The character of Othello 🛡️

Words to describe Othello in Act 1:

Noble

Honorable

Rational

Confident

A mediator

A Leader

A lover

Words to Describe Othello in Act 5:

Victimised

Conformed to the 'barbarous Moor' sterotype

Cuckolded

Tortured

Warrior

The Judge, Jury and Executioner

What did Lester say in the 2013 production of Othello about the character?

''He's not representative of blackness. He's Othello''

What happens when the actor of Othello uses blackface (e.g. Laurence Oliver in 1965)?

He becomes a comic character

What does Othello conform to by the end of the play?

The anachronistically racist remarks made by Iago in Act 1, Scene 1

Iago sexual quotes about Othello:

''Making the beast with two backs'' - Could appear as either sexual or racial. Perhaps Iago doesn't care about Othello's race, and is using it to provoke Brabantio. Iago's racial motivations become quieter after 1,1.

How is Othello's megalopsychia foregrounded in 1,2?

''My parts, my title and my perfect soul shall manifest me rightly.''

''Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.''

What trait demonstrates Othello's ability as a general early in the play however becomes his hamartia?

His confidence and decisiveness. ''To be once in doubt is to be once resolved.''

Othello as a mediator

Presented as a reasonable, prudent and pragmatic individual more capable of resolving than starting conflict.

''Keep up your swords, for the dew will rust them.''

His confidence and voice places him above the toxic masculinity expected of a fictional character in his position and as a soldier.

Othello as a leader

Othello's position as a leader further heightens his megalopsychia, giving him more room to fall when Iago's machinations come to fruition. He is clearly able to seperate his official duties from his domestic and personal lifestyle, shown in Act 2, Scene 3 when Othello tells Cassio that he does ''love thee, but never more be an officer of mine.''

Othello as a lover

Othello is presented as the archetypal 'doting husband.'

Due to his age, we would expect a traditional Shakespearean character of his age to play more of a 'senux iratus' role, so by subverting this for Othello perhaps this further isolates him.

Shakespeare presents their relationship as mutually supportive:

''She loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them''

''She wished that Heaven had made her such a man.''

''O, my fair warrior!'' ''My dear Othello!''

By having them appear mutually supportive, Shakespeare foregrounds the fact that when one of them loses trust in the other, the relationship will collapse.

Othello as grasping onto rational

Despite Iago's early machinations, Othello still holds onto trust in Desdemona's faithfulness and purity.

He says:

''Nor from mine own weak merits, shall I draw the smallest fear of her revolt.''

Othello swears his loyalty to rational and logic rather than Iago's 'green-eye'd monster':

''To be once in doubt is to be once resolved [...] I'll see before I doubt.''

However, this begins to tear Othello's character apart. His reliance on 'ocular proof' to determine his actions leaves Iago with an easy task. Iago plays the role of the defence, he doesn't need to prove Desdemona's infidelity, he needs to cast enough doubt on her faithfulness for Othello to come to his verdict.

Othello as a tortured soul

Act 3, Scene 3: ''Thou hast set me on the rack''

Before he was the epitome of rational and logic, he now appears as restless and wild. ''Farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!''

Othello as a warrior

Previously, we saw Othello's training as a general shine through his character as he makes logical decisions to support his career (''Never more be an officer of mine.'')

However, by the end of the play Othello seems to have been dragged backwards into his instincts as a soldier, becoming violent and bloodthirsty perhaps mirroring how Iago has dragged Othello back to the racial stereotypes expected of him.

He becomes a foot soldier to Iago by Act 3, 3: ''Farewell the big wars that make ambition virtue!''. To regain control, he demands his 'black vengeance' to 'arise', making him fall further and further from the expectations of a Venetian general. He wants to remove what is cuckolding him, making him conform to the toxic masculinity he was trying to avoid.

Othello as the judge, jury and executioner

Othello loses any sense of justice, despite thinking he is the ultimate provider of it:

''First to be hanged, then to confess'' (4,1)

He craves the act of punishment rather than the truth brought out in trial.

When Iago tells Othello to 'strangle her in her bed, for even the bed she hath contaminated', Othello responds by saying 'the justice of it pleases.' To who? Himself? Othello has become so obsessed with the concept of protecting his own reputation that he has lost any sense of morality he previously held on to.

Othello as a cuckold

As a black man in Renaissance Italy, Othello relies on his reputation to leave him supported by the 'great ones of the city'.

Because of this, when Othello realises (or persumes) he has been cuckolded, he believes he has lost his reputation, (mirroring Cassio in 2,3, where he warned the loss of reputation would make him 'bestial')

Becuase of this, Othello conforms to the 'bestial' nature tragically forced upon him. He declares he will 'Chop [Desdemona] into messes!' before saying the words himself: 'Cuckold me!'

Othello believes he has lost his masculinity and so tries to reinstate it though violence by killing his wife, regardless of her guilt. ''Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.''

Which character acts to mirror Othello's downfall?

Cassio.

He begins as noble and admirable, but is manipulated by Iago and has his hamartia brought out. He is publicly shamed and loses his 'reputation' before being injured by Iago at the end. Perhaps the reason Cassio survives is because of his race. Iago initially wanted him to die, as he did Othello, however the traits that causes Othello to fall into suicide stem from the sterotypical 'barbarous Moor' archetype thrust upon him.

How does Wilson Knight argue Othello’s language isolates him?

Unlike in other Shakespeare poetry, where the metaphysical is distant and passive, in Othello it is much more rooted in reality.

He references ‘Olympus’, ‘Ottomites’, ‘the base indian’ ‘Egyptian’ ‘Anthropophagi’, ‘Palestine’ etc. These words have sharp, clear, constonant sounds which elevate them above the other dialogue and leaves the audience recieving them as the main words. Othello cannot escape his reality.

What did Hollindale say about Othello?

‘‘At a crisis of trust, Othello places his trust in a world he has always known, where his sense of identity is most secure- in the soldier, the comrade, the man.’’