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• Othello

• transition from AYLI (or Twelfth Night)

• next stage in life cycle--soldier's farewell to arms; casque to cushion; difficulty of adjusting to world of politics--cf. HIV to HV; adulthood, mature marriage, the justice; Othello's trials--prosperity and complacency, midlife crisis; established identity broken down; issues of place and preferment,"place" and "suit" ; public and private; reputation and intimacy

• Shakespeare's biographical pattern:

× from history and comedy to tragedy and satire--perhaps crisis in Sh's own life

× from Elizabethan to Jacobean: heroic, chivalric, erotic monarch to absolutist, schoolmasterish, Divine Right prince of peace monarch; James' lack of charisma--aristocracy undermined.

× subversion and misrule no longer a means to establsihing order and authority; contest no longer positive, but undermining and sinister; more monolithic outlook; different strategy for idealizing power

• consideration of similar themes and characters; the dark side

× gender, marriage, love, adultery

× III, iii, 266 Curse of marriage/ That we can call these delicate creatures ours/ And not their appetites

× They are all but stomachs, and we all but food;

They eat us hungerly, and when they are full

They belch us. (III,iv, 103)

× three abused women

× power, influence, responsibility

× manipulation, illusion, inference, epistemology

× trend from RJ onward....cf. final exam question idea

× stage playing; disguise; manipulation; imagination

× Rosalind and Iago

• Compare to structures of earlier plays

× compact and tight; no double plots or apparent digression; like RJ; fate moves with dispatch; a well made play; vice grip closing on characters and us

× play of character and psychology; analytical-- hidden motives and fears; eruption of darkness from the self and society

× use of "second world" as Cyprus--world of night, chaos and evil; not as transition to positive new condition

× introduction of sin and true evil

• I : Accusation, Arrest, Trial and Acquittal

• i. Venice street: Roderigo and Iago--gulling Roderigo; frightening Brabantio;

× Iago chosen over Cassio; source of resentment

× contempt for Cassio, the arithmetician, theoretician

× contempt for Othello--his Moorship; thick-lips

× opening issues of preferment and suit (cf. AYLI)

× preferment by affection and not old gradation--(Cain)

× his suit and that of his three supporters rejected by O.

× the senators and "State" may hate but need Othello; he has power (142)

× Iago forwarding R's suit

× Iago is self-seeking rather than stupidly loyal, obedient and honest (63)

× self definition: I am not what I am; were I the Moor I would not be Iago

× relation to Roderigo: telling truth in order to deceive Roderigo

× holding purse strings and forwarding his suit to D. which Brabantio has rejected

× Poison Brabantio's delight; malicious methods; play on fears and vulnerabilities; invoking panic and chaos (72); gross language (114); dark setting

× B. invokes his influence as senator repeatedly; will reward R.

× Fear and hatred of Moor as sexual partner; B's dreams; suspicions of his daughter's betrayal of him--notion of miscegenation [bondslaves and pagans shall our statesmen be]

× B's dislocated speech; Inference of magic device of seduction--[O's rhetoric]; [extended ii, 61 ff.--probable and palpable to thinking] complains about the impossibility of knowing her intention; anxiety about betrayal.

× Parallel between B. now and Othello later; Brabantio appeals to Senate and accepts social verdict

• ii. Street , Othello, Brabantio, Iago: O. confesses to B. about elopement

× Iago tries to scare Othello about B., painting himself as secret ally

× incapable of murder

× Othello brags of influence and clear conscience

× Private/public confusion [of audience expectation]:(32) not B. but summons from Duke for service; then B. arrives; Othello's control and magnanimity(60) and convergence in council

• iii. Council Chamber; the "trial" of O and D; their pleadings; Iago's plottings [contrast to O's "trial" in V, ii]

× confusion of reports from Turks; difficulty of inference(16-20); confusion of reports about marriage.

× truth properly determined through investigation of conflicting reports; B's false inference rejected --"no proof" (108)

× Othello's defense

× simple soldier no eloquence

× let Desdemona speak as testimony

× telling stories about his life to father; tells story of his courtship now

× exoticism of anthropophagi-cannibals--Desdemona devours with greedy ear

× he beguiled her pity; she beguiled him; mutual love, but suspect (165)

× The trial ends; Brabantio's concession, but not content: "Words are words" (210)

× O gladly accepts commission to Cyprus, bending to state

× Desdemona assertively demands to join him; O. insists he's not prone to lust

× Iago and R.: Roderigo pines; Iago advises him to be self-seeking; and to exercise his will, not be passive; exert reason over passion (325); put money in thy purse rather than drown;

× be cynical; if willing to give up all, you're free. [understanding where R. is at] Comforting cynicism: if there's no hope, you're free to do anything; nothing left to lose; encourages him; cheers him up, and gets him to sell his land [like Othello, gets him to destroy himself for Iago's sake]

• II: storm, joy, hangover

• i : Cyprus--Storm; Arrivals; Iago and Roderigo

× Storm; Turks lost; Cassio arrives (theoretric gent); wordplay of I. and D.--misogyny

× O's arrival; his expression of utter bliss and content at end of storm in being in D's arms; now he could die happy; she wants more; great kiss--(they haven't yet consummated). Grand climax of joy--verweile doch

× [comic transition] Iago convinces R. D loves Cassio right after this; reinterpreting data for him; with rerun of the aria on this is the highest moment, i.e. now she'll tire of him

• ii. Proclamation of Joy and nuptials--partying--Irony

• iii. Trapping Cassio with drink

× C. warned about restraint by O, who's still waiting to consummate

× C. cant hold liquor [devilish weakness]; Iago getting everybody drunk; and drunk himself on possibility, but not certainty of his plot; Iago's drinking song; effectiveness as tempter; Cassio trying not to be drunk but lording his rank; brawl provoked by Iago

× Othello interrupted in his rites by Cassio's brawl; Iago using language of "bride and groom divesting themselves for bed." to describe friendship turned to brawl. (179); getting very slowly angry; Cassio demoted (comic still)

× Cassio's grief at losing reputation; Iago's speech devaluing reputation; advises C. to sue with D. for O's preferment

• Class 2--quiz; discussion of characters and specific passages and moments

•

• Characters/ Language

× Iago

× Intelligence and insight into psychology: "knows all qualities with a learned spirit/Of human dealings" (III, iii, 258-9)

× his method: to ensnare a victim in trouble and then appear as their aide: Brabantio, Roderigo, Cassio, Othello; "match half truths to latent fears" (Heilman); reductionism of human values

× "spiritual have-not"--satanic vacuum; compulsive thief

× I, iii, 375: improvisatory scheme worked out as hatched scheme; engendered; plays on Moor's free and open nature who can't believe deceit in another; cant possibly believe rumor suspicion of Moor between his sheets, but it will do as pretext, reason, cause; aslo suspects Cassio--half-heartedly (II, i, 305)

× his growing prominence at end of I

× mysogyny in banter II,i, ll00)

× addresses audience or self with delight in his plan; improvisation: out of her own goodness make the net that shall enmesh them all (II,iii,379-388)

× the ultimate backbiter or gossip; with Ludovico re: Othello, with Othello re: Des. , etc.

× Othello

× Confidence and pride

× Insecurity: (III,iii, 262) I am black and have not those soft parts of conversation...am declined into the vale of years

× his speech on loss of reputation, but worse, loss of place he has garnered up his heart--the fountain from which my current runs or else dries up (IV,i, 55)

× Desdemona

× A child to chiding (IV,ii, 110) Can't say whore (160)

× Emilia

× makes correct inference--partly correct; assumes that someone was responsible for Iago's jealousy like whoever is now doing this to Othello

× is totally cynical about men --belch line; opposite to Des.

• III: seduction--Class 3

• i: Cassio, Clown, Emilia, Iago, Musicians

× Cassio tries to please O. with music, hears Othello is not angry with him; pushes for Desdemona to push his suit anyway.

• ii: Othello on battlements (?)

• iii: The Citadel-- D. C. E. I. O--the big seduction of Othello scene: Handkerchief--[subtopics are beats] [innumerable exits and entrances]

× Cassio worried and greedy about his "place"--even if Othello is distantly friendly; D. assures him she'll help; total devotion to the cause

× As O and I enter, Cassio uneasily leaves; I. creates first suspicion: "Ha, I like not that. (84)"--acts as if it slipped out and tries to retract; then creates impression--"steal away so guilty-like"

× D's suit: don't put him off; he courted me with you and when I spoke of you dispraisingly he defended you (70); sexual undertone in: "What would you ask me that I should deny so" ; she's being sexually playful and projects a more pleading suit (83)

× Othello is cold to her--compare last meeting in II,i--confirming Iago's idea of love cooling?--oscillates to love, when she's gone

× Iago hangs out little signals--echoing--drawing O's curiousity and false inferences; discussion of being and seeming; presence of evil thoughts hidden away; stimulating fears and questions, anxieties and insecurities: --uncleanly apprehensions in pure breasts--cf. Othello's insecurity about sex and his own intentions; then again asks O to take no notice, actually asking him to take notice. Diverts him with high-minded praise of reputation (opposite of line to C.) Makes him writhe with curiousity

× Beware of jealousy; a green-eyed MONSTER--then introduces prospect of cuckhold who doesn't know he's being cuckholded--generalizations and proverbs; makes the prospect of knowing look better than just suspecting; moves Othello another step forward. "O misery"-- then oscillates to resisting jealousy; Othello wont make inference

× Iago pulls in as he resists (cf. Rosalind and Orlando): Now I can be more frank--suspect and observe her; Venetians in general are adulterous; but makes no direct accusation. She deceived her father; appearances can't be trusted [undermining O's reality] observing it and commenting on O's disturbance--I do see Y'are moved. Playing on O's broken reference to unnaturalness of adultery, Iago says she's probably regretting marrying a moor; it would be "natural"

× 255--Iago leaves at Othello's request, and comes back;[expressive of giving and receding with information, serpentine gesture--Milton's Satan]

× Othello's soliloquy: He'll let her free/ He doubts himself/ His pain turns to rage against all women and the curse we're born with

× from specific instance to generalization; the opposite course of Iago's procedure

× D. and E enter; O. has headache; she tries to heal him with handkerchief; he pushes it away; it falls--climactic moment's signification: her love, his refusal--Emilia picks it up; steals to please her husband

× Iago's reentrance; Emilia tries to get attention and affection with handkerchief; he grabs it; she leaves; he soliloquizes "Dangerous conceits"

× Another entrance for O: He's on rack now, imagining her with Cassio; wishing he knew not; poisoned imagination envisions her screwing the whole army while saying he wished he didn't know it. Makes melodramatic farewell to arms

× Oscillates to absolute demand for proof from Iago (356); more imagery of torture (385) cf. Lear; Iago proceeds to make the torture worse: would you behold her topped? (395) Death and Damnation O; evidence provided of Iago's recollection of Cassio's dream...enough to "tear her all to pieces" --more torture.

× I'll have some proof (III, iii, 383)--but false test; illusionary magic; asks for more reasons (406) for circumstantial evidence--Iago's report of Cassio's dream (some evidence! but enough for Othello (420), since the language is so evocative)...I'll tear her all to pieces; next piece of evidence (Iago building case)--handkerchief wiping C's beard; O expunges love and invokes hate from hell; pact with devil; demonism; satanic. Iago rouses him further with false restraint.; Satanic vow, pact with devil; kneeling with Iago--"I greet thy love"..."I am your own forever."

• iv: D.E. O. I. C. The Street--Intrigue deepens

× D. wont believe O. could be jealous; O. abuses her as whore without her comprehension; tests her for handkerchief and tells BS story about its magic; she speaks of Cassio, he of handkerchief; communication broken;

× E. D. converse ; D. mistakenly infers O. is worried about State; discussion of jealousy--causeless; a monster begot and born on itself

• IV:

• i: Othello losing it in public; recalled and strikes Des.

× Iago working Othello further into distraction, harping on handkerchief and images of D. and C. in bed; Othello losing it; goes into epileptic trance; Cassio comes in and leaves after suggesting head massage; Othello decides to murder

× Des. and Ludovico , rep. of Duke; O. gets orders to return; strikes Des.--confusion of private and public reversal; strikes Des. in public; Ludovico shocked, then invited to dinner; wrenching of behavior patterns; Iago gossips about him to Ludovico

• ii: Desdem. and Emilia

× O.refusing to believe Emilia's evidence abusing Des., physically and verbally; she infers his distraction is about recall; his speech on loss of reputation, but worse, loss of place he has garnered up his heart--the fountain from which my current runs or else dries up (IV,i, 55); accuses her of whoredom; Desdemona distracted and playing victim--lay wedding sheets on bed; Emilia infers a plot correctly: slave to get some office IV, ii, 130

× Iago and Roderigo : I. diverts him from his jewels in plot to kill Cassio

• iii: The citadel--D's bedroom; tenderness and intimacy

× O. obsequious to Lud. and harsh to D.

× Desdemona's passivity and obedience and innocence--is it saintly? Willow Song associated with mothers maid and love/death; unpinning; admiration of Ludovico; discussion of men and women; can't imagine there are women who are adulterous; opposite view to Iago's that all women are whores.

× debate about whether to commit adultery for the whole world; Emilia puts it in proportion; D. says absolutely no; Emilia says women cheat on men because men cheat on women; rejects the double standard--why is this discussion here?

× a peaceful interlude; relationship of intimacy; full of trust; no preferment or jealousy, but women--the Barbary maid and Desdemona's mother as well--communing in the shadow of male domination

• V:

• i. Iago and Rod. attack Cassio; Othello smells blood and gets fiercer; action all moving from mental plotting to physical action; I. exits and returns bearing light; kills Roderiog; taking sheer delight in his betrayals and manipulations; shifts blame to Bianca as soon as she shows up; no more plotting all spontaneous action; high risk; he sends Emilia to Othello, not aware that O. is raging

• ii. D's chamber--the final setting in bed; parallel bloody scene; she invites him to bed; she must die; she'll betray more men; righteousness at end, fallacious

• Emilias' debate with O. "My husband" three times--Emilia attacks the two men; she has tremendous sense of sexual solidarity; is utterly courageous in standing up to his sword; Iago tries to silence Emilia: I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak" V, ii, 182; her anger, clarity and strength; refusal to obey husband, while Othello falls on bed.

• Iago tries to slience her again; and then kills his wife; another bad husband killing good wife

• Othello left totally wimped out: I am not valiant, but every puny whipster gets my sword; realizes, repents and goes to hell; tries unsuccessfully to kill Iago; disclaims responsiblity--an honorable murder(!)

• Lodovico plans long torture of Iago (330); Othello justifies self with maligning jews, invoking memory of killing Turk as circumcizsed dog, at the same time killing himself and falling with a kiss on Desdemona; his gestures all failures--"bloody priod" --kissing and killing

• triple emphasis on torture of Iago and expropriation of O's property ends play

• Themes--Class 4

• Ask students to read Kernan essay and ask if they agree on the characterization of Desdemona and Iago; what about the racism of final ending; is the evil in the Turk; is the good in Desdemona; what about Emilia; who is the hero of the play? What is the truth? The Cause, the Cause? What if Rosalind were in Iago's role?

• Inference--check out if this has been done; if not its a coup article: Dangerous conceits: the rules of evidence and reported dreams; historical research into the law of the period. Altman's article in Representations, first...a possible collaboration with Jan.

• Act I with Brabantio and court

• II, i, 235--a most pregnant and unforced position--convincing R. not to believe his senses and accept I's interpretation; 263--the incorporate conclusion; creating the probability 286

• III,iii, 120: O's inferences from Iago's signals; refusing to make inference without proof III,iii, 185--logical disjunction: love or jealousy

• Iago's sermon on inference III, iii, 319: Trifles light as air (handkerchief--piece of court evidence; contrast to Venetian court on evidence)/ Are to the jealous confirmations strong/ As proofs of Holy Writ...Dangerous conceits...at the first are scarce found to distate, but with a little act upon the blood/ Burn like the mines of sulfur (demonic imagery)

• I'll have some proof (III, iii, 383)--but false test; illusionary magic; asks for more reasons (406) for circumstantial evidence--Iago's report of Cassio's dream (some evidence! but enough for Othello (420), since the language is so evocative)...I'll tear her all to pieces; next piece of evidence (Iago building case)--handkerchief wiping C's beard; proof is adequate to sway O. to pact with devil

• D's false inference that O's disturbance is an affair of state--I had suborned the witness, /and he's indicted falsely (III, iv, 153)

• Bianca's jealous inference about Cassio III, iv, 183; also about handkerchief IV, i, 155-railing in street

• IV, i, 68 Preferable to be certain about bad news than in doubt or deluded

• O. will make wrong inference about Cassio's gestures IV, i, 104 while Cassio laughs at Bianca's false inferences about his marrying her

• Emilia's correct inference: a plot : slave to get some office IV, ii, 130 ff

• V,ii, 1: O: It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul....it is the cause

• Racism--psychological and political and cultural and sexual; the Turk and the Moor as "others"; also the female and sexuality as "other"; alien

• anthropophagi stories (I, iii, 144)

• Are we turned Turks (II, iii, 168)

• Fear and hatred of Moor as sexual partner; B's dreams; suspicions of his daughter's betrayal of him--notion of miscegenation [bondslaves and pagans shall our statesmen be] (I,i) Cassio's reputed dream in III,iii, 420

• (III,iii, 262) I am black and have not those soft parts of conversation..

• III, iii, 230: I to O: she's probably regretting her unnatural marriage

• V,ii, 154 Emilia: she was too fond of her most filthy bargain

• Preferment and power

• Lots of business in Act I

• Cassio's suit with D. ; III,iii,18 --C's worry over his place

• Iago's song about King Stephen and the tailor III, i

• ,Cassio's rank in II, iii, 110;

• she's being sexually playful and projects a more pleading suit (III,iii,83)

• O: I kiss the instrument of their pleasures (!); fawning on Ludovico IV,i, 220; Cassio having O's place in Cyprus and in bed

• Sexuality-

• Cassio's dream: plucked up kisses by the roots/ that grew upon my lips

• B: To fall in love with what she feared to look on (I,iii, 98); and love--

• a mutual deception of sorts; D's aggressiveness with kisses of pity; O's consciousn playing on her; their playing on one another. (I,iii,165)

• O. protests his freedom from lust and foggy-headedness (I, iii, 270)

• Iago: Love as a sect or scion of lust (I,iii, 326); when blood is made dull with the act of sport...(II,i,255)

• Cassio:[ O's] love's quick pants in D's arms/Give renewed fire to our extincted spirits (II, i, 81)

• his speech on loss of reputation, but worse, loss of place he has garnered up his heart--the fountain from which my current runs or else dries up (IV,i, 55)

• III, iii, 137--presence of evil thoughts hidden away; stimulating fears and questions, anxieties and insecurities: --uncleanly apprehensions in pure breasts--cf. Othello's insecurity about sex and his own intentions

• Cassio and Bianca--the strumpet's plague to beguile many and be beguiled by one; Cassio laughs about her; tricks her and cruelly laughs at her (IV, i, 130)

• Liebestod; necrophilia, sadism V,ii Othello and sleeping Desdemona; the woman in desired position; passive and dead--cruel tears; (mention opera); kill thee and love thee after--cf. pact with devil; death's unnatural that kills for loving; demands confession; she casts doubt on Othello's scenario, but he wont listen; not give her half an hour, he's totally committed now to killing her

• Emilia at door; makes sure she's dead and rationalizes--cruel am yet merciful; Desdemona protects him; he wont accept it--again--

• sexual politics; gender roles-

• she wished that heaven had made her such a man

• divided duty (I, iii, 179)

• mysogynistic banter with Iago (II,i 135)

× D. wants to hear praise of good woman from I; he does so and ends with contempt: a good woman suckles fools and chronicles small beer

• the strumpet's plague to beguile many and be beguiled by one; her fury with Cassio re handkerchief--jealousy about sharing the corner

• Emilia's subjection to husband and final rejection

× What will he do with it/ Heaven knows, not I; I nothing but to please his fantasy. (III,iii, 298)

× They are all but stomachs, and we all but food;

They eat us hungerly, and when they are full

They belch us. (III,iv, 103)

• Male fear of women's power to hurt their vulnerability leads to violence against women (Sprengnether 251)

• O: a horned man's a monster and a beast (IV, i, 64)

• murderous hatred of prostitutes--Jack the Ripper (IV,ii,90); along with idealization of woman

• debate about whether to commit adultery for the whole world; Emilia puts it in proportion; D. says absolutely no; Emilia says women cheat on men because men cheat on women; rejects the double standard IV,iii 100

• Guilt--O confesses the vices in his blood; C. sees devil in wine II,iii,280; transform self to beast; despises himself

• III,iii--Othello, guardedly knows his jealousy may stem from his own weak merits

• Tempting, Test, Trial, Judgment

• Evil and cruelty

• Iago's motiveless malignancy: jealous souls are not ever jealous for the cause/but jealous for they're jealous. It is a monster/Begot upon itself born on itself. (Emilia) III, iv, 160

• Othello's solace in torment--sadistic thoughts: tear her to pieces; "O, I see that nose of yours, but not that dog I shall throw it to." (IV,i, 143); Nine years a-killing(180)

• Interrelationship of these themes

• Symbols

• The Saggitary--half man/half goat; monsters (IV, i, 64)/ jealousy as monster

• Be a toad and live upon a vapor of a dungeon/ than keep a corner in the thing I love/ For others' uses. (III,iii, 275)

• Headache; Desdemona's handkerchief (III, iii): Cassio suggests head rub--healing efforts

• Thue handkerchief: light and airy thing; passed from person to person and besmirched; Othello placing more and more value upon it, after throwing it away--pearl of great price she places on his forehead--Emilia's bosom, Cassio's beard, Bianca' s possession, then thrwon in street.