Othello - Tragedy

I'll be tackling question 2, which asks what kind of play is Othello, a tragedy, comedy, melodrama, or farce? Well, it's definitely a tragedy, which rules out comedy, as the two are mutually exclusive. and it's not a melodrama since those were really invented later, and it's not nearly ridiculous enough to be a farse.

So why is it a tragedy? Well you've got your hero, Othello, who starts off as a good and decent person. In the first act or two he is portrayed as an extremely wise, loving, and level-headed man. Why, he's practically the posterchild of decency. After he is dragged from his bed in the dead of night by an angry Italian mob, rather than let his emotions get the best of him, he simply agrees to their demands and eventually makes it out alright. However, Othello most certainly has a tragic flaw, called a hubris. Othello's flaw is essentially that deep underneath his apparent level-headed nature, like most people, he is inclined to jealousy. This, coupled with his poor judge of character, allows Iago to take advantage of his doubts and suspicions in order to gradually decay whatever was good in Othello and turn him into a despicable person. By the end of the play, Othello is a hate-filled, bloodthirsty murderer and has fallen quite a long way from his original standing of a good and decent hero. His tragic flaw eventually consumes him and ultimately kills him. This fall from a decent hero to a hateful man certainly denotes a tragedy, and just to make sure that we don't try to call this anything but tragic, he kills himself in the end.

Now, there is in fact a second part to this question, which asks exactly how important it is that the audience understands that the play is a tragedy? Well, I didn't know it was a tragedy until around act three, and I certainly had no trouble understanding what was happening. Really, it only seems that the difference between Tragedy and Comedy is the ending. If the hero succumbs to their flaw and dies then it's a tragedy, but if he prevails over his flaw and survives, well it's a comedy. Really, the only thing that knowledge of the type of play gave me was a nice spoiler for the ending. Lovely. So all in all, no, I don't really think that knowing what kind of play it is beforehand is really all that helpful.

Othello - Characters

I'll be handling question number 3 with this post, which essentially deals with characters. Really, I don't feel like rewriting the whole question, because it's a long'n.

Well, like most works in which the title is the name of a character, the protagonist of this particular play happens to be Othello. He fulfills the role of tragic hero absolutely perfectly, which really makes my job of designating a protagonist fairly easy. He goes about the beginning of the play as a good and decent person, but throughout the course of the play, his hubris begins to grow and eventually it defeats him, and he dies. He is portrayed as being wise, loving, and level-headed, but he eventually starts to show a jealous side and begins to show a tendency to misread people, as he begins to distrust those truly loyal (Desdemona and Cassio) and starts to trust people who are just out to get him (Iago).

Iago, naturally, is the antagonist. This play is kind of interesting in that the antagonist gets far more screentime than the protagonist. The one who really drives the plot along is actually Iago. Very interesting. Anywho, Iago was a decent antagonist. He was sexist, racist, and very very sneaky, which makes him very hateable, always a good quality to have in your token bad guy. However, I didn't really like how his greatest quality seemed to be simply...luck. Honestly, perfect opportunities just kept falling into his lap. Now, he did manage to do some things on his own, getting Cassio drunk for example, but most of the time, he just managed to find himself in a good situation and managed to swing it around for his own benefit. Emilia just happened to find the handkerchief and give it to him, Bianca just happened to confront Cassio with the handkerchief while Othello was watching, and Roderigo just kept rolling back to him just in time for him to put him to use. Really, I just didn't care much for how conveniently everything worked out for him.

There are several foil characters. Iago and Cassio are foils to each other. Cassio is a truly honest person who respects women and is liked by pretty much everyone. Iago is a sneaky evil scumbag who treats women like crap and is also fairly racist, and most people just don't much care for him. Iago even says himself that Cassio "hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly." In comparison to the totally awesome Cassio, Iago just kinda looks like trash. Now Othello kind of switches throughout the course of the play. At first, he is foiled with Iago as he is not outwardly suspicious of his wife and actually treats her decently. In the beginning, he really resembles Cassio. However, by the middle to end of the play, Othello really resembles Iago in his tendency to suspect others and his treatment towards Desdemona. Now, Cassio is his foil and shows him how far he has really fallen.

I don't feel as though I should use the term "Minor Character," because really they play a major role in the progression of the plot. Bianca, a tiny minor character is actually the one who puts the last nail in the coffin and provides the last shred of evidence that Othello needs by giving the handkerchief to Cassio while he watches. As for Roderigo, who is essentially nonexistent through the whole play except when Iago conveniently has the need for a patsy, is used quite effectively. He provokes Cassio and gets him fired and eventually attacks Cassio and wounds him. As for Emilia, she acts as a mildly useful character for Iago when she gives him the handkerchief, but after Desdemona dies, she explodes into a ball of almighty fury as she tells off Othello, Iago, and anyone else within the range of her voice. At the end, she ultimately serves as the deliverer of the totally necessary "Hey by the way, you screwed up" message after Othello kills his wife. Othello, now with the knowledge that Desdemona was innocent after all, Othello takes his life, and Slam, Bam, now you've got a tragedy.

I do not understand the purpose of the clown.

Othello - The End

Tragedies always tend to leave a bad taste in my mouth. This one, certainly, was no exception. I mean, the mandatory ending in which about half of the major characters all kill each other usually makes it all worthwhile, but usually it doesn't quite go how I want it to. The wrong people get killed off and the deaths are kind of crappy. Now, I knew going into this that Othello was going to die, since it's a tragedy and all, but by the end there I was reeeeeally pulling for Desdemona. I didn't start off with a whole boatload of sympathy for the lady, but after about three acts of "I really don't understand why you're angry with me," I felt kind of bad for her. I think that the worst thing about the ending is that she doesn't even know why this is happening. Othello doesn't say "I'm going to kill you because you cheated on me." He just leads with "I'm going to kill you," and then he does. Frankly, Willy, I feel that she deserves better than that, you've been jerking her around for three acts now, I think she deserves an explanation. Othello killed himself, which is certainly to be expected. Frankly, I don't really care, by the end of the play, I'd decided he was an utter scumbag. I don't care if he personally saw Desdemona doing the nasty with the whole cast, nothing gives him the right to put his hands on a lady. I was also a tad disappointed in the ultimate fate of Iago. He doesn't actually die, he just gets wounded and then stops talking. I feel that one of the most outright evil characters I've ever encountered definitely ought to die, at the very least. I think it's just a bit silly to spend a whole play building up this character to be so totally hateable, and then you just...wound...him.... Disappointing.

Furthermore, I was extremely disappointed that the Duke did not make a reappearance at the end in order to give us all an inspirational speech. I was really looking forward to that...

Othello - Suspense

This here blog post will be handling Question number 4, which concerns suspense and how it is created. Now, the audience gets to learn a great deal about what's going on, but poor Othello seems to just be left in the dark. Since so far the play has actually centered around Iago, who is making all sorts of sneaky plans, the audience gets a glimpse at what's happening while most of the other characters don't really know. This is done mainly through soliloquy. On several occasions, all of the characters besides Iago have simply left the stage so that Iago could spill his guts to the audience in peace. At the end of Act I, after Iago talks Roderigo out of suicide, he takes the stage alone and lets the whole audience know exactly why he really wants to take revenge on Othello. At the end of Act II scene i, Iago lets us all know his ultimate plan for vengeance: making the beast with two backs with his beloved Desdemona. This certainly leads to quite a bit of suspense and tension in Act III as Iago and Othello buddy up and have a long conversation together, Othello seemingly oblivious to Iago's plot while the audience watches, waiting for Iago to slip up, let his emotions get the best of him, or move on with his evil plan of vengeance. Oh dramadramadrama...

Othello - Theme

Naturally, I'll be tackling question number five with this blog post. Usually, the idea of theme terrifies me and I prefer to stay away from it, but Mr. Costello was kind enough to mention several of the themes before we even cracked the book open, so I think I'll give this a shot. Like 98% of Shakespeare's work, one of the themes is revenge centered around jealousy, which just happens to be one of my most favorite themes ever. Nothing is really as universally human as jealousy, and vengeance is just a natural instinct. And it appears that revenge is going to be the driving point behind the plot of this play, since Iago, previously identified as the Vehicle of Vengeance, has had more screentime than practically every other character combined thus far. And in Act two, we start to see his plan unravel. He manages to get Cassio drunk and uses his patsy Roderigo to start a ruckus and get the beloved lieutenant ousted from his position. Why, I can practically see Iago marking off Step One of his Diabolical Scheme of Vengeance. Step Two is revealed in Iago's little soliloquy in II.i.265-291. Specifically "For that I do suspect the lusty Moor hath leaped into my seat. The thought whereof doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw my inwards, and nothing can or shall content my soul till I am evened with him, wife for wife." Basically, it appears that Iago is no totally convinced that Othello has had an affair with his wife, and he shall now claim revenge by doing the same with Othello's Desdemona. oh dramadramadrama. Anyhoo, long story short, from what I've seen so far, it appears that the theme of revenge centered around jealousy will be the driving force behind the plot of Othello.

A Story About a Fellow by the name of Othello

That title took me much longer to come up with than I'd ever like to admit, and it still sounds just...awful...

I had mixed feelings about Othello as I read the first act. I honestly felt disappointed. It almost seemed as though William Shakespeare, the king of drama, the bane of every literature student's existence, had copped out and thrown together a play about a father who doesn't like that his daughter is marrying a black dude. And I was just thinking really, Shakespeare? This is the best you've got for me?" But don't worry, ol' Willy pulled through for me. I always say that it's not a Shakespeare play if nobody swears revenge for something at some point. And it appears that this time around, our vendetta vehicle will be none other than Iago the Ensign. Now, initially there was just the blatantly obvious reason why he wanted vengeance: Othello gave his job to some nerdy bookworm named Cassio and bumped him down to third-in-command, as made evident right off the bat in I.i.18-33. However, he's got another motive, which I didn't quite catch immediately. He hates Othello not just because he gave someone else the position he wanted but more importantly because he suspects that he's been a-foolin' around with his wifey behind the scenes. "I hate the Moor, and it is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets he's done my office." Iago admits that it's just a rumor, but for now, he assumes it to be true. So Iago shall claim vengeance, and it appears that Roderigo will end up being the patsy who gets used to achieve this glorious vengeance.

Now, the question has in fact been raised "What is the dealio with Iago's random usage of prose?" I'll take that, if'n ya please. The most prominent case of Iago's prose shift is in line 304 ish of I.iii. I have to say ish, because during prose sections it gets a wee bit difficult to tell where one line ends and another begins. Anyway, what prompts this change from iambic pentameter to prose is that Roderigo says he will "incontinently drown" himself, literally just kill himself. Now, my theory is simply that Iago is so upset or emotionally alarmed by the idea of his buddy Roderigo offing himself that he stops counting out his syllables and just lets loose everything that's on his mind.