Othello: In Defense of Honor - Essay Example

Othello: In Defense of Honor At the end of Act Scene 3, Iago characterizes Othello as "of a free and open nature,/That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,/And will as tenderly be led by the nose/As asses are" (393-396). Othello begins with a wealth of assumed history in regards to Iago: that Iago and Othello are time-tested friends, that Iago has long had a reputation for honesty, (for had he lied as freely in the past as he has now given himself license to do, he would have been found out before now), that Othello trusts Iago implicitly (no doubt, when Iago comments that Othello 'thinks men honest that but seem to be so', he refers to himself). So it doesn't take much-a few conversations, some circumstantial evidence (given emotional impact with graphic imagery of Cassio and Desdemona having sex) for Iago to convince the newly wed Othello that his beloved is untrue. After all, Iago and Othello's love is battle-tested. So when, convinced by Iago that Desdemona has indeed deceived him with Cassio, and after accusing Desdemona and hearing her reply of innocence, Othello is able without any doubt to attack with the sarcastic retort, "I cry you mercy then/ I took you for that cunning whore of Venice/That married with Othello" (4.2. 89-91). A long and established friend might be able to place doubt upon a new marriage, particularly in a culture where free exchange between the sexes is not allowed, and a new wife will necessarily be almost a stranger. But why such a sudden and violent response The answer there lies in several places: the culture of the time, Othello's character and Desdemona's character. When Othello begins, Iago reveals to Rodrigo his hatred of Othello. Othello had seen fit to elevate Cassio above Iago in the ranks of the military they both served. It was a position Iago thought should have been his. As Iago tells Rodrigo, Othello's own "eyes had seen the proof/At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds" (1.1 26-27) of Iago's worthiness, and yet not elevated him to the position he deserves. Iago views Othello's decision both as a betrayal and a trap: he sees himself forever the Moor's servant, and impotent. He stays with Othello only to exact his revenge: "I follow him to serve my turn upon him" (1.1. 40). Iago's revenge is to destroy Othello, as Othello has destroyed him, not just to kill him; and perhaps to cuckold Othello, as he feels cuckolded by Othello, though via power, not sex. But where is Othello vulnerable In his position as a military leader No, Othello is the Hero-Warrior: his reputation is known far and wide; all who served with or under him hold his military prowess in the highest regard; a stranger to Venetian society due to his background, Othello has risen to a renowned, entrusted rank. Othello is the good soldier, through and through; and Desdemona-a woman of high status in Venetian society, beautiful and wealthy--is the mirror in which he sees himself. Othello, as the good soldier, followed orders and expected others to follow his. Othello came to Venetian society as a slave, kidnapped, and ended by converting, and rising within the new society, almost literally, by tooth and nail. Desdemona, on the other hand, had the opposite response to her treatment as property at least in respect to her marriage: she simply behaved as would a free woman; she loved whom she chose, and married when she chose. In this way, Desdemona rejected her casting in life as property. She had in fact shown no interest in marriage before: "So opposite to marriage that she shunned/The wealthy curled darlings of our nation" (1.2. 66-67). Does it not hint to Othello of a dangerous sense of freedom Desdemona has not acted according to convention; Desdemona has done what she will: what else is Desdemona capable of that defies convention Othello says of Iago: "This fellow's of exceeding honesty/And knows all qualities with a learned spirit/Of human dealings" (3.3, 258-259). Suddenly, Othello begins to suspect depths, complexities, dishonesties, nuances, that he had never suspected before, and is unsettled. He has always done as convention demanded, yet he was only able to wed Desdemona because she flouted those very conventions: not just in her actions, but in her mind. It is through Iago--"She did deceive her father, marrying you/And when she seemed to shake and fear your looks,/She loved them most" (3.3. 207-209)--that Othello first begins to contemplate the implications of this. Isn't she, after all, "free of speech" (3.3. 186); that is, unrestrained and spontaneous Is she also free of action And doesn't this, in and of itself, threaten the rightfully lofty position of honor Desdemona, then, is Othello's weakness: through his love for her, he has moved into a realm which is entirely alien and thus, upset his stability--"But I do love thee. And when I love thee not,/Chaos is come again" (3.3. 91-91)-a stability he must have worked hard to gain, having been taken from his home and dumped unceremoniously in an alien state. Desdemona herself is a product of that alien culture. Although Othello has ostensibly converted, both to Christianity and to the Venetian world-view, we see that under his surface is a magical orientation to the world: the handkerchief given to him by his mother, and in turn to Desdemona by Othello, is a magical artifact, a thing of power. The power of the handkerchief (as Othello told Desdemona after she had already lost it) is to keep a lover faithful: Othello's own mother had used it to "subdue [Othello's] father/Entirely to her love" (3.4. 57-58). So, it is not Desdemona herself then, that is Othello's weakness, it is the thing that the handkerchief was created for and comes to represent: the power of the sexual infidelity of a spouse to turn the faithful spouse to ill effect. But, to murder Othello is accustomed to control: he is a military leader; he is accustomed to people doing what he orders. Othello's marriage to Desdemona leaves him vulnerable to attack via her infidelity; because her actions, indeed her feelings, are not things that Othello can control. Othello has come into marriage with an immaturity that could only come from being reared in a society where women are Other, potentially evil and as dangerous as they are attractive; and then to have spent his entire adult life in a wholly male environment, marrying after his security there is assured. Desdemona's uncontrollable passions throw Othello into a state of acute existential insecurity: "O curse of marriage/That we can call these delicate creatures ours,/And not their appetites!" (3.3 268-270). Indeed, thus did Desdemona's father complain about his lack of ability to control the actions of his daughter: "O heaven! How she got out O treason of the blood!" (1.1 166-167). And this is a central feature of most sexist societies: the actions of a woman owned by a man, whether wife or daughter, directly reflect upon the man. The woman has no independent agency; she exists only as an extension of her owner. Therefore, if a woman is sexually unfaithful to a man, he is considered at fault; it is his lack of ability to control her that is at stake (though, as Othello and Desdemona's father know, they are responsible for something they cannot by nature control: the actions of another being). The man becomes an object of scorn, not the woman who was deceitful. And thus, Othello suffers the same existential agony as did Cassio on believing that his reputation is destroyed. Othello has earned respect, with his blood and the blood of others. If Desdemona has been unfaithful, then she has created of him an object of scorn; in one fell swoop, she has destroyed, not only years of hard-earned respect (and for an ex-slave, this respect is nothing less than the key to his survival), but also his career, all that he has ever had. If he be an object of scorn, then she has destroyed his life, for humans live almost first in a cultural world, and next in a physical one. His position in Venetian culture is his survival. Believing fully that Desdemona has been unfaithful, having had a fear aroused that he didn't know existed, Othello determines to kill Desdemona: "I will withdraw/To furnish me with some swift means of death/For the fair devil" (3.3 477-478). After Othello is found to have killed Desdemona, when asked what should be said of him, Othello answers "Why, anything/An honorable murderer, if you will/For naught I did in hate, but all in honor" (5.2. 293-295). Unfortunately, we don't need to look into the past for justification of honor killings, as they still go on today. Honor killing occurs when a male family member kills a female family member who has, or who somebody says has, besmirched the family's name by behaving in what is considered to be a dishonorable way (generally, an act with sexual overtones). Once the woman is killed, the family has freed itself from its wayward member, and shown that they value the Good over the life of an individual: the values of the group come first; the family can be trusted to ensure that its members will not stray. This practice is what Othello cites in his defense. His defense is not entirely spirited, or righteous, however. Why Perhaps because he has done all he can do to restore his honor, by proving that if he is cuckolded, the woman will die, and--it doesn't matter. He doesn't have a family, a village to go back to; he has no place to retreat and lick his wounds; Othello had nothing except his reputation; and that is gone. He is alone, and he has killed a Venetian daughter, and he was defending, not just his honor, but his life; and not a person in the world would understand that. Othello's entire life has been about honor. He has risen to a position high in Venetian society based on his honorable reputation as a Warrior-Hero. Cuckolded, he sees himself as fundamentally unworthy of Desdemona; an outsider in understanding and in refinement; as the thing he has fought so hard to change: an eternal outsider, a convert to a faith which did not want him. He is thrown (without her love) into Chaos. After finding out that Desdemona was true, Othello commits suicide. He can't live with what he has done. One wonders if he could have lived with what he had done, had he been right Apparently so. As a warrior, Othello has killed before: the goal of the community overrides the goals of any particular individual; just as the honor of the family is more important than the actions of its chattel. But he now knows that he has killed for no reason: And this is the tragedy, as far as Othello is concerned: not that he has killed somebody he loved, but that he has killed her wrongly. Othello's last act is suicide. One could postulate that since he has now killed himself for violating the code of honor-by killing wrongly-that Othello does not die in a state of existential anomie, because his suicide is the ultimate nomizing act, for Othello-a final act of honor. But in terms of the corporeal world, Iago has succeeded (a minimal success, if there ever was, since Iago now sits in jail). Othello is undone. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Othello. Annot. and Intro. Burton Raffel, w/ essay by Harold Bloom. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005. Read More