Exotic Setting Reading The Great Gatsby
Here, I am standing on the dock, looking outward for the green light to which Fitzgerald mentions in The Great Gatsby.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Othello: the end, Othello's love for Desdemona?, happiness to die
In Act V Scene II of Othello by William Shakespeare, some reasoning is revealed for why Othello doesn't wish Iago to be killed once he finds out of Iago's lies. I had thought that upon the characters finding Iago out, that like throughout the novel lashing out in fighting would occur, one would want to kill another, and thus the play would assume the tragedy that it is. However, Othello says: "If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee..For in my sense, 'tis happiness to die,"(Shakespeare, V.ii.286&289). Othello sees Iago's dying as an easy way out, why not have him suffer through life, being detested, and a known criminal, then just be slain like the other characters. I honestly thought Iago was going to be one to not make it out of the play, but turns out that is Othello and many others, I think Othello wise in his desire for Iago to bear the punishment of living. Though, Othello himself must want the happiness of death, for he takes his life out of grief for having taking Desdemona's. I am only left pondering, so did Othello really love Desdemona and is this confirmed by his regret for killing her, thus feeling compelled to end his own life? Or, is Othello's love for Desdemona quite confused, considering he did feel angry enough to kill her to begin with?
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In "Othello", Shakespeare explores two kinds of love. I think most readers today get hung up on the irony of Desdemona actually being innocent, and that obscures the bigger question: Is violence towards someone you love a valid measure of your love for that person? If Desdemona had cheated, would it be okay, or understandable, or what have you, to kill her? Is jealousy the same as love? If a man kills a woman because he thinks she has cheated on him, is that a demonstration that he loved her "too much"? And by contrast, if he doesn't kill her, does that mean he doesn't love her enough?
ReplyDeleteThere is an interesting symmetry to Othello's and Desdemona's situations. Each has been (or thinks he has been) horribly wronged by the other. Each then has a choice of either letting the other get away with it, or destroying them. Notice the contrast in their reactions.
Othello's reacts by killing Desdemona. What is remarkable here is that he is never truly conflicted over it. Oh, sure, for a while he has doubts whether she has cheated, but once convinced that she is guilty, it's pretty much a no-brainer for him. It's amazing that his supposed great love for her never mitigates against doing something so irreversible, even if she HAS cheated.
Now consider Desdemona's reaction. Her last dying act is lying to protect her husband, so that he wouldn't have to answer for murdering her. Moreover, she claims to have committed suicide -- meaning, at that time, that if people believed her, she would be disgraced, her body would be buried on unconsecrated ground, and no masses would be said for her. In other words, she doesn't just sacrifice her right for justice, but her very soul, for all eternity -- for a man who horribly mistreated her and ultimately killed her. I would submit THAT is what "true love" is. It is certainly an unwise kind of love, the kind of love to which most of us cannot relate (I certainly can't imagine feeling strongly enough about a man to protect him if he tried to kill me) -- but it is also utterly selfless and all-consuming.
On this point, it's significant how Othello describes falling in love with Desdemona: he talked about himself and liked how she was moved by what he was saying. It is a classic set-up for a time when women were considered the inferior sex and expected to be submissive -- something that Shakespeare exaggerates for dramatic effect, I think -- the man talks (about himself), the woman listens and shows her admiration. Thus, Othello's feelings for Desdemona spring from pure vanity: she acts as a mirror that sends back a reflection that is particularly to his liking.
Would it still be fair to say that Othello loved Desdemona? He believed so himself, although I think that in that final scene, he was also in denial about how much he HATED Desdemona. It is remarkable, however, how consistently Shakespeare uses dehumanizing language (even when Othello is saying "nice" things) that portray women as commodities that can be "pure" or "tainted" depending on who has touched them, or what is being said about them. It's dangerous, of course, to read Shakespeare as a feminist author, but I could never escape the impression that "Othello" is primarily a condemnation of misogyny: what Shakespeare seems to be saying is that in a world where women are so reviled, feared and dehumanized, even the noblest man can't love a woman except as an extension of himself, a feather in his cap. And once he believes someone else has claimed her, her life no longer has any value. That, at the very least, is the way in which Othello loved Desdemona.