Honor and Reputation

The Theme in the Work

In scene 3 of Act II, Cassio loses the lieutenancy in a night of drunkenness and mourns his name, not his wound: reputation, reputation, reputation. Iago tells him that reputation is a groundless and false imposition, and the scene lets us see honor as something that exists only in the opinion of others.

In scene 3 of Act III, one word, "honest," becomes proof of character in the mouth of Iago, and Othello, convinced that he already knows the truth, bids farewell to the soldier's profession in a single line. In scene 1 of Act IV, he states the yardstick by which he already condemns his wife, that a man with horns is a monster, and strikes Desdemona in front of Ludovico: the witness turns domestic violence into public scandal.

In scene 2 of Act V, Othello asks that, in the letters to Venice, they speak of him as he is, without softening and without malice. This speech tells us more about Othello than about Desdemona, as if he were cheering himself on, but it is to her that he addresses his last words.

The characters speak of honor in ways that do not coincide. In scene 2 of Act I, Othello refuses to hide and says that his valor, his title and his perfect soul will serve as his introduction, that is, he relies on his own valor and the title he holds; in scene 3, when asking that Desdemona accompany him to Cyprus, he says that, if love gets in the way of his service, he accepts that adversities mutiny against his reputation. In scene 3 of Act III, Iago speaks of a good name as the rarest jewel of the soul: whoever steals a purse steals a trifle, but whoever steals a good name impoverishes its owner without enriching the thief, and he says this at the moment he prepares to steal the names of Cassio and Desdemona. In scene 1 of Act IV, it is also he who says that honor is an invisible essence, which often possesses those who lack it. In the end, Othello accepts being called an honorable murderer, since, he says, he acted not out of hatred but only for honor.

In the play, honor is a good that is lost by another's word. Cassio loses it in one night and mourns the name, Othello sees it collapse over an insinuation and responds with the sentence before the proof, and at the end tries to recover it by asking to be portrayed without softening.

Where It Appears

• Scene 3 of Act II: Stripped of the lieutenancy by Othello, Cassio laments his lost reputation and repeats the word three times, alone with Iago.
• Scene 3 of Act III: Convinced that he already knows the truth, Othello bids farewell to his own military life, saying that Othello's profession is no more, and demands ocular proof of the betrayal from Iago.
• Scene 1 of Act IV: Othello declares that a man with horns is a monster, a beast, and then strikes Desdemona in front of Lodovico, the envoy from Venice.
• Scene 2 of Act V: With Desdemona dead and Iago's plot undone by Roderigo's letters, Othello asks that they speak of him as he is, without softening anything and without malice.

Passages

Cassio sums up the loss in three words:

Othello bids farewell to the vocation that defined him:

At the end, he wants to be described without malice and without softening: