Othello's Regression

I was wondering what to write about, this week I have the assignment of applying the play Othello to something important to me and also to connect this to a social discovery I was to make. As I was searching for what others have to say about Othello I found something perfect.

To me, the greatest miracle, the happiest thing, that which moves me most, is the miracle of a change of heart. The miracle of seeing a person change their life completely and become new, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Therefore, one of the saddest things is to see someone throw away all that is beautiful in life and turn to base things and become despairing. This is exactly what happens to Othello.

At the start of the play Othello is a man who everyone admires and looks up to. He is calm, well-judging, full of intergrity, and good to the core. When he is accused of stealing away Desdemona he doesn't run from his accusators, but has full confidence to answer for himself saying:

Not I, I must be found:
My parts, my title and my perfect soul
Shall manifest me rightly. 

Through the play I was surprised to read as his words became harsh and hurting. He goes from loving his wife completely to physical abuse within days. In the BBC production of the play I watched as he went from being calm and collected at all times to working himself into a raging fit of epilepsy, it was somewhat disturbing.

Nothing is more beautiful than a man changing for the better, and nothing is more tragic than sin and regression to the natural man. 

deviantart.com by joshcorris

Searching for what other people have to say about this I found a website about the King James Bible. There was a post about the Bible and Othello which gave some very interesting insights. I left a comment on the post and this is what I said. 

"I really enjoy your post here. In my college course on Shakespeare I am doing a study of the play Othello right now and I am assigned to apply it to something important to me in life. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the King James Bible is very important to us. I really like the connections between Othello and the gospel.

In my blog about Shakespeare I posted about how he uses his plays as a way of teaching the masses about morality, it seems so evident because so many of his plays have such strong religious undercurrents. The ones that you found in Othello were especially intriguing. Especially the one about Iago’s play on words “I am not what I am” being a connection to God. Iago seems to think himself God in the play, judging who should be punished, what lives should be taken, and he has great power over the world of the play Othello. It shows how twisted Iago is to make that allusion. Unfortunately he is all of these without the love and mercy of our Heavenly Father.

Othello as Judas, then that would make Iago Satan who “entered into Judas surnamed Iscariot” (Luke 22:3). This is one of the greatest tragedies Shakespeare wrote about, how a pure honest love could be so tainted and then destroyed as soon as one allows Satan and his lies into their mind. Judas allowing Satan in allowed his love for The Perfect Individual, Jesus Christ, to become tainted until it led to dead, and his subsequent suicide parallels well with Othello’s. This was a very interesting connection you made as well."

Shakespeare was teaching the masses again about how we should be, and letting them learn vicariously the tragedy of sin and jealousy, letting both consume you.

May his pernicious soul rot half a grain a day...

I have never hated anyone more.

This week I got to read the play Othello as well as view a film production on it. I thought about how to approach this and decided to first view the play and then to read it. After all, in Shakespeare's day everyone had to watch the play only, I doubt many people were able to obtain copies of the script to peruse at their own leisure.

I watched the film and LOVED IT!!! Fantastic! I was a little skeptical about a low budget BBC film but the talent of the actors, namely Anthony Hopkins, made it magnificent. I found myself sincerely moved and invested in the play. Totally being pulled into the part I was set to play as the viewer. I didn't know how much I would like the play, but this viewing experience has made it one of my favorites. While it is not my favorite tragedy of Will's, it is the most tragic tragedy.

I then read the script and found that this was a lot of fun after viewing the film. I find when I read before I see a production that I don't really grasp the emphasis in sentences or words. Everyone speaks very calmly and fluidly in my head. I didn't get as lost in the language now that I had seen how these lines were handled. Two lines stuck out to me.

He that is robbed, not wanting what is stolen,
Let him not know 't, and he's not robbed at all.
Othello, 3. 3

Someone who has something taken, if he doesn't know it's missing, he might as well not be robbed at all, he doens't know so it doesn't hurt him. When it is pointed out that something is taken then he falls into sadness and want, for he has "drunk and seen the spider" you might say.

This makes me so sad with Othello because nothing has really been stolen, but he thinks it has and that is enough to make him fly into a destructive rage. This tragedy is worse to me that Romeo and Juliet for example, because the cause of the two hormonal teenage tragedy is their own stupidity. Othello had a wonderful, almost enviable realationship with his wife. It was just as it should be, but due to the evil of a calculating devil, Othello lost it all. That is so tragic.

This brings me to my second line I like. The title of my post today, it is a punishment described for evil Iago. It sounds terrible, but it's still not enough in my opinion. I really detest this man who is nothing but pure evil inside, who can laugh when he sees other human beings tormented.

Elder Holland, says it best for me, "In the tale of Othello and Desdemona the sorrow and destruction is calculated--it is maliciously driven from the beginning. Of all the villains in Shakespeare's writing, and perhaps in all of literature, there is no one I loathe so much as I loathe Iago. Even his name sounds evil to me, or at least it has become so. And what is his evil...Sowing doubt and devilish innuendo, playing on jealousy and deceit and finally murderous rage, Iago provokes Othello into taking Desdemona's life--virtue turned into pitch, goodness twisted into a fatal net."

So, may his pernicious soul rot half a grain a day!