Reputation And Honour Flashcards
Men in Othello and their preoccupation with reputation
Cassio - “O, reputation, reputation, reputation” 2.3 Cassio cares deeply about his professional reputation
Othello is haunted by his fragility of his outsider reputation
Women in Othello and their concern with honour
Desdemona maintains she would never cheat on her husband because she is a Christian
Emilia speaks up against her husbands demeaning remarks against women and eventually exposes his villainy
Bianca refuses to take on the embroidery work for the handkerchief from Cassio because she would not suffer from being treated like a side chick
Iago and his disdain for reputation and honour
Behaves in an unholy unhonourable manner
Cassio
Iago presents the image of Cassio being a ‘slipper knave’ ‘rash and very sudden in choler’
We know from Iago’s comment that Cassio’s reputation as a hot headed dandy proceeds him. Somewhat odd when Cassio cries about the loss of his personal reputation because it seems like others likely already know his flaws and perhaps what truly bothers him is the loss of his professional station.
Reputation is a product of others commentary
Iago’s casual smearing of Cassio as a slippery devilish knave and Roderigo’s quickness to accept this characterisation, true or not, shows that our reputation is as much a product of others commentary and sometimes slander as it is a reflection of our behaviour.
Reputation as leverage
Iago succeeds in framing Cassio and causing his demotion reflects that our reputation can often be a source of leverage for others dealings with us. Because Cassio is known for being emotionally reactive, Iago can confidently orchestrate a situation where the man’s emotional reactivity will be easily triggered.
Othello let’s his obsession with reputation get in the way of behaving honourably despite his original intentions
Perhaps this stems from his racial self-consciousness
His image is more subject to scrutiny and skepticism.
Despite acknowledgement of his professional competence and Military prowess Othello’s status as a black man and his sensitivity to this fact means he feels a constant need to justify his moral sanctity and social value.
Othello’s honour and reputation at the start vs the end
At the start of the play Othello’s honour and reputation are aligned when he delivers his charming speech about how he came to win Desdemona’s heart with romantic exotic tales of his travel history and his youth’s suffering. He has used no witchcraft to seduce Desdemona, she fell in love with him because of his extraordinary experiences and the nobility that comes through from his having lived through incredible incidents.
Towards the end of the play when Othello makes a last ditch attempt to salvage his reputation after realising the grave error of killing his wife he understands that the same approach of fashioning a romantic self-identity with rhetorical lyricism will not even restore his honour. Hence his ultimate act of committing suicide.
Emilia - 5.2 - principled, honourable person who stands up for the truth is far more important than maintaining the outward reputation of her wifely identity.
5.2 no longer covers up for her husband despite her wifely duties and the cultural expectations of a wife complying with their husbands commands.
Bianca - social reputation
Her social reputation is implied to be lowly by virtue of her trade and strongly suggested by Emilia and Iago’s insults towards her as a “strumpet” but Bianca actually shows that despite prejudice and judgement against her she will guard her honour and retaliate against anyone who tries to turn it down.
Bianca’s case reveals than an individuals reputation can sometimes be an unfair inaccurate formulation rooted more in social prejudices or the true extent of the individuals honour.
Women - especially Desdemona v Bianca (reputation and honour)
All the women in this play show a higher degree of concern for their personal integrity than their public image, there’s a hint of irony in the fact that despite Desdemona being of a higher social status than Bianca, she lacks her vocal audacity and strength of will to clear her name and refute both Iago and Othello’s false characterisations of her as a loose, unfaithful woman.
This suggests then that just as much as others could smear or mould our reputation with their words, we must also exercise our own vocal power and agency to fight back against any wilfulness misreputation of our reputation.
