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Keirra Dukes

Mrs. Murdock

AP Literature and Composition

3 October 2009

The word Beseech

The word “beseech” has many definitions; according to the Oxford English

Dictionary it has some meanings to ask or to search for, just to name a few. The main

context of the word used by the characters in Othello is to ask. Many of the characters use

the word beseech while asking Othello to do something. Emilia asked Othello “I do

beseech you that I may speak with you, O, good my lord!”(Act 5. Scene 2), she was

asking Othello can she talk to him. Lodovico also ask Othello to do something, “Truly, an

obedient lady: I do beseech your lordship, call her back.”(Act 4, Scene 1). Throughout

the story the characters ask Othello things using the word “beseech” instead of “ask”,

there are two possible reasons for why they do this; one reason being that they didn’t

have the word “ask” back in Shakespeare’s time or that the characters have to address

questions to lords or people of higher class in that matter.

The meaning of “beseech” changes as the story goes on. Up until the third act the

context of the word is “to search for” or “to seek”. But after the third act the word begins

to mean “to ask” and remains the same context through the end of the story. Most of the

uses of the word in the story was “to ask”.

The usage of the word “beseech” seems to have a lot to do with class. Everyone

who asks Othello question use the word “beseech”, it separates the classes, just like some

of the characters addressing Othello as “lordship”. The word “beseech” is a sign of

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respect and shows that many of the characters respect Othello for all he has done and who

he is, which is kind of like a hero because of the things he did in the war in Cyprus. As

for the other definition of “beseech” that was mentioned earlier in the previous paragraph

“to search for” “to seek”, they don’t really have a connection with the characters in the

story. One thing that was noticed was that most of the characters with high rankings such

as Brabantio and Othello used “beseech” in the context of “to search for” instead of the

other main usage of the word as used by the other characters in the story, which is “to

ask”. This was another way of separating the classes throughout the story along with

pros. The characters who weren’t really of a higher class didn’t use the word the same

way, so kind of depending on the class or rather someone is rich or poor really effects

the usage of the word.

“Beseech” has many uses and Iago and Cassio both use the word most often and

in the context of “to search”. They are considered to be the “bad guys”; Iago being who

causes the whole drama in the story, Cassio being the guy who is suppose to be

Desdemona’s secret lover. The word “beseech” is a word used by the “bad people”.

“Beseech” isn’t a “bad” word just used the most by “bad people”.

With all the meanings of the word “beseech” the word can be used many times in

many different situations.