Othello

Who He Is

Othello is the Moorish general in the service of Venice, married to Desdemona, daughter of the senator Brabantio. A soldier since the age of seven, he was once enslaved and ransomed, and the republic calls on him in the middle of the night because it needs him at once against the Turkish fleet. He goes to Cyprus, where he is reunited with his wife and with the lieutenant Cassio, and there, in a few scenes, he loses the trust he had in both of them, convinced by Iago that she is betraying him. He kills his wife in bed, learns of the deception from the mouth of Emilia and from the letters of Roderigo, is stripped of command, which passes to Cassio, and kills himself with a weapon he still carries hidden.

Trajectory

In scene 2 of Act I, Iago warns him that Brabantio is powerful and can undo the marriage, and Othello refuses to hide: he trusts in the services rendered to the Signoria and in his own valor. When Brabantio arrives with armed men and tries to arrest him for witchcraft, he orders the swords put away, does not fight, and agrees to go to the Senate, where the Duke awaits him in any case.

In scene 3 of Act I, the Duke needs him against the Turks, and Brabantio's accusation becomes a trial. Othello admits that he took the daughter and married her, says that his speech is rough, made for the battlefields, and answers the accusation of spells by recounting his own life: the battles, the captivity and the stories he told in Brabantio's house, which led Desdemona to love him for the dangers he had passed, while he loved her for the pity she felt. The Duke observes that to claim is not to prove and, having heard Desdemona, orders Othello to Cyprus that very night. Brabantio warns him that whoever deceived the father can deceive the husband, and Othello answers that he stakes his life on her fidelity and, in the same speech, hands his wife over to the honest Iago.

In scene 1 of Act II, after the storm that sinks the Turkish fleet, he disembarks last and finds Desdemona at the height of happiness. He says that if death came now it would be the greatest joy, because he fears nothing afterward will equal this instant. In scene 2 of Act II, the herald proclaims the victory, and Othello decrees a public feast and banquet, a double celebration of the victory and of the marriage. In scene 3 of Act II, he puts Cassio in command of the night watch and withdraws with his wife. The tumult wakes him, and he strips Cassio of the lieutenancy on the spot.

In scene 2 of Act III, he hands letters to Iago and leaves with the gentlemen to inspect the fortifications, which clears the stage for Cassio and Desdemona in the next scene. Scene 3 of Act III is the scene of the fall. Before Iago raises any doubt about Desdemona, and after she leaves, he says that on the day he stops loving her, there will be Chaos again:

When Cassio hastily withdraws, Iago hands Othello his own words back in the form of a question and warns him against jealousy, and Othello says he would not live amid the changes of the moon: he wants to see before doubting and, when he doubts, he wants proof. Alone, shortly after, he runs through the reasons that may have made Desdemona leave him: being Black, not having a courtier's conversation, having already gone down the valley of years. He refuses the handkerchief with which she tries to bind his forehead, and it falls. He bids farewell to the soldier's profession, demands the ocular proof he had sworn to demand, accepts the dream that Iago attributes to Cassio, swears vengeance and names Iago lieutenant. In scene 4 of Act III, he asks Desdemona for the handkerchief and, on hearing that she does not have it there, tells the magical origin of the object and repeats the same word without letting her speak of Cassio.

In scene 1 of Act IV, his speech comes apart until convulsion, before Iago, who speaks of "handkerchief" and "lying." Standing again, Othello hides to hear Iago and Cassio speak of Bianca and takes Cassio's laughter for a confession about Desdemona. He recognizes the handkerchief when Bianca returns it, decides to kill his wife and accepts the method Iago proposes, strangling. Lodovico arrives with the Duke's letter that calls him back to Venice, and Othello strikes Desdemona in front of him. In scene 2 of Act IV, he questions Emilia, who swears to her mistress's honesty, then treats Desdemona as a whore and, on leaving, pays Emilia as a procuress. In scene 3 of Act IV, he orders his wife to bed and her attendant dismissed.

In scene 1 of Act V, he hears from afar the cries of wounded Cassio and concludes that Iago has kept his word. In scene 2 of Act V, he enters the bedchamber, kisses the sleeping Desdemona and accuses her of giving the handkerchief to Cassio. She denies it until she is smothered. When Emilia arrives, Othello confesses that he killed her and says that the honest Iago told him of the infidelity. Emilia reveals that it was she who found the handkerchief and gave it to her husband; Othello rushes at Iago and is disarmed by Montano. Iago stabs Emilia and flees, and Othello says he has another weapon in the bedchamber, a Spanish sword. Once Iago is captured, Othello wounds him, and his sword is taken away from him. Having read Roderigo's letters, Lodovico removes his command, which passes to Cassio, and Othello, before stabbing himself with a weapon no one saw, asks that they speak of him as he is:

He dies beside Desdemona.

Themes Embodied

In Act I, Othello wins by his words where proof is lacking. The Duke says that to claim is not to prove and asks for open evidence, and what Othello offers is a story, which is enough.

Conviction comes before proof. In scene 1 of Act IV, he narrates the meaning of the scene before Iago finishes staging it: Cassio talks of Bianca, Bianca of the handkerchief, and it is Othello alone who changes the referent. In scene 2 of Act IV, even Desdemona's clearest answer only confirms, for him, the lie he expects to hear.

In his last speech, Othello speaks more of himself than of Desdemona, but it is to her that he addresses his last words. The request for an unretouched portrait, in scene 2 of Act V, is the last move of this self-defense.

Jealousy in Othello does not appear as a trait that Iago discovers; it appears as the other side of an unreserved trust: whoever hands his wife over to the honest Iago and promises never to doubt without proof has nowhere to put doubt when it arrives. The prejudice that surrounds him since the street of scene 1 of Act I, and which he goes over alone in scene 3 of Act III when he lists the color of his skin and his age, gives jealousy the ground where it grows. And what he defends his whole life is honor and reputation: the career, the title, the word of others about him.

Relationships

• Desdemona: the wife, won by the story he told and lost to the one Iago fabricated. He treats her as a whore and smothers her.
• Iago: the ensign in whom he trusts and to whom he entrusts his wife, and who leads him from warning against jealousy to sentence.
• Cassio: the lieutenant he appoints, dismisses and takes for Desdemona's lover. In the end, Cassio governs Cyprus.
• Emilia: the lady's maid he questions and pays as a procuress, and who tells him the truth about the handkerchief.
• Roderigo: the suitor Iago uses, whose letters in his pocket, after his death, expose the plot.
• Brabantio: the father-in-law who accuses him of witchcraft and warns him that the daughter can deceive him too.