents by flood and field,
Of hair-breadth scapes i' th' imminent deadly breach,
being taken by the insolent foe
And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence
And portance in my [travel's] history.(i 3. 132-39).
With this excerpt, it becomes clear that Othello has a great capacity to generate wonder, and I
may assert that this quality emerges from his capacity to feel the wonder himself. When speaking
19 to Desdemona, as Kirsch states, he talks “with that sense of symbiotic exaltation which is the remembrance of childhood. “ For instance, while being reunited after the flood, he expresses his joy by declaring:
It gives me wonder great as my content
To see you here before me. O my soul's joy!
If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have waken'd death! (II. I. 183-86).
Kirsch believes that this scene, which is also one of the most ecstatic moments of the play,
“draws deeply on the primal psychological and religious sources of all erotic yearning” (Kirsch
730). This is also what gives him the capability of retaining the attention of his listeners: "Yet, by your gracious patience, / I will a round unvarnished tale deliver" (1.3. 89-90). Indeed, it is through his “unvarnished tale” that Othello can woo Desdemona. It is important to note that
Othello’s inner peace and belief in Desdemona is later undermined by Othello’s own negative worldview.
What Happened to Othello’s Positive Worldview?
After being tricked by Iago, Othello changes his positive self-image and begins acknowledging his differences. He comes to believe Venetians’ poor perception of him—a reality that caused Othello’s tragic ending. As the play progresses, Othello loses his positive self-
20 image since he is completely misled by Iago’s wicked plan. I noticed that he begins seeing his nobilities merely in his military expertise, realizing he could woo Desdemona indirectly and only through the fascinating stories of his military travels. In other words, he comes to believe that he could make Desdemona fall in love with his adventures and not actually himself: "She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd" (1.3.167). This is where his marriage then seems unusual to him, and he starts rationalizing his love by declaring: “Nor from my own weak merits will I draw the smallest fear or doubt of her revolt; for she had eyes, and chose me” (3.3.187-9). It is clear that
Othello’s new self-perception makes him uncomfortable and gives him doubtful feelings.
This disturbing feeling is obvious because Othello comes to doubt his own noble qualities. He “fails to love his own body, to love himself, and it is this despairing self-hatred that spawns the enormous savagery, degradation, and destructiveness of his jealousy." (QTD 309).
He accepts the culture that damns him—a tradition that sees him as the savage and libidinous other. After Othello, himself, expresses his self-hatred and inferiority, I may argue that his blackness becomes personalized, and is no longer cultural. This is why he sees Cassio, with his white body, as a more fitting husband for Desdemona since he comes to believe his own inadequacies and inferiorities. I will try to illustrate how Othello finally personalizes the
Venetians’ cultural way of thinking.
Before I demonstrate how Othello’s negative worldview influenced his way of thinking and behaving, it is important to recognize that Venetians showed a particular kind of prejudice toward Othello, simply because he was a black African. Though Cassio, like Othello, is a foreigner in Venece, he, unlike Othello, who is seen as sinister outsider, is viewed as a “kind of
21 white knight from abroad” (Little 313). This is because Cassio owns a lighter skin and does not have any blackness. Consequently, Desdemona and he seem as a more natural couple who have social legitimacy, and readers may grant cultural invisibility to their relationship. According to
Stephen Greenblatt, "it is eminently probable that a young, beautiful Venetian gentlewoman would tire of her old, outlandish husband and turn instead to the handsome, young lieutenant"
(QTD 314). Without Othello, as Arthur L Little argues too, Cassio and Desdemona would be the more conventional and suitable couple in the play, yet this perfect couple are lost forever. Little believes that they are the ordinary couple that cannot be recovered. This ideal couple is displaced into the sexual and improper couple of Othello and Desdemona. Little continues by asserting,
“the sexual coupling of Desdemona and Cassio comes into the play as a missing scene” (Little
316). It is interesting to note that nowhere in the play, the relationship between Cassio and
Desdemona is portrayed, yet the idea is well presented in several scenes. For example, Iago states, "Where's satisfaction? / It is impossible you should see this, / Were they as prime as goats, as hot as mon- keys, / As salt as wolves in pride, and fools as gross / As ignorance made drunk"
(I. ii.398-402). Beyond this words is the scene of sex between Cassio and Desdemona, which as the play progresses, transforms into a “pornographic freak show” (Little 316).
How Responsible is Othello?
Most of the critics see Iago as a clever, devilish manipulator, who through his evil plan transforms Othello from noble to ignoble. Peter Hollindale, for example, considers Iago as a“confusedly motivated, malicious and lucky improviser” who seeks to manipulate the already
22 confused Othello (Hollindale 44). There is also no doubt about Iago’s devilish intention; his motives are quite visible too. For example, he evidently expresses his motives by stating:
Thus do I ever make my fool my purse;
For I mine own gain'd knowledge should profane
If I would time expend with such [a] snipe
But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor,
And it is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets
[H'as] done my office. I know not if't be true,
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,
Will do as if for surety. (I.i.384-90)
Though a devilish character, Iago is not the main root of tragedy in this play. I see Othello, himself, as the major root of tragedy since he is the one who submits his mind and will to that of
Iago’s. Hollindale also notices this dramatic change in Othello’s perception in the play; he writes, “ He[Othello] begins with a vast, confident sense of himself in all sorts of settings:
Othello the general, Othello the super-mercenary, Othello the indispensable state servant, Othello the civilized dinner-guest, Othello the covert but honorable lover, Othello the governor, Othello the husband; and then Othello the dupe, the jealous husband, the eavesdropper; and then Othello the conspirator, the closet wife-killer and the suicide” (Hollindale 45).
From now on, I seek to explain some of the causes that move Othello along these roles.
According to Bradley, 'There is no mystery in the psychology of Iago; the mystery lies in a
23 further question, which the drama has not to answer, the question why such a being should exist”
(QTD 45). Though this question may seem interesting to readers, the more important fact is to find the mystery in the psychology of Othello.
As mentioned earlier, there is no mystery in Iago's psychology,” for one can recognize some multiple destructive motives for his actions” (Hollindale 45). Consequently, the character of Othello, not Iago’s, needs to be examined. The title of this play also suggests that the tragic ending of the play is a result of Othello’s wrong perception. Unlike other Shakespearian plays, like Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare did not refer to this play as the tragedy of Desdemona and Othello. The title is “The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice,” so the tragedy is clear and vivid, and Othello’s alone. This fact makes Othello the most responsible person for the tragedy while dismissing the crucial role of Desdemona in the play.
Because of the individual solidity and separateness of Othello, because of his “otherness,” and because he is visibly set a part from other Venetians, he must also alone carry the responsibility of this tragedy. In order to explain why Othello should be responsible for this tragedy, I will present how the change in Othello’s thought pattern forces him to lose his positive worldview.
First, I will reveal Othello’s thought pattern and illustrate how his distorted mindset alters his understanding of self. Next, I will depict Othello’s different identities and explain why he chooses to adopt them.
Othello’s Thought Pattern
I will argue that Shakespeare presents Othello as a strong, impressive, yet not a thoughtful man. He is not intellectually equipped to fully understand the intensity of the tragedy or the events that happened to him as an individual. With this apparently nonintellectual
24
character in play, ironically, the words “think” or “thought” have been used frequently through
the play. According to Paul A Jorgensen, different forms of the word think appear 84 times in the
play, with the temptation scene having the most emphasis on this word (Jorgensen 265). On the
other hand, the word “know” has been used 25 times in scene 1 in the act three and mainly by
Othello. Thereafter, this word is not being used at all and is indeed replaced by “think” or
“thought.” I may argue that this fact portrays the intellectual progress of Othello, moving from
knowing to distorted thinking and then going back to a painful hardened type of knowing.
Most of the time, in addition, the thinking that occurs in the play is painful, sinister, bloody, or
obscene. The readers, for instance, read about "impatient thoughts" (I. iii. 243), "foul thoughts"
(II. i. 265), "villainous thoughts" (II. i.266), "thoughts unnatural" (III. iii. 233), "bloody
thoughts" (III. iii. 457), "ill thinking" (III. iv. 29), and "leaden thoughts" (III. iv. i77).
I believe that Othello’s original state of mind, which gives him a “tranquil mind" is intuitive
knowing rather than thinking. From the beginning, where he often uses “knowing,” one can see
his firm perception of the world as he comes to know it: “'Tis yet to know, - Which when I know that boasting is an honor, I shall promulgate-I fetch my life and being From men of royal siege,
and my demerits May speak unbonneted to as proud a fortune As this that I have reach'd” (I. ii.
19). He, in another incidence, claims to have a strong mind by stating, “Were it my cue to fight, I
should have known it Without a prompter” (I. ii. 83). He knows himself as highly competent in
mind, yet the opposite of his belief will turn up to be the actual truth. He believes that love can
never make him doubtful because of his intellect:”No, when light-wing'd toys Of feather'd Cupid
seel with wanton dullness My speculative and oflic'd instruments That my disports corrupt and
25 taint my business, Let housewives make a skillet of my helm...” (I. iii. 269). Indeed, he uses his intellectual quality to prove that he is a man not easily jealous.
Moreover, when speaking of his knowing, I notice that Othello’s dictions include emotional rather than intellectual apprehension. For example, in the first scene of act two, in a very short speech, Othello uses the following terms to describe his mindset: "fear" and "wonder"
(i85), "soul's joy" (i86), "this content" (i98), and "too much of joy" (i99). For this reason, I may assert that Othello is not a thoughtful man, and he does not live by thought. The audience may also come to realize the susceptibility of Othello’s mind, for he easily allows Iago to govern his mind with his incredible muddle of his thought. To Othello, Iago is an honest, intellectual being:
"O, thou art wise; 'tis certain". "This honest creature doubtless / Sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds". However, in reality, Iago is an irresponsible thinker, who has emphasis upon suspicion rather than logical thinking. As I further illustrate, Othello later begins thinking like Iago and starts relying upon his doubts rather than his logical thinking.
Additionally, I may note that the word “think” is used 31 times in the temptation scene, which accounts for more than a third of its appearances in this play (Jorgensen 272). This is the scene where Othello is set on “bloody thoughts” and is further made to think the worst. This is the scene where Othello also joins with Iago in thoughts and drowns himself in Iago’s doubtful world, a realm which is full of hate, slander, and disgust. After engaging in thoughts and mind with his supposed honest friend, Othello is no longer capable of sustaining indecision and thought: “I think my wife be honest and think she is not. I think that thou art honest and think thou art not”. Though, at first, Othello asks for a proof, or a return to his way of thinking and knowing, he quickly and wrongly accepts Iago’s flimsy evidence (his dream) as a proof of his
26 wife’s infidelity. He declares, "I'll tear her to pieces." In this state of mind, Othello sees no place for showing mercy to his wife, for his “bloody thoughts, with violent pace, Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love, Till that a capable and wide revenge Swallow them up.” During this scene, I believe that Othello is emotionally broken by a rack of thinking, and consequently he is incapable of listening to his wife’s or Emilia’s reasoning with any thoughtful attention, for he has come to reflect Iago’s despicable mind.
Like Iago, Othello comes to distrust his wife’s chastity without having any means of proving his accusation; he, like Iago, longs to understands the truth as he wants it, and not as how it truly is: “Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore, Be sure of it, give me the ocular proof, .... Make me to see't, or at the least prove it That the probation bear no hinge, nor loop To hang a doubt on: or woe upon thy life!” (III. iii. 365-366, 370-372). Othello thus seeks for certainty, yet he lets his world-order to be overturn by distrust. He trusts Iago’s words as an absolute truth and accepts his words as satisfying evidences.
From now on, Othello and Iago are psychologically bound together, and Iago represents the dark side within Othello. For this reason, Othello is easily convinced of Desdemona’s infidelity since the doubts that Iago whispers in his ears are his own. In other words, I may assert that the main cause of Iago’s success is not his intellect, but Othello’s readiness to response. In one scene, when Iago is absorbing the encounter of Cassio and Desdemona, he repeats the question that Othello asked of him, causing Othello to declare, “By heaven, he echoes me, As if there were some monster in his thought too hideous to be shown.” (III, iii). However, there is no monster in Iago’s thought; the monster is in Othello’s own mind.
27
Joined with Iago in mind, Othello also comes to show his distrust and hatred toward women. He eventually comes to see all women as sexual saints and sinners who show infidelity toward their husband. Othello’s new perception reflects Iago’s view toward women, a view that is absolutely denigrating and debasing: you are pictures out[a' doors],
Bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens,
in your injuries, devils being offended,
Players in your huswifery, and huswives in your beds.
Des. O, fie upon thee, slanderer! (II.i. 108-13).
Similar to Iago, Othello comes to besmirch women, especially his own wife, for infidelity. For this reason, both Othello and Iago end up murdering their wives. Othello begins looking at himself with Iago’s eyes, instead of Desdemona’s; he comes to accept Iago‘s thoughts as his own. This is exactly what Iago originally intends for him too. As Kirsch writes,
“everything Iago says 'is designed to bring to Othello's consciousness what he has already guessed is there'; but a further and crucial point should be made, which is that what is 'there' exists as part of the unconscious life of all men” (736). For example, Iago refers to Desdemona’s way of thinking about Othello as “unnatural” (II. 3. 232), and later, Othello also admits to unnaturalness of Desdemona’s thoughts and love for him, seeing his age and skin color as the main cause of this abnormality:
Haply, for I am black,
28
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have, or for I am declin'd
Into the vale of years (yet that's not much),
She's gone. I am abus'd, and my relief
Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage!
That we can call these delicate creatures ours,
And not their appetites! (IV. 3. 263-70).
Othello’s union with Iago’s thoughts and mind brings upon him his immediate loss. He cannot accept that Desdemona’s love is true since he, himself, believes that he is unlovable and is also not worthy of Desdemona’s love for him. This allusion also negatively influences
Othello’s notion of self and identity and further leads to the destruction of his idyllic life.
Othello’s Identity
I may argue that Othello’s first identity is self-created perfectly; his identity is not false, overly perfected, or pretended. Hollindale also agrees with this understanding of Othello’s identity and argues that Othello “knows himself, and he admires himself - his soldiership, his manliness, his age and experience, his race and colour – all” (Hollindale 48). Othello perceives himself as a middle-aged man, who despite his dark skin has gained the approval of sennet; he is proud of his manliness, his soldier status and his experiences. He feels at peace with his being,
29 his life, and his position in Venice. He, however, doubts his identity and begins reconsidering his concept of self while finding himself in the presence of Desdemona, a white Venetian lady.
I notice that Othello begins a new and risky adventure of the self, an adventure that at time gives him breathless moments: Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul But I do love thee! And when I love thee not, Chaos is come again. (III. 3. 90-2). Othello’s speech reveals many important mysteries regarding his state of mind. Through these words, Othello unconsciously admits to his dark side of self, stating his life was in a state of chaos before meeting and falling in love with Desdemona, even though he seemed quite satisfied with his life.
In addition, he sees his love for Desdemona as a remedy for his chaos and sees Desdemona as the one who rescues him from his former barbarousness (Hollindale 49). I argue that this is where Othello begins to doubt the reality and honesty of his previous self, life, and being. The truth is that some very deep part of Othello, so deeply rooted in his conscious, cannot accept his fortune. To him, marrying a young, white, courtly, native-born Venetian girl sounds quite unbelievable, so much so that he repeatedly tries to rationalize his marriage. He, for instance, explains to the Venetian senate:
she swore, in faith 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange;
'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful.
She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd
That heaven had made her such a man. She thank'd me,
And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her,
30
I should but teach him how to tell my story,
And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake:
She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd,
And I lov'd her that she did pity them. (1.3.160-7).
As Othello, himself, admits, he endeavors to find a reason for his “miraculous extension of his life and identity,” an explanation for his unusual luck, a fortune that he finds to be very difficult.
For this reason, I argue that Othello’s main problem is his unbelief; he, similar to Venetians, cannot accept that Desdemona, a young beautiful Venetian girl, has fallen in love with him, since he is just a middle-aged, black Moor.
I may also assert that Othello takes a big risk with a soldier's loyalties and friendship, with Venice, and mainly with himself. He has to move from his sense of identity as soldier, the comrade, and the man, to his newly formed world where he is a weak and insecure lover.
Hollindale also recognizes this importance and asserts that Othello believes that Desdemona has fallen in love with what he is, and not who he is. In fact, Othello assumes that Desdemona loves him as “a romantic story, a biography, a reputation,” and not an un-courtly middle-aged black”
(Hollindale 49). Using this weak notion of self, Iago, a typical Venetian man, is capable of further destroying the already confused mind of Othello—a mind which is convinced of its inferiorities because of its race, age, and culture. I see these elements together reminding Othello of his black origin:
Haply, for I am black,
31
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have, or for I am declin'd
Into the vale of years (yet that's not much),
She's gone. I am abus'd, and my relief
Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage! (III.3.263-7).
In this scene, without really witnessing the truth, Othello sees Desdemona “gone” already, and with this imagined loss of Desdemona, I see the end of Othello’s perfected self, his positive perception, and his wise worldview. I believe that this imagined loss marks the beginning of
Othello’s new self, perception and worldview.
This transition from perfected self to defeated self guides Othello into a psychological chaos, where he comes to lose his perfected self: “O, now, for ever Farewell the tranquil mind!
Farewell content! Farewell the plumd and troops and the big wars That make ambition virtue. O, farewell! Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone” (III. 3. 334-54). However, the past Othello is not dead forever. I believe that Othello’s former self is simply lost within his mind. This explains why Othello can revive his past self at the end of the play, where he has already murdered
Desdemona’s self. In other words, with the death of Desdemona comes the revival of Othello’s past self. For this reason, I may argue that Othello’s immediate mourning over Desdemona’s death proves his sense of humanity and differentiates him from Iago, for he soon realizes the wrongness of his action. He declares that Desdemona is “Cold, cold, my girl, Even like thy chastity" (5.2.275-76).
32
Othello’s Need for Social Space
As mentioned earlier, Othello’s first identity is fully a construction of his own mind and will. Scholars might infer that Othello deliberately presents a different identity at different situations in order to fit within Venetion sociocultural identity. For instance, he constructs a new identity since he finds himself in Venice, a culturally different place. Jonathan P Sell refers to this construction of identity or self as “theatrical mask” (74). He further asserts that people come to “conceive of identity as a narrative constructed for the pragmatic purposes of social and cultural interaction and acceptance. And, as Goffman argued in Stigma, the pressure, the need to perform palatably, to produce acceptable identity narratives, to pass oneself off as "normal" is greater among those who are in some way or another marginalized by noticeable disparity (Sell 75). Therefore, in an attempt of portraying himself as “normal” Venetian citizen, Othello tries to assimilate himself within Venetian’s culture. Sell argues that Othello’s “narrative of identity is an allusive construction,” and the audience can witness this allusive construction in his narrative:
Her father lov'd me, oft invited me;
Still question'd me the story of my life
From year to year—the [battles], sieges, [fortunes],
That I have pass'd.
I ran it through, even from my boyish days
33
To th' very moment that he bade me tell it;
Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances:
Of moving accidents by flood and field,
Of hair-breadth scapes i' th' imminent deadly breach,
Of being taken by the insolent foe
And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence
And portance in my [travel's] history;
Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle,
Rough quarries, rocks, [and] hills whose [heads] touch
heaven,
It was my hint to speak—such was my process. (1.3.129-43).
Othello's narrative, as Sell asserts, shows how “he has come into contact with the exotic and codified or conceptualised his experiences of it in a manner proper to and therefore admissible by the host culture, in so far as his allusions are proper to that culture's conceptual framework as, in this case, inscribed in its literary heterocosm” (Sell 75). For this reason, I may assert that
Othello is capable of defining and perceiving himself as “an Elizabethan traveler” (Sell 75). He sees himself as a traveler, and his fascinating stories are what provide him with a sense of
34 meaning. In fact, his tales are the only factors that help him to marry Desdemona, and this
Venetian mask (story telling) persuades the Duke that he is “far more fair than black" (1.3.291).
Using this allusive mask, Othello comes to woo Desdemona, and when Desdemona’s father accused Othello of stealing his daughter by witchcraft, Othello remarks that his tales were the only magic he used. However, I realized that Othello uses this identity, the story telling, quite differently. For example, he sometimes uses his tale not to fascinate Desdemona, but to “mock, shame, alienate, and terrorize her” (Gross 819).
When Othello is fully convinced that Desdemona has lost the handkerchief, for instance, he still insists on getting the handkerchief back from her only to denigrate her. In this case, his tale
Function to debase and destroy Desdemona. I notice that the way he asks for the handkerchief is also denigrating. He asserts, "I have a salt and sullen rheum offends me, / Lend me thy handkerchief,” and in this manner, Othello deliberately desecrates what he once held sacred, for he could have asked for the handkerchief in a different way. He dispossesses Desdemona of the handkerchief and further dispossesses Desdemona herself.
In this way, Othello uses the handkerchief (the picture of his romantic ancestry) to humiliate
Desdemona (a young Venetian girl), and he is fully conscious of his cruelty, and in this scene, he, once again, directly reveals one of his personal terrors by stating that the cloth "could almost read the thoughts of people,”for he believes others have thoughts that he cannot read and know. I believe that this is what pushes him to adopt a Venetian mask. I, however, see no surprise in the
35 way Othello functions and chooses another identity, for he lives in a period where people are greatly obsessed with having high reputation and honor. Kenneth Gross also recognizes this necessity for adopting a new identity since Venetians were obsessed with “the protean status of public identity and the uncertain lures of fame, reputation, and honor,” and of course, as a black
Moor, Othello truly longs to know how other native Venetians think of him (Gross 840). For this reason, I argue that the identity that he illustrates in the play is not truly that of himself; it is the tale of him. This Venetian mask or identity differs from Othello’s original self. Sell sees this reality as “Othello's irremediable transculturality: neither fully Venetian nor any longer fully exotic, he is neither one of us nor one of them” (Sell 78). Since the identity that he presents is not truly his own, and is also loosely attached to him, he fails to maintain this constructed self. For this reason, towards the end of the play, his “repressed identity begins to rip through his Venetian mask” (Sell 78). I believe that Othello, himself, is aware of his elusive mask, and it is for this reason that at the end of the play, he addresses Lodovico, Gratiano and Cassio by stating:
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak
Of one that lov'd not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealious, but being wrought,
Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand
36
(Like the base [Indian]) threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdu'd eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drops tears as fast as the Arabian trees.(5.2.339-50).
With these expressions, as Sell states, Othello suggests that identity is in essence
narrative, which could be either extenuating or malicious (Sell 79). However, I may assert that
with this expression, Othello wants to dictate his own, climactic identity narrative for Lodovico
to write and take to other people. He begins his narrative by shortly illustrating his psychological
self-description, asserting he is "not easily jealous" but easily misled when worked up). He
distinguishes between his two identities and sees his Venetian self as responsible for his action.
Sell also agrees with this statement and explains, “Othello the Turk, the exotic other, dies at the
hands of Othello the Venetian” (Sell). As I may note, Othello finally recognizes the genuineness
of his two identities, implying he is both a Venetian and the exotic other. However, the promise
of transculturality, to transcend culture, has failed due to Othello himself. Through his own skepticism, I believe that Othello comes to destroy his dream of achieving transculturation. Sell asserts that Othello becomes “lost, a sad black man, first in a long line of so-called achievers who are too weak to yoke their past with their present; too naïve to insist on both; too foolish to realize that to supplant one with the other can only lead to catastrophe" (Sell 81). I argue that this
37 catastrophe comes as a result of Othello achieving neither complete assimilation in the Venetian culture, nor complete eradication of his original cultural imprint. (Sell 81).
In other words, Othello fails to fully acculturate to Venetian culture because he understands that he can never obtain the whiteness he desires, and also he can never shed the blackness he has learned to devalue. Othello’s problem is simple yet serious. He longs to maintain both cultures equally, and without knowing, in order to survive, he must yield to whichever culture exerts the stronger pull. For him, transculturation forces him to possess different identities, and this is what Othello cannot accept.
Additionally, I may assert that Othello comes to construct his identity and wear his
Venetian mask because of his need for secure standing in social space. For example, his chosen occupation, which signifies his strength and power, gives him inner peace. For this reason, I believe that Othello’s deepest identity is based on his occupation as a military man. He (wears) his mask because he believes that "men should be what they seem" and not what they truly are
(3.3.132).
Othello’s Chaotic Mind
In the beginning of the play, Both Othello and Desdemona assert that they have a clear and secure sense of their own and each other's "minds.” In fact, Othello believes that he has faith in his wife and knows her; he longs to have her in Cyprus, not just because of her body, but "to be free and bounteous of her mind" (I. iii. 265). This shows that even from the beginning, Othello is interested in the meeting of the minds. However, Othello comes to face an aspect within
38 himself—an inner dimension that he seems not confronted with before. He finds these empty spaces within himself and recognizes some hidden doubts that he cannot remedy: "I think my wife be honest, and think she is not, / I think that thou art just, and think thou art not. . ."
(3.3.389- 92). In his distorted state of mind, it seems that Othello does not know his own mind and thoughts. According to Gross, “to him, It is as if he suddenly perceived the world to be full of secrets, but in a way that robbed him of his privacy” (824). Othello asserts, "Where's that palace, where into foul things / Sometimes intrude not?" (3.3.141-42). Feeling empty inside,
Othello looks outside to find a cure for his chaotic mind and thus sees the "curse of marriage" as the cause of all his problems:
She's gone. I am abus'd, and my relief
Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage!
That we can call these delicate creatures ours,
And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad
And live upon the vapor of a dungeon
Than keep a corner in the thing I love
For others' uses. Yet 'tis the plague [of] great ones,
Prerogativ'd are they less than the base;
'Tis destiny unshunnable, like death.(III.iii. 267-75).
Othello thus searches to find proofs, or any kind of physical evidence, confession, or story, to satisfy his fears and doubts. In this process, Othello projects “his own newly discovered doubt,
39 his own faithlessness, onto Desdemona, and attempting in turn to put out its horrible illumination” (Gross 827). For example, when Othello asks Iago to reveal the truth regarding
Cassio and Desdemona’s relationship, Iago does not clearly answer his questions, leading
Othello to respond, confront, and confirm his doubts with his own words:
Oth. What hath he said?
Iago. [Faith], that he did—I know not what he did.
Oth. What? what?
Iago. Lie—
Oth. With her?
Iago. With her? On her; what you will.
Oth. Lie with her? lie on her? We say lie on her,
when they belie her. Lie with her! ['Zounds,] that's
fulsome! Handkerchief—confessions—handkerchief!
To confess, and be hang'd for his labor—first to be
hang'd, and then to confess. I tremble at it. Nature
would not invest herself in such shadowing passion without some instruction. It is
not words that shakes
40
me thus. Pish! Noses, ears, and lips. Is't possible?
Confess? Handkerchief? O devil! Falls in a trance.
Iago. Work on,
My medicine, [work]! (4.1.32-45)
In this scene, it is clear that Iago does not repeat Othello’s question, nor does he give clear answers to his questions. Othello, himself, is the one who completes his own sentences and thus confirms his suspicions and fears. I may therefore assert that Othello is the one who deceives himself with his words, rhetoric, and way of thinking; this is clear by the saying of Iago where he states, “I told him what I thought, and told no more Than what he found himself was apt and true” (V. ii. I76). It is Othello, himself, who found Iago’s words as true without seeing any convincing evidences.
Othello accepts the supposed truth without even seeing it. For instance, in the scene where Cassio is quickly leaving upon Othello’s arrival, Othello regards Cassio’s reaction as a proof of his relationship with Desdemona. This is why I argue that Othello comes to realize the supposed sexual relationship between Cassio and Desdemona not by seeing it, but through not seeing it:
I lay with Cassio lately,
And being troubled with a raging tooth,
I could not sleep.
41
There are a kind of men, so loose of soul,
That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs;
One of this kind is Cassio.
In sleep I heard him say, "Sweet Desdemona,
Let us be wary, let us hide our loves";
And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand;
Cry, "O sweet creature!" then kiss me hard,
As if he pluck'd up kisses by the roots
That grew upon my lips; [then] laid his leg [Over] my thigh, and [sigh'd], and
[kiss'd], and then
[Cried], "Cursed fate that gave thee to the Moor!” (III. 11. 410-23)
I may assert that Iago’s story makes the hidden scene quite visible and further shocks both Othello and the audience with the explicitness of the sexual relationship. As the play continues, however, Othello moves from "seeing" the missing Desdemona-Cassio scene to finding “ocular proof” for his assumption (Little 318). In this scene, moreover, I argue that
Othello sees what he wants to accept as reality and thoroughly ignores the absence of
Desdemona in the bed. Similarly, he preserves Iago’s words to be the absolute truth despite not having any convincing evidences. For this reason, I see Othello as being blind to the truth, for he
42 continues to believe the words of Iago as reality; he even imagines Cassio calling his wife, "O sweet creature!” (III.11. 410-23). Being blind to the truth, Othello also gains certainty by seeing
Bianca with Desdemona’s handkerchief, believing he has found the” ocular proof” of what
Othello thinks he has missed seeing all along” (Little 319). Here again, Othello looks at Bianca with the handkerchief in her hands, while in his mind, he sees Desdemona in her place:
Oth. Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damn'd to-
night, for she shall not live. No, my heart is turn'd to
stone; I strike it, and it hurts my hand. O, the world
hath not a sweeter creature! she might lie by an
emperor's side and command him tasks.
Iago. Nay, that's not your way.
Oth. Hang her, I do but say what she is. So deli-
cate with her needle! an admirable musician! O, she
will sing the savageness out of a bear. Of so high and
plenteous wit and invention! (Iv. i. 181-190).
In this scene, for Othello, Bianca becomes the visual testimony of Desdemona’s dishonesty.
Because of Othello’s extreme sense of uncertainty, he ignores his passing thought about the falseness of Desdemona’s adultery. This gives him a jealous security, a false confidence of
43
knowing he has been betrayed. The whole domain of things that bear a meaning to Othello is
torn apart, and he metaphorically refers to this fact by speaking of completely depersonalized
bodily parts ("Pish! Noses, ears and lips.") Here, Othello faces terrorizing excess and a
maddening absence of meaning, yet he refuses to cry out. His self-doubt, along with his
demonism, wound both the private and public self. Gross also explains this notion by asserting:
“how when we find that our conditions for knowledge cannot be fulfilled, that our criteria cannot
reach to the heart of what we would know, the things we were hitherto most certain of get lost,
and the world becomes an arena of ghosts, masks, automata, while we ourselves fall into either a
deadened behaviorism or a coldly gratifying solipsism” (830). Othello’s skepticism does not
leave the world alone; in fact, in withdrawing, he claims that the world has betrayed him.
However, in reality, I argue that it is Othello who is betraying both himself and the world.
Othello denies himself to the world and consequently denies the world too. To Othello,
skepticism is somewhat similar to jealousy because of “its inevitability, its tyrannical
adhesiveness, its perverse and un- witting violence” (Gross 831). Othello’s jealousy is also
similar to skepticism since his jealousy involves a self-wounding picture of love or knowledge.
His jealousy leads him to question how the self comes to know, recognize, and respond to its
status and limits as a knower of its objects. His jealousy also demands Othello to know about the
other minds—especially to the minds of those whom he may find a sense of reality and self- worth.
However, I may argue that Othello’s jealousy has a pre-history, carrying it within his unconscious from the beginning of his courtship. His jealousy emerges from the
44 misunderstanding of his love for Desdemona, for he regards her as an object for his desire. The main “proof” for Desdemona’s infidelity is Iago’s suggestion and his own skeptical way of thinking. With these evidences, Othello sees Desdemona as unfaithful, both in a literal and metaphorical sense, and consequently he sees a different image in his prior illusions about her.
Gross also explains this by stating: “a sudden horror at finding Desdemona's body, mind, and history beyond his absolute mastery or knowledge, finding them more elusive, intractable, and yet also more vulnerable than he had needed them to be” (Gross 832). This Vulnerability does not simply refer to Desdemona’s physical weakness; it signifies her impurity. Since Othello makes Desdemona his world, a place in which he lives his life, he feels wounded by his own doubts, his own creation, and thus his own perception of his world.
For this reason, I believe that Othello uses Desdemona as his self-romance, a world which presents him as hero, adventurer, and a loyal soldier. He uses her as a means of obtaining his sense of inner security, for Desdemona is the one who has fully accepted and acknowledged
Othello’s high reputation and further has submitted herself to his adventures. For example, he explains how after hearing the tales of his chances, pilgrimages, battles, and sufferings:
She gave me for my pains a world of [sighs];
She swore, in faith 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange;
'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful.
She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd
That heaven had made her such a man. She thank'd me,
And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her,
45
I should but teach him how to tell my story,
And that would woo her. (1.3.159-65).
In other words, “Othello's words not only move her pity, not only bind and subdue her mind to the "utmost pleasure" of her husband, but confront her with an idea of freedom, steadfastness under pain, and heroic fortune that becomes at once the object and the enabling means of her marrying Othello, of cutting herself off from the authority of her father” (Gross
839).
This is why I have asserted that “Desdemona remains for Othello mostly a mirror, a legitimating (sense) of what he already is or appears to be, while Othello is for Desdemona a model for a form of life that is radically other and absorbing” (Gross 840).
However, Othello soon comes to face the reality that Desdemona has a body and a mind, a mind that knows him better, or at least thinks of him differently. This is more than what
Othello can imagine; he is shocked by the knowledge of his doubts. Just as he realizes that
Desdemona is not quite the person he imagined in his mind, he believes Desdemona has imagined him differently too. Othello realizes that “Desdemona is not purely a creature of his own stories, that she is subject to rumor and slander, that there are tales who can be told about her that he cannot own” (Gross 832). Trying to dismiss such a terror, Othello turns Desdemona into a lifeless, alabaster sculpture—a sacrificial victim whose death will heal Othello’s suspicions and jealousy. Through being sacrificed, Desdemona becomes the obvious figure of denial of her mortality: "Be thus, when thou art dead, and I will kill thee, / And love thee after"
46
(5.2.18-19). Othello kisses Desdemona as if kissing a marble statue, yet soon he has to face the dark reality of his life: “Look on the tragic lodging of this bed" (5.2.364). In this scene, Othello sees his “bloody" marriage night, a marriage which remained hidden, or may even unconsummate, throughout the course of the play.
In the last scene, Othello is both linked and separated from Desdemona. Through his murderous quest for truth, I may assert that Othello destroys himself (the skeptic) and his wife
(the object), turning the marriage bed into a bloody death bed. In his desire for purity in
Desdemona and his priority as lovers, he makes a “monster” of himself and “dead idol” of
Desdemona. He fails to give up self-delighting indulgence in skeptical speculation, a rumor that
gradually turns him into “slanderer, murderer, fetishist, or necrophiliac” (Gross 834).
Othello, as Robert Rogers argues, is not truly in love with Desdemona; he is in love with the
image of her—an image which quite differs with its real being. Rogers goes further and asserts
that even if he is in love with both (Desdemona and the image of her), he is not able to
distinguish between the two (212). I may further assert that Othello fails to recognize the reality
of Desdemona’s faith; he does not understand that he needs to have more faith than just
knowledge, but he is not the only one who fails. In this play, I may argue that Desdemona fails
too. She, on the contrary, has too much faith and less knowledge about Othello. She fails to see
Othello’s faithlessness, his doubts, and his jealousy. According to Gross, “She is as astonished,
rendered as speechless, by Othello's jealous accusations and his vicious scenarios of whoredom
as Othello himself is by his own terrorizing doubts of her fidelity” (Gross 835). To her, male
jealousy is not real, is unimaginable, and is also beyond knowledge. For this reason, she does not
47 confront Othello with his madness and does not ask him of his sources, allowing Othello’s jealousy to fully play itself out. When she gets deeply influenced by Othello’s accusation of her, she only responsed by blunt repudiations-"Then would to God that I had never seen it" (3.4.75),
"My lord is not my lord, nor should I know him" (3.4.121). She cannot even think of being unfaithful to her husband: "Beshrew me, if I would do such a wrong, /For the whole world"
(IV.iii.77-78). She finally states, "I have not deserv'd this" (4.1.236).
In contrast, Othello sees Desdemona’s faith and passion for him as a monstrous love, seeing her face as “begrim'd and black As [his] own face” (V. iii. 390). At this moment, Othello has lost his peaceful minset and is dwelling in a state of despair. He plainly reveals his confused inner being by asserting: “This sorrow's heavenly; It strikes where it doth love” (v. 2. 21). He goes deeper in despair as he further doubts Desdemona’s love for him. I may argue that Othello’s final destruction of Desdemona is indeed a suicidal act since he loves her like his own flesh.
Thus, through murdering her, he in fact destroys himself, and what makes the end scene more tragic is the awareness over his action.
How Does Desdemona Respond to Othello’s Change in Perception?
Unlike Othello, Desdemona does not change her positive worldview and opinion toward herself and her husband; I may even argue that she is the only character capable of seeing and adoring the inner beauty within Othello. Desdemona regards Othello in a way that even Othello, himself, fails to perceive. She loves Othello greatly, betrays her own father because of him, and willingly leaves Venice to join her black husband. Despite her quiet personality, she decides to declare her true love for Othello in the presence of his father and the Duke: "I am hitherto your
48 daughter. But here's my husband;/ And so much duty as my mother show’d/ To you, preferring you before her father,/ So much I challenge that I may profess/ Due to the Moor my lord."
(1.3.85). Through her remarkable speech, Desdemona chooses Othello over her father and further prefers being a submissive wife to Othello rather than a grateful child to Brabantio. Her love for her husband is fresh, pure, and honest, and she wishes “our loves and comforts should increase even as our days do grow" (2.1.193-194). It is important to note that Desdemona is fully aware of Othello’s Moorishness and black body, yet she can love him beyond his physical body.
She does not say that she has seen Othello’s blackness as beautiful; she has simply looked beyond his physical blackness and differences.
I may also note how Desdemona is capable of maintaining her one and only self, perception, and way of viewing the world. From the beginning to the end, her love for her black husband seems unconditional, unchanging, and everlasting. She expresses her true love for
Othello by declaring: “ That I did love the Moor to live with him, My downright violence and storm of fortunes May trumpet to the world. My heart's subdued Even to the very quality of my lord. I saw Othello's visage in his mind And to his honors and his valiant parts Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate. So that, dear lords, if I be left behind Othello and Desdemona A moth of peace, and he go to the war, The rites for which I love him are bereft me” (1.3.245-54).
Despite the risks and possible dangers of going to Cyprus, Desdemona insists on accompanying her husband, revealing her self-identification with him. She is willing to risk her life only for the sake of being with her husband and pleasing him. Even after Othello’s false accusation about her, Desdemona remains fully submissive and loving toward her suspicious
49 husband: “my love doth so approve him, That even his stubbornness, his checks, his frowns
Prithee unpin me, have grace and favor in them” (4.3.20-22).
In addition, I may argue that the more Othello refers to her as an evil and a whore, the more saintly and pure she becomes. When she turns to Iago for any kind of help, for example, her purity shines the most. She states, “Unkindness may do much; and his unkindness may defeat my life, But never taint my love” (Iv. 2. 160). She manages to remain sacrificially true to her love for Othello: “EMIL. who hath done this deed? DES. Nobody. I myself. Farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. Farewell!” (v. 2. 126). This kind of love, “with its manifold religious and psychological reverberations,” is the love to which Othello responds at the beginning of the play
(Kirsch 726). With this powerful love, Othello and Desdemona “seem together to be an elemental expression of that single state of being towards which marriage aspires, and his characterization cannot be understood apart from hers” (Kirsch 726).
What is The Difference Between Desdemona and Othello?
The difference between Desdemona and Othello is in their “secure conceptions of naturalness”
(Hollindale 51). To illustrate this point better, I may first briefly discuss the social norms and expectation of Venetians. It is important to remember that Venetians regard Desdemona’s love and marriage as abnormal, seeing it as against laws of natures: "and she, in spite of nature, / Of years, of country, credit, everything, / To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on!" (I.iii.96-
98). Venetians believed that by marrying Desdemona, Othello has violated the laws of nature, assuming that Desdemona, herself, would admit to her wrong marital choice once she, at last,
50 faces the black body of her husband and thus the seriousness of her mistake. This is what leads
Iago to boldly assert:
Thou shalt see an answerable sequestration—put
but money in thy purse. These Moors are changeable
in their wills—fill thy purse with money. The food
that to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be to him
shortly as [acerb] as [the] coloquitida. She must change
for youth; when she is sated with his body, she
will find the [error] of her choice. [She must have
change, she must;] therefore put money in thy purse. (I.I.345-51)
Apparently, Iago sees no convincing or logical reason for Othello to have a white wife. Even
Cassio, who seems less bigoted than Iago, tells Montano that “Othello has married Most fortunately. He hath achieved a maid That paragons description and wild fame; One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens, And in th' essential vesture of creation Does tire the ingener” (II. i. 60-5). Even to Cassio,
Desdemona is much a finer person and deserves marrying a real Venetian gentleman. This simply reveals the social norms of Venetians and illustrates how they had particular sets of societal and cultural expectations.
To Desdemona, however, I may argue that nothing is strange or odd about her love for
Othello. She believes that love does not need any social or cultural approval, for love has its own
51
laws, and she sees herself as capable of understanding these laws. To her, love is an authentic,
sincere bond which looks beyond racial and social differences. Because of her unique
understanding of love, Desdemona can remain faithful to her husband at all times. Whereas
Desdemona finds nothing unusual about her love for her black husband, furthermore, Othello
struggles to recognize the legitimacy and sincerity of his love for Desdemona. This represents
the conflicts between two selves, between two perspectives, and between two private beliefs—
conflicts which steadily and circuitously contribute to Othello’s tragic ending.
Similar to Othello, who is constantly is tempted by Iago, I may assert that Desdemona is also given the voice of doubt by Emilia. However, unlike Othello, Desdemona does not allow the doubtful and poisonous words of others to impact her mind. For the most part, Desdemona does
not hear or believe the harsh picture of Emilia about men, Othello in particular. She does not
listen to Emilia’s version of reality because she cannot find any support for it within her own
inner self or intuition. For this reason, she remains a figure of innocence and purity in the play.
I may further argue that Desdemona is also shown to be more spiritually and emotionally mature
compared to Othello. This fact can be seen in Desdemona’s second speech, where she requests
accompanying Othello to Cyprus:
That I did love the Moor to live with him, My downright violence and storm of fortunes May trumpet to the world. My heart's subdu'd Even to the very quality of my lord: I saw Othello's visage in his mind; And to his honours and his valiant parts Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate. So that, dear lords, if I be left behind, A moth of peace, and he go to the war, The rites for why I love him are bereft me, And
I a heavy interim shall support by his dear absence. Let me go with him (I. 3. 248).
52
With such a statement, Desdemona illustrates how Sensuality and affection are inseparable in her mind. She loves her husband greatly and is not ashamed of expressing her desire for him. By asserting that she has seen” Othello's visage in his mind,” I believe that she reveals her powerful spiritual eyesight, a vision which portrays the fullness of her love for Othello. Desdemona's subsequent appearances, words, and behaviors, also confirm her initial impressions of her pure love. Her words present the harmony of instinctual and spiritual life within her: “The heavens forbid But that our loves and comforts should increase Even as our days do grow!” (I. i. 192).
She sees “the passage of time not as a threat to marriage but as a promise of its growth and fulfillment” (Kirsch 724). Though the loving promis of marage never got fulfilled due to
Othello’s shift in perspective, Desdemona succeeds in remaining true to her understanding of love. Her virtues and innocence are the very qualities that Iago uses to deceive Othello: “So will
I turn her virtue into pitch; And out of her own goodness make the net That shall enmesh them all” (II. 3. 349). This proves that even Iago, with all his devilish qualities, can overtly see the virtuous qualities within Desdemona.
It is important to note that Desdemona’s entire intention is for Othello and her love for him. Even when she is pleading for Cassio and asking forgiveness for him, she is not considering
Cassio nor herself, but her husband, Othello. As a result, the conclusion of her plea is: “'Be as your fancies teach you; I Whate'er you be, I am Obedient” (II. 3. 88). She is truly submissive to him, from the beginning to the end of her life, never even thinking of betraying him. In other words, she owns, and also respects, her absolute marital chastity.
Unfortunately, however, Othello comes to understand Desdemona’s true self very late in the play—at the moment when there is no Desdemona, when he, himself, has brought an end upon
53 her existence. Only after Desdemona’s death, when she is gone forever, Othello faces the depth of his mistake: “'Moor, she was chaste; she lov'd thee, cruel Moor” (v. 2. 252). The tragic ending of the play occurs, as I have argued in this paper, due to Othello’s discordant capacity for believing Desdemona.
Othello even fails to recognize that Desdemona’s last words were indeed for him, to defend him, to show her obedience to him, and to respect and worship him on her death bed.
Breathing her last breath, Desdemona declares that the murderer was "Nobody, I myself'
(5.2.125). I believe that Desdemona admits killing herself in order to show her obedience to
Othello and further prevent him from any possible social punishments. Nevertheless, the scene of
Dsdemona’s death, which is quite depressing, heartbreaking, and painful, reveals the reality of doubts and truth in this play and marks the end of Othello’s sorrowful journey:
Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now.
Be not afraid thou you do see me weapon'd;
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt
And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
Do you go back dismay'd? 'Tis a lost fear;
Man but a rush against Othello's breast,
And he retires. Where should Othello go?
Now—how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd wench,
54
Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl?
Even like thy chastity. O cursed, cursed slave!
Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
O Desdemon! dead, Desdemon! dead!
O, O! (V. iii. 267-82).
Conclusion
Othello is a tragedy of perception, and in this thesis, I have sought to demonstrate that he is the one responsible for the horrifying event that takes place at the end of the play. Some critics may argue with my assertion and state that Iago, who is the most devilish character in all the
Shakespearian plays, is the main root of tragedy, but I have illustrated that Othello was the one who submits his thoughts, mind, and will to that of Iago. Throughout the play, Othello goes through different thought patterns and tries to adopt different identities in order to fit himself
55
within Venetian social norms. Once he finds himself well-respected in Venice and married to
Desdemona, he doubts his own perfect, self-constructed world, and this unbelief is what leads him to his uncontrollable jealousy and madness.
I have illustrated how Shakespeare presents two Othellos within the play. The first is the
“normal” Othello, who is a loyal, honest warrior, aware of the reality, a man who has control
over his thoughts and emotions and shows respect for both others and himself. He is the "noble
Moor whom our full Senate / Call all in all sufficient", the man "Whom passion could not shake"
(IV. i. 275). There is also the Psychotic Othello, the abnormal Othello, a man who cannot
distinguish the truth from falsehood and will easily lose his positive perception of the world. I
have stated how the causes of tragedy in this play could be well understood through analyzing
this duplication of Othello.
Othello starts off by being a strong-minded character, who would not pay attention to
racist and unfavorable attitudes of other Venetians toward him. He possessed a high opinion of
himself and his world and positively viewed the world around him. However, as I stated earlier,
Othello easily changed this newly formed worldview since he comes to believe that he cannot
master what he has willed. He begins to doubt his noble thoughts, Venetian identity, and ideal
life. The more he doubts his self-constructed world, the more he recognizes and highlights his
unwanted black origin, and I have argued that Othello’s absolute sense of unbelief ultimately led
to the destruction of his own self, the death of his wife, and the annihilation of his world.
Though Othello tries to find the “ocular proof“ for his wife’s dishonesty, he, himself,
eventually becomes the ocular proof for the audience and legitimizes their response to his
blackness. I have illustrated how Othello comes to signify his blackness; he comes to fill in the
56
missing scene of his black self. At the end of the play, the audience remains incapable of any
cultural or personal sympathy for the black Othello, for the play finally reaches a shocking
realization, where Othello’s murderous deed gives life to all the metaphorical constructs of his
blackness.
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