love

  • LOVE CAN ONLY COEXIST WITH

  • othello is a domestic tragedy where true romantic love is destroyed by hate - the binary of love to hate is central in the play - Othello’s love for Desdemona ca be perceived as a true love - their love can also be seen as a healing agent. - othello claims “she loved me for the dangers I had passed/ I loved her that she pity them” - the reciprocal nature of love - highlighting their love is based on understanding (“she did pity them”) making it a foundational aspect of their relationship . Through their shared speech patterns Shakespeare conveys the harmony and mutual affection of Othello and Desdemona’s match; the lovers are as Iago expresses it well tun’d

“if after every tempest come such calms,/ may the winds blow till they have wakened death (act 2, scene 1) - loving words from Othello suggest how natural disasters and external forces cannot shake their love as her presence calms him , the imagery of “tempest “ is used by Shakespeare to show the vigour of true love - this is pervasive in his other texts too for example in sonnet 115 when he states that love “looks on tempests and is never shaken” - although natural destruction cannot shake love , human interventions can influence it. Shakespeare uses this to introduce the main conflict in the play - the dichotomy of the natural vs the man made world

Iago’s

Iago’s performance of false love replaces and subverts desdemona’s true love - his obsessive desire to bring Othello down due to his deep- rooted hatred for the moor “ i follow him to serve my turn upon him” - where it is clear that he is using Othello’s trusting and loving demeanour towards him as a strategic advantage - to cause his downfall - he utilises this “ she did deceive her father marrying you” - challenging his view that Desdemona is honest and loyal - he touches upon Othello’s insecurities about marrying Desdemona , whose father disapproved of him due to his race - plants a seed of doubt in his mind weaponising their love against them .

Iago’s revenge is ambiguous - some critics have said this stems from his jealousy of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship as he wants Othello’s Desire - homerotic undertones - in the way othello behaves

WAYS OF SHOWING LOVE

Des disobeys her father to marry othello - and accompanies him to Cyprus even though her life is at risk and also show their love through verbal enforcements of their love - shows Desdemona’s strength of commitment to him

contrast to Emilia and Iago - whos misogynistic and disrespectful - her adherence to being a loving wife are not reciprocated with the same amount of commitment as Iago only uses her when he needs her - however she retains her strength as she asserts her own voice against him when she finds out about his evil schemes - suggesting she rejects false love in favour of her love for herself and des

cassio and bianca one side - cassio cares more about his role and not much direct affection

OTHELLO IS CALLED A MOOR INSTEAD OF A GENERAL - DESPITE HIS POSITION IN THE VENETIAN MILITARY