Othello and Desdemona as Renaissance Love

            Shakespeare’s Othello is more than an early example of interracial love, as many would perceive it to be; it incorporates the attitudes of men toward women and minorities in the case of Othello himself. Throughout the play, a sense of otherness pervades in dialogue between Othello and Desdemona, Othello and Iago, etc. implying that one point or another someone is seen as the superior whereas the other party is deemed inferior. The attitudes include jealousy, stupidity, pride, and greed; each negative characteristic is illustrated within each act.

            One must remember that the opinions formed about women came from the Renaissance era, meaning change was bound to happen sooner or later. Othello understood the reason he became the leader of the Venetian army: he has successfully fought off the Turks and sent them back home to Turkey. His followers saw him as a respected leader and a great man who happens to marry the purest woman around: Desdemona. His biggest detractor, Iago, who ironically was his closest friend, became jealous of Cassio because he received the promotion that had been so coveted. The way Iago went about his “inferior” feeling is since he could not take losing to a better qualified person, he begins by bringing up the worst excuse possible: race and the fact Othello and Desdemona are happily married. Therefore, to make himself feel better, he ran to tell her father that his daughter has been sleeping with a black man and they should both be ostracized from Venice.

            In addition, Iago attempted to portray Othello as stupid for trusting another man’s words over those of his own wife. Desdemona truly loved him, yet he is stupid for listening to another man about what his faithful wife does while he is away. As a result, Iago plays off Othello’s jealousy to perfection – only to find out he has been framed for the murder. Only after acknowledging the crime does Othello feel sorrowful and vow revenge on all parties involved.

            During male-to-female conversations, the male seemed to put on more of a father-daughter relationship as opposed to being equals. In the case of Iago and his wife Emila, he had a tendency to talk to her as if she were a child and an unfaithful whore. The “evidence” planted by Emila, Othello’s napkin from his late mother, comes up with Cassio only because she obeyed Iago’s orders. Jonathan Swetnam was once quoted for saying “Men, I say, may live without women, but women cannot live without men.” (Swetnam 1336). Perhaps his reason for the statement is archaic, but in that era, he was partially accurate for making the comment women cannot live without men. Unfortunately for Swetnam, men cannot live without women because we do not possess all of the body parts to continue into the next generation.

            Throughout Othello, pride is shown as a male characteristic as evidenced in every act and scene, particularly in who else? Iago! He stood in the way of everyone’s successes, accomplishments, etc. simply to meet the goal of destroying Othello; in the process, he gained nothing and still lost his soul, identity, and respect of the remaining soldiers.