AUTHOR'S STYLE

Not only was Shakespeare one of the greatest dramatists who ever lived, he was one of the greatest poets as well. His language is so extraordinary that his verse has helped define standards for English poetry for the past three centuries.

In Othello, poetry not only defines character, but it also represents Othello's decline from nobility to corruption and his reascent to nobility.

Many readers point to Othello's speeches before the Venetian Senate (Act 1, Scene iii) as proof that he is worthy of our respect. His defense of his love for Desdemona is spoken with such heartfelt simplicity that we know the language represents a gentle and generous soul:

My story being done, She gave me for my pains a world of sighs. She swore, in faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange; 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful. Act I, Scene iii, lines 174-177

She loved me for the dangers I had passed, And I loved her that she did pity them. Act I, Scene iii, lines 184-185 Compare Othello's speeches to those of Iago in Act I. In comparison to the Moor, Iago is coarse and foulmouthed as he tries to turn Brabantio against Othello:

Even now, now, very now, an old black ram Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise! Awake the snorting citizens with the bell, Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you. Act I, Scene i, lines 96-99 It's been suggested that Iago needn't look any further than his own dirty mind and nasty mouth to discover why Othello chose someone else as his lieutenant.

As the play progresses, and as Othello becomes more and more Iago's victim, he begins to lose the poetic gift that blessed him earlier. As evidence that he is being ruined by Iago, Othello begins to use the animal images that are typical of Iago's speech. These are generally images of common or repulsive animalsflies, baboons, goats, monkeys, wolves, wildcats, etc.

Othello also begins to take on Iago's fondness for references to the demonic-hell, the devil, damnation. Iago admits allegiance to Hell in Act I, scene iii, line 421, and by Act V, Scene ii, Othello realizes that he, too, is damned. He looks on Desdemona's corpse and says:

This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven And fiends will snatch at it. Act V, Scene ii, lines 321-322 There are other patterns of imagery that recur throughout the play. In addition to animal and demonic imagery, look for these images as you read: black and white, light and dark, witchcraft, the sea (especially as used by Iago and Othello), drugs and poisons, and sex.

The richness of Shakespeare's poetry is only partly represented by its imagery. The sounds of the words themselves and the metrical rhythms (the patterns created by the contrast of stressed and unstressed syllables) create their own music. Remember that Shakespeare wrote his plays to be heard, not read. The greatest enjoyment of his incomparable poetry comes with reading it aloud or hearing it performed, on stage or on a recording.

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