Shampoo Planet Essay Research Paper

Shampoo Planet Essay, Research Paper

 Introduction/Thesis

Shakespeare’s Othello is not simply a play which embodies the conflict between

insider and outsider. The paradigm of otherness presented in this play is more

complicated than the conclusion, “Othello is different; therefore, he is bad.” Othello’s

character is to be revered. He is a champion among warriors; an advisor among

councilmen; a Moor among Venetians. Yes, Othello is a Moor, but within the initial

configuration of the play, this fact is almost irrelevant. His difference is not

constructed as otherness. Othello, by his nature, is not an otherized character.

Besides being the dark-skinned Moor, Othello varies in no real way from the other

characters in the play. Further, Othello and Iago can be seen as two sides of the same

destructive coin. With Iago as a foil and subversive adversary, Othello is not faulted

for the indiscretions he commits. It is the invention and projection of otherness by

various characters in the play, especially Iago, which set the stage for the tragedy of

dissimilarity which is to ensue.

Continually confronted with his difference, and apparently associated inferiority,

Othello eventually ingests and manifests this difference in a violent rage against the

symbol and defining emblem of his otherness, Desdemona. Yet, who is to blame.

Which character is redeemed through our sympathy so that another can be

condemned. Othello, the dark-skinned murdering Moor, himself. The separation of his

otherness from explicit and innate evil contrasted with Iago’s free-flowing and early-

established taste for revenge and punishment, alleviates Othello from responsibility.

Surely, Othello has wronged and is to be held reprehensible–with his death–but even

this is a self-inflicted injury rather than a punishment which is judicially meted out,

unlike what we are led to believe Iago will suffer.

Initial Impressions

In Shakespeare s tragedy of Othello, we see Othello move through a character

progression as he becomes consumed with Iago s connivings and fabrications. He is

introduced as a tragic hero whose stories of hardships endeared him not only to his

new bride but his new father-in-law as well. Even Brabantio who throws many

slanderous insinuations of Othello s use of witchcraft and drugs to seduce

Desdemona into his cunning hell, (1.3.102) was once charmed and by this simple

man who bows to his reputation in the face of a character challenge. Her father

loved me; oft invited me . . ./Still questioned me the story of my life/From year to year,

the battle, sieges, fortune/That I have passed. (I.iii.127-30)

The affliction of Othello s character is furthered by Iago s emphasis upon Othello s

simplicity and honesty which is sharply contrasted with Iago s skillfully-crafted

towers of lies and bejeweled misrepresentations. Othello may be a simple man with

rude speech and strong arms, but he has been engaged in redeemable pursuits for

Venice for the past seven years. Despite the rumblings of animalism and witchcraft

that may be connected to his black skin, these are no more than rumors and hearsay.

Those in power, like the Duke of Venice, know and attest to Othello’s true nature, as

he comments, If virtue no delighted beauty lack,/Your son-in-law is far more fair

than black. (I.iii.284). Othello’s character is spotless although his skin is not. Even

Iago, Othello’s nemesis, acknowledges that the work of deception ahead of him will be

lessened and facilitated by Othello’s honest and trusting inclinations. The Moor is of

a free and open nature/ That thinks men honest that seem to be so/And will as tenderly

be led by the nose/As asses are. (I.iii.390-4) This, then, is Othello s fault–he trusts

those who protest love for him, which indeed would not be a fault if those advancing

such claims were as honest and true. He is naive and eager to trust those who have

given him no real reason to do otherwise. In his childlike simplicity, Othello falls

victim to Iago, who is–in fact–despite all of Brabantio s worries and suppositions,

the real conjurer. It is Iago, after all, who uses smoke and mirrors to lure and convince

Othello into his own cunning hell.

Iago’s Role

Surely Othello possesses base characteristics–jealously, self-pity, murderous intent–

but they are not presented as central or inherent to his character. They are not symbols

of his otherness. “Othello’s belief is not caused by jealousy; it is forced upon him by

Iago, and is such as any man would and must feel who had believed in Iago as Othello

did. His great mistake is that we know Iago for a villain from the first moment.” This

is the crux of the issue of sympathy for Othello’s other status. In his own words, Iago

presents the secret which becomes the crucial issue and redeeming factor for

Othello s character: Iago is evil, and admittedly so. Others there are/Who, t

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