Riassunti letteratura inglese: Shakespeare - Othello

Othello

Othello has been written in 1603. It was written very short from Hamlet. It is based on an Italian story. It did not exist an English version at that time. The question is: did Shakespeare read the Italian version? Probably he did.

Othello is a black soldier living in Venice. There were blacks in England in Elizabethan time. Is he total black or brown (light black)? Probably he is sub-Saharan (there are some references in the play). In Shakespeare time there were few blacks, they were very often slaves under the Spanish, and when the English captured Spanish ships, they also captured the blacks, who were generally treated well in London. At the same time, there was a visit to London from the ambassador of Morocco. They were often called “Moors”. There had been some debates about whether Othello must be a Moor only or as a black Moor. Anyway, the reference of his “thick-lips” reminds of his sub-Saharan origins. What is really important in this play is that a black man has reached a very high position in the Venetian army, he’s a man of great military ability but also a man of great linguistic ability.

Othello is known as a general and he has great power, he married a girl named Desdemona. Iago is the one who carries the flag in a battle, but he is an officer. Rodrigo wants Desdemona and he wants to enjoy her.

The beginning of the play

The play begins with a dialogue between Rodrigo and Iago. Iago is Othello’s friend (actually, he pretends to be his friend).

Signs and interpretations

In this play, Shakespeare is interested in the malleability of signs. The main sign in this play is the handkerchief (sign-interpretation-knowledge). Iago hates, but he does not have acceptable reasons to hate (like Hamlet and Brutus). Iago is negative; he wants to destroy people without a reason. He enjoys destroying Othello and Desdemona. Iago is considered the medieval figure of the devil or the bad angel. Directly from the «morality plays» of English ecclesiastic dramas, with a good angel and a bad-angel. Very often the bad angel is a humorous character, just like Iago.

Plot

The main themes are jealousy, betrayal, racism, and revenge. The story is set in Venice and Cyprus.

Othello the Moor is a noble black general in the Venetian army. He has secretly married a beautiful woman called Desdemona. Desdemona is the daughter of the senator Brabantio. Her father, when he finds out, gets very angry and disowns her, using with her vulgar words also. Othello and Desdemona leave for a war, but they travel in two different boats.

Othello’s ensign, Iago secretly feels jealousy towards him, partly because another soldier (Cassio) has been promoted instead of him, and also because he suspects that Othello had a relation with his wife. So, he wants to revenge by planting suspicions in Othello’s mind that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with Cassius: he manages to procure a handkerchief from Desdemona which was given to her by Othello. He plants it on Cassius’s lodging, so that Othello sees it.

Maddened by jealousy, Othello orders Iago to murder Cassius, and then he strangles Desdemona. But her innocence is immediately revealed and Iago’s treason too. In a fit of big remorse, Othello kills himself.

Key quotes and themes

• Iago: “I am not what I am” - Appearance differs from reality
• “An old black ram is tapping your white ewe” - Obscene oxymoron

Othello is Christian. Othello’s story: a story within a story - He always repeats “story”, “history”, “hear”, “ear”, “heard”.

• Fair / black
• The marriage between Othello and Desdemona has not been consummated yet.
• Iago: “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger; But, O, what damnèd minutes tells he o’er Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!”
• Desdemona: “My lord is not my lord”

Emilia’s speech is similar to Shylock’s speech.