Ever seen that annoying dude in the office got promoted before you did, and you thought that you’ve actually busted your nut to get that right cover sheet for that report two months ago? But management don’t really care do they? Not because you’re (perceptibly) a dodgy cuntuss, but because they just like this guy better for whatever reason. So what do you do? You’d probably go to the pub, drink a few beers, drive drunk, make love to the missus to vent everything out and get on with your life. Life goes on, and you get on with your work, and maybe you’ll get promoted next year.
Well, I’ve never had the pleasure of this experience. But it seems that this sort of thing was happening in the 1400s as well, because that Iago guy is slimy as fark. And he’s not just scheming to get you removed, but to absolutely destroy your soul and send you deep to hell. And the thing is, he is a respectable member of the community and uses this to his full advantage. And let’s face it. The signboard says Othello, but Iago is the headliner.
This is not to say that Othello is an uninteresting character himself. He is actually one of the most interesting out of all Shakespeare’s protagonists — an obvious outsider, letting his passions determine his actions, yet regarded highly by his peers. Othello is the “moor” and his gifts are used to win campaigns, where his perceived experience as an outsider is valuable in defeating the Turks in Cyprus, though it was through nature’s roll of the dice that he remained unscathed and wins the battle.
Othello married Desdemona without the consent of her father, who was obviously unhappy when he found out and wanted to castrate Othello. This series of events was orchestrated of course, by old mate Iago who’s trying everything he can to bring Othello down. And after this, he’s scheming all sorts of things with his mate, Rodrigo, who’s got a thing for Desdemona. So there’s reason for them colluding.
Desdemona, of course, is innocent if not a little daft. Iago’s plan is to convince Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him with some other stud of an Italian bloke, Cassio, who’s loyal, smart, but gets pretty edgy when he drinks. Iago uses this to get Cassio dismissed and his scheme is for Desdemona to convince Othello to bring Cassio back based on merit. But Cassio can come off as a lady’s man, and with a bit of tilt, Othello was convinced that Cassio’s got his dabber on the honeypot.
All of Shakespeare’s plays, from the surface, are guilty of seeming complex in terms of its story, but when you start to read them, you realise that you can follow the story. But out of all of Shakespeare’s plays, Othello perhaps is one of the most complex in terms of its themes. There is a lot of things happening here — love and trust, jealousy, friendship, race, sex. It is arguably the richest of Shakespeare’s plays and is the better for it.
Othello is as far as I know, the earliest non-white protagonist in literature. His plight then is the same as the plight of minorities who have tasted success, that despite his background he can still taste success, and even at his success he is not truly safe. Is Iago racist that he wanted to destroy Othello due to these tendencies? Or really, he is just finding someone to hate, and that Othello is the most obvious candidate. Othello is treated with respect by his peers when times are good, but labelled as a savage, thick-lips or devil.
It is also, as far as I know, one of the earliest work of literature that deals with interracial marriage. Desdemona’s relationship with Othello is genuine, we know. Regardless whether the relationship was consummated to not, it is not the relationship itself that should interest us, but how the relations is affected by their immediate circles (looking at you, douche Iago). The Venetian men can’t believe Iago’s luck, that despite plenty offers from other Venetians, Desdemona chose an outsider.
But imagine Othello at Shakespeare’s time. Were there really anyone who was a minority who really was anyone back then? In the modern day, Othello would have been a VC of a multi-national — perhaps of an African American background. It would have been difficult to have gotten that status, and in these times it is still difficult to maintain it. In this way, Othello is relevant, because Iagos are everywhere.
But what I don’t get is whether Shakespeare was endorsing the image of Othello as a savage, or whether he was a victim of his circumstances, or more accurately — a combination of the two. Othello as a black man is still victim to the author’s stereotypes of his context. But for me, Othello is more of a cautionary tale to the audience of the consequences of passion without thought, and the futility of hatred.
