Shame in 'Othello'

Fernie, Ewan. "Shame in 'Othello.'" The Cambridge Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 1, 1999, pp. 19-45, www.jstor.org/stable/42967948. Accessed 22 July 2021.

The author asserts that the primary motivation in Othello is not what most critics believe is jealousy, but instead shame. All acts were committed or result from acts of shame. Othello believed himself to be a cuckold and out of shame, killed Desdemona. Brabantio, ashamed that his daughter, Desdemona ran off and married a Moor, died of shame. Iago, whether being passed up for promotion or believing to be cuckolded by Othello operates from a position of shame. In fact, argues the author, Iago is the central agent of shame in the play; he uses shame to manipulate others and is motivated by a perception of shame. "Iago's project is to shame his shamer and payback with shame" (25). 

The author offers other examples of individuals being shamed throughout the play; Brabantio (shamed that his daughter married a Moor), Cassio (shamed for dishonoring his position as lieutenant to Othello), Othello (shamed at being "cuckolded" by his supposedly "adulterous" wife, Desdemona), and finally Desdemona (for being accused of adultery by Othello). All of this shaming is intertwined and orchestrated by Iago whose shame originates out of being passed over for promotion by Othello and believing that Othello had cuckolded him with his wife, Emilia.

--David Kase

"Psychoanalysis and the Problem of Evil: Debating Othello in the Classroom."

 Schapiro, Barbara A. "Psychoanalysis and the Problem of Evil: Debating Othello in the

Classroom." American Imago, vol. 60 no. 4, 2003, p. 481-499. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/aim.2004.0010.

In her article, Barbara Schapiro addresses the psychoanalytical elements of evil at play in Othello and how they framed certain debates and writing prompts in her classroom. Schapiro opens the article with a series of questions all dealing with how we understand evil and destructiveness in the play and in society. She then moves into her discussion of evil by providing context to inform us that Shakespeare, in making the play his own, removed the motive that Iago (or the Ensign in the original) holds for his actions. This creates a discussion and debate in the classroom about motiveless malignity and whether it exists in Iago’s case or not. This then further leads to the ongoing issue Schapiro wishes to confront: Is Iago’s evilness innate or responsive? She continues to examine this by demonstrating that Iago’s actions “would have no power over Othello were Othello not in love” (484). The connectedness of the two men then sways the debate to the side of destructive responsiveness, as opposed to innate evil. Schapiro also analyzes Iago by saying that he suffers from traumatized rejection, which in turn leads to his evilness. After exploring these topics, Schapiro also references debates she included in her classroom and the various and differing responses she received from students. Finally, she concludes with the claim that by viewing Iago’s evilness as responsive, we can turn our attention to the causes.

--Michelle Vucsko

JEALOUSY AND DESTRUCTION IN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S OTHELLO

Rai, Ram Prasad. "Jealousy and Destruction in William Shakespeare's Othello." Crossing the Border:

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 4.1 (2015): 53-58.

In his article analyzing Shakespeare’s play Othello, author Ram Prasad Rai argues that the true cause of Othello’s destruction is the presence and permeation of jealousy: “Because of jealousy, the relation between the people is disturbed and the world of Othello is fully destroyed” (Rai 53). The mastermind behind the feelings of jealousy come from Iago, and can be seen at the very start of the play where the audience views Iago being jealous of Cassio’s new position as Othello’s lieutenant rather than himself; this is the first spark that starts a fire. The author describes how Iago turns to Roderigo, using his jealousy of Othello’s marriage to Desdemona, the woman he claims to love, as “a weapon” (54) against Othello. Iago twists the truth and Roderigo’s emotions throughout the play in order to use him against others. Also near the beginning of the play, the author discusses how Iago feeds the anger and jealousy of Brabantio, informing him of his daughter’s secret marriage: a secret that will come to haunt the couple later through Iago’s manipulations. Further, the author describes how Iago’s manipulation of Cassio is the stronger root of jealousy, as by getting him drunk and deposed of his position, Iago “advises him to seek help from Desdemona to request Othello for the lost position back” (55). After dropping hints and spreading rumors to Othello of Cassio’s lack of character and lies about him vying for Desdemona, Othello no longer sees Cassio as he once did, allowing him to believe the lies. In the same way, Iago twists the truth of Desdemona keeping their marriage secret from her father, thus “proving” that she can be a good liar. Like with Cassio, Othello is convinced he no longer really knows his wife, and becomes so angry with jealousy that he is led to kill her. These things, and forced evidence such as the handkerchief and misheard conversations, eventually drive Othello to a madness of jealousy, and the destruction of his happiness and life.

- Mathew Stephens

"Rethinking Iago's Jests in Othello II.i: Honestas, Imports and Laughable Deformity"

 

Derrin, Daniel. “Rethinking Iago’s Jests in Othello II.i: Honestas, Imports and Laughable

Deformity.” Renaissance Studies. Vol. 31, Issue 3, June 2017, pp. 365-382. 

Though it has often been discarded by directors who deem the scene as “filler provided for an anxious Desdemona” (365), Daniel Derrin asserts the importance of Othello’s Act II, Scene I as essential to understanding a complex exchange of power between the two witty characters through their negotiation of an ethos—honestas. Darrin argues the scene offers “a serious dramatic exploration of Iago’s persuasiveness and Desdemona’s cleverness” (365). He defines honestas as a reflection of the “moral goodness” expected of civil conversation and explains how Iago uses a false sense of it to bring down virtually all major characters in the play, though he claims this fictionalization of honesty does not necessarily imply Iago is ethically “vacuous.” Derrin asserts that jokes are funny because of certain shared value-laden beliefs between the deliverer and recipient and expounds on Desdemona’s possible interpretations of Iago’s misogynistic dialogue based on her responses to it. He also touches on the delicacy required of the interaction between the two characters of differing social standing.

--Leslie Leffers

One and One is Two, Three Is Potency

Karremann, Isabel.  “One and One is Two, Three Is Potency: The Dynamics of the Erotic Triangle in Othello.”  Journal of the Spanish Society for English Renaissance Studies, vol. 13, 2003, pp.111-121.

        In her essay, Karremann takes notions of the erotic triangle from Sedgwick in order to show it can be used for manipulation (as opposed to social-emotional exploration), and how norm transgression ruins its stability.  However, the main focus of her literary interpretation is to show how the erotic triangle Iago forms, fails because he (and Othello) fail to see each other’s desires. The academic conversation that this falls into is broadly gender at first, and then more specifically erotic or love triangles in literature as well as society. Karremann is E.K. Sedgwick work as her foundation; Sedgwick focused on recovering male homosocial bonds in literature and history.  Women were used as property to legitimize male homosocial relationships and prevent homosexuality. Sedgwick believed that most homosocial bonds were a mask for homosexual desires; however, homosexuality threatened the patriarchy by subverting power structures.  Using Sedgwick’s ideas, Karremann looks at how the erotic triangle becomes unstable, by transgressing social norms, and how it is used by Iago as tool for manipulation. Instead of using his triangle to develop a web of patriarchal bonds, Iago “exclusively” desires Othello, and their opposing desires destroy the stability of this triangle.

-Ben Mathews

The Humiliation of Iago

 Zender, Karl. F. "The Humiliation of Iago." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 34, no. 2, 1994, pp. 323-39, www.jstor.org/stable/450904. 

The author's argument focuses on the power of language, specifically affection and affectionate fluency. In Othello, characters such as Othello and Desdemona would constantly elicit lines of affection despite being mired in despair. For Iago, lines of endearment were antithetical to him and his plans; lines of affection come from the heart and are authentic. Iago communicates(ed) to control and manipulate, almost nothing about him was warm, affectionate, or authentic. 

The humiliation of Iago arises from Desdemona inadvertently speaking affectionately to him about women. 

Desdemona: What wouldst write of me, if thou shouldst / praise me?

Iago: O, gentle lady, do not put me to't, / For I am nothing if not critical. (2.1.117-119)

Again, Desdemona coyly challenges Iago with being affectionate. 

Desdemona: Come, how wouldst thou praise me?

Iago: I am about it, but indeed my invention / Comes from my pate as birdlime does from frieze: It plucks out brains and all. (2.1.124-7)

The one thing Iago struggled with was intimacy and affection and Desdemona stymied him. The author asserts that Iago's humiliation derived from his inability to counter affection, with his own "affectionate dialogue" (it wasn't in Iago), specifically from Desdemona, and to "silence" others through his own tongue and manipulation. "Desdemona's request that Iago praise women thus exposes a limit on his capacity to simulate love…" (Zender 331).  Zender further argues that that was why Iago took a more aggressive and upfront position with Othello when discussing the manner of Desdemona's murder. 

Othello: Get me some poison, Iago, this night. I'll not / expostulate with her, lest her body and beauty unprovide / my mind again. This night, Iago. 

Iago: Do it not with poison. Strangle her in her bed, / even the bed she hath contaminated. (4.1.198-202)

Zender intimates that part of the reason Iago suggests Desdemona should be "strangled" is to shut her up entirely in a symbolic act of silencing Desdemona's voice--and her ability to effect affectionate fluency,--in order for the effect of his (Iago's) voice to remain the dominant, controlling one

--David Kase

Iago’s Art of War: The ‘Machiavellian Moment’ in Othello.

 

Jacobsen, Ken. “Iago’s Art of War: The ‘Machiavellian Moment’ in Othello.” Modern Philology, vol. 106, no. 3, 2009, pp. 497–529. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/605074. Accessed 16 July 2021.

 

Jacobsen focuses on Machiavelli’s lesser known manuscript (the only one published in his lifetime: 1521AD – about 80 years before Othello was penned by Shakespeare), The Art of War, while trying to understand Iago’s psychology and motivation.  “Barbara Spackman argues that The Art of War approaches warfare primarily as a discursive activity analogous to and at times homologous with rhetoric, and only secondarily as physical conflict” (500).  Thus, it is argued that we should see Iago’s speeches as a combination of (military) strategy and rhetorical persuasion.  While noting that Othello’s speeches are generally eloquent, they are also a bit anachronistic and old-fashioned; but, when we look at Iago’s speeches, his reputation as an “honest fellow” seems to be solely based on the plain, blunt or “soldierly” speech he utters (while simultaneously “protesting too much” that he knows nothing of how to speak politely).

This foreshadows another distinction; Othello is described as more of a Homeric Hero than is likely to be found in 16^th Century Italy, so he seems aloof and out-of-touch when compared to Iago’s plain-spoken bluntness.  Thus, it seems that we have a paradigm clash with Othello representing the old-world and nobility, and Iago representing the “changing of the guard” via their command of language.

The general then, like the orator, vies for total control of the semantic environment, exercising power through the coordination of expressive forms (most often words but also a range of nonverbal signals like facial expressions, gestures, battle formations, banners, trumpet blasts, and so on) and the exploitation of appearance and probability (505).

Given this, Jacobsen walks through some advice offered by Quintilian and brought to life in Shakespeare’s play by Iago, but the emphasis is on seeing Iago as using rhetorical invention (exploiting appearance and probability as “good enough” to determine the truth of the matter) to express his power over others.

The Machiavellian Moment is only seconds long; it occurs after Desdemona’s death, prior to Emilia speaking and clarifying the picture.  At that moment, “fortune” smiled, and all was right in Iago’s world.  However, once Emilia speaks, contingency comes rushing back in and the “old ways” (the power of the nobility) provide us with a more familiar kind of “forced order.”

Tony Thorstenson

"Demonic Ventriloquism and Venetian Skepticism in Othello"

Morris, Blair. “Demonic Ventriloquism and Venetian Skepticism in Othello.”, Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 53, no. 2, 2013, pp. 311–335., www.jstor.org/stable/24510001. Accessed 10 July 2021.

Blair Morris analyzes how Shakespeare projects the pitfalls of religious skepticism and

humanism in the Venetian setting as enabling evil, such as Iago’s successful use of demonic ventriloquism, in order to criticize the English government and religions’ lack of caution. Venice and other city-states “...followed the ideals of humanism more than other European countries… [and] many observers condemned the city-state as a place of irreligious permissiveness” (314). In Othello, the Venetian characters are oblivious to Iago’s devilish plans and projections in light of their religious skepticism, allowing for Iago to be successful in his destruction; this presented a stark warning for the adapting views of demonic ventriloquism in England at the time, as the government and the Church of England were becoming skeptical of its existence and power. Morris gives the example of Iago’s language being mimicked by Roderigo and later Brabantio in the Venetian senate, where Iago is physically silent, but his words about the supernatural resonate with Brabantio’s arguments. The Duke, representing a skeptical humanist, rejects such accusations and refuses to investigate their cause, freeing Iago to wreak his havoc for the rest of the play. Tracking Iago’s demonic possession of voice and action through Othello, Cassio, and Desdemona, Morris investigates the weaknesses of the skeptical, humanist thought explored by Shakespeare’s Othello and the harm caused in its wake.

--Hannah Nagy

"The Manipulation of Masks: The Rhetoric and Deceit of Shakespeare’s Character Iago"

 Laura DeLuca’s article conveys both the understanding of the character Iago at large as well as an analysis of what he actually does and is capable of. She describes how often, Iago is put on a pedestal in the eyes of viewers and scholars who believe the character “personifies pure evil” (DeLuca 25) due to Iago’s lack of apparent motive in causing Othello’s destruction, a belief which the author claims is hasty and “rash” (27), and actually “disregards Iago’s complexity” and “disguised evolution” throughout the play” (31). DeLuca states that close analysis of Iago’s character, actions, and relative success of his manipulations reveal that although clearly the villain of the play, Iago is still a mortal man of limited power, and a lot of his success can be attributed to pure luck as well as his craftiness and ruthlessness. Shakespeare’s character of Iago is a complex, ruthless, crafty character, but not a supernatural one, who can show viewers the capacity for evil a human can have, through which the viewer can “examine humanity and its flaws” (31). 

-Mathew Stephens

DeLuca, Laura. "The Manipulation of Masks: The Rhetoric and Deceit of Shakespeare’s Character Iago." Bergen Scholarly Journal 25 (2015). pages????

"Slander, Renaissance Discourses of Sodomy, and Othello"

Matz, Robert. “Slander, Renaissance Discourses of Sodomy, and Othello.” ELH, vol. 66, no. 2, 1999, pp. 261–276. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30032073. Accessed 12 July 2021.

Matz’s essay explores the long ignored presence of desire between male characters in Othello, and asserts that the topic is largely overshadowed due to the social norms surrounding homosexuality and the (presumed) dominance of heterosexuality in English culture. The first portion of the interpretation argues that male same-sex desire in Othello is interconnected and influenced by the characters’ political relationships with one another. Matz argues that boundaries between social and sexual situations are vague, predominantly due to the cultural confusion and cross-over that exists in professional relationships as well as intimate ones. In fact, many of the interactions between the male characters (although seemingly grounded in service) has debatable, homosexual undertones. The author highlights several love triangles in Othello in order to confirm his assertion, including the relationship between Othello, Iago, and Cassio. Even though Iago and Cassio are looking for political reinstatement, they also deeply seek out Othello’s love and appear to care more about how he views them intimately. According to Matz, this “unnatural” desire for Othello’s love is sodomitic, as it violates the cultural assumption that institutions (martial, marital, etc.) are not to blend with one another. The second segment of Matz’s essay expands on additional sodomitic relationships. This includes the “unnatural” act or social violation of Othello and Desdemona’s marriage, Desdemona’s power over Othello (as it pertains to Cassio’s political status), and the supposed adultery among most characters in the play. Unfortunately, Matz notes that Shakespeare was seemingly aware of this, because all of these unnatural relationships are eliminated by the death of Othello and Desdemona in the final act.

--Emily Tushar

Iago's Use of Proverbs for Persuasion

 

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.