Honesty in Othello

Rice University

Honest Othello: The Handkerchief Once More Author(s): Michael C. Andrews Source: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 13, No. 2, Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama (Spring, 1973), pp. 273-284 Published by: Rice University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/449739 . Accessed: 18/07/2013 21:44
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Othello: Honest Once The Handkerchief More
MICHAEL C. ANDREWS

Othellowarns in There are two accountsof the handkerchief Othello. In the first, by with "magic in the web," givento his mother Desdemona that it is a love-charm an Egyptian;in the second, he tells Gratiano it was "an antique token/My father As carries conviction. version opinion,the first to gave mymother."Contrary current such hypnoticelowith Othello's suicide speech, Shakespearegives his protagonist the making audiencerealizeOthello quence that an actor would havegreatdifficulty is not tellingthe truth.There is no indicationthat Othello is lying,nor is he elseto Unwillingness believethatShakespeare as wherecharacterized an able dissembler. the mayreflect same racial superstitious could have conceivedof Othelloas genuinely of that self-consciousness has on occasion led to a denialof the importance Othello's thatOthellodoes indeed A racial background. close examinationof the text suggests by is version not discredited to The imputemagicalproperties thehandkerchief. first context,or may the second; the differences be explainedon the basis of the dramatic as a carelesserror the partof Shakespeare. on

verThe fact that Othellogivestwo different has, of sions of the history the fatalhandkerchief predictably, account and moreelaborate In not passed unnoticed.1 his first is OthellotellsDesdemonathatthehandkerchief a (III.iv.53ff.), froman Egyptian received his talisman mother love-controling "charmer": she toldher,whileshekeptit and subduemyfather 'Twouldmakeheramiable, ifshelostit, to Entirely herlove: but eye of Or madea present it,myfather's and shouldhunt Shouldhold herloathly, hisspirits she new fancies: dying, gaveit me, After And bid me,whenmyfatewouldhaveme wive offered here,and Othello,2nd ed. (1886), p. 317. The interpretations 1See Variorum will thoseof subsequentwriters, be dealt withlaterin thispaper.

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To giveit her;I did so, and takeheed on't, Make it a darling, yourpreciouseye, like To lose, or give'taway,weresuchperdition As nothing could match. else
(11.55-66)2

Desdemona, shocked and at least momentarily incredulous,3 asks"Isn't possible?"Othellothencontinues: 'Tis true, there's magicin theweb of it: A sibyl, thathad number'd theworld in The sun to maketwohundred compasses, In herprophetic fury sew'd thework; The worms werehallow'dthatdid breedthesilk, And it was dyedin mummy, whichtheskilful of Conserve maiden'shearts. (11.67-73) At the end of the play,however, whenOthellois pathetically to Desdemona'smurder, merely attempting justify he to refers the proofof guiltafforded Cassio's possession "the recogof by nizanceand pledgeof love,!Which first I gaveher;I saw it in his It was a handkerchief; antiquetoken/ father an My gave hand,/ mymother" (V.ii.215-218).4 Although critics have offered ingenious interpretations whereby substitution Othello'sfather the"Egyptian" the of for and the omissionof any mention the magicalproperties of of the handkerchief it withsignificance, seemsto become fraught me thatall attempts explainOthello'swordsto Desdemona to as prevarication liableto thesamecriticism are NevillCoghillso levels at T. S. Eliot's readingof Othello's suicide devastingly speech.To Eliot, of course,Othello'sfinalspeechis an "exposure of human weakness" ratherthan an expression "the of in greatness defeatof a noble buterring nature."After quoting are All references to the Arden Othello,ed. M. R. Ridley (1958, rpt.with minor 1962). 3corrections, Desdemona asks a second time if the storyis true; beingassuredthatit is "most veritable"she declares: "Then would to God that I had neverseen it!" (III.iv.75). AfterOthello departs in a jealous rage she appears perplexedbut unconvinced: . "Sure there'ssome wonderin thishandkerchief.." (1.99). in to There are otherbriefreferences the handkerchief the play, none mentioning has magic.Too much,I think, been made of this.

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analysis: his the speech (V.ii.339-357), Eliot offers influential this WhatOthelloseemsto be doingin making speechis to up. himself He is endeavouring escape realcheering ity, he has ceased to thinkabout Desdemona,and is about himself... Othello succeeds in turning thinking by into a patheticfigure, adoptingan aesthetic himself himself rather than a moral attitude, dramatizing but He againsthis enrivonment. takesin the spectator, is to thehumanmotive primarily takein himself. has "I do not believe,"Eliot concludes,"that any writer ever as the exposed this bovarysme, human will to see things they than Shakespeare."5To thisProfessor are not, more clearly logic,thatEliot's interunassailable withI think Coghillreplies, in is pretation unworkable the theater:"Whattonesof voice, a can an actor use to suggest Bovarist what move or gesture, himselfup?" And how is the audience supposed to cheering up himself forbeingso Othellois cheering "whether determine his he or grossa fool and a failure, whether is cheering audience a once again,and at the lastmoment, trueflash up by showing him?"Morehonoured for thatnobility whichtheyhad first of would Coghillpointsout,Eliot's Shakespeare over,as Professor dramatist: a clumsy haveto be considered remarkably had wishedto conveythe "terrible For if Shakespeare exposure of human weakness" that Eliot sees in Othello's speech, he could veryeasily have made this or singlepurposeplain, unless he was a bungler, quite For he to indifferent theeffect was creating. ifMr.Eliot is right, betterthisspeechis spokenand acted,the the moreit mustdeceivetheaudience;and thisis,in effect,
5"Shakespeare and the Stoicism of Seneca" (1927), Selected Essays (New York, 1950), pp. 110-111. See also F. R. Leavis,"Diabolic Intellectand the Noble Hero," in Scrutiny,IV (1937), reprinted The CommonPursuit(New York, 1952); D. A. An Traversi, Approach to Shakespeare2nd ed. (AnchorBooks, 1956), pp. 148-149; Leo Kirschbaum,"The Modern Othello," ELH, II (1944), 287, 295; Robert B. Heilman,Magic in the Web (Lexington,Ky., 1956), pp. 164-68; Paul A. Jorgensen, " "'Perplex'd in the Extreme': The Role of Thoughtin Othello, Shakespeare400, ed. JamesG. McManaway(New York, 1964), p. 275.

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conceded by Mr. Eliot, who says Othello"takes in the spectator."6 The handkerchief speechseemsto me an analogousinstance. How are we to know that Othello is fictionalizing?7 For one says that Othello is speaking whether symbolically is and really"askingDesdemona to restoreto him the sacredness of "8 love, or simplytrying "to cover up the real reason for his disproportionate passion over such a trifle,"9 lines are dethe in signed, Eliot's phrase,to take us in. To adoptProfessor Coghill's argument, "the betterthisspeechis spokenand acted,the moreit mustdeceivetheaudience";10 more,in short, are the we willing acceptthehandkerchief an authentic to as element from Othello'sexoticand fabulous past. To say thatOthellois concocting horrific a primitive legend is symptomatic modern skepticismwith regard to the of of morerevealing our age thanapposite. and heroic,11 is perhaps
6Shakespeare'sProfessionalSkills (London, 1964), pp. xiv-xv.Cf. Dover Wilson, Othello (1957), pp. li-liii. Introduction the New Cambridge to "O hardness to dissemble!" (Othello's aside at III.iv. 30) calls attentionto how difficult is for Othello to pretendnothingis the matter.Indeed, his early reit sponses show that he dissemblesvery badly. Nor-for reasons to be mentioned be later-should Desdemona's apparentskepticism construedas Shakespeare'sway of alerting to the "truth." us "Justiceand Love in Othello," UTQ, XXI (1951-1952), Winifred T. Nowottny, M. 337. Cf. Heilman,Magic in the Web,pp. 208-218. I have no quarrelwithsymbolic I readingsof the handkerchief; merelywish such readingswould begin with the it rather thantreating as puremetaphor. literalmeaning, build outward, and p. Eldred Jones,Othello's Countrymen (London, 1965), p. 102. Cf. Variorum, 317, for the opinions of Cowden-Clark and Steevens. Steevens' view-Othello is "purposely ostentatious, orderto alarmhis wifethe more" (laterhe tellsthe truth)-is in MP, XLIV Ricks,EIC, X (1960), 117; cf. Moody E. Prior, endorsedby Christopher (1946-47), 231-232; MarkVan Doren, Shakespeare(Anchor Books, 1953), p. 197. marvels. . . Tucker Brooke and Laurence Mason declare that "Othello is inventing to tryhis wife's conscience" (Yale Othello [New Haven 1948], p. 163. See also LaurenceLerner, "The Machiaveland the Moor," EIC, IX (1959), 358. here: "It follows... Coghill'sconclusionis also relevant 10Coghill,p. xv. Professor that what begins as an attack on Othello's characterturnsout as undermining craftsmmanship." 1Shakespeare's Noble Moor," BritishAcademy ShakespeareLecture See Helen Gardner,"e 1935-1960, ed. Anne Ridler(London, 1963), pp. (1955), in ShakespeareCriticism "'Under WhichKing,Bezonian?' " Elizabethan 348-370. See also PeterAlexander, and Jacobean Studies Presented to Frank Percy Wilson (Oxford, 1959), pp. 167-172. In Shakespeare Survey, 21 (Cambridge,1968), p. 7, Helen Gardner shrewdlysuggeststhat Eliot is really attacking"Shakespeare's inadequate [to thanOthello's . . .". Eliot] view of lifeand deathrather

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for Once on this road, it is easy to push onward-to suggest, example,that Othello is also lyingwhenhe assuresthe senate of thatphysicaldesireplays no partin hiseagersupport Desdeallowed to accompanyhim to mona's request that she be Cyprus(I.iii). And this,of course,has happened.Othello,we and consciously lustful, are told, knows Moors are considered "But the fact is attemptsto "side-step"such an imputation: aspects to thatOthellois not nearlyso indifferent thephysical of of love as he makes out. In Cyprus,wherethe strains his and natural is his positionare morerelaxed, behaviour perfectly is "12 plausiblepsychologizing perhaps warm. This seductively that Shakespeareis inevitabletoday, since we tend to forget From a less nor,afterall, our contemporary. a neither novelist is modernpointof view it shouldbe obviousthatShakespeare Othello'slack of emphasizing (if effectively not "realistically") later aspectof theplay.One thinks, self-knowledge, an essential of between Othello'sconception of the difference forexample, Desdemona's death as a "sacrifice"and his actual conductin V.ii. SurelyOthello is not lyingto us when he speaksof the of justice of his "cause." As a generalprinciple his abstract is pains to alertus to Shakespeare at considerable dramaturgy, of thedeceptiveness thosewho "lie like truth." the concerning The reductio ad absurdum of skepticism and of credibility Othellois easyenoughto imagine, is in factto critics, be found in that John the Baptist of the debunking BernardShaw, whoseHesione Hushabyeis not only confident a past, but suspects Othello fabricated portionof his romantic that her thathe killedDesdemonato prevent discovering some werelies.13 stories of his fine-sounding to haveattempted arguethat how It is interesting fewcritics shouldbe takenas account of the handkerchief Othello's first 14 the literaltruth. There is some piquancy in the fact that, scene,"shows an enthup. 12Jones, 96. Cf. his assertionthat Othello,in the murder the concealed from senate" siasm forDesdemona'sbody whichhe had deliberately (p. 97). House,Act. I. '3Heartbreak theirreasonsfor acceptingthisspeechincludeG. R. Elliott,Flaming giving 14Critics of World (Durham, N.C., 1953), pp. 145-148; JohnWain, The Living Minister "Was (Pelican Books, 1966), p. 147; and Fernand Baldensperger, Shakespeare XX and and Studies NotesinPhilogy Literature, Othello an Ethiopian?,"Harvard conwho providesan invaluablefundof information (1938), 3-14. Baldensperger "one of the considers handkerchief cerningElizabethanattitudestowardsamulets,

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modem skepticsand idealstarting fromopposite directions, and findthemselves in izingtraditionalists intoeach other, back in agreement. traditional The view,as expressed the Variorum, thatOthellosimply canis presumably based on theassumption not harborsuch primitive notions: he mustremaina civilized of One European gentleman he is to be worthy our regard. if of Miss Preston: thinksof the artlessconfession the immortal "In studying the play of Othello,I have alwaysimaginedits hero a whiteman. It is truethedramatist paintshimblack,but level,the Prestonian refusal to man."15On a somewhat higher We accept what the play givesus is stillto be encountered. see and ifit is not whiteit is (despite Othello'svisagein our minds, Discussing Roderigo's "thick lips" I.i.66) at least un-Negroid. what he calls the "confusionof colour and contour,"M. R. Ridley speaks of the kind of black man the role requires: One of the finest heads I have everseen on anyhuman being was that of a negroconductorof an American thanan ordinthicker Pullmancar. He had lips slightly and he had somewhat curly hair;forthe ary European's, forehead,a rest he had a long head, a magnificent chisellednose, rather sunkencheeks,and hisexkeenly and a trifle melancholy. pressionwas grave,dignified, have sat to a sculptor He was coal-black,but he might for a statue of Caesar, or, so far as appearancewent, Othello.(p. li) haveplayeda superb so Miss Preston, the unconscious ironyof Ridley is correcting one this passage is particularly grateful delightful: is especially between for the "keenly chisellednose." Surelythe contrast of Othello's appearance(by the standards the play, not only and unlikelyto inspirelove but even frightening) his inner worthis one of Shakespeare'sbasic points.Appearancebelies ranks in those powerfulEthiopiantalismans. . . which any specialist superstitions of to-dayamong the most efficient all the magichelpersof a creduloushumanity" essay,but quotes froma (p. 13). R. B. Heilmandoes not mentionBaldensperger's is for personalletter:Othello is "an inbornfetichist," whomthehandkerchief "an amulet withoutequal" (Magic in the Web, p. 283, n. 83). See also JamesA. S. McPeek, "The Arts Inhibited' and the Meaningof Othello," BUSE, I. (1955), 129-147; and W. H. Auden,n. 22 below. p. SVariorum, 395; quoted by Ridley,ArdenOthello,p. li.

this shade does not suit the man. . . Othello was a white

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reality:lago, afterall, is the sort of man who inspires confiwho infers that dence. I do not go so faras LaurenceLerner, and sumsup the fromcolourprejudice," "Shakespearesuffered play as "the story of a barbarianwho (the pity of it) relapses." 16But I am certainthat Othello's personaland racial backgroundare vital to the play. Paul Robeson insiststhat as Othello's "color is essentially secondary-except it emphain thisis onlypartially true. sizes the difference culture."17But of lago's temptation Othellodependsupon the kind of naivete behavior whenlago's Robeson has in mind;buthisimpassioned "medicine" works (e.g., his speech at IV.i.31ff.and passioninduced trance)reflects Shakespeare's acceptanceof the poputhan lar notion that blacks are more passionately emotional whites.This does not seem to me to be the same thingas withprejuthatthe view is not dramatized prejudice, provided more dicial intent.In Othello it is not; and the protagonist's than European capacityforviolentemotiononce his defenses are down is an exampleof the same attention decorum-to to citean oppositeextreme-which Shakespeare characterize led to Brutusas a Stoic. Othello is a type; he is also an individual, whose terrible suffering Shakespeare presents withimaginative and no sympathy absolutely condescension. I see, then,no reason to doubt that Shakespeareintended Othello to have some beliefsin keepingwithhis background. But I also see no reason why beliefin the efficacy magic of render Othelloany the less noble or imposing should,in itself, as a tragichero. But we still do not fancy a supersitious not forShakespeare's Othello-superstition beingforus (though the audience)farless acceptablethanuntruthfulness-and tendto accountof encyis to givecredence thespeechwithout taking 18 its implications, or to rejectit and availourselves whatever of
16'The Machiaveland the Moor," pp. 359, 360. Lerneris effectively answeredby Eldred Jones,EIC, X (1960), 238: "Othello is a complex storyof how a noble and upright man is subjected to temptationin the area of his being wherehe is most vulnerable-hisdifference race." See also G. K. Hunter,"Othello and in Colour Prejudice,"PBA, LIII (1967), 139-63; K. W. Evans,"The Racial Factor in 17Othello,"ShaKs., V(1969), 124-140. of Quoted in Marvin Rosenberg, Masksof Othello (University California The Press, 181961), p. 195. Review VIII (1964), Heilman,Magic in the Web,p. 213; HarryLevin,Centennial and theNatureof Man 13. OtherexamplesincludeTheodore Spencer,Shakespeare (Collier Books, 1966), p. 128; G. Wilson Knight,The Wheel of Fire, 5th ed.

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that furnishes Othellois really"one of evidencethisdebunking us." 19

The speechcannotmean whatit appearsto mean; therefore else. But must it? Settingaside the it must mean something and mattersof dramaticrepresentation dramaticconvention, critics theirown on one may attemptto answerthe skeptical of Whatevidencedoes a close reading thetextprovide grounds. as the handkerchief a potentlovethat Othello reallyregards charm? scene (III.iii) ends when The first phase of the temptation counteracts poison the Desdemona's appearancemomentarily words: "If she be false,0, thenheavenmocksitself,/ of lago's afterthis I'll not believeit" (11.282-283). Almostimmediately that Emilia, remarking Desdemona drops the handkerchief; Othello"conjur'd [Desdemona] she shouldeverkeep it," gives it to lago. (At thispointOthello'sgreatconcernthathis wife first one as surprising: withher strikes keep the handkerchief value,butOthelloseemsto be overgifts have theirsentimental Othello's doing it.) The nextphase-whichis decisive-follows. gone-but he still demands"the occular proof' occupation's (1.366). lago promisesto lead him to "the door of truth"; are Cassio's dream,and the handkerchief, his two means of Cassio is said to have his (in clinching case. To thedream which "Cursedfate,thatgave thee to the embracedlago, bemoaning "I'll tear ferocity: Moor!") Othello reacts withuntrammeled of her all to pieces" (1.438). But it is thegift thehandkerchief withtheperdition in associated, Othello'smind, thatis directly of love:

SixteenPlays (MeridianBooks, 1957), p. 109n. See also GeorgeLymanKittredge, 19(1946), p. 1298. pp. 101-103. Jones retains the belief that E.g., Jones, Othello's Countrymen, Othello is essentiallynoble; one imagineswhat someone less charitable-sayDr. reLeavis-would have done with this readingof the speech. A thirdpossibility thatfromthe confession mains: to take the passage,as Elliottdoes, as "an indirect his Othello was predisposedto mistrust wife and, far more fatevery beginning p. (FlamingMinister, 145). McPeekarguesfora more fully,to hide that mistrust" "the origiof Othelloguilty necromancy, variationof thisposition,finding sinister thatOthello is dissembling nal sin of his mother"-thoughhe raisesthe possibility ("The 'Arts Inhibited'and the Meaningof Othello," pp. 143-144). Both Elliott is thatthehandkerchief supposedto keep and McPeek proceed on the assumption see Desdemonafaithful; n. 21 below.

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Iago.

0th. Iago. Oth.

Nay,but be wise,yetwe see nothing done, She maybe honestyet;tellme butthis, seena handkerchief, Have you not sometimes 20 Spotted with strawberries,in your wife'shand? I gavehersucha one, 'twasmyfirst gift. I knownot that,but sucha handkerchiefI am sureit was yourwife's-didI to-day See Cassio wipehisbeardwith. If t be that,Now do I see 'tistrue;look here,lago, All myfondlove thusdo I blow to heaven,. . . 'Tis gone. blackvengeance, from hollowcell, thy Arise, Yield up, 0 love, thycrown,and heartedthrone, hate.... To tyrannous 451-456) (11.339-346;

follows. The sacredvow ofvengeance for It is in thiscontext,then,thatOthello speaks,revealing of time(and too late) thefullsignificance thehandkerthe first the loss of love.21He is symbolizes chief,whose loss directly Desdemona,by whomthe amuletmustbe guarded. addressing For him to have givenher such a charmdoes not mean that that in was right suspecting Othellowon hisdaughter Brabantio the it witchcraft; is plain enoughthatOthelloregards through of the as handkerchief ensuring continuance his love forDesdein SRen,VII of J. 20See Laurence Ross,"The Meaning StrawberriesShakespeare," notes for reference, (1960), 225-240.DavidKaula,to whomI am indebted this andhypocof meanings thestrawberry-righteousness thatthetwo iconographic as to is meaning appropriate Desdemona "The former exploited: deftly risy-are her as to is, shereally thelatter Desdemona lago is making appear.. .". "Othello ShaKs. II Use Noteson Shakespeare's of Magicand Superstitution." Possessed: of and "Othello the'Tragedy Situation,'" (1966). 123. See also P. G. Mudford, had after ownessay whosestudy my appeared XX English, (1971), 4-5.Mudford, he love-charm; notes "sacred" as Othello's views beencompleted, thehandkerchief the (V.i.36)echoes bloodbe spotted" lust's shall that"Thybed,lust-stain'd, with of description thehandkerchief. Othello's to whether acceptor reject pp. 134-136.Evansis uncertain 21Cf.Evans, .. "mindreverts . to a thatOthello's but accountof the handkerchief, argues Chrishis despite professed he believed, faintly in world which has always magical marriage He tianity. comesto acceptthatonlymagicmadehis extraordinary possible. . ." (p. 134).

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giftto Desdemona,it was mona, not hers forhim.22 His first it of givenafterthe inception love in orderto render perpetual. neither Desdemonanortheaudienceis Till thisinstant, perhaps, aware how remoteOthello is fromthe worldin whichhe is a 23 sojourner. He comes fromthe ancientplaces of the earth; prophetic sibylsand magicin the web need not be aliento one Desdemona,who who has traveledamongthe Anthropophagi. moment("Then would to seems convincedfor one horrified God that I had neverseen it!"), soon pushes this knowledge fromher. Her unwillingness accept the storyindicatesher to of thatis realenough rejection an aspectof Othello'scharacter to jealousy;for to us, and is no lessnaivethanherfailure detect is the handkerchief in harmony with what we know of he Othello.It was given, tellsDesdemona,whenhis fatewould this have himwive;even at the end of theplayhe retains sense of fated action: "O vain boast,/Who can controlhis fate?" little.Like Oedipus,he matters (V.ii.265-266).24Humanresolve the not error forcedupon himfrom outside, as sees his terrible for and himself his simply own responsibility; hejustlypunishes in It the act he committed ignorance. would not be in accord with Othello's characterto emphasize his own role. He is "wrought" lago; thistoo is partof his fate. by in At the end of the play,Othellois speaking a publicrather and is on thedefensive knowthis an intimate than context, ("I act shows horribleand grim" [V.ii.203]). He speaks of the to handkerchief Gratiano, Desdemona's uncle. We should to but scarcelyexhibitanything a naturalreluctance allude to an thehandkerchiefs powersbefore audienceforwhom magical evidenceof his his beliefin such a talismanwould be further And if it is not simply carelesserroron Shakea barbarism.25
22Cf. Elliott,pp. 145-146; Lerner,"The Machiaveland the Moor," p. 358. In addition to what Othellosaysin III.iv, see II.iii.91-93: "Excellent wretch,perdition catch my soul,/But I do love thee, and when I love thee not,j Chaos is come which I so lov'd, and again." It is hard to see that Othello's "That handkerchief the gave thee,! Thou gavestto Cassio" (V.ii.48-49) is designedto contradict meanhere. ingestablished 23Cf. W. H. Auden on Desdemona's refusalto admit she has lost the handkerchief: witha man whose sensibility confronted because she is suddenly "she is frightened are superstitions alien to her" (Encounter,August,1961, p. 13). 24and plagueis fatedto us/Whenwe do quicken" (III.iii.280-281). 25Cf. "this forked p. 25Cf. Baldensperger, 14.

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speare'spart,the same thingmay be said of the substitution verOthello's fatherfor the Egyptian"charmer"of the first intended it Certainly is hardto believethatShakespeare sion.26 gave my mother" [V.ii.218]), ("My father this one half-line alike,to always overlookedby readersand spectators virtually And it would have of revelation the truth. serveas a dramatic errorto have atbeen a serious(and most un-Shakespearean) he. of anything the sort: the less Shakespeare More is tempted our honesty: herethanthequestionof Othello'searlier involved at fromthe mainbusiness hand, mindsshouldnot be deflected of of realization themeaning whathe has done. Othello'stragic of significance thehandkeris For the truth thatthe talismanic repetition The idea does not require chiefis no longerrelevant. now. Desdemonais dead. then,is a crucialelementin interpreting The handkerchief, seemsto me in accordwiththeimpression Othello.My reading to it by conveyed theplayas a whole,before has been subjected initial a thatreverses powerful scrutiny the sortof too-curious "conargues, response-onethatin thiscase, as Helen Gardner to first and overwhelming impression tradictsthat immediate that all further criticism which it is a prime rule of literary in 27 criticism, assiduously analysismustconform." Muchrecent to striving save us frombeing duped by Othello's grandiose image of himself,exhibits,from this point of view, what over of Edward Hublerhas called "the triumph sophistication sense." We do not, in fact, see Othello preciselyas he sees but this does not mean that lago's angle of visionis himself; that or proclaim closerto the truth, thatwe shouldconfidently reationalizesthe discrepancyby arguingthat "the enunconvincingly 26Kittredge so at gave [the handkerchief] the requestof Othello'sfather, thatit was chantress in effecta gift from him" (Sixteen Plays, p. 1309). McPeek, who quotes this but "if Othello Othello is now tellingthe truth; whether explanation,is uncertain it of wished to stressto Gratianothe importance the gifthe would represent as a giftfromthe fatherto the mother" ("The 'Arts Inhibited' and the Meaningof Othello,p. 146). See also David Kaula, "Othello Possessed,p. 127, who findsthat "the magical of . associationsof the handkerchief . . are symptoms the delusionwhichgripsthe hero in the middlephase of the tragicaction." At the end of theplay Othello "is beginningto see [love and marriagel no longeras the provinceof exotic and barbaric female superstition but as civilizedactivitiesin which both sexes are engaged." 27equallyand voluntarily "The Noble Moor," p. 349. Gardner,

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HONEST

OTHELLO

studyis is the play's deceptiveness such thatthe mostrigorous 28 to our senseof Othello'snobility. necessary counteract initial divorcedfromboth the practical The dangersof criticism are perspective and presentation historical realities theatrical of evidentenough,but nowheremore than with Othello. In the scholarship may providea vital historical case of handkerchief, time. service placingtheplayin thecontextof Shakespeare's by essay,Fernand At theend ofhislearnedbut strangely neglected concludes that "Rymer was right:Desdemona Baldensperger but had to die because of a handkerchief; a token of superseemsto have as natural powersis not a meretrifle, Shakespeare understoodit-in spite of the trendof post-Baconian times, moreand moreadverseto beliefswhichhave now to be reconin structed theirproperconnotations"(p. 14). I do not have believed. But therelevant himself notionwhat Shakespeare any and question is Othello's view of the handkerchief, the aumustbe of dience'sunderstanding thatview.The handkerchief with;it earnsa place in thestory. reckoned
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

28Cf.Heilman, Magicin theWeb, 137: "I beganmystudy p. the holding orthodox viewof Othello's 'nobility' found impression but the gradually modified reby peated of readings thelines"(emphasis added).

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