Shakespeare’s Language


Othello


O, I were damned beneath all depth in hell


Othello Act 5 Scene 2, l.164


governing the characters. Iago routinely expresses his hatred of Othello in racist abuse, calling him a ‘Barbary horse’ and ‘an old black ram’. Such images reflect the prejudice in Venetian culture and of Shakespeare’s contemporary audience. Iago also debases human relationships to their lowest level, depicting Desdemona and Cassio’s friendship on animalistic terms, ‘hot as monkeys’.


The ensign’s choice of words frequently suggests his warped loathing for others. He is confident that Othello can be ‘led by the nose/ As asses are’ and predicts that ‘with as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio’. Over time, as the exasperated Moor becomes increasingly obsessed with jealousy, echoes of Iago’s animal imagery are found in his speech. ‘I had rather be a toad … ’ he cries, ‘Than keep a corner in the thing I love/ For others’ uses’. After publicly humiliating his wife, Othello retreats in rage, shouting, ‘Goats and monkeys!’ Indeed, by the start of Act 4, the once- noble general has been reduced to a ‘a monster and a beast’.


Hell and heaven


Images of hell and damnation recur throughout the play. Iago is frequently referred to in devilish terms and identifies himself with the forces of evil vengeance. He ends his Act 1 Scene 3 soliloquy


with the chilling promise ‘Hell and night/ Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light’. The audience is never left in doubt that Iago delights in the ‘Divinity of hell’.


As his jealousy grows, the Moor’s language becomes preoccupied with damnation. In one of his many outbursts, he strikes Desdemona in public, calling her ‘Devil’. Towards the end of the story, Othello is preoccupied with the religious and moral judgement of Desdemona and himself. After he has learned the awful truth about Iago’s scheming, Othello calls him a devil several times. Shortly before he kills himself, the Moor cries out for eternal spiritual and physical torment in hell, ’Whip me, ye devils … Roast me in sulphur!’


Shakespeare makes effective use of contrasting imagery to highlight Desdemona’s innocence. Her essential goodness is reflected in Cassio’s description of her as the ‘divine Desdemona’ and Roderigo also idolises her ‘most blessed condition’. Emilia echoes these words, referring to her mistress as an ‘angel’ who has been cruelly murdered by Othello, ‘the blacker devil’.


In his final moments of traumatic despair, Othello tries to make sense of Iago’s evil and wonders, ‘If that thou be’est a devil, I cannot kill thee’. The Moor’s overwhelming awareness of failure is clearly evident at the close of this tragic story


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