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

“Jewel, Purse, Trash: Reckoning and Reputation in Othello''

Kolb, Laura. “Jewel, Purse, Trash: Reckoning and Reputation in Othello.”

    Shakespeare Studies, vol. 44, 2016, pp. 230–262.  

    In “Jewel, Purse, Trash: Reckoning and Reputation in Othello'' Laura Kolb says “In a mocking list of moral lessons to be drawn from Othello, Thomas Rymer writes, ‘Thirdly, this may be a lesson to Husbands, that before their Jealousie be Tragical, the proofs may be Mathemat-ical.’ The double-meaning of ‘proofs’ - both the demonstration of truth and the derivation of a mathematical theorem - underscores what will become Rymer's major critique of Shakespeare's play, A Short View of Tragedy,” (Kolb 1). Or in other words, when someone becomes jealous of their significant other, they should get proof of what they are jealous of. In this article, Kolb focuses on this idea of demonstrating Othello’s jealousy, and Iago’s ability to change people's minds, mathematically. Kolb first focuses on Othello as a partnership problem, before going into the economic language in Othello, and then it reflects on the story inlight if the possibility of romance. Kolb acknowledges jealousy as a normal human emotion and then breaks it down into its fundamentals. They think about the situation in a mathematical sense and logically. 

• Priscilla Adams 

"'O Blood, Blood, Blood': Violence and Identity in Shakespeare's Othello"

Feather, Jennifer. “‘O Blood, Blood, Blood’: Violence and Identity in Shakespeare's Othello.” Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England, vol. 26, 2013, pp. 240–263. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24322748. Accessed 15 July 2021.

Jennifer Feather claims that, based on early modern understandings of “blood” being both a fixed indicator of biological lineage and “the fluid nature of humoral physiology” (241), Othello’s cry of “O blood, blood, blood” when he believes Desdemona’s “infidelity” would not be understood as a reaction of barbarism/savagery but rather it would be understood as the early modern notions of chivalry connected with violence that would restore honor to both him and Desdemona. Blood, Feather establishes, would form one’s concept of identity in body, soul, and environment, in which Othello establishes a heroic and chivalric understanding of the self. When his identity of self is threatened and destabilized by Desdemona’s alleged infidelity, he makes “essence and performance one in the same” (244) in order to address this unbalance. Brabantio evokes Desdemona’s betrayal as “a treason of the blood” (1.1.166), Desdemona’s will and “nature” betraying itself and in doing so, him, an understanding Iago capitalizes on when decimating the understanding of love to “merely a lust of the blood and permission of the will” (1.3.332). To “set right” the instability of Desdemona’s “lust of blood” and lack of will, Othello keeps her corporeally intact, “Yet I’ll not shed her blood” (5.2.3), while ensuring she cannot wreak havoc upon others. He stabilizes himself again when the truth is discovered through recognizing Desdemona’s sacrifice and committing his own, using chivalric violence as a way to connect and navigate the corporeal, divine and social understandings of identity.

--Hannah Nagy

“Authentic Protest, Authentic Shakespeare, Authentic Africans: Performing Othello in South Africa”

Distiller, Natasha. “Authentic Protest, Authentic Shakespeare, Authentic Africans: Performing Othello in South Africa.” Comparative Drama, vol. 46, no. 3, 2012, pp. 339-354. Project Muse, doi: https://doi.org/10.1353/cdr.2012.0023.

In this essay, Natasha Distiller considers whether Othello is a racist play, considering it was written by a white man and intended for a white actor in blackface to play the part of the black character. She develops this consideration through a look at Janet Suzman’s 1987 production of Othello in apartheid South Africa, which served as a “protest play” for South African policies surrounding race. Ultimately, Distiller argues that Shakespeare’s work isn’t racist, but rather a powerful tool that can provide meaning to a given cultural context. She says that Othello will mean different things to different people depending on the cultural context of the play’s presentation, including the time and place it is staged in. She begins by discussing the comments of Shakespeare critic James Earl Jones, who said that Othello shouldn’t be looked at from a perspective of race, but should instead be explored as a “classic” piece of literature with universal themes that do not include race. However, Distiller argues that black actors cannot ignore their black identity while playing the part of Othello, making it impossible to not make Othello about race, for how can one expect a black actor to play this role as a black man in a white world without being aware of his own blackness? Distiller then discusses how Suzman, in her 1987 production of Othello as a protest play in apartheid South Africa, has deliberately placed Othello into a singular time and place. Instead of centering on the universal themes of the “classics,” she encourages the audience to consider both race and gender issues present in the play, creating a direct link between what is happening in the play and what is happening in South Africa. 

Jenny Jadin

“Theorising Early Modern Jealousy: A Biocultural Perspective on Shakespeare’s Othello”

Nordlund, Marcus. “Theorising Early Modern Jealousy: A Biocultural Perspective on Shakespeare’s Othello.” Studia Neophilologica: A Journal of Germanic and Romance Languages and Literature, vol. 74, no. 2, Dec. 2002, pp. 146–160. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/003932702321116172.

In his article, Marcus Nordlund attempts to unpack the loaded emotion of jealousy in early modern literature, specifically as it relates to Othello. He opens with a discussion of jealousy as a social construct, ultimately determining that jealousy is universal across all human cultures, which not only implies that jealousy has a natural inevitability, but also an “individual, cultural, and situational” fluidity.  After exploring these aspects of jealousy, Nordlund turns his attention to jealousy’s impact in both early modern times and in Othello. He addresses the fact that due to the perception of monogamy and marital roles in the household, men were more inclined to feel threatened by a woman’s infidelity than vice versa.  Finally, Nordlund attends to the most common interpretation of Othello’s jealousy, which is the fact that his quick change in character derives from a sense of low self-esteem.  He refutes that claim though by mentioning that in Othello’s case, jealousy and insecurity actually work in reverse: Othello does not feel jealous because of his self-doubt, but instead feels more insecurities after he becomes jealous. Ultimately, Nordlund claims that Othello’s transportation from “jealousy into this murderous rage” does not have an answer, which makes the play not only an unsettling one, but also a fascinating tragedy.

--Michelle Vucsko

“We Are Othello: Speaking of Race in Early Modern Studies.”

 Smith, Ian. “We Are Othello: Speaking of Race in Early Modern Studies.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 67, no. 1, 2016, pp. 104-124. Project MUSE, doi: https://doi.org/10.1353/shq.2016.0000.

     Ian Smith considers the implications that race relations in Othello can have on contemporary racial conflicts in the U.S., such as police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement. Ultimately, he uses the racial conflicts present in Othello to argue that predominantly white culture, specifically scholars, need to do the internal work necessary in order to 1) fully understand the perspective and unique experience of a person of color and 2) discuss race without a biased lens of white privilege. Smith begins by questioning the reliability of white scholars in accurately representing Othello in their analyses, considering that Othello is a black man and literary scholars are predominately white. Smith says that with primarily white critics, Othello might not get the credit he deserves because white audiences/readers/critics are “unreliable narrators” of Othello’s story (113). Smith then explores how white privilege in the U.S. is mirrored in Othello, pointing toward Othello needing to answer for his skin color when questioned on Desdemona’s love for him, and toward Othello needing to ask his comrades to “speak of” him at the end of the play. Othello must trust that his comrades will accurately reflect his story without their own biases. This is where Smith considers the notion of white privilege in the U.S. and challenges readers and scholars to do the work necessary to develop a reliable representation of Othello’s experience--and of the experience of people of color in general. While it is easy for people who are white to ignore race because they are not confronted with their race on a daily basis, doing so perpetuates white privilege. In order to “speak of” Othello (and by extension, people of color) reliably, we must do the work that allows us to fully understand Othello’s experience; we must align with the sentiment expressed in the article’s title: “We Are Othello.”

Jenny Jadin

"Iago's Alter Ego: Race as Projection in Othello"

 Adelman, Janet. “Iago's Alter Ego: Race as Projection in Othello.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 48, no. 2, 1997, pp. 125–144. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2871277. Accessed 4 July 2021.

Janet Adelman’s applies Kleinian psychoanalytic theory to the issues of race in the play to support that the psychological use of racism by the racist, such as Iago, belongs to the perpetrator and not only to the victim who internalizes the psychological twisting of identity. Adelman begins her claim with Iago’s introductory scene; not only does he introduce the audience to his version of Othello, but he also creates a sense of “I” for himself through the focus of his dialogue with Roderigo, his focus of ego seeming to want to compensate in the following acts in contrast to the presence of Othello (127). In contrast to Othello’s wholeness, Othello’s Iago is “nothing” in saying, “I am not what I am” (Shakespeare 1.1.62). In being nothing, Iago seeks to self-divide those around him as he is the true Janus. To “unseat” those who threaten his sexual potency and mastery of self, he uses color and images of body to provoke anxiety both within and outside of the characters. In Iago’s own anxiety that produces envy, he needs to spoil the goodness and beauty of others in order to ensure his sense of uncontaminated self, and, in doing so, projects his filth onto Othello to take the blame for (Adelman 136-37).

--Hannah Nagy

“Rhetoric and the Commonplace in the Courtroom Defence Scene of Shakespeare’s Othello”

 After a brief review of what “rhetoric” and “persuasion” are, the author describes how Shakespeare’s Othello allows viewers an opportunity to see how “critical communicative thinking” can be both helpful and constructive, yet also sow disaster; the author uses the courtroom defence scene from the play to prove his points, focusing on how persuasive both the characters Iago and Othello are due to their abilities to perceive the beliefs and opinions of others as they try to convince them of something, which, as the author states in his opening paragraph, is the key to effective rhetoric, with the author’s ultimate goal of using this scene to teach rhetoric so that students can apply the methods and skills presented to their own lives. The author discusses the term “commonplaces,” which he defines as a “general sense of a belief that is simply held strongly and widely within a cultural 'place'” (15). This term is crucial as the author uses it often throughout his piece. The author then breaks down the courtroom defence scene in which the audience sees Othello defend himself against Brabantio and cultural views at large; starting with Brabantio’s reaction to finding his daughter married to Othello, which the author describes as matching the commonplace views and beliefs of the time. The second half of the article is about Othello’s defence, where he weaves a perspective of Desdemona and of himself that will match with the senators’ and Brabantio’s prior beliefs, and “repositioning” the term of witchcraft rather than entirely denying it, and eventually convinces them of the truth, all to show that commonplaces can shape and direct the way humans think, and if someone understands those commonplaces and ability to communicate well, the power of rhetoric becomes plain. 

- Mathew Stephen 

Derrin, Daniel. “Rhetoric and the Commonplace in the Courtroom Defence Scene of Shakespeare’s Othello.” The Use of English, vol. 66, no. 3, 2015, pp. 13–21. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2015874231.

"Shakespeare’s Blush, or 'the Animal' in Othello"

Swarbrick, Steven. “Shakespeare’s Blush, or ‘the Animal’ in Othello.” Exemplaria, vol. 28, no. 1, 2016, pp. 70–85., doi:10.1080/10412573.2016.1115624. 

In the article by Steven Swarbrick for Exemplaria, Swarbrick argues that the notions of animality and shame are inextricably connected in Shakespeare’s Othello. According to Swarbrick, animaliy is the “key optic through which the play visualizes and dehumanizes its black protagonist”, as evidenced through all of the instances in the play in which Othello is compared to animals like a black ram, a beast with two backs, a Barbary horse, and more. The key goals in this article are to compel us to rethink early modern categories of race in connection with “human” vs “animal”, and to prove that humanization cannot be countered with a simple return to the human. A key part of the argument is about an animal’s inability to blush. The blush is what many consider to be what distinguishes humans from animals, in that not only can we blush, but we can feel shame at nakedness, whereas animals cannot. Because black skin was seen at this time to be unable to blush, people with black skin, like Othello, were deemed animalistic. But while many would draw distinctions between Iago and Othello on this point, Swarbrick contends that Iago himself has a compulsion to hide his feelings and his own blush, thus blurring the lines between animal and human. 

The majority of the article, then, focuses on the line “Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago”. Using this line, Swarbrick argues that “Iago is black, even though he is not in blackface. Similarly, Othello is white, both because of and despite the fact that he is in blackface” (Swarbrick). Iago is the Moor, while Othello, the character often compared to an animal, is not the Moor that the audience would expect. Ultimately, then, what Swarbrick attempts to prove in this article is that while many scholars believe that animality asserts the racial difference between the characters, the opposite is true, and that when animals enter the scene, racial difference becomes undone. 

-- Wes Wingert