Othello's introduction

How in Othello does Shakespeare present themes of love and hate?

This guide will help you study the play in terms of its central themes. You should write about the content of the play (what it is about) and Shakespeare’s technique as a dramatist, looking especially at stagecraft (the play in performance) and language (especially word-play and imagery). If you are to achieve the highest grade for reading, you must write about all of these. If this is too hard, attempt those parts of the task which you can understand, or try a different task.

Avoid retelling the story. Make judgements, and support these with reference to the play in detail or by direct (short) quotation. Please note that in standard English usage “quote” is a verb, but you need never, in any case, write it. To see how quotation should be set out, look at examples from the edition of the text which you are studying, or ask your teacher for an explanation. Where the point of your quotation is not obvious, you should explain it, and what it has to do with your argument. As a rule of thumb, your comment should follow the pattern of statement, evidence (direct quotation or reference to detail), explanation of evidence (where needed) and interpretation/ judgement. It is a good idea to keep sentences short (don’t try to make multiple comments). Ensure that you avoid basic spelling errors: get the names right, and remember how to spell “characters”.

Love and hate in Othello:

In this part of your essay, you should outline the principal relationships of the play, looking also at the reasons (or absence of reason) for the characters’ attitudes and actions. To keep this part of your work simple, you should look at Othello, Iago and, perhaps, Desdemona only. (All the other characters are important because of their relations with these three). It is interesting to decide which is the more important character, Iago or Othello (scholars and critics over the years have failed to agree about this). What is not in doubt is that in the first part of the play we learn much about Iago’s motives from his soliloquies (speaking alone), while Othello dominates the later scenes of the play.

Iago: Discuss the following

The reasons for Iago’s hatred of Othello and of Cassio
Iago’s attitude to others’ love and happiness
How Iago manipulates those around him (note that he takes chances but is never in control)
His relations with Emilia

Othello: Discuss the following

How Othello is viewed by other characters (including Brabantio, the Duke, Cassio, Montano)
The importance of Othello’s colour
The conflict of Othello’s private life and public duty
The nature of his love for Desdemona
How he is altered by jealousy and how he recovers his dignity at the end of the play

Desdemona: Discuss the following

The nature of Desdemona’s love for Othello
Desdemona’s obedience and loyalty
Desdemona’s relations with Cassio and with Emilia
Shakespeare’s technique - stagecraft and appeal to the audience:

In this part of your essay, you should consider how Shakespeare presents the play’s central theme in terms of stage performance. This is fairly difficult to do, but you should have a go. At the very least, it may remind you that Shakespeare did not write books full of notes to bore schoolchildren; his plays were popular entertainment as today good feature films or television drama are.

Shakespeare’s theatre was not naturalistic, and relied on a number of conventions which were no problem for his audience, but might be so today. Costume and props were quite elaborate and realistic, but sets were very basic - there was no scenery and certainly no “scene changes”; dialogue was always used to give indications of place and time (as when in the play’s first scene, Iago lets us know he is at Brabantio’s house). There was no lighting - plays were performed by daylight in the theatre and by lamplight in private houses. Apart from some episodes in late plays like The Tempest there were no special effects. Some features of Shakespeare’s stagecraft in Othello which you might wish to consider are soliloquies, action, contrast, time and place, and the importance of Othello’s colour. This list is not exhaustive and you may wish to discuss other things. You should at this point also write about how the play was performed in any versions you have seen, especially where directors have tried different approaches.

Soliloquies: (These are episodes in which a character - Iago or Othello in this play - speaks while no-one else is present [at the start of Act 5, scene 1, Desdemona is on stage but asleep, so Othello’s speech here qualifies]; the speech is a conventional way of revealing the speaker’s thought). Audiences sometimes think Othello stupid for trusting Iago; it is worth remembering that we have been told by him that he is a villain - if the play were performed without the soliloquies would we think about Iago any differently from those around him? Some things you may consider are:

How Iago’s soliloquies reveal his intentions and his character (if they do)
The nature of Othello’s soliloquies - how do they show us his nature
Whose speeches are the more self-revealing in your view?

Action: This is a play in which persuasive or beautiful speech does much of the work, but some scenes are notable for physical action. You cannot comment on every such scene, but should discuss in detail the action in a few critical scenes, explaining how what we see (as much as what we hear) is important. Among the episodes to discuss are:

Act 1, scene 2: Show (briefly) how Othello responds to the “posse” sent to arrest him
Act 2, scene 3: Look at the drinking bout, Roderigo’s ambush and Montano’s wounding
Act 4, scene 1: Show how Othello’s loss of dignity is depicted here, especially in his “fit”
Act 5, scene 1: How does Shakespeare convey a sense of confusion here?
Act 5, scene 2: Comment on the killing of Desdemona and Emilia, and Othello’s suicide

Contrast: The contrast of love and hate is reflected in a series of other contrasts. Discuss these and show how they help present the central theme of the play. Some contrasts you might wish to discuss are light and dark, honour and dishonour, honesty and deceit and good and evil.

Time and place: In this play, events happen in a shorter space of time than is usual with Shakespeare. The classical Greek writer Aristotle recommended that the plays should have what he called unity of time, place and action. He argued that the action of a play should not take longer than twenty-four hours. Excluding the first act (which is like a prologue) Othello comes closer than most Shakespearean plays (only the late comedy The Tempest follows all of Aristotle’s rules). The effect on the audience is to make the tragedy seem more intense. This is especially the case because there is barely any comic relief (Iago’s jokes may be enjoyed by those on stage, but the audience knows too much. We laugh, if at all, uneasily). Another odd consequence is that Othello’s belief in Desdemona’s adultery is literally illogical, as there is no time when it can have occurred: Desdemona and Cassio come to Cyprus on different ships; from this moment there is no time which is not accounted for. This does not make Othello’s jealousy more difficult for us to believe in; it shows it to be more insane - Iago makes him believe what is clearly impossible, but Othello cannot see it!

Cyprus is important to the drama because it is so different from Venice; it is close to the danger of invasion, the people are reputedly hot-headed, and Othello is in absolute command. But the loss of the Turkish fleet gives him time to dwell on his private life rather than attend to his duty. Venice is important in two ways. First, it has a sophisticated and snobbish social hierarchy, according to which Othello is welcome as a visitor but quite unsuitable as a son-in-law. Othello does not really understand the fine points of social conduct (etiquette) and Iago is thus able to tell him various untruths about it (such as that Venetians are all promiscuous). On the other hand, the Venetian army (perhaps like the US Army today) while it may allow some racism, still has opportunities for a very good soldier (which Othello certainly is) to make it to the top. In Act 1, scene 3, Brabantio fails to have Othello punished; Brabantio has not been invited to the meeting of the council, but Othello has - even Iago recognizes that Othello is too important for the state to do without him. In return, Othello is almost fanatically loyal to the state he serves. When he is sure he has been betrayed (Act 3, scene 3) he makes a moving speech bidding farewell to his “occupation”. Before committing suicide he recalls how he once killed a Turk who had dishonoured the state by beating a Venetian.

Othello’s colour: This play depicts racist characters, but in no way supports racism. The two characters whose dislike of Othello are simply racist (Roderigo and Brabantio) are shown to be foolish. It is interesting that in this century some critics have attempted to show that Othello is not meant to be seen as a Negro! Yet the play is full of references to Othello’s colour and appearance which make it quite clear he is a black African. (Roderigo’s racist “thick lips” would not be so hurtful if Othello were not black.) When first performed the part of Othello would have been played by a white actor made up (just as the women’s parts were played by boys). As there are now coloured actors and actresses, there is no reason for modern productions to use blacked-up white actors (although as recently as the 1980s, a BBC production gave the rôle to Anthony Hopkins).

In the play it is accepted (this may trouble some modern audiences) that Othello is not conventionally good-looking; his colour makes him unattractive or frightening (it is often linked with the ideas of bestiality or devilishness). But this point is made to show (by contrast as it were) the great beauty of his speech and the nobility of his character: this point is made most clearly by Desdemona: “I saw Othello’s visage (face) in his mind”. The play does not support the view that mixed marriages cannot work - the marriage is destroyed by the extreme wickedness of Iago. The RSC’s 1989 casting of Willard White (an opera singer) in the title rôle seems exactly right; the actor is tall and powerfully-built, mature (Othello is an experienced soldier) but above all gifted with a deep and resonant voice. Oliver Parker’s 1995 choice of Laurence Fishburne gives us a handsome, more youthful and athletic (and sexy) Othello.

The Language of the Play

Although we can spot features of the play's language on the page, remember the play was written (never published) by Shakespeare for theatrical performance, and that effects of language are meant to be heard, as by an attentive audience they would be. Moreover, few of these effects are merely decorative; most help interpret the action on stage. In discussing the play's language, you should not merely list matters of interest, but should structure your comments according to categories or some other arrangement. The headings under which this section of commentary has been arranged may help. Be aware of the form of dialogue which Shakespeare writes at various points. This will usually be blank verse (which is always fairly formal), prose (informal) or rhymed verse (little used in this play, save in Iago’s songs and improvised jokes). Some things you may wish to discuss are language and theatre, the language of Othello and Iago, the importance in this play of the single word “honest” and animal images. As this section is so difficult, you have been given more extensive notes. You should try to understand the important ideas here, and write about the language of the play under these headings or others you may have found elsewhere (e.g., in your edition of the play or published study guides).

Language and Theatre: In the play we hear dialogue used to convey the immediate action, for narration (storytelling) of "past" events, for description, and for comment. Dialogue is used sometimes to advance the plot (as when Bianca appears with Desdemona's handkerchief, letting us know that Iago's use of it has succeeded). Narration is used effectively in Act 1, scene 3, where Othello explains his courtship of Desdemona, though his narrative is liberally embellished with descriptive detail; Othello's descriptions of the handkerchief (Act 3, scene 4, 52-72) and of himself (5, 2, 335-353) include narration of events in his past; Iago narrates events in the play. He appears to defend Cassio, to satisfy Montano's desire for impartiality, yet still secures Cassio's demotion. Comment is extensive in the play: in the first part, Iago not only explains his plans, but goes some way to telling us about his motives; in the later scenes his comments are merely about the success or failure of his scheming and the danger of discovery. Othello, in the early part of the play, explains much about himself and the beginnings of his love for Desdemona; he reflects on his own life, but in a very outward-looking way, speaking not of his emotions but of the places he has visited, the things he has seen: he is somehow both self-possessed and self-effacing; deceived by Iago, he becomes much more introspective: this leads him at first into near-madness, then a determination to execute justice on his supposed betrayer; finally, he comes to a more complete self-knowledge before death. But the latter part of the play is far more concerned with the portrayal of Othello than of Iago.