the individualization of shakespeare's characters through imagery

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SHAKESPEARE SURVEY taming a bear, thereby comparing himself with a savage bear (iv, i, 188). "If that the earth could teem with woman's tears, each drop she [Desdemona] falls would prove a crocodile" he says (iv, i, 256). He declares that Desdemona is 'honest' as "summer flies are in the shambles that quicken even with blowing" (iv, ii, 65). He calls the infidelity of wives a "forked plague" (m, iii, 276). It is remarkable that this theme—the theme of the menagerie—goats, monkeys, toads, aspics, wild bears, crocodiles, flies—is absolutely identical, as we shall see, with the dominant theme of Iago's imagery. Othello's famous comparison of his thoughts about Desdemona's handkerchief with a raven over an infected house (iv, i, 20) is pervaded with bleak gloom. And his comparison of Desdemona herself with a lovely, fair, sweet-smelling weed (iv, ii, 66) is an image in which, side by side with its poetic quality, there is something akin to Iago's dominant theme. Othello says that Iago has "set me on the rack" (in, iii, 336). He compares his cheeks, ready to burn with shame, with a forge (iv, ii, 73) . He says that had all Cassio's hairs "been lives, my great revenge had stomach for them all" (v, ii, 75). The image of a monster appears twice in Othello's speeches. He says of Iago "there were some monster in his thought too hideous to be shown" (in, iii, 106). "A horned man's a monster and a beast", he declares (iv, i, 62). As we shall see the image of jealousy as a monster recurs in the speeches of Iago, Desdemona and Emilia. Thus, besides the lofty, poetic and bright images, which predominate in Othello's world of images, we also find mean images (goats, monkeys, toads, etc.) and gloomy images which sometimes have a suggestion of the demonic (the raven over an infected house). This contrast is strikingly conveyed in one of Othello's images: "And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas Olympus-high, and duck again as low as hell's from heaven" (n, i, 190). The first, poetic, theme is properly Othello's; the second, low, theme is, as we shall see later, borrowed. It is noteworthy that the low and gloomy images are not scattered haphazardly through Othello's speeches. They invade his speeches, violating the bright dominant theme, at a logical point—following the words "and when I love thee not, Chaos is come again" (ni, iii, 92). This is the point at which Iago gains the ascendancy over Othello's soul, so that the latter begins to think in Iago's images, to see the world with Iago's eyes. It is also a fact worthy of note that Othello returns to his own dominant theme not after he learns of Desdemona's innocence, but much earlier. In the scene of Desdemona's death there is only one low and coarse image: Othello says that had all Cassio's hairs been lives, his great revenge had had stomach for them all (v, ii, 75). This is merely a reflection, a reminiscence of a past mood, as is the coarse word 'whore' which escapes him twice in this same scene. On the whole, Othello's part in the scene of Desdemona's death abounds in lofty and poetic imagery. The monologue he pronounces over the sleeping Desdemona at the beginning of the second scene of Act V is particularly rich in such imagery, for Othello kills Desdemona loving her. In his monologue in Act in, Scene 3, Othello speaks of "plumed troops", of the "spiritstirring drum", of the "royal banner", of the "rude throats" of "mortal engines", etc. For the rest there are no military motifs in Othello's imagery, with the exception, perhaps, that, when meeting Desdemona at Cyprus, he calls her "my fair warrior" (n, i, 185). It is interesting to note that his classical images likewise do not deal with military motifs: neither Mars nor Caesar is mentioned. 86 Shakespeare Survey Online © Cambridge University Press, 2007
INDIVIDUALIZATION OF SHAKESPEARE'S CHARACTERS We shall not touch on the scattered, incidental images in Othello's speech which do not constitute integral groups. For instance, early in the play we meet a metaphor very typical of Shakespeare in general, a metaphor of the theatre. "Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it without a prompter" (i, ii, 82). Or, to take another example, there is an image from Biblical legend. Othello says that Emilia has an office opposite to that of Saint Peter; i.e. that she keeps the gates of hell (iv, ii, 90). All these scattered themes are not of importance to us. Thus we find a definite order in Othello's world of images. The lofty-poetic dominant is overpowered by the low theme stemming from Iago, only to triumph again at the last. The point at which the second theme makes its invasion is the image: "Chaos is come again." It is our opinion that this image has an objective rather than a subjective meaning, i.e. that chaos has come again in the universe, that the cosmos, the universe, has been upset; in other words, that the world has changed in Othello's eyes. Were we to take this image as subjective, i.e. as meaning that chaos had returned to Othello's soul, we should have to assume that chaos had already been resident there at some former time, an assumption for which there are no grounds in the text. Othello's story of his life (his monologue in the Senate) confirms that the lofty-poetic theme, connected with the cosmos, is 'native' to Othello, that he is a highly harmonic man and that, consequently, the low theme, connected with chaos, comes wholly from Iago. IAGO The low images prove predominant in Iago's role. The prevailing images are of beasts, represented as embodiments of foolishness, lechery and all kinds of loathsome vices. Iago sees the surrounding world as a stable or malodorous menagerie. A faithful servant is like an ass (1, i, 46). Othello is trustful and can be led by the nose like an ass (1, iii, 407). Iago says that Othello will yet reward him for making him an ass (n, i, 321). He does not want to "wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at" (1, i, 64). "Plague him [Othello] with flies", i.e. with petty annoyances, Iago counsels Roderigo (1, i, 71). Othello is "an old black ram" tupping a "white ewe" (1, i, 88). The carousing warriors of Cyprus are a "flock of drunkards" (n, iii, 62). Othello is "a Barbary horse", Brabantio's grandchildren will neigh, and Brabantio will have coursers and gennets for relatives (1, i, 112 £). When in each other's arms, Othello and Desdemona make "the beast with two backs" (1, i, 117). Iago calls Desdemona a prostitute, choosing the jargon word 'guinea-hen' as a synonym; he dissuades Roderigo from drowning himself for love of a 'guinea-hen' (1, iii, 318). He says that sooner than do that he would "change my humanity with a baboon" (1, iii, 319). "Drown cats and blind puppies", he tells Roderigo (1, iii, 341). Women in their kitchens are 'wild-cats' (n, i, no). In Iago's words one man differs from another as "the cod's head" from "the salmon's tail" (n, i, 155). "With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio" (11, i, 169) says Iago, comparing himself to a spider. He compares Roderigo to a hunting dog which he sets upon Cassio (n, i, 316). When Cassio has drunk some wine, he will become as quarrelsome as Desdemona's dog (n, iii, 54). He assures Cassio that Othello has punished him for the sake of policy, in order to put fear into the hearts of the people of Cyprus, "as one would beat his offenceless dog to affright an imperious lion" (n, iii, 278). Cassio and Desdemona are, in his words, as lecherous as goats, monkeys and wolves (m, iii, 404). He compares a married man to a yoked ox (iv, i, 67). This 'menagerie' of Iago's is reflected, as we 87 Shakespeare Survey Online © Cambridge University Press, 2007
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the individualization of shakespeare's characters through imagery

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