Bloom, Hovold — Chel oF the Humor Fath Esteb, Lovdton, (198 OTHELLO “The character of ago. belongs to 2 laf character common to Shakpese and tthe same time pect hi—numely, hat of reat elect acy, accompanied wth total wat of mo prince, and therefore displaying telat the constant expense of ‘others, and seeking to confound the practical dsinctions of right and wrong, by referring them to some overstained standard of speculative refinement—Some persons, more ice tha Ws, have ‘hove the whole ofthe characte of lage unnatural. hukspear, who was que a good a phllompher athe was = poet, thought otherwie: Hebrew thatthe lve of power which another mame forthe love ofmiechle wa ratralto rman He would now this well or beter than fthad been demonstrated to im by a loge Angra, mes rom scng children pode the i, ol Tes foc port, We might nk hore who think the character oflgo not atu why they go tse performed, br rom he incest it lag And may—but how how sate, my lord? Would you, the superior gost ange on hold er opp Oi Death nd damnation! Or lag. were a teios dit, hi, “Tbring them to that prospect. Damn thm then lever moral eye dose them boler Mote than eheirown, What the’ how then? ‘What shall sy where satisfaction? {es imposible you shoul se thie Were they a pine gt, ho as monkeys, Assalt wolves in pride, 8 fools gross ‘As ignorance made dunk Ba ye, 1 mputton and song ereumsances ‘Which ead drety othe dor of ath Wl ve you sation, you ight have, (atm sgay) The ony cca prof possible what Oslo wil ot ety ago vel understands, ince the Moor wll nt ty his we viii. Shake spear shows uselousy in mena entering upon both vl and tm boa obsessions, because ofthe mae ase tha hee wil not be ncugh ‘ume and space for him Igo pliys powerully upon hel now mona‘ena aeson rom the only aor fat tht cou ive slain the tntrance into Desdemona Psychological mastery cio supe lage ‘contol of Othello, when the ensign choose reiely ht moment tin roduc a andkerchi, am sure i wa your we i ody Set Cassio wipe beard with” Dramatic mastery cannot exceed lagu ex Plotaton of Orhelios stage gesture of ecg to ser revenge (lia. ven so my bloody thoughts with viene pace ‘Shall acer look back ecb to humble ave “Tha capable and wide revenge Sallow them up. Now by yond mre esven Inthe due reverence of zed vow "ere engage my words, Io Denote yet. a Wines you ever buming lah above, You elements that ip us round about, ‘Wiens shat here ago doth give up ‘The execution of his, handy, het, ‘Towronged Otello sevice. Let him command And to obey sl en me remone ‘What bloody basins eve. Oat. get thy lve [Not with van thanks bur with acceptance Bounteous, ‘And wil yon the instant pu thet Wien these hee day let me eae thee ay ‘That Casio no alive. lag My frend is dead “Ts done—at your request Bu et herve. (Oa, Dam es, ew mine © dan he, da et Come, go with se apa ll whi “To fursh me wath ome sit means of death Fer the fr devil. Now at how my Heenan. age Lam your own for ever, a 0-82), Ieispectaclr theater with goa rector, "Do nt ise yt Andie is alco» countereoloy,samcending any Faustian bargin with the Desi since the sts andthe elements serves wines toa murderous sc, which culminates in the revel ofthe passing ove of lao inthe ay foreground "Now at thou my lesenan mess something very ferent from what Otho an understand will in your ov for eve seal Othello starry and elemental fate, What reruns sony the way down and ou, for everyone involved 5 Shakespeare creates temble pathos for us by not showing Desdemona in he fl ature and splendor unl we know tht she i doomed Dr ohn son found the death of Cordelia iclerable the dit of Desde, n iy experience a a eadr and thesterger, i even ore unendurable ‘Shakespeare sages the seen ta cific, 3 gry countertesogil a are lags passed-over milan and Othello gli jeslory, Though Desdemona in he anguish declares the Christan, she doesnt di marr to that hth but Becmes only another victim of what could be «alle he eligon of Moloch, sine she fa scr tothe war god whom Iago once woshiped, the Othello he seduced incoherence. “Othe: losoceupstons gon the shateredeiof Othello murders inthe nae ofthat occupation for he knows oth, andthe walking ghost of what he was ‘Millicent Hell recently has agued that Othe an epistemological seagedy, but only Iago hs intellect enough to sustain ich 8 notion, ad lage snot mach interested in how he knows wht he thinks he knows (ih, much 2 Kg Lar and Mac 3 vison fade Honk te Shakespeare’ trgedy of a intelectual. Though Shakespeare never ‘woul commit himself to speceally Christian terms he approached lind of gnome or heretic tragedy in Macht, aT wll atempe to show, Othllohas no tansendenal aspect, pethaps Because the religion of ar doesnot allow fr any go, who makes «new covenant wth Otello ‘when they keel together had ved and fought in what he tok tobe 30coldcovenant with his genera antl Casio was prefered oh A devout adherent tothe eof bi, hiss of mere by is god ha de ‘add tat god int “an honourable murderer," Othello exymoronic final sion fh role Can sch degradation allow he dignity raed for ‘A.C Bradley sted Onl below Halt Lar and Macht primary be cause gvesus no sense of univers powes impinging upon the lit of| ‘he human ehink thee powers hover in Ol, bt they mines then sehes only inthe gap tat dvds he ere, fregroundedeltonship besween Iago and Otello fom the process of ration that we observe becween hem. goss formidable igure because he has uncanay abi tes, endowments only avaible toa tue beer whos st has ns rte iv ism. Can, reece by Yahweh io aor of Abel, as much the father of go 25 ago the precusor of Muon Satan. Iago murders Roderigo and maims Cao, i sinconceable olga tou that ago ‘eckson Othello. Ifyou hve bee jected by your god hen yout tack hi situa oF metaphysical, not merely psa gos gent ‘trumps that he lapsed Othello sacatces Desdemona in the ame ‘ofthe war god Othello, the solitary waror wth whom umwisey sh as fallen sn love. Tht may be why Desdemona ofles no resistance, and makes so lave unsprte a delense, isto er tue and then a er Me Her victimization fall the more complete, and cur ove horror at ‘hereby i augmented “Though rich requnty has blinded slo thi Shakespeare had ro affection for war, or for violence organized o unorganized. His rest kaling machines ome 19 vow end: Otello, Macbeth, Antony, Car lana, His oor ware Si Joha Fatal whose moto is "Giveme life Orth moto cou be ‘Give me honor? which sanctions slugh ‘ering wife ast known, supposedly notin at, bt lin bono” DreadlyFwed even vious a the center at Othello, he ll rmeantto be the bes instance arable of profesional mercenary: What Jago once worshiped was real enough, but more ulnerble even han ago supeted Shakespeare sbeyitnates that Otello pir nat aed his ner incoherent brut are two faces of she war god but i remain the same god. Othello eccpation one partly bea he mi tall Pent. resentment, 2nd nt repesed at, animates Otello athe aves his los atonomy inthe nme of hit honor, lags test trump comes ‘when Otello oe hi seme of wat ins,andjls lagu Incest ca len agaist iy. “am not what am, Igo cro, beomes Chel implicit xy. The api and trait of Otello descent Sees 2 ence the plays one weakness and i mos persiasie stent, perssve | ae. ‘Desdemona des so ptecuy that Shakespeare ks senting for ‘ver fam Othello a. , banish me, my lr, bull me not i Down, snempet! Do Killme tomorrow lt me fete O Nay, you se rs But half an bout om, Being done, heen pase — es But whl ay one paver Of ee too ae, warren] Rather opel, Shakespeare eves Desdemona a ding breath tht steps to exonerate Otel, which would indeed strain credit if she were not, a Alin Keenan wonderlly put i "Shakespear word for love” We are made to blive that this wa at once the ost ature of ‘young women, ad aos loyal wo her murdter tat he exemplary Ist word scund lor oni gen Othe degradation, Commend to ny Kind lord, Freel It sere too much more for u to bear that (Othello should efi er ial at of lve. “She ike iar gone fo burn tng hell. Tas I dha led her" The influential modern asus wpon (Otello by T.5. Bot and FR. Leni take ther lab (sich is) from Shakespeare heaping up of Othello bray, spy, and un ritigated ple Br Shakerpeare slows Otello a great fpr recovery, nan astonishing fl peechSoft you, a word a to Belore you go. ave done the ate sme servic, nd they know [Nomore ofthat. I pay you yourleters, ‘When you shall thse unlucky deds relate, Speak of me as ar, Nothing extent, Norset down aught in malice Then mast you speak (Of ene that loved not wily, but to wel, (OF one not aly jealous, bt beng wrought, Perplexed in he extreme, of ne whose hand, Like the se Judea, hres pee ay Richer than all het of one whose subdued ve, [bit nated tothe meng mood, Drops tears fat the Arabian es Their medcnable gu, Set you down thi, And say besides that in Aleppo once, Wheres mallgrant nd trbaned Tk Beats Venetian and eadaced the ate rook by that the reumcsed dog ‘Ad soe bith He es ined Ivis36-s4) “This famous and prblematicoutbust rarely provokes any ert to gree with any othe yt the Ehot-Leaisinterpetatio, which hold that Othello essentially ‘cheering mse up "cannot be right. The Moor re smunsas divided a characte a Shakespeare ever cate, we need ve 90 credence othe aburd indnet of loved not wie bu to well” ofthe cutragens elf deeption of one not aly jelous” Yt we ae moved by the nth of perleedin he extreme” and by the invocation of Herd, “the be Judean who murdered his Mocabean wile, Marianne, hot beloved. The sociation of Otello with Herod the Gret the more shocking forcing Othello own judgment upon hinsell ands followed lye Moor ter andy his ine image of weeping ees. Nor should 2 fir eticfal tobe impresed by Otho ved upon hse shat he has become an enemy of Venice and s such must Be sin, His suchas nothing Roman Orel pases sentence pon himself, and performs the excstion, We ned oak what Venice wuld have done with Othello, tad he lowed utero surve. [venture that he seks forestall what right have been their polite decison to preserve him al he might be cf high ws agsn. Caso no Otel, the sate has no replacement for the Moo and might well have wed him agin doubtless under some on tel Al ofthe ssn Otello tht ago sensed and expe ate present in thi fi speech, but so final vision of judgment, one in which (Otello abandons his nostalgia for glorious war, and ply secks oe iste what cannot be expnted—no, at lest by 2 farewell to arms