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Othello Themes - Coggle Diagram
Othello Themes
Truth and deception
Public vs private - Iago deceives in private 'I hate the moor' - calculated, verse/prose and appears loyal in public
Othello states 'Honest honest Iago' - shows his ability to form relationships through different facades
Othello publicly 'strikes her' showing a lack of separation between his public and private behaviour - result of manipulation - unable to stay rational
Desdemona remains faithful to societal standards and is innocent yet still dies - critique of patriarchal society
Desdemona was the embodiment of 'truth' and 'innocence' - ideal in Jacobean period
'A guiltless death I die'
Emilia stating the truth leads to her death - sacrificial
Women are expected to hide the truth to survive in a patriarchal society so subverts expectations
'I will play the swan and die in music'
Simpson - Emilia 'She dies in the service of truth'
'I am not what I am' - Antithesis of good as he presents himself as the anti-christ
I'll pour pestilence into his ear'
'Twixt my sheets he has done my office'
Venice is a setting of political corruption and duplicity and deception - also known for promiscuity
Appearance vs reality
Audience become complicit in Iago's deceit through soliloquies
Iago is associated with night - secrecy
Iago's deception and manipulation leads to Othello's tortured cognitive dissonance shown in the peripetieia
Iago's final line 'Demand me nothing what you know, you know, from this time forth I never will speak word' - maintains control of situation
By not saying anything he ensures the root causes of his malevolence will never be known
Proximity and distance
Iago is hidden from Brabantio as the beginning reflecting his deception from exposition
Proximity of deaths - curtain around the bed with Emilia and Desdemona together on the bed showing female solidarity and closeness of their relationship
'tragic loading'
Links to feminist movement - female friendships valued over marriage
The more Emilia detaches herself from the patriarchal control of Iago the more loyal she is to Desdemona
'He kneels' - Close proxemics suggesting Othello and Iago are physically on the same level
Othello is 'aside' listening to Cassio and Iago - misinterpretation of actuation - believes this to be 'ocular proof'
Public and private break down of relationship - Othello 'strikes' Desdemona in Act 4, Scene 1
They travel from Venice to Cyprus - the further away from Western Europe the more civilisation and honour break down - unknown and dangerous
Emotional distance is created and nurtured by men - leads to tragedy
Emilia is rejected and underestimated by Iago
Cassio rejects Bianca due to social barriers
Othello rejects Desdemona due to fear of being cuckolded
'Bit I do think it is their husbands' faults if wives do fall'
Iago and Othello are close in distance allowing for easy manipulation
Race
Othello's insecurities of race leave him susceptible to Iago's machiavellian tactics
The beast with two backs'
'Lascivious Moor'
Covered by a Barbary horse'
In the Royal Shakespeare production Iago is black suggesting the play is more about class than race
Handkerchief symbolises his non-Christian origin - outsider status
His race makes him an outsider leading to insecurity about his status and reputation - becomes his hamartia
'An old black ram is tupping your white ewe'
'haply for I am black and not those soft parts of conversation'
Motif of witchcraft - Brabantio is convinced Othello has used 'Charms' to 'enchant' Desdmeona - theme of the exotic
Othello may be relapsing into primitivism - Jacobean idea that when triggered they relapse into their primal nature
Royal Shakespeare company held a debate in 2015 about whether Shakespeare created racist stereotypes to expose racism
Jealousy
Insecurity and jealousy are directly proportionate - As Othello's insecurity increases so does his jealousy
Jealousy fuels the tragedy
Argued it is Othello's hamartia
Othello becomes jealous because he worries about his reputation and emasculation 'I have a pain upon my forehead here' - Jacobean fear of cuckoldry
'Beware my lord of jealousy, the green eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on' (3, 3) - Peripeteia - Ironic as Iago is the reason why Othello is jealous
Iago is jealous of Cassio 'Mere prattle without practice'
Iago is jealous of Othello and Emilia - 'I hate the moor. It is thought abroad that he twixt my sheets, he has done my office' - believes they had an affair but no evidence
Marriage
Marriage is a social construct where women obey their husbands without question - 'I do nothing but please his fantasy (3, 3)
She is complicit in the tragedy by taking handkerchief
Brabanatio's refusal to accept Othello and Desdemona's relationship reflects the fear of interracial relationships and miscengation in the Jacobean period
The expectations of marriage lead to insecurity, control and the tragic downfall
Marriage is easily infiltrated if fragile - Othello and Desdemona are built on admiration and mutual gain and reputation rather than love
Shown through corruption of symbol of handkerchief from a symbol of love to deception and infidelity
'I do perceive here a dividid duty: To you I am bound for life' - Shows patriarchal control and women are always under dominance and ownership of a man
Love
Love is equally as powerful as jealousy - 'when I love thee not chaos come again'
The handkerchief is a symbol of love that becomes complicit in infidelity and deception
Othello and Desdemona are in love - they transcend racial and class barriers 'oh my souls joy'
Desdemona never loses love for Othello 'never taint my love'
Insecurity is more powerful than love - if true love then it should not have been so easy to murder her
Iago believes love is based on lust - 'Merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will'