Othello Essay, Research Paper

"I am not what I am." An essay on Othello, question No 4. I will

discuss this quote in relation to Lacan’s ideas about language as the symbolic

order. My aim is to show how Othello finds his identity threatened by

Desdemona’s reaction to his tales. In order to explain Lacan’s ideas very

briefly I will quote from Pam Morris: Literature and Feminism, (Blackwell, 1993)

where she discusses the resolution of the Oedipal crisis. For Freud the outcome

of the child’s fear of castration is its submission to the reality principle and

hence its entry into the social order. For Lacan this must coincide with the

child’s entry into the language system…..Language is thus the Law of the

father; a linguistic system within which our social and gender identity is

always already structured. (p. 104) Othello’s identity in the Venetian society

is his role as "the Moor". Few people use his real name when talking

about him. When speaking the given quote, Othello is telling the Venetians how

he won Desdemona’s heart by telling her the story of his life, and he now

retells it to the Venetians. This tale-telling is a way of employing the

linguistic system to reshape for himself a new identity with more positive

connotations than "the Moor" can offer. "The Moor" is an

expression the Venetians connect to other expressions in the linguistic system

which all have a negative value. Examples are such expressions as "old

black ram, a Barbary horse, lascivious, and a devil." The negative overtone

of these words will reflect back on Othello. He can’t change his origins but he

can try to change the connotations of "the Moor". He can fill the

expression with a new content and thereby give himself an identity he can be

more comfortable with. This is what Othello is doing when he is retelling his

history. Othello is obviously a good narrator; Desdemona can’t get enough of his

story. Expressions like "seriously incline", "with haste"

and "greedy ear" show Desdemona’s eagerness for his storytelling.

"And ever…./She’ld come again" shows that this has been happening

over a period of time without Desdemona growing tired of his tales. The given

quote implies that Othello feels he has been too clever for his own benefit.

Desdemona’s craving for his autobiography is felt as a threat; it may jeopardize

his new identity. Othello says that she would: "Devour up my

discourse". It is in this discourse that his identity exists. If she

devours up his discourse, she devours up his identity and leaves him where he

started; as "the Moor". Desdemona may represent the all-engulfing

mother of the pre-Oedipal stage. This is a stage without structure, language or

identity, an opposite to the linguistic system, the Law of the father. It is

with a "greedy ear" she "devours up my discourse". An ear is

sometimes used to symbolize female genitalia and will here emphasize the fact

that Othello feels the threat to be feminine. That he, through his discourse, is

devoured shows that this feminine threat is all-engulfing. If Othello refuses to

accept his old role as "the Moor" he will either be without an

identity or be dragged by his self-fashioned identity back into the pre-Oedipal

stage. These options are two sides of the same coin, he will lose himself either

way. To give up one’s self is the same as suicide. Both death and the

pre-Oedipal stage are spheres without language, structure, intention or

identity. To give way to the one or the other will have the same result for

Othello; he will no longer be a conscious being. To save himself, Othello must

get control over this "greedy ear". Female sexuality was considered

something scary which could best be controlled through marriage. A loose tongue

was a sign of loose sexuality. Othello extends this notion to include

Desdemona’s "greedy ear". He marries Desdemona and all is well until

Iago implies that Desdemona is unfaithful. Unfaithfulness in a woman will

reflect back on her husband. A cuckold is a ridiculous figure in other people’s

eyes. He must be seriously lacking in person for his wife to run after other

men. Othello sees himself in the same situation as before the marriage. Instead

of using her ears she is now using her sexuality to destroy the identity he has

built up for himself. I have already pointed out how ears and sexuality are

connected in Othello’s mind. Either way the results are the same for Othello’s

identity. He sees his positive image of himself slipping away: "Farewell

the plumed troops and the big wars/ That makes ambition virtue!….Farewell:

Othello’s occupation’s gone." (III, iii, 352-353+360) The one way to

control this threat is to passivize Desdemona completely by killing her. He

realizes too late the effect this action will have on his own situation. She was

the only person who would accept the identity he had been fronting. He even had

difficulties believing in it himself, which made him an easy victim for Iago. So

when he killed Desdemona he killed the positive image of himself. The person he

saw as a threat to his identity was the only person who actually sustained it.

Because he had such difficulties in believing in himself he found it impossible

that anybody else should do so. This insecurity proves his undoing. His positive

self-image gone, he is left a choice between "the Moor" or

nothingness. The moment Emilia realizes Othello is the murderer she reverts to

calling him expressions connected to the negative image of "the Moor":

"And you the blacker devil!…thou art a devil." (V, ii, 129, 131) He

can’t stand being this person, the only one society and the symbolic order can

offer him. To construct his own identity has proven impossible. To be without an

identity, a non-personn implies death. He chooses to free himself of this

unwanted identity by stepping out of the social order and the language system by

means of suicide.

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