Just a few comments on the persuasive outline of the play offered by the
Gilgandra students --
"Through a combination of his own human faults and the evil plotting of his
enemy, Iago, Othello falls . . ."
--This is one of the real mysteries of the play -- are we meant to see
Othello as destined to fail because of his background and make-up or are we
meant to see Iago as so diabolically clever and evil that Othello was just
very unlucky to get involved with him? There is a lot of play at the end
with the idea of Iago as a devil, including the idea that if he is a devil
he can't be killed. If he is a devil (or if for a moment we are encouraged
to think of him as a devil) then some of the emphasis goes off Othello's
faults since who would have been able to outwit or see through a devil?
It's as if in this play the very person best able to undo Othello's
security and love and prosperity is at hand to do those things. You return
to this theme at the end when you say "Othello's fall is inevitable.
Iago's scheming destroys his peace of mind and brings about his moral decay."
"Some people may contend that since Othello is black, Shakespeare
constructed him to fail and therefore, he is not really a tragic hero."
It seems to me that Othello's blackness works to make his fall seem
greater. At the end of Act I he and Desdemona seem to have achieved
something quite remarkable, a cross-racial marriage that can resist the
challenge Brabantio in his narrowness and bigotry brings to it, they've
seen off the apparently ridiculous accusation of witchcraft; and that's on
top of Othello's own success as a leading soldier in a foreign country. The
audience identifies with these triumphs and it seems that prejudice has
been overcome once and for all. But this makes a greater height from which
to fall and progressively, horribly, we witness the return of prejudice and
misogyny in Othello himself . . .
"We wonder whether he is thinking of the trust he placed in Iago as well as
of his love for Desdemona"
-- Fascinating idea. Fits with the notion that Othello chooses a bond with
Iago to replace his bond with Desdemona. In the long scene when Iage
corrupts Othello they have a grotesque parody of a wedding, pledging
allegiance to each other at the moment when Othello is solemnly divorcing
himself from his wife.
"At this point in the play he seems to find some of his heroic qualities
but his circumstances now are deeply tragic."
This is touching on a key question. In the final scenes Othello is given
back some heroic imagery and postures -- that must be why there's so much
play made with the various swords he has or doesn't have and finds -- but
he is also called a fool by Emilia, who has a tremendous authority at this
point (totally loyal to her mistress, defying her husband). There is an
embarrassing feeling I think at the end that Othello, magnificent as he is,
has also just been plain dumb.
"Why does Othello never ask Desdemona or Emilia for proof of Iago's
accusations and why does Emilia not confess to giving Iago the handkerchief?"
There are lots of odd questions around this part of the plot. Desdemona
also falters when questioned by her husband about the handkerchief. Emilia
it seems is deceiving her mistress here for the sake of pleasing her
husband. Othello of course does question Emilia closely about the
Cassio-Desdemona relationship but is not convinced by her denial of
anything improper. In a way the Emilia-Desdemona relationship is like the
Iago-Othello one -- a worldly, more cynical character of lower social
station against an idealistic and upper-class one. Emilia at this stage is
corruptible, even if in the end she is true to her mistress unto death. In
the state he is in Othello is almost bound to disbelieve Desdemona because
Iago has set him up that way; anything Desdemona says can be interpreted as
Venetian or female cunning. Once Iago has put a certain spin on things
whatever she does (e.g. trying to help Cassio by asking Othello to pardon
him, even pushing this when Othello is obviously angry) makes her seem worse.
