BLOG 9 - Othello

To further my conversation about the play Othello, there are many references to virtue and vice.  Rights after Cassio has drunk too much wine, Iago says, “You see this fellow that is gone before. / He’s a soldier fit to stand by Caesar / And give him direction, and do but see his vice. / ‘Tis to his virtue a just equinox, / The one as long as th’ other.  ‘Tis pity of him.” (II.iii.114-118).  In other words, Iago is saying that just as day and night are of equal length during an equinox, Cassio’s immoral actions are equal to his moral behavior. 

            As it turns out, the equinox is not the only reference to the solar system.  In Act 3, Emilia asks Desdemona if Othello is a jealous man.  Desdemona says, “Who? he? I think the sun where he was born / Drew all such humors from him.”  (III.iv.30-31).  It seems as though Desdemona implies that the sun makes it impossible for him to be jealous.  This citation becomes even more interesting when compared with two others, which occur in Act 5.  Directly after killing his innocent wife, Othello says, “Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse / Of sun and moon, and that th’ affrighted globe / Did yawn at alteration.”  (V.ii.100-102).  In an eclipse, of course, the moon travels between the sun and the earth, blocking the light of the sun from the earth.  The metaphor is complete when Emilia asks Othello why he killed Desdemona.  Othello responds, “It is the very error of the moon.  / She comes more nearer earth than she was wont / And makes men mad.” (V.ii.110-112).  Basically, the moon symbolizes Desdemona and the “affrighted globe” symbolizes Othello.  As Desdemona said earlier, it is the sun that extracts the jealousy from Othello.  So as the moon travels too closely to the earth, or as Desdemona and Othello’s relationship has deepened, it blocks out the light of the sun, casting a dark shadow on the earth, which drives men mad.  More specifically, the blocking of the sun has made Othello jealous.  In this light, we can see how darkness symbolizes jealousy and the light represents trust.

BLOG 8 - Othello

            Throughout the play, Othello is repeatedly referred to as a devil.  In Act 5, right after Othello calls Desdemona a liar for saying that he didn’t kill her, Emilia says to him, “O, the more angel she, / And you the blacker devil!” Here, the reference is obvious.  Darkness is the devil and light is heaven or an angel.

            In addition to references to heaven versus hell, there are several instances of lightness and darkness in Othello that refer to virtue and vice.  For example, right after revealing his plan to sabotage Othello, Iago says, “I have’t! It is engendered! Hell and night / Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light.” (I.iii. 395-396).  While “Hell and night” represent evil, “the world’s light” represents good.  Then in Act 4, Scene 3, Desdemona asks Emilia if she would cheat on her husband.  Emilia’s response is “Why would not you?” (IV.iii.65).  Of course, Desdemona is repulsed and says, “No, by this heavenly light!” (IV.iii.66).  Emilia quickly responds with, “Nor I neither by this heavenly light. / I might do’t as well i’ th’ dark.” (IV.iii.67).  Emilia implies that she would cheat on her husband, but she would also hide it.  In this case, the “heavenly light” refers to virtue or truth and the “dark” refers to vice and deception.  Iago furthers this metaphor when he stabs Roderigo and accuses him, “Kill men i’ th’ dark? – Where be these bloody thieves? - / How silent is this town! – Ho! Murder! Murder! - / What may you be? Are you of good or evil?” (V.i.63-65).  Although Iago asked Roderigo to kill Cassio, Iago is acting like he is the virtuous one by accusing Roderigo of killing men in the dark.  In all of these passages, it is clear that all things done in the light are virtuous while the crimes committed in the dark - cheating on your husband and murder – are vice.

BLOG 7 - Othello

In Shakespeare’s play Othello, lightness and darkness are, among other things, juxtaposed under the context of race.  For example, in lines 87-88 Iago says, “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe.  Arise, arise!” While referring to Othello as the uncastrated male sheep and Desdemona as the female sheep, Iago not only points out the difference in race by using adjectives like “black” and “white,” but he also insinuates that Othello is old and perverted and Desdemona is young and pure.  In the last act of the play, Othello makes another racial reference as he’s contemplating whether or not he should kill Desdemona.  He says, “Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,” (V.ii.5).  In these two passages, lightness and darkness are used to express differences in race and the stereotypes that come with race: a lustful black man and a pure white woman.

            To continue with racial references, in Act 1 the Duke implies that being white is beautiful, while being black is ugly.  After Othello and Desdemona have both professed their love for each other, the Duke says to Barbantio,  “And, noble signor, / If virtue no delighted beauty lack, / Your son-in-law is far more fair than black.” (I.iii.288-290).  Here it is obvious that the Duke intends to compliment Othello by saying that he is virtuous.  On the other hand, the Duke is saying that in order to be attractive, Othello must be white. 

            With this in mind, it is easy to see how Shakespeare used race to take advantage of the stereotypes that his audience already had in mind.  Obviously his audience did not expect good things from a black man, so the fact that Othello started out as virtuous and courageous seems a little bit off.  Yet, it all makes sense when Othello is driven mad with jealousy.  Considering that Shakespeare’s audience was completely racist, the end of the play may have actually seemed predictable rather than tragic.

BLOG 6 - Twelfth Night

            In William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, there is an obvious homosexual theme.  For example, Viola, after hearing of the Duke and then becoming attracted to him, decides to dress as a man and serve the Duke as his eunuch.  This decision presents at least three different homosexual preponderances.  First, in Shakespeare’s time, women were not allowed to act in plays, which means that Viola’s character was being acted by a young boy.  So the young boy crossed dressed as a woman, who then dressed as a man (and pretended to be Cesario).  The first homosexual tendency is presented by the specific context of the play, whereas the second homosexual tendency can be found in Viola’s intentions.  When she learns of the Duke, why is it that the first thing that comes to mind is to cross dress and serve him as a eunuch? Every time Viola is with the Duke, she is completely smitten with him, yet presents herself as a man.  The decision to present herself as a man, is then honored in the end of the play.  When the Duke discovers that Viola is actually a woman, he may as well have said, “oh thank God, now it’s ok for me to be in love with you!” Viola and the Duke barely say anything before deciding that they are in love.  It is obvious that this romance was brewing well before the Duke knew that Viola was a woman. 

            Finally, the third homosexual tendency is presented in the relationship between Viola and Olivia.  For example, Viola is sent by the Duke to Olivia to profess his love.  While Viola, being dressed as a man, is visiting with Olivia, Olivia decides she is in love with Viola and she tells her she is in love with her.  Even though Olivia does not know Viola is not a man, the audience knows.  Therefore, it is obvious that Shakespeare intends to produce a lesbian love affair, yet justifies it to his sixteenth century English audience by having Viola dress as a man.  Evidence for Shakespeare’s intentions lies in the fact that, after Olivia professes her love to Viola, Viola continues to visit her.