Imagery in Othello –and how it conveys themes
Imagery
Mainly used
by…
● Iago throughout
Examples from play
Significance and Related Theme(s)
● “Or else the devil will make a
● Iago as satanic figure who uses the evils
Hell and
the Devil
the play
grandsire of you.”
● Othello from III,
(I,i,92) Iago
● “Some swift means of
of Hell
● Corrupts Othello and sends him to Hell
(for murder and suicide) –therefore
destroys Othello’s Christian soul.
● Devils were often shown as black,
therefore reinforcing the racism and racial
tension in the play.
● Good is destroyed by evil: Hell is al
metaphor for evil.
Diabolical
Animals
– Bestial
and
sexual
iii: this represents,
among other things
(a) Othello’s in a
kind of (jealous)
hell and (b) he’s
‘possessed’ by Iago
(i.e. he’s Iago’s
puppet).
● Again, Iago
throughout the
play -and
Othello from the
Temptation
scene.
death/For the fair devil.”
(III,
iv,474-5) Othello
● “Hell and night must bring
this monstrous birth to the
world’s light” Iago (I, iii)
● “An old black ram is tupping
your white ewe.” I, i
● “Ere I would say, I would drown
myself for the love of a guineahen, I would change my humanity
with a baboon.” I, iii
●
●
All characters.
Emilia, V, ii
●
(this
includes
references
to Othello’s
blackness).
●
Iago
● “The Moor already changes
with my poison: …. Not poppy,
nor mandragora, Nor all the
drowsy syrups of the world, Shall
ever medicine thee to that sweet
sleep
Which thou owedst yesterday.” III,
iii
● “Work on, my medicine, work
[in this context Iago’s ‘medicine’ is
poison].” IV, i
Poisoning
Eating
● “O, the more angel she,
And you the blacker devil!”
Black
and white
Iago, Emilia,
Othello.
● Iago so often represents sex as
‘animal rutting’. This is partly due to his
twisted ideas about sex. He also denies
the existence of love.
● Iago has a ‘twisted Humanism’: he
argues (correctly) that reason and
intellect are what separate humans from
‘animals’. However, his reason is
emptied of al positive emotions (love,
loyalty, friendship etc.). As a result, he’s
basically dehumanised himself.
●
● Racial contrasts: emphasise Othello’s
‘separateness’ (black man in a white
world).
● Juxtaposition of good and evil.
●
●This image operates on so many
levels: this is, for example, a story of
great love ‘poisoned’ by Iago.
● Jealousy is an incredibly poisonous
emotion.
● ”'Tis not a year or two shows us a
●Human ‘appetites’ and desires? What I
man: They are all but stomachs, and
we all but food; To eat us hungerly,
and when they are full, They belch
us.” III, iv
● “O curse of marriage,
That we can call these delicate
creatures ours,
And not their appetites!” Othello III, iii
find interesting about this play is the way
Shakespeare explored male and female
appetites as being the same (at a time
when there were total double standards
regarding expectations of male and female
sexual behaviour).
Othello from Act
Physical 3 until end of
pain/
play.
violence/
blood
Jewels/
treasure/
money
Iago (to
Brabantio)
Cassio and
Othello.
● “O, blood, blood, blood!” III,
iii
• References to Dedemona cast her as
…
• It could be argued that the way Othello
sometimes uses ‘money/ treasure’
imagery (e.g. in his final speech) shows
that his values have been ‘colonised’ by
Venice (it was a trading empire)
Heaven
Othello to
describe love for
Desdemona.
Later he ‘twists’
it to justify his
revenge.
Desdemona
Iago throughout
Sexual /
and then Othello
physical
from Act 3.
functions/
parts
Sea, the
earth etc.
Othello
War
Othello and Iago
●Remember, Iago has a very twisted
attitude to sex: much of his imagery simply
says a lot about him –he’s both repulsed
and fascinated by sex.
● That said –and he should know: he’s
jealous of everybody about everything- he
also uses this vivid sexual imagery to wind
Othello up. It works: what drives Othello
crazy is the thought of Cassio and
Desdemona having sex inside his own
head.
Much of Othello’s ‘big’ imagery is used to
emphasis (a) his greatness; (b) his
‘otherness’ and (c) the fact that he has
seen and done so many extraordinary
things. It is natural that such a man’s
speech on would be hyperbolic on a grand
scale.
● War is Othello’s “occupation”: it has been
his life –and he is/ was very good at it.
● Prior to marrying Desdemona, Othello’s
identity was bound up with being a great
warrior and leader of men.
● Note that for Othello war is an ‘ordermaking’ activity –he is the defender of
Venetian civilisation.