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Othello (William Shakespeare) Shakespeare’s message is that ultimately, love affairs between people of different races are doomed. In an essay of 350 – 400 words, critically discuss the validity of this statement. 2018 The theme of race is very complex. While it is true that the difference in race between Othello and Desdemona plays a role in the tragedy which unfolds, in the end, there are other very significant factors which result in their mutual destruction. Therefore, it is questionable whether Shakespeare intended to warn people that love or marriage between people of different races was necessarily doomed. The opening scene of the play introduces us to Iago and is peppered with racist epithets and pejorative language. Iago certainly has objections to Othello based on race and shows his disgust at his marriage to a beautiful white girl. But it turns out that Iago’s feelings of hatred for Othello run much deeper. He tells us that he is angry that Othello has passed him over for a promotion and that he suspects Othello may have slept with his wife, but the origin of his decision to destroy Othello lies more within his character. He is deeply envious of Othello, his happiness, his authority, the respect in which he is held and he is determined to prove his superiority over Othello. His ego will not allow even officers like Cassio, who is handsome and charming and a good person to get the better of him, to hold a position which he covets. He revels in the fact that no one suspects him of being behind the breakdown of the marriage between Othello and Desdemona and Cassio’s demotion as a lieutenant. He feels that he is triumphing over all the inferior and foolish people around him. The question of Othello’s race becomes useful to Iago as a manipulative tool. It is particularly tragic that Othello himself provides the material for Iago to use to bring about his destruction. Othello is conscious of the fact that his race is one of the several factors which make him different to Desdemona. He is also older than her and he is not a Venetian so their ways are strange to him. In fact, his wildly adventurous life and slightly exotic background are exactly what appeals to Desdemona. But his insecurities about his difference to her are fertile ground in which Iago can plant seeds of doubt and initiate a plot to make Othello believe that his wife has good reason to fall out of love with him. It is significant that Othello’s race is not an obstacle when seen against the background of Venetian society in general. He is held in high esteem by the senators who value his contribution as a seasoned and gifted general of the army which is vital to protect their trading interests. Their very economic future depends on him. And when it comes to his marriage to Desdemona, it is the duke who warns Brabantio against racial prejudice. ‘If virtue no delighted beauty lack, your son-in-law is far more fair than black.’ Brabantio invites Othello into his home and delights in his character and adventures. But when Othello marries his daughter, his latent racism emerges. And one of his objections to the marriage is that it will bring about Desdemona’s ostracism from Venetian society. It could be argued that Brabantio’s opposition to the marriage on this basis is what sends Desdemona away to Cyprus in the first place, but she states as one of the reasons for wanting to accompany Othello that she did not marry him to live apart from him. She very much wants to go away with him and share his adventurous life. Sadly, of course, the rift between herself and her father does contribute to her isolation which plays so grievously into Iago’s hands later in the play. But her location so far away from home in Cyprus is a far more important factor in ensuring that there is no one to whom she can turn when her husband suddenly changes into a monster.

We are told by Brabantio that Desdemona herself overcame an initial fear of Othello’s different appearance, but we don’t know if that is his bias talking. It certainly takes time for her to become aware of his attractions but eventually, she falls completely in love with him. She says, ‘I saw Othello’s visage in his mind.’ It is Othello the person whom she loves, and his race becomes irrelevant. What is more, like Desdemona, he is a Christian which narrows the cultural divide between them. Othello’s rage and jealousy are also reflected as outcomes of his character not arising out of his race. Othello is a human being and his responses are human, as are Desdemona’s. To suggest that Shakespeare intended his play as a warning about the dangers of interracial love is probably an oversimplification of the play. It is the lovers’ misfortune that they have been brought together along with so malevolent a person as Iago who has such evil designs on those he considers his enemies. The destruction of their love and of their lives has more to do with the interplay of the different characters and of circumstance. In the end, the messages conveyed through the play are much wider and deeper than those of race alone.

Othello (William Shakespeare) BRABANTIO Whether a maid … Would ever have, to incur a general mock, Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom Of such a thing as thou – to fear not to delight. Brabantio presents Othello as a monster. He has bought into the stereotype of the African man. In an essay of 350 – 400 words, critically discuss the extent to which Shakespeare seems to support Brabantio’s version of Othello in this play. 2019 As the play opens, we are introduced to an Othello who is admirable in many ways. His race is referred to only by Iago, Roderigo and Brabantio - the more compromised characters in the play, while all the remainder seem to be hardly concerned about his African origins. But under the influence of Iago’s terrible assault, he slowly unravels and becomes the monstrous stereotype the ungenerous public, in their ignorance, chooses to believe in. When we first meet Iago, he is luring Roderigo into a conspiracy to avenge himself on Othello for his perceived unjust behaviour towards him. Othello has given the post of lieutenant which Iago coveted to Cassio and he may have slept with his wife. Iago’s language is peppered with racial insults which are more a reflection of the corruptness of Iago’s disposition than of Othello’s character. Indeed, when we meet Othello, we are convinced of his many superior qualities. His noble demeanour, his strength and reserve, his calm assurance and level-headedness, as well as his natural assumption of leadership, are impressive. He avoids a brawl in the street when confronted by Brabantio and conducts his defence in the presence of the senators with dignity and courtesy. In fact, he is held in high regard by the senators of Venice, who recognise his genius as a general and have entrusted him with the defence of Cyprus, a strategically vital asset upon which their economic future depends. The duke himself warns Brabantio against his prejudice: ‘If beauty no delighted virtue lack, your son-in-law is far more fair than black.’ It is also significant that Brabantio himself was initially very taken with Othello and invited him to his house on several occasions. It is only when Othello captures the heart of his daughter that Brabantio’s hitherto stifled biases rise to the surface and all the superstitious fictions about African magic and devil-worship occur to him. It becomes clear that Shakespeare has constructed a character far more complex and multidimensional than would fit any narrow stereotype.

What is more, Desdemona, while certainly not unconscious of Othello’s different race, has put it completely aside and has fallen deeply and sincerely in love with him. She says, ‘I saw Othello’s visage in his mind.’ She remains true to her belief in the greatness of his character right to the end. Othello can hardly credit his good fortune. To have captured the heart and mind of such a perfect woman is almost more than he can comprehend. Othello counts all of his superior qualities: his noble birth, his success as a soldier, his adventurous life, his knowledge of the world. But these become nothing when set beside the ways in which Iago lays bare his differences to Desdemona: he is older, he has foreign origins, he has none of the social sophistication of the typical Venetian gentleman and he is black. Othello’s innate honesty and modesty compel him to pause. It will take only an unscrupulous villain to feed on this doubt. It is significant that Cassio makes no reference to Othello’s race. He believes people are what their actions prove them to be. It is a part of the generosity and goodness of his nature. He is utterly devastated when he loses Othello’s regard after the drunken brawl with Montano and Iago’s malign plot is ripe and ready to move into the next gear. Surprisingly enough, Iago himself is not entirely motivated by his racist prejudices. His evil designs on Cassio, Othello and Desdemona are driven more by his own twisted ego. He simply despises the good and therefore the weak people around him and is compelled to prove to himself how superior he is by triggering their mutual destruction. The brilliance of his plan lies in the way he achieves the downfall of his enemies entirely at their own hands while he watches coldly at a distance. His pleasure is in the wrecked lives he has wrought and the triumph of evil.

After the drawn-out ‘temptation’ scenes in which Othello is slowly sucked into the net of intrigue and suspicion set by Iago, he sets about searching for proof of Desdemona’s infidelity. He is almost unhinged by the foulness of his own suspicions and is drawn into a demonstration of hideous evil as he and Iago seal a pact of murder drawing on images of hell and the devil. He will kill Desdemona while Iago will kill Cassio. At this point, the monster invoked by Brabantio is revealed in Othello. Here he is every bit as barbaric as he was accused of being to begin with. He has wild emotional moodswings, experiences a seizure and his very language is tainted, fraught with crude and shameful words and images. The only flaw in Iago’s plan is embodied in the person of his own wife Emilia. Worldly-wise, even a little cynical, she is the first to recognise the symptoms of jealousy in Othello. But it is important that Emilia too accepts Othello initially at face-value. Then he strikes Desdemona and publicly humiliates her and all of Emilia’s indignation against the cruelty of men is ignited. Desdemona dies at the hands of Othello without raising a hand in her defence, protesting her innocence and forgiving him with her last breath. His excuse for his action as an expression of justice, righteous punishment of an adulterer to prevent her from deceiving any other innocent men is a weak attempt to give them a civilised and rational veneer. It is left to Emilia to disabuse him of this fabrication and she does it with gusto. She hurls every bit of contempt at him that she can muster, and her furious language contains oblique references to his colour – ‘black’ deeds and the devil – subtle connections to the dark magic of Africa. But she also knows who is behind Othello’s actions. He is a ‘gull’ and ‘ignorant as dirt’ but the real villain is her husband and she exposes Iago as a last desperate act of vindication. When the truth penetrates Othello, he is filled with remorse and self-disgust. Although the scene is brief, his redemption is complete, and we recognise the great and honourable Othello who we met as the play began. He re-establishes Desdemona’s innocence and goodness, provides the reason for

his desperate condition as brought about by Iago’s machinations, asks for forgiveness, repents sincerely, finds himself guilty of a terrible murder and enacts justice by executing himself. In the final scene, there is no reference to Othello’s race, no sense that his actions are a given feature of any human group, just that he was mistaken and that it is sad. It is also universally accepted that the perpetrator who has to answer for the entire tragedy is Iago, the white man. Thus, it seems clear that Shakespeare had no intention of creating a character who is solely defined by his ‘blackness’ or who represents a version of a so-called ‘typical’ African man. In the end, the reasons for human actions, both good and bad are deeply complex and Shakespeare as always is faithful to that truth

Othello (William Shakespeare) ‘Iago could never be as destructive as he is, were it not for the assistance of fate.’ Respond critically to this statement in an essay of 350 to 400 words. Provide a reasoned discussion and thorough motivation/proof for your ideas through extensive reference to the play. It probably cannot be said that fate is responsible for Iago’s success. It has more to do with Iago’s ability to manipulate circumstances to his advantage. Iago’s character has the most say in the direction of the events in the play. He is inherently evil. He is malicious, covetous, destructive and manipulative. He is amoral, possessed of a deep hatred, devoid of all love. Yet he is also a clever opportunist, using every possible chance to further his aim of bringing about the downfall of Othello. Fate may provide the material, but it is Iago who uses it to his advantage. Othello’s marriage to Desdemona gives Iago the opportunity to stir up trouble with Brabantio and alienates Desdemona from her father. She will have no defences against Iago. Her ‘deceitfulness’ becomes a weapon he can use in his attempt to discredit her in Othello’s eyes. Is this fate or is it the natural coming together of two people who feel that they are made for each other? The very fact of Desdemona’s character presents her to Iago as a perfect victim. She is innocent, chaste, trusting. Her kindness to Cassio is easily twisted to look like something ugly. Her sweetness and gentleness mean that he does not need to fear her as a threat to his plans as she succumbs to Othello’s abuse without fighting back. Fate or character? Similarly, Cassio appears fated to fall into Iago’s trap. His weakness for a drink is easy to leverage into a fall from grace in Othello’s eyes. But it is Iago’s envy of his goodness that is at the root of his desire to destroy Cassio. Othello’s outsider status presents Iago with more material to work with. He is black, older than Desdemona, and unsophisticated – having no clear understanding of the complexities of Venetian society. It is easy for Iago to work on Othello’s awareness of these aspects of his ‘differentness’ to make it appear surprising that Desdemona should have chosen to love him. Add to this Othello’s trusting nature, his loyalty as a soldier and relatively simple world view and he is ripe for Iago to fill him with such confusion as to his wife’s loyalty that his baser jealous instincts emerge with devastating effect. Emilia provides Iago with the ‘evidence’ that he needs in the form of the handkerchief. Yet this is more rooted in her character as she tries to obtain the approval of her critical husband than a random act of chance. Bianca has followed Cassio to Cyprus which also makes it appear that fate is on Iago’s side. Yet her infatuation with Cassio is longstanding. It is Iago’s brilliance that takes her production of the handkerchief at a critical moment and turns it into ‘proof’ of Desdemona’s infidelity. Is it fate that brings Roderigo to Cyprus or his own weakness of character that has allowed him to be shamelessly exploited by Iago? He is the perfect instrument for Iago to use to murder Cassio. If it is fate that has made Iago successful as a villain then it can also be said that fate is responsible for his destruction through his own wife Emilia who he so comprehensively fails to understand. Her

inherent honesty and goodness – her loyalty to Desdemona who inspired Emilia’s love, brings about the exposure of Iago in the end....