ENL 10A: “Rebirth in Passion: The Fall of Othello and Iago”

Jolene Patricia Brown

ENL 10A

3 Nov 2009

Rebirth in Passion: The Fall of Othello and Iago

Othello is a tragedy of words. The sins committed by the various players are of ignorance, hardly deserving of the outcome of death and destruction at the end of the play, especially those of Othello and Desdemona. Their folly was not communicating with one another as a married couple should: not discussing the strange stories of Iago and thereby not discovering, before it was too late, that much of what they believed to be true was nothing more than hints of lies construed as truth. The echoing of Iago and Othello in act IV.i leads to both a convergence between Othello and Iago, and is a turning point in the play ultimately leading to Othello’s trance and the rebirth of both characters into passionate, revenge-induced rage.

The trance is the rebirth of both Othello and Iago within the play; it is what begins the fall of both characters and is a point of no return. Othello comes under Iago’s hypnosis and awakes to find himself in chaos, away from reason and love; embroiled in passion and hate. As a soldier, this is a dangerous place for Othello because his first instincts after the trance are for revenge on Desdemona and Cassio, which he acts on without rational consideration. His loyalties change after this convergence and rebirth as well, as Othello has performed an almost ritualistic ceremony of loyalty to Iago, comparable to a wedding, and Desdemona is no longer Othello’s “love” as it is now pledged to Iago. Iago is also reborn while Othello is in the trance: instead of only plotting against Othello, he begins to imagine revenge on Cassio by assisting Othello in his plans for Cassio’s death, and later the death of Roderigo. With all those out of his way, regardless of where that leaves him, Iago believes he will “win” and he also becomes overruled by his passionate desire for revenge.

Iago, it seems, did not originally plan to bring Othello down through Desdemona’s supposed infidelity. At the opening of the play his intentions are unclear and all the reader understands is that Iago hates Othello because Iago was passed over by Cassio for a lieutenant position. Originally, Iago’s plans only intended to embarrass, and hurt, Othello by denying him access to Desdemona. It is not until Brabantio warns Othello of Desdemona’s questionable decision to betray her own father that Iago realizes what might be the best way to hurt Othello: “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see: / She has deceived her father, and may thee” (I.iii.290-291). These words from Desdemona’s father are ominous, especially when compared to Desdemona’s own words about her loyalty to her father:

My noble father,
I do perceive here a divided duty…
…you are the lord of duty;
I am hitherto your daughter. But here’s my husband;
And so much duty as my mother showed
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I my profess
Due to the Moor my lord. (I.iii.178-179, 182-187)

In her own words, Desdemona declares her loyalty divided between her father, to whom she owes for her “life and education,” and her husband. Though she ultimately chooses loyalty to Othello in marrying him without her father’s consent, by doing so she leaves her loyalty open to doubt and implies that her loyalty to Othello may ultimately waver. Iago most likely overhears Brabantio’s comment to Othello and it can be argued that it is this comment that sets off his plan of action to turn Othello against Desdemona through the use of suggestion. After all, if Desdemona had both loyalties to her father and to her love for Othello she would have attempted to work out the marriage through her father to show respect for both men. Instead, by pursuing it through subversive means, her loyalty comes into question and Iago will use this doubt against Othello throughout the rest of the play.

The idea planted in Othello’s mind by Brabantio festers in his subconscious as Iago subtly attempts to remind him of it. In act III.iii we witness the one of the first instances of echoing between Iago and Othello:

Othello: What dost thou think?

Iago: Think, my lord?

Othello: “Think, my lord?” By heaven, thou echo’st me

As if there were some monster in thy thought
Too hideous to be shown…
As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain
Some horrible conceit. If thou dost love me,
Show me thy thought.

Iago: My lord, you know I love you. (III.iii.107-111, 116-119)

This conversation is where Iago finally breaches Othello’s secret fear and, taking advantage of it leads Othello to question Desdemona’s loyalty. At this point Iago is only leading Othello to doubt, and Othello supplies him with the ideas he needs only to affirm for him: Iago is hinting at a source of doubt and Othello is allowing himself to be manipulated. Though Othello is speaking to Iago in this passage when he wonders about the “monster” in Iago’s thought, it might be said that the “monster” is in fact Othello’s; he is really speaking to himself. Iago has successfully brought the “monster” of thought to the forefront of Othello’s mind and now he only needs to supply the evidence to drive Othello to chaos.

Throughout the story Iago uses subtle suggestion and echoes to bring Othello under his spell of lies. After Othello falls into the trance, Iago muses at his success: “Work on, / My medicine works! Thus credulous fools are caught, / and many worthy and chaste dames even thus, / All guiltless, meet reproach” (IV.i.45-46). Iago administers his words to Othello constantly throughout the play but never so directly that they might be called “lies.” Much of what he says hints at wrongdoing and infidelity, which only prompt Othello to consider them and at first Othello does not realize what is being implied. The idea is there, however, planted by Desdemona’s father, and Iago must only keep that thought at the forefront of Othello’s mind for him to become more serious about the implications of her behavior. Iago begins the play by plotting an attempt at “revenge” that he’s not even sure how he can carry out. By Act V, however, Iago has become a villain in the larger sense as he becomes enveloped in a depraved realization that regardless of who dies, he still wins: “Now, whether he [Roderigo] kill Cassio / Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other, / Every way makes my gain” (V.i.12-14). Othello’s trance is also a rebirth for Iago as he broadens the scope of his plans from revenge on only Othello to take revenge on Cassio and even Roderigo. His decision becomes one of multiple revenge and he is no longer only a minor villain and instead sees the death of all those who wronged him as a way of winning no matter what.

Othello’s trance is also his rebirth, but not one of innocence, as it strips him of his rational functions and places him in a world of chaos ruled by his passionate anger. When he awakens, he is under Iago’s control, whether he knows it or not. Iago already has what he wants at this point: the earlier convergence between Othello and Iago during act III.iv established Iago as Othello’s lieutenant:

[Othello]: …Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw
To furnish me with some swift means of death
For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant.

Iago: I am your own forever.

Iago’s revenge would seem complete at this point except Iago continues what he has begun, consenting to kill Cassio as Othello swears he will kill Desdemona. Iago’s promotion is symbolic of Othello handing over control of his mind, and from that point forward Othello is only a shadow of his former self, and no longer has the beauty and dignity that he did before the trance.

The trance is the point of no return in the play as both Othello and Iago are no longer capable of ending the cycle of destruction that reader sees as the ultimate end. Unfortunately for Desdemona, she is an innocent victim of men who come under control of their passion for anger and jealousy. “Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?” Desdemona asks of Othello in IV.ii.71 and indeed this question can be asked by all the players. An ignorant sin is one that the sinner does not realize they have committed; it is not innocent, but there is a sort of innocence involved in ignorance. Even Iago, it can be argued, committed ignorant sins for he could not have predicted the outcome of Othello becoming a passionate murder, or that Iago himself would turn on all those around him. Each step in the play escalates the players to a realm of hate, and each of them are ignorant of the outcome. The convergence, however, is a potential stopping point that Iago refuses to allow, and by the time Othello falls into a trance it is too late to stop.