Othello is a combination of greatness and weakness, in
his own words "an honourable murderer" (V.2, 295). He is a general in
the Venetian defense forces, and, although a foreigner from Africa, he has won
this post by excellence in the field of war. He has courage, intelligence, the
skill of command, and the respect of his troops. Under pressure, he makes an
inspiring speech. When the colony of Cyprus is threatened by the enemy, the
Duke and Senate turn to "valiant" Othello to lead the defense.
After many years on campaign, Othello has come to live in
Venice, among the sophisticated people of the city. Senator Brabantio has
invited him to his home, and this is a revelation to the soldier. He is dazzled
by the comfortable life, the learned conversation, the civilization. He
appoints a student of military knowledge, Cassio, to be his lieutenant.
Suddenly he sees possibilities for himself to which he had never before
aspired.
Othello is an outsider who is intelligent and confident
in military matters but socially insecure. He leads an intense life, swinging
between triumph and dread. He is different from those around him, due to his
origins and his life history, but he shares their religion, values, and
patriotism to Venice. More importantly, he is visibly different due to the
color of his skin, so he lives constantly among, but separated from, other
people. Whenever they look at his black face, however brilliant a general he
is, he knows the others are thinking "Yes, but he is not really one of
us." Shakespeare presents this fact in the dialogue and also in the
staging of the play: Othello's is a black face among a sea of white faces, and
he is constantly referred to as "The Moor," a representative African,
while others go by their personal names and are seen as independent
individuals. When other characters call him "black," they refer to
his face but also to the concept of color symbolism in Elizabethan morality:
White is honor, black is wickedness; white is innocence, black is guilt.
Othello tells his life story to Desdemona, and she sees
him through his words. The life of early separation from home and family,
followed by danger and adventure, is perhaps the life story of thousands of men
down the ages who become soldiers of fortune and who end up as corpses in
ditches at an early age, unwept, unpaid, and unrecorded. Othello's achievement
is not so much that he survived this unpromising life, but that he survived it
in such a spectacularly successful manner, ending up one of the most powerful
men in the Venetian defense forces.
On the field of battle Othello is skilled and triumphant;
in the drawing room he is reluctant until Desdemona takes the lead and
encourages him to tell his life story. It is Desdemona, as well as Othello, who
turns the secret marriage into a social success with her skillfully worded
defense.
Othello feels that his marriage is at the pinnacle of his
life: "If it were now to die, / @'Twere now to be most happy, for I fear /
My soul hath her content so absolute, / That not another comfort, like to this
/ Succeeds in unknown fate" (II.1, 190-194). He is triumphant in war and
in love, the hero at his greatest moment. Such triumph, in a tragedy, cannot
last.
Othello is aware of the precarious nature of success and
happiness. "But I do love thee, and when I love thee not, / Chaos is come
again" (III.3, 91-93). These are the words of a man who knows chaos and
believes himself to have been rescued from it by love. Love for Othello puts
order, peace, and happiness into his mental world, which would otherwise lapse
back into chaos. He has grown up in exile, slavery, danger, and despair, now,
as a professional soldier, he lives amongst chaos on the battlefield, but he
need no longer have it in his inner being, because he has love. Chaos is the
old concept of Hell, where everything is dreadful anguish, and Desdemona is the
angel who has rescued Othello with her love.
When faced with the prospect of managing love and
marriage, Othello's inexperience undermines his confidence. Iago finds it easy
to drive Othello to jealousy and think that Desdemona loves another man because
he already feels that her love for him is too good to be true. Othello sees
Cassio as the man most Venetian women in Desdemona's position would like to
marry and, therefore, as the man she would turn to if she ceased to love her
husband. In a way, he is waiting for the dream to come to an end, for Desdemona
to decide that she has made a mistake in marrying him.
Othello's insecurities are so close to the surface that a
few words of hint and innuendo from Iago can tear the confident exterior and
expose his fears, desires, and tendency to violence. Othello cannot stand
uncertainty; it drives him to destroy his sanity. However, once he makes a
decision, he is again the military man, decisive in action. Iago has only to
push Othello to the belief that he has been betrayed, and Othello does the
rest, judging, condemning, and executing Desdemona.
Fate is cruel to Othello, like the cruel fate of ancient
Greek tragedies. Like the Greek heroes, Othello can confront this fate only
with the best of his humanity. In his final speeches, Othello brings again a
flash of his former greatness: his military glory, his loyalty to Venice, the
intensity of his love, and his terrible realization that, by killing Desdemona,
he has destroyed the best in himself. No man has full control over his life,
but a man can judge himself and perform the execution and die with his love.
Sources:www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/.../othello/character-analysis.html-24.07.2012
D.N. Aloysius
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