William Shakespeare has been recognized as one of the most brilliant playwrights of all time, his plays enduring the test of time and never fails to capture audiences everywhere.
One particular tragedy of his, Othello, graces the stage with different ideas such as love, war, betrayal and deceit. In the play’s famous “handkerchief speech” made by Othello, it is shown that the character Othello is very superstitious, and places great importance on the handkerchief that he gave to Desdemona.A stark contrast to his wife, Othello’s beliefs in witchcraft and the unknown is undoubtedly the influence of the culture that he grew up in, which is of mysticism, superstition and the supernatural, all passed by the word of mouth. Othello’s “tall tales” that he told Desdemona during their courtship are a reflection and evidence of that culture. It then gives the audience the impression that Othello is quite easy to sway even if he believes that one’s love is true and gives the plot more credibility.How the handkerchief itself was made was symbolic of the power of the female: a two hundred year old sibyl sewed it from sacred silk worms and dyed it in mummified virgins’ hearts.
A sibyl, or a witch, is a powerful female able to subdue men and wield magical and mystical powers. Silk has always been associated with the female and sexuality, since silk is not only worn to exude sexual appeal but also used as bedcovers to hint lovemaking. Lastly, a virgin’s bleeding heart represent the ideal since virgins represent not only loyalty but separation from men since virgins do not rely on men nor have any need of them at the moment.Also, virgins represent sexuality since they appeal to most men and are as seen as a “conquest”. In Othello’s speech, the handkerchief represents not only his and Desdemona’s love for each other but also her loyalty since he not only specifically told her to always keep it but also because of his superstitious beliefs.
He claims that if Desdemona gave the handkerchief away or lost it, she would lose his love and interest. Othello declares the handkerchief as a symbol of Desdemona’s sexual power over her husband and the loyalty that he demands from her as a result of her lost virginity to subjugate him to her.This provides an excellent foreshadowing of the tragedy to come. Othello is a play about communication, silence and language.
Aside from its vulgar use of sexual terms, it is ridden with insults and racism; example is calling Othello a “black ram” in the first act to denote his skin color and Moorish descent. Since one of the play’s themes is sexual infidelity, it is not surprising to see that some of the terms and lines were objectifying and degrading women, one such example is Iago’s view on women in general.Aside from Iago’s manipulations, the main tool for the tragedy was the lack of communication between parties. Othello was a tragedy of miscommunication beginning with Cassio and his drunken rampage. Had Othello and Cassio settle the misunderstanding, Othello would have had no reason to be jealous or suspect him and his wife of adultery. Although Iago did not openly lie to Othello, he did implant suggestive thoughts regarding the way that Cassio and Desdemona interacted with each other.
Using the jealousy that was elicited, he “sets-up” Cassio and Desdemona with the use of the handkerchief.The handkerchief that Desdemona had symbolized not only her love but her favor as well; Othello assumed that her possessing the handkerchief would indicate that she was faithful and that she without it would indicate she was not instead of asking her outright. Since Desdemona lost the handkerchief and due to the lack of communication between the both parties, Iago was successful in driving a wedge between the both of them. Othello then hints to Desdemona that he is aware of her supposed lechery with Cassio, even going as far as saying that her “palms are hot and moist and liberal’, saying that she was hot with desire and was too loose.Desdemona then starts to have thoughts that her husband was ill and was slowly going mad. (Berger 238).
Yet since she feels that Othello is confident of their love and is incapable of jealousy, she remains silent. The same goes for Emilia for keeping silent about how she came across the handkerchief; in her silence, she has doomed her mistress to die. The final blow to Othello was finding Cassio with the handkerchief to cement his suspicions and failed to ask Cassio for an explanation. The speeches and words used in the play perfectly creates the atmosphere and tension needed in the play.
Iago’s final vow, which is to remain silent, is a perfect ending to a play whose tragedy was brought about by the use of the wrong words. It also shows that Iago’s role was over since he merely became the catalyst to bring about the end. Brabantio early line assumed that he has never heard of someone else’s words bringing comfort to someone else; yet in this play, it was shown that the words spoken by someone in comfort was indeed important as opposed to one spoken in malice just as Iago did. The play Othello clearly shows the conflict between love and war.First of all, Venice and Cyprus were both associated with the goddess of sexual love and desire, Venus. The play taking place in Cyprus which was a holy ground to the goddess suggests conflicting sexual desires and love among the characters.
In the play, it was being used as a base for war yet the events that are taking place there are more on sexual trysts and love problems. Desdemona insisted that she would be allowed to accompany her husband to Cyprus, forcing him to play both the role of the general and husband.After Cassio and Othello’s “falling out”, Desdemona wanted to step in and help them make amends since for the sake of love, she does not want her husband and his friend to suffer so. Yet in her good intentions, she was slowly abused and lashed out at by the general in Othello and the military man in him demanded retaliation for the “wrong” that was done to him. Yet the husband inside him wept for his wife and faltered as he contemplated while he watched her sleep in the death scene. What is usually done in love is distorted in war and usually ends up tragic, just as what happened in Othello.
Lastly, in the play, characters such as Iago, Othello and Desdemona exhibits a third dimension to their personalities, giving them more depth and purpose. One example is Othello, and how he shifts from one attitude to another. He professes loyalty to the Venetian army and married the Christian way even if he was a Moor. Yet even if he was a professing Christian, he was still clinging on to his superstitious beliefs which eventually led him to believe Iago and his lies, bringing the tragedy upon himself.
Initially steadfast and confident, Iago was able to influence him to crumble and doubt.Iago on the other hand, though he may not be who he is since he was pretending, it could be said that he was not who he is because he wasn’t originally cynical and revenge seeking. As told earlier in the play, Iago had a multitude of reasons for wanting to seek revenge on the Moor and his cynicism towards women; one was he heard that Othello supposedly slept with his wife and another could be because he wanted Othello’s position and couldn’t stomach the fact that a lesser man-a Moor- was higher than he was.Last is Desdemona; earlier, she was described by her father as sweet, gentle and silent; yet in Othello’s mind’s eye, she was double faced, adulterous and scheming. It could be that Desdemona was indeed not who she was since she did try to bring Cassio and Othello back together and, as opposed to her father’s description of her, married Othello behind everyone’s backs, insisted that she come along to Cyprus with him and other audacious acts that were not fit with her initial description. It could be that all these acts were influenced by her relationship with Othello for it required a stronger character than what she initially had.
