Love and Power in Othello (wip)

Introduction to Themes in Othello

The theme of love serves as the major component and engine of the play’s narrative. The relationship between Othello and Desdemona is the primary focal point of conflict, struggle, and eventual tragedy (murder).

  • Forms of Shakespearean Romantic Love:   

  •   * Definition: Romantic love is defined as the attraction between two individuals with the expectation of long-term endurance.  

  •    * Marriage: This form of love is solidified and officiated through the marriage of Othello and Desdemona, representing traditional commitment.    

  •  * Eroticism and Sex: Love manifests through the erotic, which is portrayed as essential for maintaining a relationship. However, this carries the risk of descending into lust, which can foster deception and unfaithfulness.    

  •  * Jacobean Social Conventions: The expression of love was strictly regulated by the period’s social norms. During the Jacobean era, women were under significant pressure to adhere to specific behavioral standards.

  • Historical Inversion: The perception and definition of love have undergone a complete inversion between the 16th-17th centuries and contemporary society.

The Binary of Love and Hate

  • Domestic Tragedy: Othello is categorized as a domestic tragedy, defined by the destruction of true romantic love by the force of hate. This love/hate binary is central to the play’s structure.

  • True Love vs. Other Relationships: While the play presents various dynamics (e.g., Emilia and Iago), the connection between Othello and Desdemona is framed as "true love."

  • Love as a Healing Agent: In the early stages, their marriage is depicted as being surrounded by healing qualities.

  • Reciprocal Understanding: Othello explains the foundation of their bond in Act 1, Scene 3: "she loved me for the dangers I had passed / I loved her that she did pity them." This emphasizes that their love is built on mutual understanding "pity" - exhanges are equal - shared lines and joint imagery (semantic field of religion) establish their union This notion is further explored through their interactions, where affection and respect are intertwined, demonstrating that their relationship is not solely based on physical attraction but also on deep emotional and intellectual connection.

  • Equality and Imagery: Early in the play, their exchanges indicate equality; both parties share power and stage time. Their union is linguistically established through shared lines and joint imagery, specifically a semantic field of religion.

  • Resilience Against the Natural World: In Act 2, Scene 1, Othello reaffirms their bond upon reuniting: "If after every tempest come such calms, / May the winds blow till they have wakened death."     - loving words from Othello showing that how natural disasters cannot shake their lovehighlights their resilience and commitment to each other, suggesting that their bond is strong enough to withstand any external chaos or turmoil.

  • * This uses the imagery of a "tempest" to illustrate the vigour of true love.    

  •  * This aligns with Shakespeare’s other works, such as Sonnet 116, which states that love "looks on tempests and is never shaken."

  • Human Intervention vs. Nature: While natural disasters cannot shake their love, human intervention is shown to be far more destructive. Iago’s deceptive performance of love breaks down the established trust, highlighting a dichotomy between the natural and man-made worlds.

The Architecture of Iago’s Deception

  • False Love as Performance: Iago’s role is critical because he performs a "false love" that subverts and eventually replaces Desdemona’s "true love."

  • Inability to Love: Iago is characterized by an absolute inability to love; he is motivated solely by his obsessive desire to destroy Othello and his deep-seated hatred for "the Moor."

  • Strategic Exploitation: In Act 1, Scene 1, he admits his motive: "I follow him to serve my turn upon him." He weaponizes Othello’s trusting nature as a strategic advantage to cause his downfall

  • Psychological Manipulation: Iago targets Othello’s insecurities. In Act 3, Scene 3, he tells Othello, "She did deceive her father, marrying you." By referencing Desdemona’s father’s disapproval (rooted in race), Iago plants a seed of doubt that weaponizes the couple’s own love against them.

  • Misuse of Friendship: Shakespeare uses "false friendship" as a branch of love to show how hatred can overpower genuine affection.

  • Ambiguity of Revenge: Critics suggest Iago’s motives are complex. Some argue his poisonous plan stems from jealousy over his inability to conjure Othello’s desire for himself, suggesting latent homoerotic undertones in his behavior.

Individual Languages and Approaches to Love

  • Love Languages: The play illustrates that individuals communicate love through different "languages," including action and verbal affirmation.

  • Othello and Desdemona’s Courtship: Their relationship begins with verbal reinforcements, where both ensure the other feels valued through words.

  • Actions as Commitment:     * Desdemona demonstrates strength by disobeying her father to marry Othello.     

  • * She follows Othello to Cyprus despite the physical dangers, showing her prevailing commitment.

  • Iago and Emilia’s Contrast: Their relationship is the antithesis of the protagonists’.     * Iago is misogynistic, disrespectful, and abusive.     * Emilia is loyal and loving, but Iago only utilizes her when it suits his schemes.     * Eventually, Emilia rejects this false love by asserting her voice when she discovers his evil plans.

  • Bianca and Cassio: Their relationship is portrayed as one-sided and complicated. Cassio, a lieutenant, prioritizes his career over affection. Bianca is deeply in love with him but becomes embroiled in the handkerchief plot due to jealousy, believing he is seeing another woman.

The Intersection of Love and Race

  • Ostracization of the Moor: Despite his high rank as a General in the Venetian military, Othello is consistently referred to by the racial descriptor "the Moor" rather than his title.

  • Iago’s Racial Vendetta: Iago uses racially charged language and stereotypes to frame Othello as an evil, violent figure. This stems from personal resentment after being passed over for a promotion: "I know my price; I am worth no worse a place" (Act 1, Scene 1).

  • Animalistic Imagery:   

  •   * Iago uses sexually and racially charged metaphors, such as: "Even now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe."    

  •  * He describes Othello to Brabantio as a "Barbary horse," making the suggestion that any offspring would be animalistic.

  • Fear of Miscegenation and Exogamy: Iago provokes societal fears of mixed-race marriages (miscegenation) and marrying outside one's social group (exogamy).

  • Internalization of Prejudice: Influenced by Iago, Brabantio accuses Othello of using "chains of magic" to enchant Desdemona, unable to believe she could love him naturally (Act 1, Scene 2).

  • Desdemona’s Perspective: Desdemona ignores skin color, falling in love with Othello’s character and stories. While this shows strength, it also implies a certain "blindness" or naivety that makes her willing to sacrifice her life for her love.

Symbolism of the Handkerchief

  • Literary Origin: In Cinthio’s De Gli Hecatommithi (1565), Shakespeare’s source text, the handkerchief is already a vital plot device.

  • The Token of Fidelity: When Othello gives the handkerchief to Desdemona, he describes it as having magical qualities and serving as a sign of fidelity.

  • Public vs. Private Functions: In the Jacobean era, handkerchiefs were fashion accessories in the public sphere but functioned as proofs of commitment and marriage gifts in the private sphere.

  • Transformation of Meaning: As the handkerchief passes from character to character (Iago, Emilia, Bianca, Cassio), it is stripped of its loving qualities and becomes a "sinister" symbol of unfaithfulness.

  • Ocular Proof: Iago uses the object as "ocular proof" (Act 3, Scene 3) to trigger Othello's jealousy. Othello’s rejection of the handkerchief is a symbolic rejection of Desdemona herself.

  • The Disintegration of the Marriage: Because marriage was a public spectacle where wives were often viewed as husbands' possessions, the involvement of many people (intervention) in the handling of the handkerchief leads to the relationship's disintegration.

  • The Climax and Death: In Act 5, Scene 2, Othello confronts her with the evidence: "I saw my handkerchief in [Cassio’s] hand." At this point, Othello speaks over her, stripping her of the independent voice he once valued.

  • Masculinity and Honor: Othello kills Desdemona to protect his male honor. Valerie Traub in Desire and Anxiety suggests the threat of female erotic power is "psychically contained" by transforming women into corpses.

  • Realization: Othello later recognizes his error, famously describing himself as an "Indian" who "threw a pearl away" (Act 5, Scene 2).

Male Friendship and the Culture of Misogyny

  • Male Bonds as Destructive: Iago exploits the homosocial environment of the military. He uses male "banter" and the sexualization of women to foster distrust.

  • The Setting of Cyprus: The isolated, anxious military setting of Cyprus allows Iago’s plan to flourish.

  • Manipulation of Roderigo: Iago controls Roderigo through imperatives ("Come hither," "Let thy soul be instructed") and linguistic dominance. He convinces Roderigo that Desdemona is seeking a white lover because she is bored of Othello.

  • Musical Metaphors: Iago describes the marriage as "well-tuned" (Act 2, Scene 1) but plans to create discord. Directors often use uncomfortable music during his scenes to highlight his evil nature.

  • Audience Complicity: The audience is made complicit through Iago’s soliloquies and asides, such as the ironic "As honest as I am."

  • Misogynistic Frameworks:     * Iago portrays female desire as "violence" and claims Desdemona’s "eyes must be fed."     * He paints women as either "pure saints" or "dirty whores," with no middle ground.     * Iago's language becomes increasingly crude as he imagines sexual encounters between Cassio and Desdemona to provoke Othello.     * This aligns with contemporary fears of the "Fall," where Eve was blamed for humanity's downfall.

Homoerotic Undertones

  • Homosocial vs. Homoerotic: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick theorizes that intense non-sexual male bonds in military settings can transform into erotic homosexual bonds.

  • Interruptions of Consummation: Iago instigates a fight in Act 2, Scene 3, which successfully interrupts Othello and Desdemona’s wedding night, perhaps signaling a sense of betrayal of the homosocial bond.

  • Sacred Vows between Men: In Act 3, Scene 3, Othello and Iago kneel together. Their language ("sacred vow," "heaven") mimics wedding ceremonies. Iago vows to give up his "wit, hands, heart" to Othello.

  • Performance History: Several notable actors have portrayed Iago as a gay character to explore these undertones, including:     * Laurence Olivier (1938, London Old Vic)     * David Suchet (1985, Royal Shakespeare Company)     * Sir Ian McKellen (1989, Royal Shakespeare Company)

Female Friendship and Proto-Feminism

  • A Protective Space: The bond between Desdemona and Emilia creates a female space of protection within a patriarchal world.

  • Superficial Differences: Emilia is an older, sexually experienced maid; Desdemona is a young, naive mistress. However, they share the experience of being women in a male-dominated sphere.

  • Platonic Love: Their friendship blossoms through mutual suffering and marital abuse.

  • Emilia’s Critique of Marriage: In Act 3, Scene 4, Emilia provides a cynical view of men: "They are all but stomachs, and we all but food; / They eat us hungerly, and when they are full / They belch us."

  • The Willow Song: Act 4, Scene 3, features a rare moment where only women are on stage. The song symbolizes Desdemona’s pain and realization of her husband’s betrayal.

  • Proto-Feminist Speech: Emilia argues for equality in Act 4, Scene 3: "Let husbands know / Their wives have sense like them… The ills we do, their ills instruct us so." This mirrors modern feminist critiques, such as Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women, which sought to end "blind obedience."

  • Valiance in Death: After Desdemona’s murder, Emilia risks her own life to hold the men accountable, calling Othello "ignorant as dirt" and declaring she would lose "twenty lives" to tell the truth.

  • Final Tableau: The play ends with the bodies of both women on stage—a permanent reminder of the cost of male violence and false allegations.

Love Through the Ages: Historical Comparison

  • Then: Marriage was a legitimizing institution, often arranged for status or strategic pacts. Male friendship was the highest bond for seeking knowledge.

  • Now: Relationships are more flexible. The rise of feminism has challenged the submissive role of women. The LGBTQ movement has expanded the definition of love beyond the heterosexual nuclear family.

  • Cross-Cultural Relevance: Concepts like arranged marriage and the lack of romantic agency still exist in certain contemporary cultures today.

  • Legacy: Shakespeare provides multiple interpretations of love—platonic, romantic, homosocial, and false—making it the essential driving force of the play's action.