Shakespeare

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Shakespeares Othello

• THEMES

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THEME OF JEALOUSY and envy

• Othello is the most famous literary work that
  focuses on the dangers of jealousy.
• The play is a study of how jealousy can be fueled
  by mere circumstantial evidence and can destroy
  lives. In Othello, the hero succumbs to jealousy
  when Iago convinces him that Desdemona has been
  an unfaithful wife in the end, Othello murders
  his wife and then kills himself.
• It is interesting that Iago uses jealousy against
  Othello, yet jealousy is likely the source of
  Iago's hatred in the first place. In Othello,
  jealousy takes many forms, from sexual suspicion
  to professional competition, but it is, in all
  cases, destructive.

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THEME OF JEALOUSY and envy

• There are many examples of jealousy and envy
  throughout the play Othello. Envy is wanting
  what someone else has and jealousy is the feeling
  of fear that something you have will be taken by
  someone else.
• Iago envies Cassio because Cassio has been
  appointed lieutenant, the job Iago wanted.
• Iago also envies Othello because the Moor has
  achieved the kind of success and glory that Iago
  longs for.
• Roderigo envies Othello because he has won
  Desdemonas hand in marriage.
• It seems Iago might also be jealous of Othello
  suspecting that the Moor has slept with his wife.
  
• Bianca also suffers from jealousy. When she finds
  Desdemonas handkerchief in Cassios room, she
  becomes enraged and is convinced Cassio has a new
  girlfriend. However, Cassio soothes her and she
  does not let her jealousy overcome her.

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THEME OF JEALOUSY and envy

• OTHELLOS JEALOUSY
• Is Othello jealous by nature? Before Iago makes
  him suspicious, he is happy to see her in the
  company of Cassio. He believes that just because
  his wife is outgoing and friendly does not mean
  she is having affairs.
• When Iago does begin to suggest Desdemona is
  being unfaithful, Othello says he will not doubt
  her until he has seen proof of her
  infidelityNor from mine own weak merits will I
  draw/ The smallest fear or doubt of her revolt
  Desdemona also believes her husband is not a
  jealous man I think the sun where he was born/
  Drew all such humours from him.
• However, once Iago starts planting the seeds of
  doubt in Othellos mind, we clearly see evidence
  of jealousy.

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THEME OF JEALOUSY and envy

• OTHELLOS JEALOUSY
• Iago is very clever in the way he goes about
  making Othello jealous. He warns the Moor to be
  careful of jealousy but the warning is designed
  to make Othello think jealous thoughts. Beware,
  my lord, of jealousy. He plants the word in
  Othellos mind, knowing it will take root and
  grow .
• Iago gives an excellent description of what
  jealousy entails It is the green-eyed monster
  which doth mock/ The meat if feeds on
• What causes Othello to suffer most is suspecting
  but not knowing. He claims to be free from
  jealousy and insists he will only doubt when he
  receives proof but Iago knows the Moor will doubt
  and suspect before that point. While Othello
  firmly believes he is not the jealous type, he
  also believes Iago is his honest friend so his
  judgment cant always be trusted.

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THEME OF JEALOUSY and envy

• OTHELLOS JEALOUSY
• Iago tells Othello just enough to get him
  thinking in a jealous manner. He tells him to
  watch Desdemona closely, not with a suspicious
  eye but not with a trusting one either. This is a
  clever piece of reverse psychology telling
  someone not to be jealous while also giving them
  cause to be jealous.
• Iago later gives Othello greater cause to be
  jealous when he brings the handkerchief into
  play. While it might seem a rather innocent item
  and its misplacement hardly a cause for concern,
  Iago knows the jealous mind is capable of making
  something significant out of nothing much
  Trifles light as air/ Are to the jealous
  confirmations strong.

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THEME OF JEALOUSY and envy

• OTHELLOS JEALOUSY
• It is not long before Othello is overwhelmed by
  his jealousy. He tells Iago that his life has
  become hellish and there is no respite from his
  jealous thoughts. Thou hast set me on the rack.
• Iago does not allow the Moor a moments peace,
  continuing to insinuate what Desdemona and Cassio
  might be doing in bed. Eventually Othello is so
  overcome he collapses.
• Tragically, Othello never learns how to cope with
  or overcome his jealousy. He convinces himself
  that killing his wife is the righteous thing to
  do. She turned to folly and she was a whore.
  When he discovers, too late, that she was
  innocent, he does not hesitate to kill himself .

8
THEME OF race

• Othello is one of the first black heroes in
  English literature. A military general, he has
  risen to a position of power and influence.
• At the same time, however, his status as a
  black-skinned foreigner in Venice marks him as an
  outside and exposes him to some pretty overt
  racism, especially by his wife's father, who
  believes his daughter's interracial marriage can
  only be the result of Othello's trickery.

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THEME OF race

• Questions About Race
• Which characters in the play make an issue of
  Othello's race?
• What kinds of stereotypes are at work in this
  play?
• How does Othello's race affect his relationships
  to his wife and to other characters?
• How does Othello's race play a role in the hero's
  self-identity?

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THEME OF race

• Othello A Stranger from a Savage Land
• Othellos racial background is obviously
  different to that of the Venetians he lives
  among. Yet his skin colour is not the only
  difference.
• Othellos homeland, in contrast to sophisticated
  Venice, is described as bleak and desolate. The
  violent lands Othello describes are peopled by
  cannibals and other monsters also contrast to
  civilised Venice.
• To many Venetians then, Othello must seem like a
  savage stranger from a savage land. We can
  imagine some viewing him as a primitive creature
  who can not be trusted. The great elegance with
  which Othello speaks disproves this image of him.
  He is a skilled public speaker and perhaps he
  means to shows the Venetians that he matches them
  for elegance.

11
THEME OF race

• Bigotry and Racism
• There is a strong undercurrent of racism in the
  play Othello. Othello, as a black man and a
  foreigner encounters vile bigotry and racist
  attitudes.
• This is clear at the start of the play when Iago
  suggests Othellos Moorish background makes him
  not only a devil but also a kind of animal.
  Iago describes him as a black ram and as a
  horse and implies he is sexually corrupting
  Desdemona to her father.
• Iago plays on the racist fear of intermingling of
  different races. According to Iago if Othello and
  Desdemona were to have children they would be
  subhuman creatures.

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THEME OF race

• Bigotry and Racism
• Iago suggests to Othello that Desdemona will
  repent marrying him and will leave him for
  someone more like herself. Iago is attempting to
  manipulate Othello, of course, but the fact that
  he succeeds so easily indicates just how
  pervasive such attitudes were in Venice at the
  time.
• Brabantio echoes this attitudes. He claims that
  the relationship between Desdemona and Othello is
  not a natural one. Desdemona, he says, has gone
  against all rules of nature by falling in love
  with a black man. Brabantios bigotry is evident
  when he describes Othello stealing Desdemona away
  to his sooty bosom. He plays to a racial
  stereotype when he associates Othello with
  voodoo.
• Even the Dukes suggestion that Othellos virtues
  make him fair rather than black, almost as if
  he were white on the inside, is a reminder of the
  casual racism that pervades Venetian society.

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THEME OF race

• Is Othello a Racist Play?
• Othello confronts the sterotypical view that
  black people are not only gullible and easily
  manipulated but also impulsive and prone to
  violence. Iago says these Moors are changeable
  in their wills Initially the play seems to rebut
  these stereotypes. Though Othello comes from a
  foreign land he occupies a powerful and
  influential place in Venice.
• He is a respected general who has won many
  battles and is chosen to lead the all-important
  defence of Cyprus. His keen intelligence is clear
  in the sophisticated speeches he gives to the
  council. He is calm, composed and confident when
  addressing Brabantios accusations. On top of all
  this he has managed to marry the most desired
  beauty of the city.

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THEME OF race

• Is Othello a Racist Play?
• Yet as the play goes is the stereotype seems
  confirmed? Does Othello show himself to be
  gullible and violent or is he helpless against
  Iagos schemes and manipulations?
• Some argue the play is a racist one, reinforcing
  negative racial stereotypes. Others disagree,
  viewing the world of the play as racist rather
  than the play itself. They would argue the play
  is a largely positive depiction of an interracial
  marriage and a good man who is brought down by
  Iago and his own insecurities.
• Is Shakespeare then trying to highlight the
  racism of society and shows the tragedy of a man
  who is brought down because he is insecure about
  his racial status.

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THEME OF HATRED

• Hatred is supposed to have a cause, some concrete
  event or insult that inspires a lasting rage. But
  in Othello, the play's villain is motivated by a
  hatred that does not have any reasonable cause.
• Iago's hatred and his determination to destroy
  his boss, Othello, seems out of proportion with
  the reasons he gives for it anger that Othello
  did not promote him or jealousy that Othello
  might have slept with Iago's wife.
• Iago's loathing has been famously called a
  "motiveless malignancy" that redefines our
  understanding of hatred, making it seem a
  self-existing passion rather than the consequence
  of any particular action.

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THEME OF HATRED

• While the play ends with a great number of the
  characters angry with each other, very few of
  those characters truly hate.
• Brabantio, to a degree, demonstrates a hateful
  nature in his treatment of his own daughter. When
  he learns of her marriage he claims Desdemona has
  turned him off children. I am glad at soul I
  have no other child. Not only does Brabatio turn
  against her but he tries to turn Othello against
  her also an act of incredible spite. She has
  deceived her father, and may thee.
• However, the only one who holds a pure,
  unprovoked hate in his heart is Iago. He happily
  feeds off his hate. Iago is the only character
  who welcomes hatred into his mind and
  deliberately infects others with it. He enjoys
  the chaos he is capable of instilling in others.

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THEME OF HATRED

• He hates Cassio for being promoted ahead of him
  and he hates Othello for giving it to him. The
  retribution he plans is completely
  disproportionate to the grievance he suffers. He
  is determined to destroy the lives of those who
  have crossed him.
• The play begins with Roderigo remarking on the
  deep disdain that Iago has for Cassio. His
  narrow-minded opinion of women reveals his
  misogynistic outlook, which is also clear in the
  way he speaks to Desdemona and Emilia throughout
  the play.
• Every single thing Iago does is done out of
  malice. He does not speak one word of kindness or
  compassion. Every act or gesture is done only to
  further his evil plans.

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THEME OF HATRED

• While Othello turns very quickly to hate in the
  latter part of the play, it is a baseless hate,
  one born purely from the jealousy Iago stirs in
  him. He struggles with is visibly throughout the
  play and once he realises the truth is deeply
  remorseful. He is overcome with guilt and takes
  his own life.
• Iago is in complete contrast. When all of his
  scheming has been revealed, he is unrepentant,
  still arrogant even. He stabs his wife to death
  and refuses to explain his actions. He offers no
  apology to either Othello or Cassio.
• His schemes have failed. Three bystanders
  (Desdemona, Roderigo and Emilia) have died
  because of his plots and he faces torture and
  death for his crimes. And still he is completely
  indifferent. This is true hatred.