.ve-media wc:Kawah-Ijen_Indonesia_The-sulfur-mine-at_the-floor-of-the-crater-01.jpg right caption="Burning sulfur mine"
IAGO
And let him find it. Trifles light as air 🌬️
Are to the jealous confirmations strong 💪
As proofs ofholy writ ⛪️. This may do something.
The Moor already changes with my poison ☠️;
Dangerous conceits 😈 are in their natures poisons ☠️,
Which at the first are scarce found to distaste 🤫,
But with a little act upon the blood 🩸
Burn 🔥 like the mines of sulfur.
Shakespeare references Othello's rage by punctuating these lines in the play with violent diction (shown in red text).
_Enter Othello._
Look where he comes. Not poppy nor mandragora
Nor all the drowsy 🙃 syrups of the world
In Act I, Scene 3, Iago prompts Brabantio to accuse Othello of using narcotics to seduce Desdemona. Now, Iago intends to similarly manipulate Othello as he compares his words to narcotics. Look for Iago's references to narcotics with purple highlight!
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet 😌 sleep 😴Which thou owedst yesterday.
OTHELLO Ha, ha, false to me? 😡
IAGO
Why, how now, general? 🤷♂️ No more of that! ✋
OTHELLO
Avaunt! Begone! Thou hast set me on the rack. 😵
I swear ’tis better to be much abused
Than but to know ’t a little.
IAGO How now, my lord? 🤷♂️
OTHELLO
What sense had I of her stol’n hours of lust?
Notice how Othello refers to Desdemona as if she is his property by using the word "stol'n." Othello's perceived ownership over Desdemona derives from his high class, which prioritizes the surveillance of women as a means to maintain family status. (I learned about this topic in AP Euro!) Other word choices that suggest ownership and objectification of women are colored green (as in "green with envy").
I saw ’t not, thought it not; it harmed not me.I slept the next night well, fed well, was free 😇 and
merry.
I found not Cassio’s kisses 💋 on her lips.
He that is robbed, not wanting what is stol’n,
Let him not know ’t, and he’s not robbed at all.
The above pair of lines, I believe, reflects the essence of this excerpt. Through Othello, Shakespeare points out how ignorance, or "not wanting what is stol'n," is a more peaceful state of existence than being aware of a crime, so even if a person "is robbed," ignorance cannot be told apart from the case in which "he's not robbed at all."
IAGO I am sorry to hear this. 🫢.ve-media wc:Venetian_grenadiers_attack_an_Ottoman_fort%2C_1717.jpg right caption="Venetians attacking Ottoman fort" OTHELLO
I had been happy 🙂 if the general camp,
Pioners and all, had tasted her sweet body,
So I had nothing known. O, now, forever
Farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!
Farewell the plumèd troops and the big wars ⚔️
That makes ambition virtue! O, farewell!
In his essay on Othello, Hoover H. Jordan argues that ironically, Othello's demise comes from the strength he has in his moral values, which would prevent him from forgiving Desdemona in the case she truly did sleep with Cassio. Because he cannot compromise his values, referenced here in his mention of "virtue," he chooses to follow Iago. He repeats the word "farewell" out of his fear that he must part from his values. He follows his values militantly, hence the military references surrounding his farewells.1
Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump 🎺,The spirit-stirring drum 🥁, th’ ear-piercing fife 🪈,
The royal banner, and all quality,
Pride, pomp, and circumstance 🎉 of glorious war!
And O you mortal engines, whose rude throats
Th’ immortal Jove’s dread clamors ⚡ counterfeit,
Farewell! Othello’s occupation’s gone!
As I also read in Jordan's essay, Othello's apparent obliviousness to Iago's deceit may reference the dismissive perspective of the upper class on the affairs of the lower class. Othello's remark that his "occupation's gone" indicates how his knowledge of Desdemona's alleged plot removes his sense of class, in turn supporting the idea Jordan references.1
.ve-media wc:Gallow_-_british_jail.jpg right width=60% caption="The gallows, with hinge and loop" IAGO Is ’t possible, my lord?OTHELLO
Villain, be sure thou prove my love 💖 a whore!
Be sure of it. Give me the ocular 👀 proof,
Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul,
Thou hadst been better have been born a dog
Than answer my waked wrath 😡.
IAGO Is ’t come to this?
Notice how in all of his lines, Iago refrains from defending himself as Othello's rage grows. Instead, he takes the high road and blithely dismisses Othello's reaction as irrational, secretly content that his poison has infected him. Indeed, Iago positions himself to appear morally sound by not falling to the emotion he caused in Othello, in turn persuading Othello to trust him.
OTHELLOMake me to see ’t, or at the least so prove it
That the probation bear no hinge nor loop
To hang a doubt on, or woe 😫 upon thy life!
Shakespeare foreshadows Iago's execution by mentioning "hinge," "loop," and "hanging," which are the essential parts of the gallows. See the hinge (on the trapdoor) and loop in the image to the right. The fact that Othello references a hanging suggests that he and Iago are at war, and neither will come out alive. Furthermore, Jordan suggests in his essay that Othello committed suicide out of adherence to his values because he needed to punish himself for wrongfully murdering his wife. Hanging serves as a punishment, so Othello's reference to hanging fits Jordan's interpretation.1
1View Hoover H. Jordan's essay on JStor