Marais, Michel
19289782
Theatre Studies 114
Research Assignment: Othello
Othello's Killing of Desdemona
"Othello's killing of Desdemona is not murder, but a sacrifice. He is to save Desdemona from herself, not in hate but in honour." (Bradley, A.C., 1904)
The events leading up to the killing of Desdemona in the play Othello, by Shakespeare unlock the truth regarding the motive of the killing. Before this killing can be ruled either, a murder out of hatred, or a sacrifice in order to preserve honour, the definitions of these terms must first be closely examined. It must also be determined whose honour is in question, Desdemona's? Or Othello's?
Murder is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2015), as "the crime of unlawfully killing a person, especially with malice aforethought." While Othello killing Desdemona was an unlawful act, it was not done out of a malignant desire to kill her as the definition suggests. It was an act of love as described by his dying words "One who loved not wisely, but too well." (Act 5, Scene 2, 343). Othello can hereby not be held accountable for murder.
Hate, or hatred is defined as an "intense hostility and aversion, usually deriving from fear, anger or sense of injury." (Merriam-Webster, 2015). Othello was not fearful, aggravated or injured by Desdemona in any way. He had only the utmost love for her. Her killing was then also not an act of hatred.
Honour and sacrifice go hand in hand in the light of Desdemona's killing. Honour can be defined either as "A quality of knowing and doing what is morally right." or "A woman's chastising or her reputation for being chaste." (Oxford Dictionaries, 2015). And the definitions of sacrifice are "Destruction or surrender for the sake of something else." and "Something given up or lost." (Merriam-Webster, 2015). If Othello was in possession of the knowledge of what is morally right, he would not have killed his wife and if Desdemona was chaste, Othello would accomplish nothing in preserving her honour by killing her. Keeping this in mind, the assumption can be made that neither Othello nor Desdemona had any honour and the killing was no sacrifice.
This brings us to the question, "But what really happened then?" The answer is quite simple: Desdemona's death was a mere casualty in a greater scheme by Iago. If anyone could be blamed for the death it would likely be him. Adolf Hitler can be used as a more recent and relatable character to convey the motives of Iago's deeds, as both Hitler and Iago share the same mode of thought on gaining power and brining about their master plans.
Iago is genuinely angered at the fact that he did not receive the promotion to lieutenant instead of Cassio and harbours a resentment towards Othello akin to Adolf Hitler's resentment towards the Jews in the middle 1900's. Hitler believed that the Jews were responsible for the loss of the First World War and more broadly the downfall of humanity in general. This resentment is fuelled by the suspicion that Othello is having relations with Iago's wife, Emilia. Out of this aggravated state, Iago hatches a plan to tarnish Othello's reputation, hereby ruining Othello as a man (like Hitler was devoted to ruining the Jewish race).
Iago wishes to expose Othello as the Devil, this is apparent in his dialogue with Brabantio where he states "Even now, now, very now an old black ram is topping your white ewe [...] Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you." (Act 1, Scene 1, 88-91). Brabantio adopts this philosophy and accuses Othello of putting Desdemona under a "charm" of sorts, believing that his daughter would not willingly go into a relationship with an unholy person. He so readily believes that Othello is a demon or a magician because it is not uncommon to find that black skinned men were considered devils in human form during that time (123helpme, n.d.). Reginald Scott notes in his literary work "The Discovery of Witchcraft", published in 1548 that, "Bodin alloweth the divell the shape of a black moore." (Shmoop, Inc., 2010). Hitler followed the same path when he indoctrinated the German people to believe that the Jews are servants of the Devil (Holocaust-History, n.d.).
Hitler devoted chapters in his book "Mein Kampf" to the use and study of propaganda, showing that Hitler knew how to indoctrinate the masses to believe whatever Hitler wants them to believe (Hitler, A., 1940). Iago did not study this art but knew the human psyche well enough to retrieve the same effect. (Kinghorn, E., 2010)
Iago goes about bringing Othello's reputation down by playing with how Othello views his identity. Othello is viewed by many as a brave soldier, an honourable man, a great man (Kinghorn, E., 2010). Throughout the play Othello is called degrading names, because of his race. Some of these include: The moor, thick lips, sooty bosom, foul thief and damn'd (123helpme, 2015). It is not entire impossible that Othello began to think of himself as a lesser man (like many of the Jews believed that they were not human as Hitler preached (Holocaust-History, n.d.) ) after being badgered for many years of his life. This would lead to Othello being at the mercy of Iago and putting Iago in charge of his future. So could Othello truly be blamed for the death of his wife?