Who is Othello - Research Paper Example

Othello Black Othello is of royal lineage, in childhood or conscious age, he embraced Christianity. He had to stand at the deathbed of his mother, who gave him a handkerchief, possessing miraculous qualities. He was seven years when he became a warrior and for a long time he fought together with his brother, who died before his eyes. During his wanderings he visited the distant mysterious lands inhabited by cannibals, was captured, sold into slavery, and gained freedom. For quite a long time he served faithfully in the Venetian Signoria. He had a strange adventure in Syria, when in the city of Aleppo—a part of the Ottoman Empire—he stabbed some Turk, for he was beating a Venetian and abusing the Venetian Republic. As a commander of Venetian troops he fought in the Christian and pagan lands, in Rhodes and Cyprus, where for a certain time he served at administrative or military service and earned the love of the Cypriots. Only 9 months immediately preceding the events depicted in the tragedy Othello spent in idleness in the capital of the Republic of Venice. In countless expeditions he developed and strengthened the quality distinguishing him from the Venetian: he became a knight in the highest sense of the word. Othello’s behavior is “based on military codes of conduct” (Nostbakken 101). A number of elements in the characterization of Othello reveal his inner opposition to the Venetian society. The Moor can serve Venice at virtually any position up to the post of the commander of large military units. But he cannot organically enter this society and merge with it. The color of his skin is exceptional in terms of expressiveness stage symbol, which constantly reminds the audience or readers of the essence of the relationship between Othello and the Venetian civilization. In the face of death Othello says that jealousy was not the passion, which initially determined his conduct, but this passion seized him when he was unable to resist the influence of Iago. His credulity was the main quality which interfered with his ability to resist. Iago says of him: The Moor is of a free and open nature, That thinks men honest that but seem to be so, And will as tenderly be led by the nose As asses are” (I, 3). However, the main source of Othello’s credulity is not in his individual character. Fate has thrown him into a strange and incomprehensible republic, in which the power of big purse—a secret and evident power that makes people selfish predators—had triumphed and strengthened. “Put money in thy purse”, as Iago repeats several times. But the Moor is calm and confident. The relationships between individual members of the Venetian society are of no interest to him: he is associated not with individuals but with the Signoria, where he serves as captain, but as a general Othello is perfect and the country urgently needs him. The tragedy begins with the comments, confirming what was said above about the nature of Othello’s links with the Venetian society: Iago is indignant that the Moor would not listen to the voice of the three Venetian nobles who applied for his appointment as lieutenant. But in Othello’s life there is an event of enormous importance: he and Desdemona fell in love. The feeling that emerged in the heart of Desdemona, which is much brighter than the recognition by the Senate of Othello’s military merits, proves his inner wholeness, beauty and power of the Moor. Othello is not only fascinated by the decision of Desdemona, he is in some way surprised by the incident. Desdemona’s love for him is a discovery, allowing a fresh look at himself. But the event, which was to further strengthen Othello’s peace of mind, had another side. The Moor was secured with his own strength and courage while he remained only a military commander. Now, when he became a husband of a Venetian woman, in other words, when he developed new forms of relations with society, he became vulnerable. And Iago was prepared perfectly for his attack. He is armed to the teeth with his knowledge of the customs, prevailing in the Venetian society, with all his cynical philosophy in which deceit and lies take an honorable place. To strike a mortal blow Iago uses his understanding of the nature of frank and trusting Othello and his knowledge of moral norms that govern society; he is “able to undermine that trust with false rationality” (Bloom 28). Iago is convinced that the appearance of man is given to him in order to conceal his true nature. Now he needs to convince the Moor that it is also true with regard to Desdemona. Thus Iago wins a partial victory. For Othello the thought that Desdemona is also false, like all the Venetian society, displaces the thought of the high purity of feeling, connecting him with Desdemona. The comparative ease with which Iago is able to win this victory, is not only due to the fact that Othello believes in Iago’s honesty and considers him a man well aware of the true nature of normal relations between the Venetians. The mean logic of Iago seizes Othello in the first place because the same logic is used by other members of the Venetian society. For Venetians, like Rodrigo or Iago, the idea that a woman is publicly available, has long been a truism; once wives are publicly available, the wronged husband is left with no choice but only to give horns to the abuser. But Othello cannot abandon his ideals, cannot accept the moral standards of Iago, and he “believes not only in the word honest but in the honesty of words” (Calderwood 59). And that is why he kills Desdemona. Instead of the story of a crime Shakespeare wrote the story of a man who differs from the others not only by skin color (“... for I am black” (III, 3)), but also by mental characteristics: honesty, integrity and credulity of a child. Othello is an ingenuous child, unaware of the existence in the world of such human qualities as meanness, deceit and hypocrisy. He can’t even think about the possibility of deception, betrayal and so he easily believes in Iago’s tale of the betrayal of his faithful lieutenant Cassio, of the infidelity of his beloved wife, Desdemona. It was easy for Iago: I told him what I thought, and told no more Than what he found himself was apt and true (V, 2) He cannot live with this feeling, with this knowledge. He cannot lie or pretend, he cannot become a perpetual spy of his own wife. Knowing, as he thinks, about her infidelity, Othello decisively changes: tenderness becomes rudeness, credulity becomes suspicion. In everything—in every word and gesture of her—he fancies deception; precisely because never before he could think of it. The only thing for him to get rid of this doubt, which has persistently settled in his house and his soul, is the decision to which he comes: the murder of Desdemona. But, having done it, Othello finds out that Desdemona was innocent, that they are both victims of the monstrous intrigue that was so skillfully launched by Iago. He realizes what he committed: But that I did proceed upon just grounds To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all (V.2) Othello describes himself as an “honourable murderer”: “For nought I did in hate, but all in honour” (V, 2). In these words is the key to the murder committed by him: a man for whom honor is above all could not coexist with vice, could not allowed dishonesty to go unpunished. Realizing the full horror of the offense, he kills himself, cuts his throat with a dagger. Bibliography Bloom, H. William Shakespeare’s Othello. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. Seven essays that investigate the issues of power and the diversity between male and female roles and occupations. Asserts that the play is both tragic and comic. Author also included useful bibliography and Shakespeare chronology. Calderwood, J. The Properties of Othello. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Explores the theme of ownership as a basis and provides an outline of Elizabethan property lines to set the play for argument. Extends the word property to include not only material and territorial belongings but racial, social, and personal identity. Nostbakken, F. Understanding Othello: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000. A book that examines different theoretical and historical approaches. Analyzes different readings and misreadings from the first editions to the present. Shakespeare, W. Othello, the Moore of Venice. Retrieved from Read More