Critical Appreciation

Distinctive Features
As a tragedy, Othello has several distinctive features. For one thing, it is the
briefest and most tightly constructed of Shakespearean tragedies. It is the only
tragedy in which the hero is not a king or a prince. Moreover, he is not even an
Englishman, or a European but a Negro. Although there is a clown in the play, his
role is brief and of no importance. Othello is, in fact a concentrated tragedy it is
the one tragedy of Shakespeare which is as remarkable for its villain as for its
hero. Although all the tragedies of Shakespeare are imbued with intense poetry,
Othello is by far the most poetic of them and its hero is the most poetic being
created by Shakespeare. Othello alone has some element of the domestic tragedy.
It is the only one of the tragedies of Shakespeare which is placed in more, or less
contemporary times.
The Conflict
Othello is not only the most masterly of Shakespeares tragedies in point of
construction, but its method of construction, is also unusual. This method, by
which the conflict begins late, and advances without appreciable pause and with
accelerating speed to the catastrophe, is the main cause of the painful tension
and oppressive atmosphere. After the conflict has begun, there is very little relief
by way of the ridiculous. Henceforward at any rate, Iagos humour never raises a
smile. The clown is a poor one ; we hardly attend to him and quickly forget him.
There is no subject more exciting than sexual jealousy, rising to the pitch of
passion, and there can hardly be any spectacle at once so engrossing and so
painful as that of a great nature suffering the torment of this passion, and driven
by it to a crime which is also a hideous blunder. Sexual jealousy brings with it a
sense of shame and. humiliation. For this reason it is generally hidden and when
it is not hidden it commonly stirs contempt as well as pity. Such jealousy as
Othellos converts human nature into chaos, and liberates the beast in man. It
doe; this in relation to one of the most intense and also the most idea of human
feelings. The spectacle of Othellos feeling turned into a tortured mixture of
longing and loathing leading to a bestial thirst for blood is most painful. And this,
with what it leads to, the blow to Desdemona and the scene where she is treated
as the inmate of a brothel, a scene far more painful than the murder scene, is
another cause of the special effect of this tragedy.
Desdemonas Suffering
The suffering of Desdemona is the most nearly intolerable spectacle that
Shakespeare offers us For one thing, it is mete suffering, that is much worse to
witness than suffering that issues in action. Desdemona is helplessly passive. She
can do nothing whatever. She can retaliate neither in speech nor in articulate
feeling. This helplessness issues not because she cannot do so but because her
nature is exquisitely sweet and her love for Othello is absolute. This makes the
sight of her suffering more exquisitely painful. We watch Desdemona with more
unmitigated distress ; her suffering is like that of the most loving of dumb
creatures hurt without cause by the being it adores.
Element of Intrigue
The action and catastrophe of Othello depend largely on, intrigue. However, we
must not call the play a tragedy of intrigue as distinguished from a tragedy of
character. Iagos plot is Iagos character in action ; otherwise it would not have
succeeded Still, it remains true that an elaborate plot was necessary to elicit the
catastrophe ; therefore, Iagos intrigue occupies a position in the play for which
no parallel can be found in other tragedies. Whereas in Othello, the persons
inspire the keenest sympathy and antipathy, and life and death depend on the
intrigue ; it becomes the source of tension in which pain almost overpowers

pleasure. Nowhere else in Shakespeare do we hold our breath in such anxiety and
for so long a time, as in the later acts of Othello. One result of the prominence of
the element of intrigue is that Othello is less unlike a story of private life than any
other of the great tragedies. And this impression is strengthened in further ways.
In the other great tragedies the action is placed in-a distant period so that its
general significance is perceived through a thin veil which separates the persons
from ourselves and out own world : but Othello is a drama of modern life ; when
it first appeared it was a drama almost of contemporary life. The characters come
close to us, and the application of the drama to ourselves is more immediate than
it can be in Hamlet or Lear ; his deed and his death have not that influence on
the interests of a nation or an empire which serves to idealise, and to remove fear
from our own sphere, the stories of Hamlet and Macbeth, of Coriolanus and
Antony. Indeed he is already superseded at Cyprus when his fate is
consummated, and as we leave him, no vision rises on us, as in other tragedies, of
peace descending on a distracted land.
Sense of Oppression
These various elements produce a feeling of oppression, of confinement to a
comparatively narrow world, and of dark fatality. The darkness and fatefulness of
Othello can be compared to the pervading atmosphere of King Lear. In King
Lear the conflict assumes immense proportions so that the imagination seems, as
in Paradise Lost, to traverse spaces wider than the earth. In reading Othello the
mind is not thus distended. It is more bound down to the spectacle of noble
beings caught in toils from which there is no escape ; while the prominence of the
intrigue diminishes the sense of the dependence of the catastrophe on character,
and the part played by accident in this catastrophe accentuates the feeling of fate.
After the temptation has begun, this influence of accident is incessant and
terrible. The skill of Iago was extraordinary but so was his good fortune. Again
and again a chance word from Desdemona, a chance meeting of Othello and
Cassio, a question which starts to our lips and which anyone but Othello would
have asked, would have destroyed Iagos plot and ended his life. In their stead,
Desdemona drops her handkerchief at the moment most favourable to him,
Cassio blunders into the presence of Othello only to find him in a swoon, Bianca
arrives precisely when she is wanted to complete Othellos deception and incense
his anger into fury. All this and much more seems to us quite natural, so potent is
the art of the dramatist ; but it confounds us with a feeling that there is no escape
from fate for these star-crossed mortals and even with a feeling that fate has
taken sides with villainy.
Old Debate
Othello, on the surface, appears to be a straightforward play but there is a great
deal of disagreement among the critics and much of it is relevant, perceptive
debate and not mere argumentation. In fact, Othello has been the subject of lively
dispute ever since its own century. Thomas Rymers amusing and pugnacious A
Short View of Tragedy (1693) gave the play a hostile scene-by-scene analysis,
rejoicing in every improbability, and generally seeing it as a compendium of
faults. English drama, in the last years of the seventeenth century, stood at an
important cross-roads ; the period of silence during the Commonwealth, when
the theatres were dosed by law, bad bees long enough to obscure the tradition
that flourished from ,the days of Elizabeth to those of Charles I. There was no,
particular reason why the English drama should revert to its old ways, and Rymer
was for starting again with a truly classical theatre that should rival the French.
To do this it was necessary to get rid of Shakespeare, whose plays, old-fashioned
as they were, continued to fill the theatre and thus keep Elizabethan conventions
alive in the minds of audiences. Othello, on Rymers own admission, was a great

favourite, so he turned all his guns on it, as Tolstoy was later to do, from not
dissimilar motives, on King Lear. Of the two pieces of monumental wrongheadedness, one prefers Rymers, which is at least amusing and, in its own way,
very acute.
Rymers Objections
To Rymer, the plot-construction of Othello seemed incredible. Some of his
objections were to turn up again in an essay by Robert Bridges in the first quarter
of the twentieth century. Over and above this, Rymer has also two objections
which would not occur to anyone nowadays. These objections stem from his neoclassical position. The first is that the behaviour of Iago and Othello is untrue to
life because it is not soldierly. The second is that the play has no moral. The
Renaissance derived most of its critical theories of literature from Aristotles
Poetics, and there it found the doctrine of generality. The difference between the
poet and the historian, Aristotle tells us, does not lie in the fact that they express
themselves in verse or prose... but in the fact that the historian speaks of what has
happened, the poet of the thing that can happen. Some Renaissance critics took
over this idea in the clumsy and restrictive form that all soldiers in literature
must be soldierly, all kings must be kingly, all women womanly, all senators wise.
Hence, to Rymer, Iago is a close, dissembling, false, insinuating rascal, instead of
an open-hearted, frank, plain-dealing soldier, a character constantly worn by
them for some thousands of years in the world. Next, the moral. Rymer wants
the four Aristotelian ingredients of Plot, Character, Thought and Expression ; he
thinks that a lofty play should give the audience some nugget of general wisdom
to take home and examine, and the story of Othello seems too idiosyncratic for
this. What, he demands, can remain with the Audience to carry home with them
from this sort of Poetry, for their use and edification ? and concludes satirically
that it boils down to a warning to good housewives to look well to their linen.
Dr. Johnsons Reply
Both these objections were answered with characteristic firmness, by Dr.
Johnson. In the great essay which forms the Preface to his. edition of
Shakespeare, Johnson vindicated Shakespeares truth to nature against the
narrow conception of nature urged by such English writers as Rymer, Jobs
Dennis in his An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Shakespeare, as also by
Voltaire :
Shakespeare always makes nature predominate over accident ; and, if he
preserves the essential character, is not very careful of distinctions superinduced
and adventitious. His story requires Romans or king, but be thinks only on men.
He knew that Rome, like every other city, bad men of all dispositions ; and
wanting a buffoon, be went into the senate house for that which the senate house
would certainly have afforded him. He was inclined to show an usurper and a
murderer not only odious, but despicable ; he therefore added drunkenness to his
other qualities, knowing that kings love wine like other men, and that wine exerts
its natural power upon kings. There are the patty cavils of petty minds ; a poet
overlooks the casual distinction of country and condition, as a painter, satisfied
with the figure, neglects the drapery.
As to the other objection of Rymer that Othello has no moral and teaches no
wisdom, there will probably always be critics who will agree with him. Wilson
Knights preliminary admission that Othello is a story of intrigue rather than a
visionary statement is, in its restated way, Rymerian. But here again, Johnson
was in no doubt, as we see from Boswells account of their conversation about the
moral of Othello:
Johnson. In the first place, Sir, we learn from Othello this very useful moral,
not to make an unequal match ; in the second place, we learn not to yield too

readily to suspicion. The handkerchief is merely a trick, though a very pretty trick
but there are no other circumstances of reasonable suspicion, except what is
related by Iago of Cassios warm expressions concerning Desdemona in his sleep,
and that depended entirely upon the assertion of one man.
Iagos Motivation
On the question of Iagos motivation, there is once again sharp difference of
opinion. On the one band, there are those take it that Iago does not really
understand his own motivation, and when he claims to do so, in his soliloquies,
be is merely rationalizing. Coleridges phrase, the motive bunting of a motiveless
malignity, is much quoted in this camp. Hazlitt, a little later, saw Iago in a
similar light, as an aesthete of evil. He, however, denies that Iago is without
motivation, for Shakespeare ...knew that the love of power, which is another
name for the love of mischief, is natural to man. He would have known
this....merely from seeing children paddle in the dirt or kill flies for sport. To
Hazlitt, Iago is an amateur of tragedy in real life ; and instead of employing his
invention on imaginary characters or long-forgotten incidents, he takes the
bolder and moral desperate course of getting up his plot at home, casts the
principal parts among his nearest friends and connections, and rehearses it in
downright earnest with steady nerves and unabated resolution. On the other
band, there are the critics who see logos motives rather as be professes to see
them himself. To Kenneth Muir, The secret of Iago is not a motiveless malignity,
nor evil for evils sake, nor a professional envy, but a pathological jealousy of his
wife, a suspicion of every man with whom she is acquainted, a jealous love of
Desdemona which makes him take a vicarious pleasure in other mens actual or
prospective enjoyment of her at the same time as it arouses his hatred of the
successful Moor and, it may even be suggested, a dog-in-the-manger attitude that
cannot bear to think of Desdemona happy with any man, and especially with a
coloured man, a man he hates.
Empsons View
One of the most convincing interpretations of Iago is that by William Empson,
who is able to attain special insight by going into the history of the word honest.
Armed with this insight, Empson proceeds to interpret the character of Iago, and
his function in the play, by means of the reverberations of the word honest as he
applies it to himself and has it applied to him by others. His essay is in fact a close
and sensitive piece of character-analysis, almost Bradleian, though in a very
different idiom from Bradleys ; it shows us an Iago who is certainly wicked and
not to be defended, but also human , and credible. Iagos class-jealousy is alerted
by the patronizing overtones in the word honest ; he feels, probably quite
rightly, that Cassio was important to Othello in a way that he could never be
notably as an intermediary in Othellos wooingand this led directly to Cassios
being promoted over his, Iagos, bead ; so that Cassio, in addition to being a
mathematician (i.e. better educated), is also a charmer who is unfairly rewarded
for his gentlemanly manners. This same plausibility is the reason why Iago fears
Cassio with his nightcap, as well as Othello, and gives him a powerful set of
motives for trying to bring the two of them into collision. Empsons account also
offers us an Iago who is honest in the sense that, for a surprising amount of the
time, he really to uttering his true opinions, and one of the things that irritate
him is the, way people always assume, when be comes out with some
misanthropic remark, that it is only his sense of fun, whereas really does have
roots deep in his destructive emotions.
Attitudes to Desdemona
There seems to be less divergence of opinion about Desdemona. Bradley is
unashamedly a worshipper : Desdemona, the eternal woman in its most lovely

and adorable form, simple and innocent as a mod, ardent with the courage and
idealism of a saint, radiant with that heavenly purity of heart which men worship
the moss because nature so rarely permits it to themselves.... It is true, he
admits, that she is not clever ; where an earlier critic, Mrs. Jameson, had credited
her with less quickness of intellect less tendency to reflection than most of
Shakespeares heroines, but believed she made up for it by having the
unconscious address common in women. Bradley says firmly that Desdemona
seems deficient in this address, having in its place a childlike boldness and
persistency, which are full of charm but are unhappily united with a certain want
of perception No doubt he considers it part of Desdemonas innocent
childishness that she is inclined to be economical with the truth. Heraud in 1855
had already noted that Her passion was romantic, and there exists fiction in
whatever is romantic. She suffers from illusion and loves to be deluded. If she is
self-deceived, she likewise deceives others... From timidity of disposition she
frequently evades the truth, when attention to its strict letter would raise
difficulties.
Interpreting Iago
The two opposed factions, however, have some points of contact regarding the
interpretation of Iago. They agree at least in finding him repulsive. Whether on a
large scale or a small scale, he is the villain, the demi-devil. And yet, it seems,
even Iago has had his apologists. As early as 1790, a Gentleman of Exeter
published an assay called An Apology for the Character and Conduct of Iago,
based on the incontrovertible fact that Iago has a good reputation, as man and
soldier, before the story opens, and arguing that if he were really wicked it would
surely have been .noticed in his twenty-eight years. In the nineteenth century two
critics, the Englishman Heraud and the American Snider, found themselves
believing that logo has actually been cuckolded by Othello-which would give him
a powerful motive for revenging himself , and thus make his conduct, though still
wicked, that of a man and not a mysterious fiend. Several twentieth-century
critics have followed these two in finding Iagos suspicion a reasonable one. John
W. Draper, after assembling satisfactory evidence that Elizabethan notions of
honour made the cuckold a universally -despised figure and that any man
threatened with this fate would understandably seek his revenge, asks : Is logo
then so black a villain 7 Is he not a commonplace Renaissance soldier, honest as
this world goes, caught in the fell grip of circumstance and attempting along
conventional lines to vindicate his honour ? Indeed, if honesty and honour be
something of the same, is he not from first to last honest Iago ?
Iagos Accusation
Although it seams incredible that Othello could have, at some earlier stage, made
love to Emilia, there remains the fact that Iago think he may well have done so,
and think, moreover, that a lot of other people believe he has (it is thought
abroad that twist my sheets/He has done my office). Whether Iago has any
grounds for his suspicion or whether he is just being neurotic, the belief is strong
enough to gnaw his inwards like a poisonous mineral, so that in one of his later
soliloquies, when he is rejoicing in the torment he is causing Othello, he can
revert to the same imagery and say
Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons
Which at the first are scarce found to distaste
But, with a little act upon the blood
Burn like the mines of sulphur.
On this view, his motive would be to make Othello go through the same agony as
himself. Thus Mario Praz, who sees Iago as incensed by the public report that

Othello has cockolded him, points out that the story of his revenge has parallels
in many cases of retaliation instanced by the Italian novelle.
ACT I : SCENE I
Exposition
Not only the first scene, but the whole of Act I is devoted to exposition. This is
necessary for the foundation of character and situation on which the action is to
be built. Its three scenes take place in Venice, and introduce all the main
characters, except Cassio and Emilia. Though the Act is expository, it is full of
excitement, with its torch-lit street scenes, the brutal awakening of Brabantio
with dire Yell, and the charge before the senate. The first scene begins with the
villain, and with the heavy threat to the heros happiness that his character and
philosophy imply. It is alive with malice and grudge ; and Iagos language alone is
enough to persuade us that we must not expect objective accounts of men and
matters from him, and to prejudice us in favour of the absent Othello.
Roderigo is the only person in whose presence he does not wear a moral
disguise ; and Iago., remarks to him present as much of his public face as he is
ever prepared to show, and, from this point of view, are almost as important as
his soliloquies. The fooling of Roderigo is extremely easy work for Iago ; he is too
pliable. Besides, Iago gulls him for money, and this is probably the least
egocentric of his motives.
ACT I : SCENE II
Othellos Appearance
The reader first meets Othello in this scene. Othello creates an impression of
being dignified and sure of himself. We learn that he is of royal descent, and,
according to himself, held in high esteem by the government of Venice. His
speech is full and rounded, yet of a moving simplicity. His command of himself
and of the situation is beautifully seen in Keep up your bright swords, for the dew
will rust thema line which Bradley called one of Shakespeares miracles.
Anyone less like a probable victim for Iago could scarcely be imagined. This is
Othello as he was before Iago played upon him.
Iagos Disguise
By now Iago has put on his moral disguise of bluff, honest, uncomplicated loyalty.
After his self-revelations in the first scene, this is nauseating, though his
chameleon coloration gives great scope to any actor, who must show in the first
two scenes of the play Iago as he is to Roderigo, and Iago as he is to Othello and
the world. As Iago to Roderigo is almost the real Iago, but not quite, a nice shade
of discrimination has to be made, and something held in reserve. The full depths
of Iago are not plumbed in the first scene.
ACT I : SCENE III
This scene provides the background which is necessary to complete the
exposition of the play. It gives the romantic, and, at the same time, charmingly
domestic background of Othellos marriage, and brings out his and Desdemonas
characters, as they are before they are played upon by Iago. It also provides the
ominous shadows cast by Brabantio, which Iago is to make use of later, though,
without him, they would disappear. It reveals the Signiorys complete confidence
in Othello ; and it concludes with the first sinister sketch of Iagos plot, more
deadly in its private nature than any of his public professions of hatred to
Roderigo.
Difference of Tome
There is a sudden difference of tone and atmosphere in some parts of this scene.
The Preoccupation of the Signiory with State affairs is such that Brabantios
complaint is pushed aside, at least given second place. We may note the flatness

of the verse dealing with state affairs. Its business-like quality is in sharp contrast
with that of the Brabantio-Desdemona-Othello matters. Similarly, the Dukes
consolatory lines to Brabantio have an air of superficiality, which Brabantio
bitterly resents.
Iago and Roderigo
At the end of this scene, Iago and Roderigo are left alone. There is some
amusement created by Roderigos question to Iago, as to what he thinks he is
going to do now. Iagos answer is matter-of-fact : Why, go to bed and sleep, but
Roderigo declares that he will straightaway go and drown himself. Iago thinks
that drowning is a fate meant only for cats and blind puppies. His advice to him is
to bestir himself, even though he may die in his attempt to win Desdemonas love.
Iago looks down upon Roderigos infatuation and discounts his view of its not
being in his virtue to amend himself. Iago retorts
Virtue ! a fig ! tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are gardens,
to which our wills are gardeners ... we have reason to cool our raging motions,
our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts ; whereof I take this, that you call love, to be
a set or scion.
ACT II : SCENE I
Now Setting
The scene now shifts to Cyprus, which is to be the setting of the actual tragedy. It
is appropriate that the scene is heralded by a storm, which Shakespeare did not
find in his source. Whether Ibis is symbolic of the later course of, events on the
island, as those critics think who regard all storms In Shakespeare as symbolic, or
whether it has a narrower dramatic purpose, is a matter of individual choice. It
certainly provides a succession of arrivals, mounting in suspense : first, Cassio,
who has lost his General on a dangerous sea ; then Desdemona and Iago ; then,
finally, the hero himself, and the splendid reunion of the lovers. It is the last
moment where they know content so absolute, and is vital for, an understanding
of what might have been their lot without Iago. The rim of waiting for Othello is
beguiled by Iagos display of one of his public faces. The touch of roughness in
his public appearances is of course designed by him to show that be is too blunt
to be subtle ; but below this a real innate brutality ; and perhaps the sea jokes
are a symptom of pathological obsession. Anyway, the interchange between him
and Desdemona and other characters is intended to be a display of honesty: to
present the cynical but limited and honest Iago. It is very important that the
social side of Iago should be seen : the audience might otherwise wonder why this
coarse fellow is so universally liked.
Other Significance
The significance of the scene goes beyond this. So far, except briefly in the
conversation with Roderigo, we have only seen the public face of Iago, but before
the scene ends, we see his private dace also. In the soliloquy which concludes the
scene, we see something in sharp contrast with Iagos assumed character. Here
Iago invents or discovers a motive or two more for his villainy. The scene gives a
chance for a Cassio-Desdemona relationship to be shown, which, while it does
not actually support, could support Iagos plot. Cassio is inordinately courtly, but
this very openess shows his feeling as innocent and idealistic.
ACT II : SCENES II & III
Iagos Plot
The short scene merely serves as an indication that time will pass before the next
scene. The proclamation is made at five in the afternoon. The next scene opens

just before 10 p.m. It is one of the most careful indications of short time in the
play. In the third scene Iagos plot is first put into action. It is consummately
managed and brilliantly acted. It is impossible to find fault with Iago in any of his
roles, from that of the boon companion singing tavern songs to the grieved friend,
reluctantly reporting the events of the night to Othello, or acting as the counsellor
to the disgraced Cassio, and the consoler of Roderigo. A peculiar beauty of the
plot is Iagos apparent honesty of speech and action, and the extreme economy he
employs in several purposes. The scene ends with a soliloquy expounding the
divinity of hell, and showing that the plot and some of its means are now clear to
Iago.
ACT III : SCENES I & II
Brief Scenes
The first scene is a brief one, and half of it is taken up by the poor obscenity and
other puns of the clown ; but it is important as beginning Cassios importuning of
Desdemona for his pardon and the second stage of Iagos plot. We gather from it
that not only Desdemona and Emilia, but Othello himself, are desirous of
rehabilitating Cassio at the first opportunity. Inept as the Clown is, he helps to
make up a feeling of ordinariness, or the usual, in the life of Othello and
Desdemona, lacking until now. The morning greetings with music, particularly on
the morning of a marriage, were customary. They give poor Cassio some cover for
his pathetic attempt to regain favour ; but it is promptly stopped by Othello,
either because of the quality of the music, or because he suspects its purpose. The
second scene is probably the shortest in Shakespeare. It serves the purpose of
indicating the passage of time, and of showing Othello in his job. It also draws
Othello away, so that Cassio has a chance to intercede with Desdemona, and be
found sneaking away in so guilty a fashion in the next scene. It seems from the
previous scene that Iago might have arranged this ; but it is more probably one of
those likely chances on which he relies, since there is no indication in the scene
itself that he has done anything.
ACT III : SCENE III
Shocking Transformation
The four consecutive short scenes now give place to a scene of considerable
length, which is, moreover, the most important in the play from the point of view
of plot. It is mainly a long study in temptation and damnation ; but it covers
perhaps the widest range of feeling in Shakespeare, from happiness, innocence,
and trust to torment and revenge. It begins with Desdemonas well-meaning
assurances to Cassio, and ends with Othellos determination
To furnish me with some swift means of death
For the fair devil.
This shocking transformation could not be tolerated by either audience or reader
without the most careful plan of progression, that is, mainly, the subtle
movements of Iago from suggestion to statement.
Six-fold Division
The scene is capable of being looked upon as a succession of six sub-scenes. The
first of these can be identified as that between Desdemona and Cassio, the
openness and innocence of whom are ironically enough, the wished-for
opportunity for Iago. Desdemonas frankness and. Cassios natural diffidence are,
psychologically sound to the audience who are in the know ; but they can be
interpreted otherwise by a malicious mind. Iago strikes the first blowor,
rather, begins on the merest tapwith his Ha ! I like not that, though Othello
scarcely notices it at the time. The second sub-division of the scene brings out

Desdemonas innocence. We also see that although she is frank and warmhearted, she is tactless in pleading with Othello for Cassio. Othello dismisses her
courteously but with some impatience. His mind is apparently full of military
matters, as the previous scene indicates, but he forgot both these and Iago, in
rapt meditation on his love (Excellent wretch !).
Third Section
In the third section of the scene, we see that Iago, having miscalculated, has to
start again, when he breaks in on Othellos reverie with My noble lord. This subscene stretches to Desdemonas re entry. It begins with an insinuation so smooth
that it is scarcely perceptible, and words so harmless and hesitant that Iago could
withdraw at any sign of danger. By line 167, he has managed to introduce the
infuriating word cuckold but still only as a part of a generalisation, so that its
application at this point is to be made by Othello, not himself. During this
episode, every circumstance capable of a malicious interpretation is used to shake
Othello : the fading away of Cassio at their approach ; his part in Othellos wooing
; and, after some generalizing remarks (in which Iago specializes, and to which
Othello, by virtue of character, is particularly susceptible) on good name, and
the sophistication of Venetian women, he makes specific links with Othellos own
situation, by reference to Desdemonas deception of her own father, and the
sinister nature of her choice of black man. The real devilry of the episode is Iagos
simulation of the honest friend and the reluctant witness.
Remaining Sections
In the fourth section we see how the sight of Desdemona revives, but in a
modified form Othellos faith in her. All intuition speaks for her. It is at this point,
through a kindly wifely act of Desdemona, that the handkerchief is lost. In the
fifth episode, Iago takes the handkerchief from Emilia, who, at this point, seems
to be completely dominated by him. It seems that Iago had foreseen the possible
use it could be put to, for he had wooed his wife a hundred times to steal it. It is
to be noted that Emilia neither knows nor cares why. In the last and sixth episode
Othello returns out of control. This means that Iago can be bold. His language is
now brutal, and he brings in two pictures, one of Cassios dream, the other of
Cassios wiping his beard with the handkerchief. These seem conclusive with
Othello and he ends with the command to kill Cassio and the intention to kill
Desdemona.
Iagos Insinuations
Othello is here seen to be progressively infected with Iagos malignant attitudes.
Iago knows at the outset that his victim, once confused, is lost, and so his primary
aim is to involve him in uncertainty. For Othello, once placed in doubt, is quite
incapable of suspending judgement ; suspense affects his self-confidence, and
this contrasts with the capacity for quick and firm decision upon which he prides
himself. He demands an immediate resolution, which can, in practice, be nothing
but an acceptance of Iagos insinuations. He protests against the presence of the
very weaknesses that are undoing him. To convert his confidence into suspicion,
Iago recalls the persistent misgivings that have from the first surrounded this
marriage, She did deceive her father, marrying you, and stresses the inequality
of clime, complexion, and degree in a way at once calculated to hurt Othellos
pride and to emphasize his ignorance, as a foreigner and a man of alien race, of
Desdemonas true motives. Above all, he insinuates that her apparent purity of
purpose may conceal a sensual corruption of the will. Iagos conception of love as
so much corrupt appetite is to take possession of him, exploiting unsuspected
facets of his nature, demoralizing him and destroying his integrity. Iago has
begun to act upon Othello by throwing doubt upon the purity of his own
thoughts. The Moor believes that men should be what they seem; his whole life

has been founded on the assumption that our motives are few and our spiritual
needs simple, our actions completely and unequivocally under our control. Iago
implies that the assumption is dubious, that not only the motives of others, but
even our town are open to obscure and scarcely apprehended reservations. This is
a typically sophisticated Venetian conclusion, and one which perfectly fits Iagos
purpose. It is because his philosophy enables him, to establish contact with the
lower, unconsidered elements of hips victims emotional being that he is able to
destroy Othellos simplicity and to reduce him to a mass of contradictions and
uncontrolled impulses. The grossness of physical contacts makes him visualize
the sin by which Desdemona is offending his self-esteem
Othellos Reaction
Othellos being is anchored upon his faith in his love. From, the point Villain, be
sure thou prove my love a whore, Iago leads him on with a sneer that works like
poison on his fantasy. Here, besides rousing still further the sensual elements in
his imagination, Iago touches Othello at the most vulnerable point ; he offends
him intimately in his personal respect. The reaction is a characteristic mixture of
pathetic bewilderment and defiant self-esteem. Conscious of racial difference and
aware of a mortifying social inferiority, he thrusts aside the doubt only to fall at
once into further uncertainty of a more concrete and mortifying kind and comes
to conclusion I am abused ; and my relief/Must be to loathe her in which misery
and offended self-respect compete for precedence. Iagos very boldness has won
his point. He must have been very sure of the Moors blindness to work upon him
with so gross a caricature. He has roused not Othellos indignation, but his
outraged self-esteem and has brought to the surface the destructive forces of his
neglected animal instincts.
ACT III : SCENE IV
Desdemonas Innocence
The scene further emphasizes Desdemonas innocence as well as a certain degree
of lack of practical wisdom. She is as yet unaware of the change in her husband,
and is still busy in her innocent plans for rehabilitating Cassio. The handkerchief
now becomes magical, sewn in prophetic fury from silk of hallowed worms, and
linked with lost or preserved love. It is thus a powerful symbol for Othello and a
frightening loss for Desdemona. Her brave white lie, joined with her persistence
for Cassio, makes the scene so dangerous, for her and maddening for Othello
the one ignorant, the other corruptedthat the passage between them reaches
great heights of dramatic intensity, where only the audience knows all and aches
at the incomprehensions and risks. Emilia must not be blamed too much for
denying knowledge of the handkerchief. She is not yet aware of the issues
involved, and, in a sense, expects Othellos behaviour from her worldly
knowledge of men
They cat us hungerly, and when they are full,
They belch us.
Justification
The scene shows that, from Othellos point of view. His suspicion would seem to
be justified. His account of the handkerchief fits his and Desdemonas
circumstances, as he supposes them to be so exactly that it sounds like an
invention on the spur of the moment, possibly to frighten her into confessing,
He has not previously talked of its magical quality, or of his attachment to it but
merely mentioned that it was his first gift to Desdemona. In Act I he rejects
notions of magic ; and one can only suppose that his present account is a
romantic version of what his first gift to his love means. If this is not so, then
Othello has retained more superstition from his past than he is commonly
supposed to have done. It has been suggested that Othello produces this account

here to cover up the real reason for his disproportionate passion over such a
trifle.
ACT IV : SCENE I
Iago and Othello
Othello now seems to have become a mere tool in Iagos hands and he shows
more and more boldness in handling him. His sufferings can be measured in
intensity by his failing in a fit, and his fury by his striking Desdemona in public. It
is now safe for Iago to produce a fake confession of Cassios. As usual his luck
holds with the arrival of Bianca and the handkerchief, which provides the ocular
proof Othello had demanded. The opening of the scene shows Iago in a role most
likely to bemuse and infuriate Othello, namely that of the man who knows the
Venetian sophisticated world, to which Othello believes Desdemona belongs, .and
accepts its sexual pranks with cynical matter-of-factness. Othellos unbookish
jealousythe thought of this repulsive unknown world he has married into
infuriates him.
Desdemonas Plight
We only see and, not hear, Iagos impudent interview with Cassio. The most
painful moment (perhaps in the whole of Shakespeare) is the striking of
Desdemona. Lodovico, a kinsman of Brabantio and therefore of Desdemona,
brings back for a moment the pre-Cyprus world, the Venetian world of Othellos
honour and Desdemonas girlhood. This Lodovico is a proper man, says
Desdemona later ; not because she regrets her choice but because of the happy
past and a revival of courteous conduct. He gives occasion for the blow because of
the mandate be brings, which, while it elevates Cassio, also allows Desdemonas
innocent pleasure, which Othello misconstrues. Lodovico has a small part to play,
but shows humanity and feeling in the unknown situation where he finds himself.
He speaks like a gentleman, and is shocked by what he sees and bears. Iago pours
poison into his ears also. Lodovico is prepared to think that Othello is disturbed
by his recall, but Iago insinuates, in his creeping way, otherwise.
ACT IV : SCENE II
The Brothel Scene
The usual title given to this scene as the brothel scene underlines its
significance. The scene is brutal, like Othellos striking at Desdemona in the
previous scene, but is more extended in brutality. The brutality is less direct in
not being physical but psychological ; but its pain lies in the incomprehension of
Desdemona as to what it is about, her near-ignorance of the very terms in which
Othello accuses her. Othello is never less sympathetic to the reader ; yet he
weepsand the world of disorder in which he now lives is movingly portrayed.
Bewilderment is the key of this scene two sensitive people in love, but at odds,
neither giving the other the information on which understanding could be made.
Othello is so poisoned that he can scarcely attend to what she says ; she is so
bewildered that she can only say something as weak, as I hope my noble lord
esteems me honest ; but she is still spirited, and rejects as much as she
understands of his charge
Height of Iagos Action
We now see Emilia begin to emerge as a sympathetic character. She lays many
shrewd blows upon the unknown villain, enough to provoke Iago. Some stage
representations give him a moment of remorse in his gestures, but this is
unwarranted by the text. The moment therefore is ironic ; Desdemonas appeal is
made to one who is egoistic and hard like flint. The final passage of this scene
belongs only outwardly to it. Roderigo is now dangerous, and Iago lays plans to
dispose of him and/or Cassio at once. The height of action for Iago is now
reached, and all depends on how it goes.

ACT IV: SCENE III

Desdemonas Sorrow
There is very little action in this scene, in fact, it comes like a pause in the action,
whose main business is to show Desdemonas innocence and sorrow. A critic
observes about it A scene of ordered calm ; of action of every sort, and of
violence and distress of speech, we have had plenty. This prepares us, in its
stillness, and in the gentle melancholy of the song, for the worse violence and the
horror to come, and is ... a setting against which no shade of Desdemonas quiet
beauty can be lost.
Moving Pathos
The scene is full of intense pathos. The song that Desdemonas unhappiness
recalls to her comes from her childhood ; it is an old pathetic ballad of a deserted
girl. It ends with a cynical jeer from the betrayer that women are as loose as men.
This is outside Desdemonas experience ; hence her ensuing dialogue with Emilia,
who confirms in wordly experience the last stanza of the ballad. Emilia sees the
marriage bond as a contract, whose breaking by the husband (which she seems to
take for granted) justifies similar action by the wife. We see Emilia as a worldly
person here for the last time : her purpose as foil to Desdemona is finished, and
she joins her in kindred spirit in the last act. Bradley has pointed out
Shakespeares fondness for introducting a now emotion, usually of pathos, at this
stage of a tragedy : it is a constant constructional device with him. King Lear Act
IV : Scene VII, and Hamlet Act IV Scene V, are famous examples, and Macbeth
Act IV : Scene II a miniature instance of this. Bradley maintains that pathos of a
beautiful and, moving kind reaches its height in this scene, and is only surpassed
by the greatness of the moment when Lear wakes up to find Cordelia bending
over him.
ACT V : SCENE I
Rapid Action
This scene is quick-moving and we have action right at the start, for the very
second line of the scene reads : Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home is
the second line. Iagos plot now reaches its climax. His puppets are turning
dangerous. He hops that one victim, Roderigo, will kill the other, Cassio, or, at
the best, that they will kill each other ; but he resolves to finish off either survivor.
It does not seem to have occurred to him that both might live, but it is a very dark
night and his plan goes wrong Cassio is not even injured, and Roderigo only
wounded. At this point Iago is swift in action ; he improvises brilliantly, gains
further credit for honesty and valour, wounds Cassio, kills Roderigo, and
smears Bianca, both because he is vicious, and because she may later serve his
purpose.
Initial Failures
At first there are some unexpected snags in the execution of Iagos plan. Whether
because of haste or became his nerve is shaken by the plot going awry, he makes a
bad job of both his attempted assassinations. Roderigo revives for a moment to
throw light on the conspiracy (though the papers in his pocket do this almost
sufficiently), and Cassio is borne in to testify both his love for Othello and his
innocence (Dear General, I never gave you cause). But all this fails to bait the
smooth progress of his main plot. Othello, deceived as ever, hurries away to
execute his own justice ; and all ,that this scene may be said to do, sprit from its
intrinsic excitement, is to provide sad material in the last scene for the revelation
of Iagos villainy and Othellos blindness.
ACT V : SCENE II
Moving Climax

This scene provides an intensely moving climax to the great tragedy. It also
possesses gripping theatrical qualities Only a few minutes earlier. Othello bad
hurried away with savage words to murder Desdemona. He speaks very
differently, though not lest inexorably, when he next enters. The scene, as a critic
points out, falls into three parts : the first, that of Desdemonas murder, pathetic
and terrible ; the second, the gallant disclaim of Iagos villainy by Emilia, and her
death ; the third, Othellos despairing: agony and his determination on suicide.
The handkerchief comes in again twice, once as clinching evidence for Othello of
Desdemonas guilt and of her lies, which turn his heart to stone ; and then
immediately afterwards the simple truth about the magic handkerchief is
revealed by Emilia. Desdemona, frightened but courageous, must both feel
momentary relief and think she is dealing with a madman when she finds that the
handkerchief is the matter she asks him about. The reader or spectator most ask
himself at this poignant moment why her simple solution Send for the man
and ask him-is not followed ; but we are in the tragic world where the obvious is
not perceived, and a fatal course must be followed.
Spiritual Devastation
It is the deathbed episode which dominates this scene, although it takes place in
the background of the stage, until Lodovico commands it to be hidden : the
object poisons sight. A critic comments on the more or less passive role taken by
Othello after the murder : It eddies about him ; but he has lost all purpose, and
even the attack on Iago is half-hearted ... So the bulk of the scene is given to a
survey of the spiritual devastation that has been wrought in him. But not a pang
of this is withheld ; sand a vindictive but truly tragic .satisfaction is given by
Emilias exposure of his horrible mistake and Iagos guilt. She speaks too late ;
but she speaks splendidly. Structurally, the scene ends, in a sense, where it began.
Othellos first justice is on Desdemona ; his last, on himself, so that false and
true justice respectively begin and end the scene. Each justice is accompanied by
a hiss of love, the first reluctant, the second penitent, as if the scene were an
expanded ballad, or, at least, of poetic construction.