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Barker
April 22, 2014
Man is the Cruelest Animal: Beast and Creature Imagery in Shakespeare’s Othello
The Elizabethan era was one of great bounty, referred to by many as a Golden Age in
England’s history where the arts, and theatre especially, flourished. These creations typically
worked in tandem with religious ideologies of the time, such as the ubiquitous Great Chain of
Being, and Shakespeare’s works are no exception. The frequent use of animal imagery in
Othello serves to outline savagery and evil in the men of the play through both the Great Chain
of Being and fictitious beasts like the cuckold.
The majority of animal analogies used in this play are directed at Othello himself,
ranging from creatures found normally in nature, such as the “old black ram” (I.i.97) and the
barbary horse, to socially constructed beasts like the cuckold and the beast with two backs.
Both of the natural animal examples, each said by Iago in Act 1, Scene 1 in his attempts in
incense Brabantio into a rage about Desdemona and Othello’s relationship, refer to animals that
can be found on the Great Chain of Being. While both rams and horses remain below humans,
as all animals were thought to lack “spiritual and mental attributes such as immortal souls and
the ability to use logic and language” (Wheeler), they can be found among the highest threshold
of animals in the chain as mammals. So, this begs the questions— how is the use of these
animal indicative of savagery, or even an insult at all when other animals in this section, such as
lions, can be used as a positive comparison? The answer lies in the extra descriptors, the “old
black” and “barbary”, though there are many smaller examples of this in the text that support the
same theory. There are many racially charged descriptions used towards Othello, and barbary
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is one of the foremost of them. Simply looking at the word itself draws the connection to
‘barbarian,’ and further research tells that ‘the Barbary” refers to North Africa— this geographic
reference is further solidified when Rodrigo refers to Othello as “… the thick lips” (I.i.72), a racial
stereotype often used at that time by Europeans travelling to Africa, and the constant referring
to Othello as “the Moor” by other characters, another ambiguous descriptor of the era for people
of colour— and the racial implications of savagery are sure to follow, given the time period.
The women of Othello are described much less with animal references, for a variety of
reasons. However, the images they are described with serve a much different purpose than with
the men— both Emilia and Desdemona are attributed with delicate and innocent animals, the
swan and the white ewe respectively, and when they are described in this way it is when they’re
in a time of suffering, in Emilia’s case, or their character is being drawn into question, in
Desdemona’s. This brings up the very interesting duality of their characters and raises the
question of whether they are meant to exist on their own in the narrative, or if they are only
written in to emphasize the savagery and evil of the men in the play in much the same way that,
as noted by Joseph Roach in his analysis of Hare’s The Victory of Faith and many other pieces,
the suffering or sexuality of a black woman was used to intensify that of a white woman (Krebs,
196). When Desdemona is referred to as a ‘“white ewe” (I.i.98) in conjunction with Othello being
called an “old black ram”, is her innocence used to highlight Othello’s brutality and greed, or the
other way around? After Emilia has been stabbed for revealing Iago’s plans, she lies by
Desdemona’s corpse and says, “I will play the swan/ and die in music” (V.ii.296-297) before
slandering Othello further and dying, drawing bountiful evidence to Othello’s monstrous faults.
The most interesting case of animal imagery in Othello is Iago’s—he uses these images
not only to describe others and paint them as subhuman beasts, but also himself. In the earlier
stages of his plan, Iago says, “With as little a web as this will I ensnare/ as great a fly as Cassio”
(ii.i.183-184). This comparison puts himself plainly in the place of the spider, an archetypal evil
creature, and suggests that Iago is aware that his actions are wrong and evil unlike many
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villains in both Shakespearean and contemporary literature who are disillusioned to believe their
actions are justified. Comparisons from other characters also show Iago as inhuman in his
cruelty— called “spartan dog” and “viper” by Lodovico (V.ii.424 and V.ii.355) and “inhuman dog”
by Roderigo (V.i.74). While the implications of viper are quite standard—snakes are biblically
tied to deceit and evil, after all— the really interesting comparisons happen in the dog imagery.
Dogs, much like Othello’s ram and horse, are rather high in the animal bracket of the Great
Chain of Being. Dogs, in fact, are with cats as the second highest mammal, under the lion.
Historically, they’ve been companions and helpers, labeled as loyal and “man’s best friend”,
which may strike one as strange when mixed in with other such devious and evil animals, but
this actually fits Iago’s character perfectly. A dog is exactly the image he projects for himself;
loyal, trustworthy, honest and reliable. The terms “spartan dog” and “inhuman dog” both
represent Iago as he really is: bloodthirsty, ruthless, savage, a betrayal of what he’s supposed
to be.
Language shaped by racially charged slurs and archetypal ideas can be used, in Othello
specifically, to emphasize for the audience specific traits and ideas carried by the characters.
People will always find a way to insult and demean one another, and it’s clear that the Great
Chain of Being served this purpose well. This was true in Shakespeare’s time and remains true
today. While the language we use to insult and demean changes with the times, this language
continues to be a reflection of societies fears, anxieties and preoccupations.
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Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and
Paul Werstein. Washington Square Press New Folger's ed. New York: Simon and
Schuster Paperbacks, 1993. Print.
Wheeler, Kip. "Tillyard and the Chain of Being." Tillyard and the Chain of Being. 1 Aug. 2015.
Web. 12 Nov. 2015
Krebs, Paula M. White Women in Racialized Spaces: Imaginative Transformation and Ethical
Action in Literature. Ed. Samina Najmi and Rajini Srikanth. Albany: State U of New York,
2002. 196. Print.