Othello – revising jealousy and Assessment 3 feedback

Othello syndrome – AO3 context million experience domestic violence in Britain every year. Only 6% are reported to the police. The internalisation of blame ‘if I had only treated him better this wouldn’t have happened to me’ is a common reaction to survivors of domestic violence Legislation passed in 2014 to tackle coercive control in relationships; In 1604, there was no laws to protect wives from their husbands; Liz Roberts "if this were a feminist play, the tragedy would be, not that he killed her and she was true, but rather simply that he killed her at all."

Key quote: Iago moralises in the temptation scene to his dupe Othello – he pulpiteers on the dangers of jealousy. The monstrous imagery conveys visually the way envy devours its creator – it is a self-destructive emotion He uses imagery to convey its destructive and degrading effect because he is targeting Othello’s emotions, not his rational sense. The jealousy is Othello’s but dramatic irony invites the audience to interpret the green-eyed monster as Iago and Othello as the meat he feeds on; Iago is consumed by his envy of Othello’s status and seeks to destroy Othello.

The Handkerchief (AO2/3) Becomes a symbol of Othello’s distrust and his emerging irrationality (AO2) It would reinforce a contemporary audience’s prejudice that black men were ‘ dangerous for their temper, sexuality and magical powers’ (AO3) This marks character development from Othello’s dismissal of such beliefs that his stories are ‘the only witchcraft’ he had used to woo Desdemona. (AO2) The atypical presentation of Othello in Acts 1 and 2 is replaced by a portrayal that would reinforce not challenge contemporary views (AO4)

Example paragraph Shakespeare introduces the device of the handkerchief both as a narrative tool providing so called ‘ocular proof’ to convince Othello to act on his suspicions as well as a symbol of his exoticness. Othello’s mother received it from a ‘charmer’ and Othello believes there is ‘magic in the web of it’. This superstition contradicts his rational nature in Act one where he refuted calmly Brabantio’s accusations of black magic ‘This is the only witchcraft I have used’ and later confidently affirmed ‘she had eyes and chose me’. However, now he has moved to Cyprus, away from the civilisation and Christianity of Venice, he appears vulnerable to attack - like the island itself. This superstitious Othello increasingly fulfils, rather than subverts as he did earlier, the contemporary audience’s preconceptions of the wild, irrational behaviour of the black man capable of witchcraft. Othello also seems ready to accept this role and by Act 3 Scene 3 refers for the first time to his blackness and is prepared to consider that this may have contributed to his loss of Desdemona ‘haply for I am black,/ And have not those soft parts of conversation […] she’s gone.’

Idolatry and the dangers of hero-worship Othello’s sexual jealousy is fuelled by his idealised love and increasing feelings of inadequacy. He imagines her as faultless -emphasised through the mythological reference to Dian Goddess of chastity - intensifying the disappointment when he doubts her fidelity. This mirrors the Jacobean polemic categorising women as virgin or whore; an ideology reinforced by Iago’s explaining about the ‘secret pranks’ of Venetian women leading him to believe cuckoldry is a ‘destiny unshunnable’. His earlier self-confidence ‘For she had eyes, and chose me’ ( ) disappears ‘Her name that was as fresh as Dian’s visage, is now begrimed and black / as mine own face’ ( ). Here Othello uses a racist discourse, for the first time he thinks negatively of his blackness; it is clear that Othello has begun to internalise contemporary racial prejudice.

Setting (AO2) Venice As the setting for the original story (and substitute for Shakespeare's London), Venice provides a natural environment for the figure of the Moor to be both revered and despised. Shakespeare teaches his audiences compassion for those whom society uses but never fully embraces as countrymen. Othello is not jealous in the ordered and civilised world of Venice; here he commands respect according to his military status.

Setting: Cyprus (AO2) and the Vice figure (AO2) However, when Othello finds himself at war in Cyprus but without a war to fight, he becomes less self-assured. The island of Cyprus both the birthplace of Aphrodite and at the edge of the Christian world is the perfect place for Iago to manipulate Othello into believing in Desdemona’s sexual infidelity. Iago is used as a Vice figure who beguiles the hero into acts of depravity that will endanger his mortal soul. Othello’s jealousy increases as the play’s physical geography becomes moral geography.

Introduction Othello’s hamartia is his sexual jealousy, a trait which emerges only in the the climax of the play, act three, as a result of Iago’s villainy. Iago is the catalyst who triggers Othello’s jealousy but it could be argued that such violent envy can only be realised where formerly deep love existed. In this passage, we see Othello responding to the suspicions introduced in the previous scene by Iago.

Conclusion – powerful voice (abridged) No right minded audience in the 21 st century could rationalise murder as the result of love; such violence is now understood in medical terms. It is even possible that Othello is suffering from PTSD and a career on the battlefield; he deals with domestic affairs in the same way he deals with the enemy. For a modern audience the tragedy of the play resides in the despicable gender and racial inequality. Primarily our sympathy is with Desdemona, the victim of domestic violence. But secondly, living in a multicultural society in 2015 allows to appreciate Othello’s vulnerability and understand how Iago’s words could be so corrosive. Othello’s jealousy is repugnant but understandable; in no way can it be argued as springing from love.

Critics on Othello ‘one not easily jealous, but, being wrought, Perplexed in the extreme’ Bradley ‘The deed he is bound to do is no murder, but a sacrifice. He is to save Desdemona from herself, not in hate but in honour; in honour, and also in love.’ Bradley Shakespeare had portrayed [Othello] the very opposite to a jealous man: he was noble, generous, open-hearted; unsuspicious and unsuspecting; Coleridge 'Not easily jealous' it's the most appalling bit of self-deception. He's the most easily jealous man that anybody's ever written about’ Tynan ‘the essential traitor is within the gates’ Leavis