MOOC - Harvard University: The Moor

Practice Assignment: Othello in the Modern Imagination

What do you think people today think of when they think of Othello? What are the images, lines, or associations that come to mind? How and in what context might they know it? Your response should be 200-300 words.

I am an A Level student, studying English Literature, and I think that Othello connotes fluid ideas of insecurity, conflict and identity. 

Firstly, in Act 1, Othello proves to the audience that he is cognizant of his rough demeanor, "little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace" (1.3.81) meaning that he is not able to communicate with elegant diction as other people can. This shows us that Othello is being honest with how he feels, and lets Desdemona speak for his identity herself. He also asks the Duke to not let his ethnicity be the judge of his character, "This only is the witchcraft I have us'd", which is a reference to the racist idea that the only way that Othello, being a black man, could win Desdemona's heart, is by using witchcraft and 'medicines'.

Brabantio's underlying fear of mixing races within his family shows the audience that this overshadows the love for his daughter, Desdemona, as personal conflict with Othello now, and his worry over his family's identity, is evident in his speech, "A maiden never bold" (1.3.94) yet, if this was the case, would Desdemona ever have chosen to defy the rules of her own father - whom, in Elizabethan times would have the final say over his daughter's hand in marriage - and run away to marry the moor? This successfully shows Shakespeare's overlapping themes of identity, as these characters have shown parts of themselves already, and the modern audience will be aware of this.

Throughout the play, we see that there is shifting between personal conflict and public conflict, and sometimes a merging of both aspects, which only aids to heighten Shakespeare's element of tragedy, as there are a plethora of issues happening in each character's life that they have to deal with. For example, the play begins with a private debate between Iago and Roderigo talking about their mutual dislike for the moor. Iago despises him for giving Cassio the role of Lieutenant which he desires more than anything. Furthermore, the beginning of Act 1 Scene 3 is all about the public conflict, as the Duke and the Senators debate for who to lead the Venetian force to go to Cyprus, however, there is then a union of the public and private conflict, when Brabantio accuses Othello of bewitching his daughter. Brabantio selfishly bears the weight of his troubles onto the Duke, clashing both public and personal together, effectively elevation the element of tragedy within the first act of the play.

These three ideas are examples of Shakespeare's use of insecurity, identity and conflict.