Samuel+C+Othello

Samuel C

Thesis: In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello, Shakespeare uses the animal motif to emphasize jealousy and anger in order to show how characters may dehumanize or belittle others to make themselves feel stronger.

The first appearance of the animal motif is in the beginning of the play. Iago, a soldier in Othello’s army, is extremely jealous of Cassio because he is appointed to the Lieutenant position, which Iago had wanted. His jealousy brings out bitter feelings towards Othello, which rapidly increase, and they provoke Iago’s sinister actions throughout the rest of the play. Othello is secretly married to Desdemona, the daughter of Senator Brabantio. Brabantio does not approve of this marriage because Othello is a Moor. When Iago finds out that Desdemona has snuck out to see Othello, he comes up with a plan that he hopes will ruin Othello’s reputation in Venice. He tells Brabantio, “Your heart is burst. You have lost half your soul. Even now, now, very now an old black ram is tupping your white ewe…” (Act I. 1. 96-98). Iagos reference to Othello degrades Othello’s character and humanity. He twists a natural human relationship between husband and wife into an abomination. Obviously, Iago calls Othello a ram in an attempt to satisfy his own jealousy. From this, it becomes clear that the animal motif highlights jealousy, and it emphasizes how jealousy provokes terrible actions, which is seen through Iago.



Later in the play, Iago attempts to convince Othello that Desdemona is disloyal. Othello becomes enraged with the idea that his innocent, lovely wife would ever cheat on him. Othello’s rage only appears to be minimal because at first, he appears to be unconvinced. For mentioning such an thing, Othello screams at Iago, “ Villain, be sure thou proves my love a whore! Be sure of it. Give me the ocular proof, Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul, Thou hadst been better have been born a dog than answer my waked wrath” (Act 3. 3. 411-415). In this, Othello compares living as a dog to suffering from his wrath, and states that living life as a dog would be more favorable lying to him. Shakespeare uses the animal motif to strengthen the severity of his threat. By making such a threat, he implies that he has the power and ability to follow through with it. In order to do this, he must be more powerful and capable than the man being threatened, which is Iago. Essentially, he puts himself up on a pedestal by assuming to be more powerful than Iago. When one is raised on a pedestal, it inevitably casts a shadow on those surrounding him, which would be Iago in this case. Thus, Shakespeare’s animal motif belittles Iago, which in turn strengthens Othello.



The last part where one sees Shakespeare’s use of the animal motif is in the last section of the play. In this scene Roderigo goes to kill Cassio at the request of Iago. After Roderigo stabs Cassio,he is then betrayed by Iago, who subsequently stabs him. After being stabbed Roderigo cries, “ O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!” (Act 5. 1. 74). Roderigo is now full or hatred and resentment for he has just been deceived by someone who he had considered to be his companion. He calls him a dog for he thinks that he does not deserve the title of a human for nobody is that evil. He also adds in the inhuman part to stress is abhorrence for Iago. One can see here that Roderigo compares Iago to a dog in order to accentuate his disgust and anger towards Iago proving that the use of the animal motif is to dehumanize Iago and make Roderigo feel stronger.