Othello's Fit

Othello’s fit was brought on as a result of him being unable to reconcile two things; the first being his deep love for Desdemona and his belief that she neither would nor could have any reason to betray him, and secondly, all the mounting “evidence” that a loyal friend was presenting to the contrary.

Othello really did love Desdemona and saw all the sacrifices she had to make (running away from home, disobeying her father, getting married in secret, going against cultural stereotypes, and choosing to go along to war with him) as affirmations of her love for him. With all the things she had to give up in order for the relationship to be possible you could argue that she was more invested than Othello, but either way everything she did and said only strengthened his belief that she had no reason to lie to him.

That what Iago does is immoral or unethical, doesn’t change the fact that he is a great manipulator, to the point were it is almost admirable.

Othello couldn’t possibly be more sure of Desdemona’s love for him and Iago manages to convince him of the opposite. He does it in such a way that Othello has no reason to believe that Iago has any ulterior motive to tell him this except out of loyalty and genuine concern for a friend.

Othello starts off completely sure of his convictions but Iago manages to squeeze in enough doubt into Othello’s head that he starts thinking not as he usually does but rather from the perspective that Iago wants him to think. He actually manages to make Othello feel insecure, which is in no way easy considering that; Othello comes of royal blood and has fought in life threatening battles and triumphed (he lived through them and wouldn’t have had the respect nor honor among the military if he hadn’t fought valiantly).

blog 5; unnatural

Brabantio views Desdemona’s marriage to Othello as unnatural for a few reasons. She is his only daughter and heir and in the past has rejected many rich men who have tried to woo her, so Brabantio sees any marriage that Desdemona would willingly accept as unnatural with regard to how he has come to understand what his daughter would want. He thought that she was opposed to marriage with all of her would be suitors so marrying out of her own accord seems unnatural. Brabantio praises his daughter’s innocence to a fault; he forgets, or knowingly ignores, the chance that she has made this decision out of her own free will.
It’s harder to tell just to what extent Brabantio is racist since it is his daughter that is marrying Othello as opposed to someone else’s. Othello does state that Brabantio did at least respect and admire him, possibly ‘love’ him, and had Othello married not Desdemona but someone else’s daughter then Brabantio wouldn’t be as outraged and would probably see it as less unnatural (less personal/more forgivable/less need to use racial slander). But that’s still kind off racist. It’s the difference between tolerance and acceptance. Desdemona accepted everything about Othello till her death whereas Brabantio “tolerated” it, albeit grudgingly but that’s still tolerance.
If I decided to marry someone of a different ethnicity (and I seriously doubt even the possibility of me wanting to get married to anyone regardless of ethnic background anytime in the future) then I’d probably have enough reason to not care what my parents thought, but they probably would react unfavorably, at least initially.
The more secular a society the more tolerant it can be. If you live in a society that believes things without evidence or just reason then that society can’t possibly be as tolerant as those that don’t because people’s beliefs and opinions towards one another will not be open to rational discourse. If people don’t have a chance to discuss the way they feel and why they feel that way then it is not possible to uproot those prejudices. Of coarse most western societies today are more tolerant of race than in Shakespeare’s day but genocide is still occurring in different areas of the world and it wont ever stop because people have the ability to believe just about anything.

If people continue to blindly accept all the views,opinions, ideas, prejudices, everything that they inherit from previous generations; without trying to view it objectively to reach decisions based on reason whether it is moral, ethical, or even true to begin with then they make possible the things they say they want to prevent.

the talkative lady has finally had her mouth stopped.

(Interpreted from the script not the movie)

Throughout the play both Beatrice and Benedick openly admit their disdain for one another, the only reason allowing them to loathe each other so completely being that they both feel the same way about love. Neither sees it as a virtue. That everyone around them seems to be preaching it doesn’t convince them of its worth since they can readily observe all the needless suffering brought on because of it. All of this brought on completely because of their failed past relationship, which resulted in both being hurt on a sufficient enough level to not only hate one another but also the weakness within themselves for even having the potential to be hurt in that way. Both, having defeated egos and being as witty/smart as they are, sought some way to retain at least some dignity (though for Benedick it is more superficially important to maintain the respect others have toward him, as well as his self respect [his “honor”, which is contradictory because if you live by such an ideal then you really don’t need the opinions of others to contribute to your self worth], whereas, Beatrice only needs to justify it to herself, which ironically is more noble.)

Then of coarse they’re tricked. Convincingly enough as to believe it to be true, by people whom they trust, who do it primarily for their own entertainment and secondly for the possible happiness of Beatrice and Benedick, which is in no way guaranteed. But they can’t possibly care about the secondary consequences (be it happiness or misery) because what they actually care about is either being entertained or, more simply, having the two finally shut up (I’d imagine everyone else around them would be sick of it by now, especially having heard it for the length of a war).

They really do think alike, share a past, have similar qualities, and in those respects it makes sense to say they are equal minded but I don’t see how almost grudgingly accepting each other can possibly last. I give them too much credit to assume that they’d be happy in staying that two headed four legged living breathing contradiction that they’ve become. If they have any wits left they would realize what was important to them, their own individual self interest before its too late (ending up with children along with regrets of goals that they were never able to pursue), and stop being that macabre monster that they’ve become.