McCullen begins with a brief survey of authors who have written on the topics of rhetoric and proverbs; the essential assertion is that the use of proverbs can be perceived (by the common person) as a more powerful argument than demonstration and logic, particularly during the Elizabethan time frame. From here, McCullen turns to a more detailed examination of how Roderigo is duped Iago by relying on the force of the proverb to overwhelm Roderigo’s ability to reason. The proverb to “put money in thy purse” is used to illustrate how effective proverbs can be in motivating action (since Roderigo is off to sell all of his land (I.3.388). The proverb, "A moist hand argues an amorous nature,” is used in multiple places to cast aspersions on Desdemona, but one finds the proverb about healing fractures more useful insofar as there are “breaks in relationships” that are then promised to be “twice as strong” when those relationships are mended. Thus, McCullen implies that, while proverbs can be powerful, Iago uses them more to create uncertainty through innuendo; the problem is with how people interpret the proverbs. “He that once deceives is ever suspected” seems to be an early version of, “fool me once, shame on you; fool my twice, shame on me” and it’s that sentiment that damns Desdemona (when Iago gets Othello to acknowledge she deceived her father by marrying him). What give proverbs power, McCullen argues, is that they aren’t presented as individual options; they are presented as “the testimony of the multitude.”
Tony Thorstenson
Mccullen, Joseph T. “Iago's Use of Proverbs for Persuasion.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 4, no. 2, 1964, pp. 247–262. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/449625. Accessed 9 July 2021.
