Shakespeare explores several
factors which contribute to
someone's identity:
Race
Gender
Social status
Family
relationships
Military service
Within the play, concerns
with how an individual's
identity shapes his/her
actions are addressed
IAGO
Iago never reveals his true identity
(personality wise) as a way to mask his true
motives. This is particularly evident when
Othello calls him 'honest Iago' when he is
quite the opposite. Iago's masking of his
identity means that he is able to more easily
manipulate Othello (and others) as they do
not know his true motives behind this
BRABANTIO
After learning about Othello
and Desdemona's marriage,
he says 'Who would be a
father!' and wonders 'what's
to come' of himself
This suggests that he feels as though his identity
as a father and an authoritative figure has been
compromised by Desdemona's elopement
(which he says is 'treason of the blood')
He refers to Desdemona as
'a maiden never bold'
Annotations:
Act 1, Scene 3
This suggests that he does not know
his daughter very well because as
we know, she is very bold, especially
seeing as she runs off with an
unapproved man to marry
OTHELLO
'Let him do his spite. My services which I
have done the signiory shall out-tongue
his complaints. 'Tis yet to know (Which,
when I know that boasting is an honor, I
shall promulgate) I fetch my life and being
from men of royal siege, and my demerits
may speak unbonneted to as proud a
fortune as this that I have reached. For
know, Iago, but that I love the gentle
Desdemona, I would not my unhousèd
free condition put into circumscription
and confine for the sea's worth'
Annotations:
Act 1, Scene 2
Reveals Othello's sense of himself
as a military leader -> his
'services' to the state have made
him an 'insider', however, we
know that the very fact that he is
black makes him an 'outsider'
OTHELLO'S CHANGE
IN IDENTITY
'Soft you. A word or two before you go. I have done the state
some service, and they know 't. No more of that. I pray you, in
your letters, when you shall these unlucky deeds relate, speak of
me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.
Then must you speak of one that loved not wisely, but too well;
of one not easily jealous, but being wrought, perplexed in the
extreme; of one whose hand, like the base Judean, threw a pearl
away richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes, albeit
unused to the melting mood, drop tears as fast as the Arabian
trees their medicinable gum. Set you down this. And say besides,
that in Aleppo once, where a malignant and a turbanned Turk
beat a Venetian and traduced the state, I took by the throat the
circumcisèd dog, and smote him, thus (He stabs himself)'
Annotations:
Act 5, Scene 2
He wants his loyalty to the army
to be remembered BUT... he
also sees himself as a
'malignant and turbanned Turk',
which is a hated outsider and
their opponent in the war,
suggesting that his loyalty to the
state has been subverted. Also,
Othello stabs himself with the
same sword that he had
previously stabbed many Turks
with in the war, therefore
suggesting that he sees himself
as a threat to the Venetian State
DESDEMONA
'My noble father, I do perceive
here a divided duty. To you I am
bound for life and education. My
life and education both do learn
me how to respect you. You are
the lord of duty. I am hitherto
your daughter. But here's my
husband, and so much duty as
my mother showed to you,
preferring you before her father,
so much I challenge that I may
profess due to the Moor my lord'
Annotations:
Act 1, Scene 3
It is here that Desdemona completely professes
her loyalty to her husband, Othello, rather than
her father, Brabantio. This goes against the
stereotype of the time that women were purely
the profession of their fathers until her father
passed her on to an approved man. This also
suggests that she is tactful, respectful and
independent, as she does not let her father's views
influence her and she doesn't let him rule her life
CASSIO
'Reputation, reputation,
reputation! O, I have
lost my reputation!'
Annotations:
Act 2, Scene 3
Reputation made up a
huge part of your identity
and the way people
perceived you was seen as
extremely important.
Cassio feels that without
his reputation as an
upstanding soldier, he is
nothing but a beast
LODOVICO: 'O thou Othello, thou
wert once so good, fall'n in the
practice of a damnèd slave, what
shall be said to thee?' OTHELLO:
'Why, anything. An honourable
murderer, if you will, for naught I
did in hate, but all in honour'
Othello believes that
murdering Desdemona
was an 'honourable' thing
to do because she was
having an affair, and
therefore 'cuckolding' and
humiliating him
BUT...Lodovico says that the Othello that was 'once so
good' has now 'fall'n', suggesting that he believes that
murdering Desdemona was not the honourable thing
to do. This also shows how people's opinions of
Othello had become negative as he is no longer the
noble general that he was at the beginning of the play