Othello

Othello, in Act I, Scene iii, declares that he is “rude in speech”; however, he then goes on to describe at length how he seduced Desdemona by his wondrous capacity as a storyteller. “My story being done,” he confesses to his friends, “she [Desdemona] gave me for my pains a world of sighs […] and bade me, if I had a friend that loved her, I should but teach him how to tell my story” (I, iii, 158-165). Throughout the play, in fact, Othello’s poetic expression is unabated; it merely changes tone, as he devolves from happiness to suicidal despair. In Act III, scene iii he is faced with the likelihood that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him. This, of course, causes him outrage, but also a kind of melancholy, which invokes his poetic power of expression. In the passage of very few lines, we witness the play’s psychological transition point, as Othello, once a confident, happily married high-standing member of Venetian society, turns into an insecure, jealous, crude and violent cuckold.
After Iago has placed the seed of doubt in Othello’s mind, the Moor indulges in an extended meditation of great visceral and poetic power:
Haply for I am black,
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have; or for I am declined
Into the vale of years—yet that’s not much—
She’s gone. I am abused, and my relief
Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage,
That we can call these delicate creatures ours
And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad
And live upon the vapor of a dungeon
Than keep a corner in the thing I love
For others’ uses. Yet ’tis the plague of great ones;
Prerogatived are they less than the base.
’Tis destiny unshunnable, like death. (III.iii.267–279)
It is interesting to note that once Iago has suggested Desdemona’s infidelity, Othello wavers in confidence; suddenly, he “has not the soft parts of conversation / that chamberers have.” Othello here also, for the first time, expresses dissatisfaction with his race and his age. Moreover, when Othello declares Desdemona “gone,” he marks a near-inconceivable transition: in roughly one hundred lines, he has transformed from a happily married man to a depressed cuckold. Before Iago speaks, he is completely secure; after Iago speaks, he feels totally abandoned.
This brings on a spate of repugnant imagery. Desdemona, far from being a beautiful, intelligent and complex woman, is now merely a “creature”; and Othello, once a proud warrior, statesman and formidable intellect and poet, is merely a “toad” living in the “vapor of a dungeon.” This image of toads comes up again for Othello; however, in Act IV, Scene ii, it is Desdemona who takes on frog-like characteristics: she becomes a “cistern for foul toads / To knot and gender in” (IV, ii, 63-64). He identifies this infidelity, however, as a “plague of great ones,” revealing that, though men of elevated station quite often must face cuckoldry, they are still “great.” He still has his military station and rank, and his reputation as a soldier, intact. Desdemona’s infidelity, at this point, he suggests is simply the consequence of his greatness. Cuckoldry, he reveals, is just as unavoidable as “death.” Ending with such a resounding and dark note, however, anticipates the violence and murder to come.
The speech serves to illustrate Othello’s temperament and personality, and also serves as the psychological pivot-point of the play. It reveals the self-doubt that always lived inside Othello, but required this suggestion of infidelity to bring it out. The deterioration in Othello’s judgment and in his morality is embodied in the rude animal imagery and metaphors: he has gone from being a doting husband, to a bloodthirsty cuckold out for revenge. In fact, Othello begins to pick up some of Iago’s language (use of animal metaphors, which Iago loves): Othello is highly malleable and can be manipulated easily by the conniving Iago. Iago is not the poet that Othello is, but his ability to scheme gives him an intellectual advantage. Moreover, the soliloquy reveals Othello’s concerns about his status in Venetian society; apparently, just as he is insecure as a lover, he is also insecure in his larger role in society.
Ultimately, this speech is situated at the play’s psychological tipping point: we watch in a very short passage of lines how a noble man, refined, confident, and gentle, turns into an insecure, jealous, crude and violent man.