Othello, A Tragic "Love Story"

“Prithee, tonight/Lay on my bed my wedding sheets–remember;/And call thy husband hither.” (Desdemona tells Emilia, Act IV, Scene ii, Lines 105-107)

This is the quote that lets the readers of the play know that Desdemona and Othello have not yet consummated their marriage. I find this a bit odd because they fight to be together, not worrying about judgement, or the disapproval of Desdemona’s father. If Othello and Desdemona loved each other so much, would they have not jumped in bed together as soon as they got married to show their love? When Iago lies and tells Othello that his wife has been cheating on him with Cassio, he believes it because Cassio has found Desdemona’s handkerchief that was planted by Iago so he can show some sort of proof of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness. This makes me question if Othello ever truly did love Desdemona. He was quick to believe the accusation rather than his wife he is supposed to have trust for when she explains that she has misplaced the handkerchief. Also Desdemona is a virgin before the marriage, and dies a virgin. If Othello was attracted to Desdemona, could he not just sleep with her and see if she bleeds to prove she is still a virgin? If he finds out that she was not, maybe then that would be reason enough to kill his wife. But as we know, if Othello would have slept with Desdemona, it would be proven to him that she was innocent and then maybe Iago would have gotten punished and the two could live happily together again. But I feel Othello could not have loved her because then he would not have been able to strangle the woman he loved without 100% proof, and the fact that he did over evidence that was planted is odd to me. Therefore, I question the true love between Othello and Desdemona.

Desdemona: “A moth of peace, and he go to the war,/The rites for which I love him are bereft me;” (Act I, Scene iii, Lines 254-255)

I found this depiction of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship with each other very interesting to me. Othello is obviously darker almost blending into the background showing how different his skin color is compared to hers. He is also shown touching the breast of Desdemona which is odd because of the lack of a sex and intimacy they had with one another throughout the play. This image also shows the two as very close, almost connected as if they were one person split in half. This image to me, seems like the author was trying to create what he or she wanted the relationship  between Othello and Desdemona to be rather than what the relationship actually was. I do not believe the couple had the same connection that is depicted in this image, in the play. They were never intimate as shown above. But at the same time, the colors of this image show that their relationship was very dark. It seems as if Desdemona got sucked into the darkness of Othello because in this image, she is the brightest thing seen. As the quote above says, Desdemona is drawn to Othello like a moth and she says that her love for him deprives her from her senses. It almost seems that Desdemona got sucked into Othello’s life because of sexual desires, which is totally not the case in the play since the couple never actually get the chance to be intimate before their deaths.

Desdemona: “I have none. Do not talk to me, Emilia./I cannot weep, nor answer have I none./But what should go by water. Prithee, tonight/Lay on my bed my wedding sheets–remember;/And call thy husband hither.” (Act IV, Scene ii, Lines 103-107)

This is the reply Desdemona gave Emilia when Emilia asked about their lord. Desdemona replied saying Othello was not a lord, which seems like an insult because he hurt her accusing her of cheating on him. But right after that, she still refers to Othello as her husband which I believe shows she still cares about and respects Othello even though she is hurt by him. When Desdemona tells Emilia, “I cannot weep, nor answer have I none.”, I believe Desdemona is saying there is no point of crying over this situation that she will prove herself to not be guilty of. She also says she does not know what is wrong with Othello because she has not actually been unfaithful to him, like he believes. She knows just how to prove herself to her husband, when she says “Lay on my bed my wedding sheets”. If she has sex with Othello and proves she is a virgin, there is no way he could think she still has cheated. This is a simple solution to a terrible problem and Desdemona was clever enough to prove herself in this way. Othello on the other hand, just took Iago’s word for it and based his entire assumption on a handkerchief, rather than giving his wife the benefit of the doubt and sleeping with her to prove her faithfulness. I believe this passage shows us that Desdemona really does love Othello because she wants to prove herself to him in order to stay with him. The fact that Othello does not try to trust Desdemona and let her prove herself, I believe shows that she is more of just an object of lust to him, rather than actual love. This passage also shows that Desdemona and Othello have not yet consummated their marriage, making Othello’s thoughts about Desdemona that much worse.

I went to see the performance of Othello at Queens Theatre on Friday, May 1^st. A major decision they made for this production of Othello was that female actors did all of the acting. They also changed the play to make the male characters into females. For instance, instead of Othello (on left) being Desdemona’s husband, the female playing him was instead her wife. At first this was a little odd to me because it was hard to keep track of who was a male character in the book, and who was a female. Once I got used to it, it was as if I did not even notice. I thought this was a strong decision because it was different from the norm of Shakespeare’s time. Back then, all acting would be done by male actors, even female characters. The fact that all women played the characters at this performance of Othello shows how much females have come and how much they have been able to evolve. Along with this, the actors did a great job performing the male roles. They were very strong, confident, and loud. Even though there was no background set, I was able to picture it in my head because of the acting done. Iago (on right), specifically was played by a very good actor. The passage that starts, “It is merely a lust of the blood, and a permission of the/will. Come, be a man! Drown thyself? Drown cats and/blind puppies! I have professed me thy friend, and I confess/me knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable toughness./I could never better stead thee than now. Put money in thy/purse.” (Act I, Scene iii, Lines 329-334) and he continues to talk about putting money in thy purse. During this passage, the actor performing as Iago has great emotion during the scene. For example, she would smirk and look serious as needed and made the scene comical. In my opinion, this was an accurate and good performance of how I believe the play would have looked. The fact that all of the characters were females did not take away from the performance at all because they played such strong roles. It shows now that women can do anything, which was less heard of in Shakespeare’s time period. I believe this performance of Othello has proven that women have come a long way since then and a gender should not be such an important aspect of a human being. The women actors did just as great a job as I feel men would be able to do. I believe the performance at Queens Theatre was a great performance of Othello and very similar to how I would imagine it while reading the play.

Screenshot from 1995 film of Othello

“Her father loved me; oft invited me;/ Still questioned me the story of my life/ From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes/ That I have passed./ I ran it through, even from my boyish days/ To th’ very moment that he bade me tell it:/ Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances,”. (Othello, Act I, Scene iii, Line 128-134).

In the film version of Othello from 1995, when the actor playing Othello recites this speech to the Duke, the film shows flashbacks. This is a choice that is different from the written play. During the speech, the film shows Brabantio and Othello spending a lot of time together at Brabantio’s house, showing that the two were close. Then the film shows when Othello first sees and meets Desdemona. The flashback then shows when Othello and Desdemona start spending time together and eventually falling in love. The most prominent part of this flashback that stuck out to me was the film showed Othello giving Desdemona the infamous handkerchief that becomes very important later on in the play, somewhat showing some foreshadowing. This is important because the written play never mentions a handkerchief until Iago’s wife, Emilia, steals the handkerchief from Desdemona for her husband to frame an affair between Desdemona and Cassio. I believe this choice tries to show the audience that this handkerchief is important in a subtle way. I think this worked when I watched the film but only because I knew the significance of the handkerchief in Othello. If I was watching the film without having read the play beforehand, I do not believe I would have even noticed the handkerchief in the beginning of the film because it was introduced in such a subtle way during the flashbacks which contained no speaking because it was during the time Othello was speaking to the Duke.

Iago: “Nay, but be wise: yet we see nothing done;/She may be honest yet. Tell me but this:/Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief,/ Spotted with strawberries, in your wife’s hand?”

Othello: “I gave her such a one; ’twas my first gift.” (Act III, Scene iii, Lines 431-435)

I am not sure where this poster is from but it seems to be promoting a more modernized version of a play of Othello. This is most evident because of the use of the gun, when at the time of the play, there were no guns. All of the characters used swords as weapons, rather than guns. This promotion of a play stuck out to me mostly because the strawberries are meant to look like blood because the ooze is coming out of the gun. The blood’s significance I would imagine is because of all of the deaths that happen in the play of Othello. The significance of the strawberries are showing how important the handkerchief was to the play because the handkerchief had strawberries on it as mentioned in the quote above. Othello also mentions in the play that the handkerchief was his first gift to Desdemona, proving it has much more value than just a normal napkin would. I believe the strawberries are shown as bloody because the handkerchief was the main piece of evidence that caused so many deaths and injuries in the play.

“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?/ Deny thy father and refuse thy name;/ Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,/ And I’ll no longer be a Capulet./ ‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;/ Thou art thyself, though not a Montague./ What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,/ Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part/ Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!/ What’s in a name? that which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet;/ So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,/ Retain that dear perfection which he owes/ Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,/ And for that name which is no part of thee/ Take all myself.” (Romeo & Juliet, Act II, Scene II).

It is in this part of another famous play by Shakespeare that Juliet explains her love for Romeo no matter who they both are in life. She says that she would deny her father to be with Romeo, much like Desdemona denied her father to be with Othello. Just like in Othello, the main characters who believe they are in love do not let their backgrounds come in between them.

In Othello, Brabantio tells the Duke that his daughter is dead to him and that Othello must have put Desdemona under spells or forced her to be with them. Because of their differences in race, Brabantio cannot believe Desdemona could possibly fall in love with Othello. Othello then tells the Duke and others, “Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors,/My very noble and approved good masters,.That I have taken away this old man’s daughter,/It is most true; true I have married her:/The very head and front of my offending/Hath this extent, no more./Rude am I in my speech,/And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace,/ For since these arms of mine had seven years’ pith/Till now some nine moons wasted, they have used/Their dearest action in the tented field;/And little of this great world can I speak/More than pertains to feats of broil and battle;/And therefore little shall I grace my cause/In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,/I will a round unvarnished tale deliver/Of my whole course of love:–what drugs, what charms,/What conjuration, and what mighty magic–/For such proceeding I am charged withal–/I won his daughter.” (Act I, Scene iii, Lines 76-94). He explains that it was not him who tricked Desdemona into being with him and it had nothing to do with their races and he says he is rude in his speech because he is hurt by the accusation. He just believes they were meant to fall in love, again having nothing to do with either of their backgrounds. Shakespeare shares a common theme in these two plays that you cannot choose who you fall in love with, and you love them despite who they are and where they come from.

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Othello’s very last words in the play are “I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this,/Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.” (Act V, Scene ii, Lines 358-359)

Othello feels very guilty and regretful after he finds out that Desdemona had not actually been unfaithful to him. He believes that he should have given her the benefit of the doubt rather than just murder her because of what someone else had told her. This lesson, that you should not just believe everything you hear, is also shown in The Arabian Nights.

“When I heard my son’s words and saw him trembling and weeping, O Commander of the Faithful, I realized that I had killed my wife wrongfully and that she had died unjustly; the accursed slave, hearing about the apples from my son, had slandered her and lied about her. When I realized that, I wept and made my sons weep with me, and when this old man, my uncle and her father, came in, I related to him what had happened, and he wept and made us weep with him till midnight, and for three days afterward we mourned for her and grieved over her unjust death, and all because of that black slave.” (The Story of the Three Apples, page 153)

This man was told by a slave that his wife had cheated on him with this slave with very little evidence of just this stranger’s word. The man believed the slave and went home to murder his wife just like Othello believed Iago and went to murder Desdemona for her thought unfaithfulness. When the man had found out after the wife’s death that she wasn’t actually unfaithful to him, he immediately regretted his decision and mourned the death of his wife. This shows that both this man and Othello believed someone they should not have over their own wife, and regretted the unjustly deaths that were bestowed upon each of the women.