Analyse an extract of not less than 500 words from a text of your choosing, commenting upon the use of language and reflecting upon the relationship between the nature of the extract and the era from which it comes.

University Degree Linguistics, Classics and related subjects

My essay will be based on an extract by William Shakespeare, from his tragic play ‘Othello’. I will analyse the language used in the pivotal part of the play, Act three, Scene three. I will look at it against the time of writing and also look at the effect Shakespeare’s great use of language has left us with today.

William Shakespeare is thought to be the greatest writer we have ever seen, but he is also the most written about. His chronicles and commentators spill over global tongues, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian etc. He is actually in more than fifty languages. He was not for an age, but for all time.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. Shakespeare's father, John, was an apprentice glover and tanner of leathers. His mother, Mary Arden, came from a farming family. Shakespeare was the eldest of three sons and four daughters and was educated until he was sixteen. William Shakespeare was indeed lucky to survive to adulthood in sixteenth-century England. Waves of the plague swept across the countryside, and pestilence ravaged Stratford during the hot summer months. It is unclear what he did until he landed in London in 1591. He married Anne Hathaway, when he was eighteen and had three children. He could have possibly worked for his father, gone off to war in France or the Netherlands.

Shakespeare arrived in London in the 1590’s and was an actor and writer. It was an interesting time. It was when the still lamented English aristocratic hero-poet Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella were published and the gallants and university wits were caught in ‘sonneteering’. Shakespeare did not gain a great reputation instantly, and was really just considered another young man, who had left his wife and family behind to chance his luck in the city. He was actually sneered at, due to his lack of Oxbridge education. He wrote lots of sonnets as his ‘duelling ground’. His sonnets seemed confident in his ability. John Weever described him as ‘Honey tongued Shakespeare.

Throughout his time, he wrote, thirty-eight plays, one hundred and fifty-four sonnets and lots of other major poems. He brought us many famous characters; Falstaff, Polonius, Iago; figures actually form history, possibly more famous than their true historical counterparts.

Shakespeare made a great contribution to the English language. Over two thousand of our words today are first recorded by him. He may not have invented them, but the words; ‘obscene’, ‘accommodation’, ‘barefaced’, ‘leap-frog’, and lack-lustre’ are just some words that make their first appearance in Shakespeare’s work. Four-hundred years ago, Shakespeare had a vocabulary of at least twenty-one thousand different words. The average educated man today, more than four hundred years on, with an advantage of hundreds of thousands of new words, has a working vocabulary of less than half that of Shakespeare. Shakespeare pushed words together that had never been introduced. For example, he coupled, ‘ill’ with ‘tuned’ - ‘ill-tuned’.

In this essay I want to particularly focus on the play ‘Othello’ by William Shakespeare. I will look closely at the pivotal scene in the play, Act three, scene three. ‘Othello’ is a play, and therefore much more effective on stage. However, some of the most dramatic effects are not achieved by scenery or lighting or music, but by the use of his language. People are not always aware of how the language actually affects us, but only that it just does. The benefit of reading Shakespeare is that it makes us consider this. The language in ‘Othello’ plays ...

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The first performance of ‘Othello’ was in 1604. It has since become one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. The popularity is clearly not hard to understand. It has all the qualities of dramatic tension and contrast, intriguing characters and a strongly emotional central situation. In its language, the opulent poetry of Othello and Iago’s spare and wiry prose serves not only to characterise their respective worlds, but it also enhances the sense of great opposites heading towards inevitable collision.

The dramatic centre of the play is Act three, Scene three, where the once proud military leader Othello falls apart under the skilful torment of Iago and vows to kill his wife Desdemona for allegedly cuckolding him. This is a very long scene, almost every word and pause of which must gain our closest attention, makes this the heart of the play. The timing of events is very important in this scene. Iago’s language manipulates the other characters so skilfully that they seem to be acting simultaneously of their own free will and as Iago’s puppets. For example, it takes only the slightest prompting on Iago’s part to put Othello into the proper frame of mind to be consumed by jealousy. Iago’s interpretation of Cassio’s exit, combined with Desdemona’s vigorous advocating on Cassio’s behalf, creates suspicion in Othello’s mind even before Iago prompts Othello. Iago takes every opportunity to place doubt in Othello’s mind. He begins after Cassio exits, by using short sharp phrases to just start Othello’s mind doubting the other characters actions:

“Ha, I like not that” and “Cassio my lord? … No I cannot think it / That he would sneak away so guilty-like, / Seeing you coming”. (Act 3, Sc 3, ).

Othello’s doubt is instantly shown through the language he uses. Gone is the assertive general and eloquent lover, his speech is riddled with short questions, which are mostly left unanswered.

He manifests his confusion about his wife by telling her that he wishes to be left alone, and by spurning her offer of help when he tells her that he feels unwell. Once she has left, Othello recovers somewhat; ‘Excellent wretch’ he says affectionately:

“Perdition catch my soul / But I do thee, and when I love thee not, / Chaos is come again” (Act 3, Scene 3).

Othello seems far more comfortable expressing his love for Desdemona when she is absent. Perhaps this is because her presence makes him conscious of her claim upon him and of his obligation to honour her requests. The lines just quoted indicate how much his image of her means to him: if he stops loving her, the entire universe stops making sense for him, and the world is reduced to “Chaos.” The language is powerful in showing Othello’s erratic love. His love is explicit and the irony of his words resonate through the rest of the scene. Iago’s clever use of language have clearly had a direct impact on him. Desdemona remains dutiful, she is loyal and faithful. As she exits, her words are heavy with irony:

“be it as your fancies teach you…”. (Act 3, Sc 3).

We are able to see how Othello fancies ultimately lead to Desdemona’s death.

The interchange between Othello and Iago after this exit is dramatically stunning. The use of language is extremely clever in its manipulation. Iago continues to manipulate Othello through his use of implication and insinuation. Iago uses the technique of repeating questions that Othello throws at him, to place more doubt in his mind. Iago does not directly assert allegations, instead he increases Othello’s exasperation by saying little but implying much. Iago knows he must convince Othello of his wife’s infidelity through suggestion, not actual words. However, Iago’s repeating of the questions inflames Othello’s temper. Iago, in linguistic and actual terms is definitely in the position of power.

The scene develops and Othello demands proof. Iago seizes this opportunity, and utters his false suspicions about Cassio and Desdemona. It is interesting to look at the difference in speech of these two key characters, at this point. Othello’s speech is verbose and full of grandeur (lines 180 – 196), Iago’s is brief and succinct. Iago is tremendous in his deception and convincing language. He suggests he is only making these allegations out of duty and love for Othello. Iago’s skilful delaying tactics have prepared the ground for the false accusations, he knows Othello is vulnerable, and speaks with, ‘franker spirit’. He shifts from vague generalisations to specific revelations.

Othello becomes completely under the spell of Iago. We can see this from Othello’s diminished speech, it is undermined by negatives and the emotional strain on Othello is obvious as he begins to drift into open monologue with himself about the honesty of his wife. After Iago leaves, Othello’s soliloquy show actually how far Iago’s words have gone. Othello’s use of language is taken up with doubt and insecurity.

Iago’s soliloquy is very different. Iago’s language shows he seems to positively bask in his success at manipulating Othello’s emotions. When the two return together it is interesting to look Iago’s speech from lines 400 – 415. He uses very graphic references to describe sexual intercourse. This is another technique to debilitate Othello. Iago builds up a visual picture Desdemona’s infidelity. Iago later shows Othello the handkerchief to confirm his accusations. Iago’s intention to convince Othello of betrayal is finally complete. Othello’s use of language changes, as he speaks of ‘black vengeance’, hatred, revenge and blood.

This scene is full of clever language techniques. Shakespeare gives Iago the height of persuasive powers. He manages to skilfully and credibly to convince Othello, by suggestion and inference, that Desdemona has been unfaithful. The intensity is added to be the extent of Othello’s love in previous scenes:

“If it were to die / Twere to be most happy…” (Act 2, Scene 1).

Iago’s final words in this scene chillingly mock the language of love and marriage:

“I am your own forever”.

Othello’s language is key throughout. In Act One, Scene three, Othello says that he is ‘rude’ in speech, he shows that he does not really believe his own claim by going on to deliver a lengthy and very convincing speech about how he won over with his wonderful storytelling. However, Othello’s language is easily taken apart. After Iago has raised Othello’s suspicions about his wife’s fidelity, Othello seems to believe he is inarticulate and barbaric, lacking:

“those soft parts of conversation / That chaberers”.

The language in this scene is powerful and after Othello’s declaration of abdonment begins to create ugly imagery. Othello finds Desdemona to be a mere ‘creature’ of ‘appetite’, he imagines himself as a ‘toad’ in a ‘dungeon’. Othello becomes more and more addicted to the venomous and bestial language of Othello. There is a lot of animal imagery throughout the play. Early in the play, we hear Othello described in animal terms:

“old black ram … tupping a white ewe”. (Act 1, Sc 1)

Later in the play, he uses comparisons to ‘goats and monkeys’ to express his horrors.

The language is racist and some may find the language in ‘Othello’ demeaning and distasteful. But plays like ‘Othell’o can be used as tools to explore racism and racist views, both within an historical setting and a contemporary cultural or spiritual context.

‘Othello’ is a rich and satisfying play throughout. It is a great piece of work, it speaks to us of our own world, even though it came out of a very different one. Many of the issues in the play are still very relevant today. For example; the way in which stereotypes are created and come to be accepted.

The language of the play is of the time, yet inventive. There are many features of the language, but the play was written for theatrical performance (never published). The effects of the language are meant to be heard, and perhaps more effective on stage. The form of dialogue varies, but is usually blank verse, and therefore usually fairly formal. Rhymes verse is used occasionally for Iago’s songs jokes.

‘Othello’ was written during Shakespeare’s great tragic period, which also included the composition of ‘Hamlet’. ‘Othello’ is set against the backdrop of the wars between Venice and Turkey that raged in the latter part of the sixteenth century. Cyprus, which is the setting for most of the action, was a Venetian outpost attacked by the Turks in 1570 and conquered the following year. Shakespeare’s information on the Venetian-Turkish conflict probably derives from ‘The History of the Turks’ by Richard Knolles. The story of ‘Othello’ is also derived from another source—an Italian prose tale written in 1565 by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinzio (usually referred to as Cinthio). The original story contains the bare bones of Shakespeare’s plot.

Shakespeare writes marvellously in ‘Othello’ and all of his plays. Harold Bloom argues that the whole of the English-speaking sensibility, has been moulded by him and from him it fed into all the other Renaissance languages. He was so inventive, his inventiveness has been described as a ‘disease’. For example; ‘knave’, Shakespeare produced fifty different instances of it in his plays. The Oxford English Dictionary lists more than fourteen thousand Shakespeare quotations. There were more than three hundred film adaptions of Shakeseare in the twentieth century and I think it is safe to say almost every person in the United Kingdom will have read or seen at least one of his plays. This shows, not only his great impact at the time of his writing, but the continuous impact his work still has today.

In his time, English was also beginning a great journey to America, where English discovered a new land of words. The Plymouth Pilgrims took with them flags, Bibles but also this remarkable and rich language.

Shakespeare gave us a new world in words and insights which would colour, help, deepen and depict our lives in thoughts and feeling. He had to a great limit, exercised the most important faculty, the imagination.