Monday, October 15, 2012

Othello and Claudio- Abuse in Act Four



While reading act four of Othello, I began to notice the way males question female characters’ faithfulness in a brutal and troubling way.  This pattern was last seen with Claudio in the recently read comedy, Much Ado About Nothing.  The glaring accusations by both Othello and Claudio are strikingly related, with the main exception being Othello acting on another level of hostility with his impassioned speech directed toward the innocent Desdemona.  This supports the prevalent idea mentioned in class that comedy and tragedy are not that distant from one another.  Othello and Much Ado both feature some element of warfare and are set it the Mediterranean.  More importantly, villains fool prominent male characters.  While Claudio and Othello fall prey to believing lies by Don John and Iago, respectively, they are dissimilar in the ferocity of their accusation in each play’s act four.
 Shakespeare is unafraid of providing heart wrenching scenes of men brutally attacking wronged women.  Claudio tells Leonato to “Give not this rotten orange to your friend./  She’s but the sign and semblance of her honour” (4.1.30-1).  This statement and entire speech is quite alarming and harsh as it assails Hero’s honor in numerous ways, not excluding her being compared to a rotting piece of fruit.  It is difficult to think that Shakespeare could heighten the level of allegation, but he is successful in Othello.  During act four, scene two, Othello in a mocking manner, says to Desdemona, “I took you for that cunning whore of Venice/ That married with Othello” (lines 93-4).  Desdemona is labeled a prostitute outright by her husband.  Earlier, the accusatory scene features Othello telling his wife to “damn” herself and that God knows she is as “false as hell” (4.2.37 & 41).  The words “damn,” “hell,” and “whore,” evoke stronger responses from the audience than Claudio’s “rotten orange” speech.  While both are arresting, Shakespeare shows true ferocity with his tragedy of Othello.  I suppose the accusations by the men are appropriate for the play genres in which they are found.  Othello, being a tragedy, should be on the extreme end of intensity to evoke pathos, whereas Much Ado, a comedy, eventually has resolution.  If Claudio’s words were replaced by Othello’s speech, I doubt Much Ado could ever end in regeneration. 
                The physicality of the two acts four are vastly different.  In Othello, the Moor cannot contain himself from the bubbling anger he feels towards his wife and Cassio.  Here the audience sees Othello reach a new limit of fierceness. 
                OTHELLO [to DESDEMONA]:  I am glad to see you mad.
                DESDEMONA:  Why, sweet Othello!
                OTHELLO:  Devil! [He strikes her]  (4.1.234-5).
The physical abuse described here is a conspicuous example of how Othello outdoes Claudio with his anger towards his love.  The striking of his wife is a severely uncomfortable part of the play that signifies how altered Othello has truly become.  Claudio’s verbal attack on Hero ends with him leaving her on the floor.  She only fainted at the claims made by her beloved and was not attacked by him.  This seemed like a harsh moment, but after reading Othello act four, it appears merciful.

The actual questioning of both men towards the women is similar.  We see Claudio address Hero at the church with “Know you any, Hero?” after the Friar questions if either knows why they should not be married (4.1.13).  Claudio wants to get Hero to state the “inward impediment” of disloyalty that he thinks she has (4.1.11).  Similarly, Othello says to Desdemona, “Why, what art thou?” when harassing her and getting her to admit that she has been false with Cassio (4.2.35).  In Shakespeare’s time, the idea of a woman “cuckolding” her husband was thought immensely despicable.  These two instances reveal the paranoia of men in regards to their women being faithful or not.
                Shakespeare reveals two examples of men inquiring after a female’s faithfulness with the tragedy of Othello and the comedy of Much Ado About Nothing.  It is interesting to note how he uses a more severe tone for the questioning and speeches in tragedy compared to comedy.
                                               

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice post!
While reading through Act 4 I was completely shocked when Othello hit Desdemona in front of Lodovico and Iago. He sends her away to her room to cry and it seems he has lost all affection towards her. I thought Othello had a more sensitive side but I feel Iago has evoked that from him. Iago has transformed Othello into a angry beast! Iago is a very manipulative character Shakespeare created that carries the plot of the story.

Unknown said...

I think the comparisons you made between Much Ado About Nothing and Othello are great and completely accurate. Being a tragedy, Shakespeare adds more of a dramatic action in his treatment of women by the men who think them to be unfaithful. The purity of a woman is the driving force in whether or not that woman is respected by men, and how she is treated. I think also, Iago was the first advocate for distrusting woman from the very beginning of the play when he openly insults his wife, and all women. Because he thinks that Othello slept with his wife, this is enough cause for Iago to destroy countless lives, proving again, exactly how women are used in this play as well as Much Ado About Nothing, and how brutality towards a woman can be justified by a man if she is thought to be unfaithful.

Unknown said...

The shock of envisioning and hearing Othello call Desdemona "Devil" and then hitting her seems even more striking when his actions and degradation happens so quickly after Desdemona says "for the love I bear Cassio" and Othello says, "Fire and brimstone" (4.1.235,225-226). We as readers know the reason why he might audibly show his distress (after all of Iago's mechanizations) but hitting his wife in public is a real shock just as Claudio's public denunciation of Hero was a shock. You are right. Both plays show that men at the time were "paranoid" of being cuckolded, to the point of abuse.

Cyrus Mulready said...

In reading your post, Jacey, I am struck by your careful account of how these plays parallel one another--to a point. One key difference seems to be the two villains. Don John is an insider who behaves like an outsider, a bastard with means who chooses to operate at a distance to undo his brother and his friends. Iago is more of an outsider who works his way inside the life of his victim. Though Don John was nearly successful (undone by reversible comedy), Iago's tactics seem to be the key difference, and perhaps these plays provide an examination of different tactics of manipulation.