How and why does Othello's language change over the course of the Play?

Authors Avatar

Chris Emery, Othello Coursework

                                     Othello Coursework                                        

How and why does Othello’s language change over the course of the Play?

Othello is a classical tragedy in the sense that it has a hero with many virtues who is brought down by a combination of an evil man and his own weakness, jealousy. This rise and fall is echoed in the language given to Othello by Shakespeare which moves from the confidence in front of Brabantio through the violent images and indecision of his undermining by Iago back to some nobility when he realises what he has done.  

When Othello first appears on stage in Act 1 Scene 2 he has such confidence in his skill with language that he can claim that he is “rude” in his speech, knowing that no one will possibly believe him. His well-chosen words “keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them” diffuse a potentially dangerous situation and atmosphere. These first few lines create an image of Othello as confident and strong. It also shows that he has a dramatic impact on the other characters and the play itself. The situation arises with Brabantio and his men hold their swords up to Othello and his soldiers, but with those well-chosen words he tells Brabantio and his men to put their swords back in their sheaths. “for the dew will rust them” is just a bit of sarcasm. He is reminding them that they are merely civilians and policemen and Othello is a military officer and the men behind him are soldiers. It is impossible for Brabantio to win this fight.

Earlier when Iago asks Othello if he is secure in his marriage, he replies, “But that I love the gentle Desdemona I would not unhoused my free condition put into circumscription and confine for the sees’ worth” Here Othello is comparing the value of his freedom and his love for Desdemona to all the treasures of the sea. This is an image typically used by Othello. In scene 3 of the first act Othello is at the Senate, replying to Brabantio’s accusations of casting a spell over Brabantio’s daughter making her fall in love with him. In his speech there is obvious irony and exotic language. Again typical Othello language, “Rude am in my speech and little bless’d with the soft phrase of peace” that passage is obvious irony as Othello is certainly not rude in his speech he is completely opposite to that. He speaks in dazzling blank line verses that amaze his audience. “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 boil and battle,” 

The key test Othello faces is when he has to defend himself in front of the Duke in the council chamber. Brabantio has already accused Othello of witchcraft and the Dukes immediate reaction without knowing it is Othello is one of horror. “Whoe’e he be that in this foul proceeding hath thus beguiled your daughter of herself… the bloody book of law you shall yourself read in the bitter letter after your own sense, yea, though our proper son stood in your action”.

Potentially Othello the soldier is up against the ruling class of Venice but he doesn’t hesitate to challenge Brabantio head on. He is confident enough to suggest Desdemona should be allowed to speak for herself “Send for the lady to the Sagittary, and let her speak of me before her father”. While they are waiting for Desdemona to arrive Othello launches into a coherently argued forty-line speech. He tells the story of how it was Brabantio himself who brought them together “Her father loved me, oft invited me, still questioned me the story of my life”. He goes on to describe his distinguished military career. Not only does this get the audience on his side but he is able to use the trick in speeches of describing things in three’s; “Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances, Of moving accidents by flood and field, Of hair-breadth scapes i’th’imminent deadly breach, Of being taken by the insolent foe, And sold to slavery,”.

In this section he conjures up a world dominated by nature and allusions to tribes from classical myths, “And portance in my travels’ history: wherein of antres vast and desert idle, rough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven it was my hint to speak,-such was the process; and of the Cannibals that each other eat, the Anthropophagi and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders.”. Even here Othello is able to use words like antres instead of caves and talk of cannibals as Anthropophagi. The rest of the speech is used to show that Desdemona was indeed spellbound but from the story of Othello’s life rather than any magic. He ends triumphantly by rejecting Brabantio’s charge with the two lines “This only is the witchcraft I have used: Here comes the lady; let her witness it.”

Join now!

After the Turkish fleet was beaten by the storm and defeated by natural rather than military might, Othello has no military duties left to do. Therefore the play now concentrates on the relationships and becomes a much more domestic tragedy. Iago becomes the new enemy not the Turks; he is free to indulge in the evil he has hinted at before. Readers become aware of his evilness as the play unfolds, “Make the moor thank me, love me, and reward me for making him egregiously an ass and practicing upon his peace and quiet even to madness”

...

This is a preview of the whole essay