Othello critics Flashcards
What does Iago’s speech in Act 1: ‘I follow but myself…I am not what I am’ show about his character?
- He derives pleasure from hiding in plain sight.
- He has covertly just told Roderigo not to trust him.
What is the effect of Iago’s discussion of ‘satisfaction’ and Othello being ‘satisfied’ in Act 3 scene 3?
Iago ensures that the only thing which can satisfy Othello is the knowledge that Desdemona is/has been with another man. Only then could he be liberated from his torturous uncertainty.
(A2:1) How does Iago’s salacious language corrupt the sexual dynamic between Desdemona and Othello?
- He suggests Desdemona’s adoration is with ‘violence’, and that Othello’s wooing tales are ‘bragging…lies’. He suggests that ‘her eye must be fed’, to ‘give satiety a fresh appetite’. He implies Othello is revolting and insufficient; that Des will soon begin to ‘heave the gorge, disrelish and abhor the Moor’.
What does Iago mean by ‘the wine she drinks is made of grapes’? (A2:1)
That she is the same as all women. He utilises a misogynistic stereotype by implying all women are hedonistic and do nothing but indulge. This image is reversed by Emilia in Act 3:4: men ‘are all but stomachs, and we all but food’.
How do Desdemona’s responses emasculate and aggravate Iago?
- ‘Most lame and impotent conclusion’ (A2:1)
- Suggests he may be impotent and therefore gives an another possible motive for his actions, which certainly have some perverted sexual motive.
What does Iago embody and how does Desdemona and Othello’s relationship threaten it?
- He embodies a patriarchal, prejudiced soceity whose foundations could be undermined by their relationship. They exhibit a ‘utopian naivety’ that is anachronistic and therefore threatens the social order.
What is the contextual conflict between ‘Turks’ and Venetians?
- Their were mutiple conflicts over Cyprus as it overlooked various trade routes.
- The competition between the Turks/Ottoman Empire and the Venetians is both religious and economic.
- Like the liminal isle of Cyprus, Othello is between the two worlds: he is neither Venetian nor Turk.
What is a post-colonial reading of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship?
- She is drawn to him because of the ‘dangers he has passed’ and his tales of cannibals and anthropophagi etc.
- Her relationship with him is perhaps symbolic of European adventurers exploring uncharted Africa, there is an exotic/erotic allure which entices them.
- Perhaps this is why it does not last.
How was the Othello’s flexibility as a play described by Emma Smith?
- It is ‘protean’.
What can said about the concept of being ‘civilised’?
- A Western social construct.
- Allows for the alienation/othering of people of different races.
What is the etymology of the word denigrate?
In Latin it means ‘to blacken’
What can be said about Iago’s obsession with sex/eroticism?
- Emma Smith described it as a ‘voyeuristic preoccupation’ which culminates in the ‘ultimate object of its erotic obsession’, the bed which she has ‘contaminated’.
What is Othello personal and public ‘doubleness’ at the start of the play?
- He has eloped with Desdemona without asking for permission.
- He is also Venice’s potential saviour; a military hero.
What is Othello and Brabantio’s relationship at the beginning of the play?
- He has been ‘invited oft’ to Brabantio’s house, he was encouraged to retell the story of his life.
- Brabantio seems happy to abide Othello as an entertainment act, a piece of decoration.
- He perceives the marriage of Oth and Des as too much of a transgression.
What is Othello’s racial dualism?
Emma Smith: ‘the Christian citizen’s defender against a malignant Turk, and that turbaned and circumcised Turk himself’.
What does Iago’s name signify?
- Iago is likely short for Santiago.
- The patron saint of Spain was called Santiago Matamoros - the Moor slayer.
What things make Othello’s identity impossible?
- his life is one of ‘cognitive dissonance’
- A successful black man in a white society, yet never ‘of’ it.
- A man of immense self-control who loses all control.
- a brilliant soldier and leader, but clueless in the domestic sphere.
- Is the play about racism, or itself racist?
Why is the war, and its cessation, so important?
- Othello uses his military prowess as a measure of his worth.
- Without the war he becomes purposeless, and thus begins to act like a soldier in the domestic sphere - a desperate attempt to find some self-value. This vulnerability makes him susceptible to Iago.
- This is especially emphasised by his embodiment of justice in Act 5: ‘the justice of it pleases’.
When does Bianca show her integrity?
Act 5 scene 1: ‘I am no strumpet; but of life as honest as you that thus abuse me’
How does Iago describe Bianca?
‘It is a creature that dotes on Cassio, as ’tis the strumpet’s plague to beguile many and be beguiled by one.’
Why is storytelling so important in Othello?
- Othello wins Desdemona as ‘she did love me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them’. Duke says ‘I think this tale would win my daughter too’
- Iago accuses Othello of ‘bragging and telling fantastical lies’
- Iago himself uses stories to ‘abuse Othello’s ear’
- At the end, Othello talks about how he wishes his story to be remembered: as ‘one who loved not wisely but too well, one not quick to jealousy’…‘set [the story] down like this’
- Storytelling is significant because it reveals how narratives, both true and fabricated, shape character perceptions, relationships, and ultimately, destinies, highlighting the power of words to create and destroy
What genres, aside from tragedy, does Shakespeare seem to be influenced by?
- The morality play; where a personified vice figure tries to tempt and lure mankind.
- Comedy; the story line of the wily and sexual daughter defying her father.
- The adventure/travel story
How did Shakespeare experiment with the morality play? To what effect?
- the vice figure is in fact a native, and the mankind figure is racialised (‘an extravagant and wheeling stranger’)
- Lulls the audience into false security, meaning their expectations are subverted and thwarted by the end.
What is the significance of the political anxiety which motivates the Venetians to head to Cyprus?
- It is the same anxiety which perhaps motivates Brabantio’s dislike of Othello; there is a threat to the status quo by an unknown enemy.
What message did Cinthio use Desdemona to signify in the source text?
She voices the story’s moral: ‘I fear greatly that I shall be a warning to young girls not to marry against their parents’ wishes; and Italian ladies will learn by my example not to tie themselves to a man whom Nature, Heaven, and manner of life separate from us’
How does the end of Shakespeare’s play vary from the source text?
- Iago is tortured to death in Cinthio’s version, Shakespeare leaves this unknown.
- The equivalents of Iago and Othello kill Desdemona together.
- Othello is killed by Desdemona’s family, ‘as he richly deserved’
- Emilia’s equivalent is silent and unnamed throughout, but was fully aware of what was going on
- Ayanna Thompson: Shakespeare ‘resists this simplistic moral thrust’
Which person’s real life does Othello’s mirror?
- Muhammad al-Wazzan (christened Johannes Leo Africanus by Pope Leo X); like Othello he was ‘taken by the insolent foe and sold to slavery’.
- Both make their way into the upper echelons of white society.
- He wrote a book on the geographical and ethnic composition of North and West Africa.
What does Iago give voice to about Venice?
Many British beliefs about Venice as a cosmopolitan place of hedonism and excess; ‘an erring Barbarian and a super-subtle Venetian’ He suggests both foreigner and whore are afforded too much freedom.
Why is the title Othello: The Moor of Venice significant?
- Moor is a highly unstable term that encompassed a huge range of racial, religious and geographical descriptors.
- Venice is a place of significant stability, and so a contrast is created.
What is one interpretation of Othello’s final speech about the ‘turbanned Turk’ and ‘Venetian’?
- Othello adresses the duality of his own existence, he is both ‘turbanned Turk’ and ‘Venetian’, has ‘traduced the state’ and therefore must kill himself. He believes himself to be a contradiction, an impossibility, at odds with himself.
What quote did many directors interpret as a confession of Iago’s homoerotic love for Othello?
‘I am your own forever’ A3:3
What does Iago say in the temptation scene which makes it a mock marriage?
Iago: ‘witness that here Iago doth give up the execution of his wit, hands, heart to wronged Othello’s service’
‘Let him command and to obey shall be in me’ A3:3
The use of what word in Act 4 scene 1 shows Othello’s belief that Desdemona is changeable and unfaithful?
He repeats the word ‘turn’. Othello suggests that the qualities that he most praised - her willingness to ‘turn’ from her father to her husband - means she is primed to ‘turn’ from him to another lover.
3-3, Iago: ‘she did deceive her father marrying you.’
How does Iago use animal imagery?
- He aligns certain racial groups with animals.
- He also uses it to convey sexual appetite e.g ‘as salt as wolves in pride’ or ‘as hot as monkeys’.
What contradiction does Iago weaponise regarding Desdemona’s love for Othello?
- Othello, who once felt deserving of D’s love, now feels inferior because of his race.
- He begins to believe that his blackness made him unworthy, and that Desdemona’s desire for him makes her untrustworthy.
How does Othello answer Iago’s question in 3.3 ‘Are you a man?’
- In his final speech he posits himself as a ‘turbanned Turk’ and an ‘uncircumcised dog’, thus rejecting his humanity.
Finish the F.R Leavis quote: ‘Othello, in his magnanimous way, …
… is egotistic’
Finish the F.R Leavis quote: ‘A habit of self-approving, self-dramatization…
…is an essential element in Othellos’ make up.’
How can Othello’s final speech be interpreted?
F.R Leavis called it ‘self-dramatisation’, as he shows a lack of self-awareness or desire for redemption. He prioritises how his narrative will be recalled rather than facing the truth of his actions.
What does Othello do instead of genuinely reflecting on Desdemona or truth?
- Preoccupied with self-image as opposed to truth, thus he is fragile when challenged.
- He acts out a role: the betrayed husband, the wronged man, the righteous avenger.
How did Leavis interpret ‘Farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!’?
- He saw it as Othello mourning his loss of self-esteem, not grief for Desdemona.
What does Leavis suggest is Othello’s fatal flaw?
- Vanity
- He is preoccupied with his own image over all else and acts out roles: the betrayed husband, the wronged man, the righteous avenger.
- his choice to kill Desdemona is done in defense of his image
What is a counter argument to F.R Leavis’ claim that Othello’s fate is his own responsibility?
- Post-colonial criticism
- Othello’s subjection to racism and othering have left him with a fragmented sense of self and low self-esteem, thus it is not vanity.
- Emphasises broader systematic issues.
How is Iago incorporated into Leavis’ arguments?
- He suggests Iago’s actions, though undoubtedly malicious, are only destructive because of Othello’s own flaws.
How does Leavis depict Othello’s choice to kill Desdemona?
- An attempt to regain his dignity and reputation; a symptom of his vanity.
How does post-colonial theory challenge Leavis?
It is suggests Othello’s speech is not ‘egotistic’ or ‘self-dramatising’, but instead a marginalised man desperately trying to reclaim some identity. His crisis of self is born from constant reminders that he does not belong.
What is A.C Bradley’s position on Othello?
- He is ‘the most romantic figure among Shakespeare’s heroes’, thus he is perhaps exempt from blame as his good nature and trust are exploited. Iago sees his ‘free and open nature’.
Desdemona in Cinthio’s text: ‘Italian ladies will learn by my example not to tie themselves…
… to a man whom Nature, Heaven, and manner of life separate from us’
