“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

“Desdemona, Woman Warrior: ‘O, These Men, These Men!"

Holmer, Joan Ozark. “Desdemona, Woman Warrior: ‘O, These Men, These Men!" (4.3.59).” Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England, vol. 17, 2005, pp. 132–164. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24322724. Accessed 28 June 2021.

Summary of the article:

In the article by Joan Ozark Holmer for Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England, Holmer argues that Desdemona is perhaps the bravest warrior ever presented on stage. She is “literally a warrior in the Christian sense, with faith as her shield” and figuratively a warrior in a secular sense, with her tongue as her sword (133). What follows is a critical analysis proving that Desdemona is a perfect Christian warrior as per Erasmus’s The Handbook of the Christian Soldier, with several arguments as to Desdemona’s heroics. One such argument is how she is a warrior in front of Othello, by testifying on his behalf before her father and the Senate, and by imploring the Duke to let her stand by his side in Cypress. Further testimony from Holmer is that Desdemona learns through adversity when she discovers that Othello is not as pure of mind as she had thought, and she fights for Cassio. She does this not for herself, but for Othello’s own good, knowing that Cassio loves Othello. The most substantial argument from Holmer that Desdemona is a woman warrior is that she ultimately does not rebuke Othello for her own murder, but continues to love him and tries to save both his reputation and his soul. In her final lines, she cries out that she has been falsely murdered. She cries this out to Othello, so that he might know his misdeed and repent for it, but when asked by Emilia to confirm who has killed her, she lies as though she has committed suicide, thus saving her husband’s reputation and tarnishing her own. That she would focus so much effort on redeeming her husband’s soul and continuing to love him to the last, argues Holmer, shows that Desdemona is indeed a woman warrior.

-- Wes Wingert