Blackness In Othello

Othello's Alienation Author(s): Edward Berry Source: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 30, No. 2, Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama, (Spring, 1990), pp. 315-333 Published by: Rice University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/450520 Accessed: 01/05/2008 11:43 page 319
The most dramatic reactions to Othello's blackness within the play are those of Iago and Roderigo in the opening scene. Their overt and vicious racism provides the background for Othello's first appearance. For Iago Othello is "an old black ram" (I.i.88), "the devil" (I.i.91), and a "Barbary horse" (I.i.lll); the consum-mation of his marriage is a making of "the beast with two backs" (I.i.115-16). Roderigo, who shares Iago's disgust, speaks of Desde-mona's "gross
Brabantio's imputation of fear in Desdemona may be in part a projection of his own emotion, but Othello himself later confirms her reaction when he agrees with Iago's assertion that she "seem'd to shake and fear your looks" (III.iii.207). Desdemona too provides implicit confirmation when she tells the Duke "I saw Othello's visage in his mind" (I.iii.252). This implicit denial of physical attraction shows that Desdemona tries to separate Othello's essential humanity from his appearance, but it also shows that she is sensitive to and disquieted by the insinuations that there must be something unnatural in such a love. She does not say that she found Othello's blackness beautiful but that she saw his visage in his
Iago senses this anxiety, for he turns immediately to the matter of Othello's alienation. He first establishes his own credentials as an insider, privy to the ways of Venetian women: "I know our country disposition well: / In Venice they do let [God] see the pranks / They dare not show their husbands" (III.iii.201-203). Then he reminds Othello of Brabantio's parting threat, that one betrayal would lead to another: "She did deceive her father, marrying you, / And when she seem'd to shake and fear your looks, / She lov'd them most" (III.iii.206-208). Othello's admis-sion, "And so she did," marks the erosion of his faith in Desdemona's eyes, for he allows that her reaction to his visage might have actually signalled her potential for betrayal. As Othello begins to rationalize this possibility-"And yet how nature erring from itself" (III.iii.227)-Iago interrupts him and, with unusual intensity, twists his words so that they allude to the unnaturalness of the marriage: Ay, there's the point; as (to be bold with you) Not to affect many proposed matches Of her own clime, complexion, and degree, Whereto we see in all things nature tends- Foh, one may smell in such, a will most rank, Foul disproportions, thoughts unnatural. (III.iii.228-33) lago immediately backs away from this line of thought, for he sees he has touched a nerve in Othello. That he is nearly trapped by