Futhermore, the implications of race are not only fair and black, but these depictions represent beauty and savagery in the eyes of other characters and also the Elizabethan audience. Othello being the only black character in the play within the Venetian community, the white individuals suspect him as a “foul thief” and “wheeling stranger”. Shakespeare explores the propositions of ‘fair’ and ‘black’ further by attempting to point out in his literature that society viewed and assumed that fair people were peaceful, calm and pure, much like Desdemona, whereas black people were a wall of rage, aggression and bitterness, the flaws that were the bricks of this wall, in many ways like Othello.
However, Othello’s background had many advantages despite his tragic fate. Desdemona fell in love with Othello because of his ‘otherness’, Othello was well aware of this and informed Brabantio that “she loved me for the dangers I had passed”. Although Othello was black, he did not really fit the stereotype of the violent black person that other characters expected from him, until later in the play when manipulated enough to become aggressive. Othello was polite and understanding, he realised that he was not Venetian but rather an outsider as he said “Rude am I in my speech”. Othello understood that he did not speak like Iago or Cassio in complex, poetic sentences and was conscious of his otherness in terms of mannerisms.
Brabantio’s disgusted reaction towards the marriage between Othello and Desdemona was purely because of Othello’s race. He could not stand the thought of an “old black ram, tupping” his innocent, pure daughter. Additionally, Iago presented Othello with animalistic imagery, stewing Brabantio’s hatred and fear of Othello and his colour. Brabantio described Othello to have a “sooty bosom” which revealed to him that his daughter was married to an unusual and evil man. Also, Brabantio felt that Desdemona not only deceived her father, but also betrayed her own race by marrying such a man. Othello was described to be a “bondslave” and “pagan”, which Brabantio could not stand as his daughter was married to a man whose colour and personality was mistakenly associated with Satan.
Othello’s vigilance about his ‘otherness’ is presented to be one of his deep-rooted insecurities. A critic, A.C. Bradley, quoted that Othello “does not belong to our world”. Although conveyed by this critic as a “romantic figure”, Othello is also identified to be ‘different’ in idealistic ways such as his passion for Desdemona, which is by far the deepest, most sincere love in the whole play between any two characters. This passion, however, dies out as his adoration is the reason for his jealousy, and jealousy is the starting point of his downfall.
Othello realised that he contained a diverse nature, but he had pride for that nature, and believed that his “perfect soul” would “manifest” him positively. Moreover, Othello explained that Desdemona fell in love with him because of his “parts” and “title”, which indicates that Desdemona was mesmerised by his stories and background as an ex-slave. When Othello was informed of Desdemona’s illicit relationship with Cassio, Othello exclaimed that she may seem pure and beautiful but after the affair, he realised she was just as “begrim’d” and “black” as he was. His awareness of his dissimilarity was so strong that he compared her to himself and his race, using his own ‘blackness’ as an insult to Desdemona.
Iago’s relationship with Othello was that of a supposed friend and an ancient. However, Iago made no attempt to suppress his jealousy and hatred that he had for Othello, appalled and ashamed that a black man was the Venetian general, but Iago was merely his ancient, above the paranoia that his wife, Emilia, was having an affair with Othello. Iago expressed this bitter rage as it evolved into a deceiving plan that Iago plans against Othello in a lethal attempt to debase Othello’s reputation. Iago began to do so as he informed Brabantio of the marriage between Desdemona and the “Moor”. He used vulgar imagery to describe that they were making the “beast with two backs”, to anger Brabantio and convince him to break up Othello and Desdemona. The irony that lies in the conversations between Iago and Othello is caused by Othello’s repetitive phrase “Honest Iago”. The audience knew that Iago was the one causing trouble, and was not honest.
Iago was successful in the manipulation of Othello due to Othello’s own knowledge and understanding of his ‘otherness’. Iago explained to Othello that “I know our country disposition well” implying that Othello was still kept in the dark about the behaviour of Venetian women in particular. Iago also mentioned that Venice was “our country”, meaning Iago’s and Desdemona’s, not Othello’s. He did this to be informative towards Othello, attempting to convince him that things were ‘done’ differently there. Iago says to him that he knows women of “her own climate, complexion and degree”. By this Iago indicated to Othello that he was an ex-slave, and Desdemona being an upper class Venetian woman made them an unnatural suit. Othello soon realised that he didn’t contain the “soft parts of conversation” that the others had, setting him apart from the gentlemen and women of the Venetian society.
Also, the war that Othello had won and returned from to Cyprus, along with Cassio and Iago, gave him more time to think about Desdemona’s supposed affair with Cassio. It gave Iago more time to manipulate Othello and create a mountain of suspicions within Othello. The war that took place represents the insecurities and imbalance in Othello, taking over his “free and open nature”. Being out of the security of Venice, where Othello was very much accepted as a “noble and valiant general”, Othello became much more vulnerable to Iago, where his “hate” for the “Moor” erupted. Additionally, Othello began to use war imagery when he mentioned that he’d rather the “general camp, Pioners” had “tasted her sweet body” and not know about it rather than Cassio having Desdemona and Othello knowing about it. This makes it clear that Othello missed the glory of war, and would have been better off occupied fighting in the war.
Othello began to believe that Desdemona’s supposed betrayal was due to his ‘blackness’ because he felt that Desdemona’s love for him was temporary, “Haply for I am black” he realised that it could have been due to the lacking of elegance in his personality and race. He felt that the “chamberers” of Venice had the “soft parts” of dialogue therefore Desdemona would have been likely to search for that elegance in behaviour within Cassio. Othello’s consciousness of his non-Venetian background is expressed when he said “Nor from mine own weak merits shall I draw”, this is an example of his self depreciating nature as he thinks Desdemona being the upper class white woman, is too good for him. Also, the idea that ‘blackness’ represents savagery and evil, and ‘fairness’ represents pureness is put into context as Othello began to acknowledge and feel that this was the truth. He recognized that Desdemona supposedly craved for Cassio due to his pureness and similarity in terms of race.
The irony about Othello’s change in behaviour lies in the stereotype of the Venetians and the audience that black people were pugnacious. Othello struck Desdemona after being fed lies about her by Iago, and Desdemona noticed Othello’s change in conduct as she said “My lord, is not my lord”. At the start of the Othello, he contained a passionate and intricate manner and behaved kindly to all, whereas further towards the end of the play, Othello completely changed and began to fit the stereotype that was formed about black people during the Elizabethan times. Desdemona began to fear him near the end as she says “for you’re fatal then
When your eyes roll so.” She recognised Othello’s anger and began to feel that he was not the dignified gentleman, but rather, fitted the stereotype of black men being dangerous.
Othello mumbles in anger “Arise, black vengeance” referring to black magic but when he was accused of witchcraft at the beginning of the play, he denied such a thing could exist. What's more, he isolates not only himself, but also Desdemona, making her more of an outsider herself. This is because in marrying Othello, Desdemona makes herself an outsider as Othello pushes her away from fellow Venetians, her father and even Emelia, who feels that Othello was the “blacker devil” after killing Desdemona. Emelia would usually sit by Desdemona beside her bed until Othello came to her room, but as Othello changed, he didn’t even allow Emelia to sit by her anymore as he felt that she deserved to be isolated.
Within the last scene of Othello, Emelia describes Othello to be the “blacker devil” in contrast to Desdemona who is the “more angel”. This also implies that within Othello, there is ‘blackness’ and ‘fairness’, meaning he is both good and evil. This is relevant as it is because of Othello’s own awareness of his otherness that Iago is able to manipulate him in such a way, causing the tragedy. Othello exclaimed when describing Desdemona that “So sweet was ne’er so fatal” and believed that although he was black and she was fair, in terms of race, her heart remained more black and “begrim’d”. Othello admitted that he killed Desdemona, and called himself the “cursēd slave”. Othello’s pride was shattered when he realised that Desdemona was innocent, and informed them before he killed himself, “Speak of me as I am: nothing extenuate”. He implied to the others not to make excuses for his punishment or speak of him like he was the noble general of the Venetian army, but rather the murderer of his wife.
Finally, Othello furthered his own isolation due to his fatal flaw which was jealousy. Although he loved Desdemona passionately, the idea of romanticism that passion was bad, was conveyed to the Elizabethan audience. Shakespeare signalled a message through Othello, implying that passion was an emotion that was deadly when there was no control over it, whereas reasoning and subtle relationships were good. This was not only Shakespeare’s message, but the views of the Elizabethans.
When Othello’s jealousy takes over him, Iago merely feeds him the details, whereas it was Othello’s idea to kill Cassio and Desdemona, not Iago’s. Sean McEvoy explained that Othello’s tragedy was that “he interprets the world – an ideology” and was weak enough to be manipulated. He felt that as he was honest and passionate himself, he could trust other characters in the play, such as the supposedly “Honest” Iago. Othello was a great man within the play, a gracious general and a passionate husband, but it was the fault of himself and his lethal error of jealousy that allowed him to be frail enough (personality-wise) to be influenced to commit the murder of Desdemona. As Othello’s manners transformed into a violent storm, he began to fit the stereotype that was formed about him as an aggressive black man, which is when the start of his downfall occurred, whereas at the start of the play, when he was caring and generous, such emotions like jealousy would not occur, thus preventing his downfall. Othello’s personality changed into a ball of contradictions, his feelings entwined in confusion and jealousy, as Sean McEvoy rightly interpreted “the contradictions within his ideology destroy him”.
