Not you too, Othello!

It’s really sad to sit here, reading about Othello and watch him fall victim to the grasps of male insecurity. To be honest, I’m sure this guy was a Beast. Absolute stud. Fictional or not, he was a handsome fella. As a High School student I couldn’t care less about these stories and the intricate relationships Shakespeare crafted. The language was weird, I was a little uncomfortable thinking about things like marriage and life as an adult and I was a kid! C’mon, I was thinking more about CoD and Skyrim than Othello. Little did I know, I was subconsciously trying to avoid this part of the story. As a below-average looking High School student who was meh at sports, I was incredibly insecure about my looks, body and, well, masculinity. I always wanted to be like my buddies who were just all-around studs. “How could they be insecure? Their life is perfect.” I often thought to myself. I never admitted it until years later, and still have trouble accepting it, but it’s just a part of life I suppose.

Quick disclaimer, I’m not trying to compare myself to Othello (lmao).

While it’s lovely to see Brabantio accept (well, sort of) Othello as his son-in-law, and Desdemona proclaim her love for him publicly; it’s heart breaking to see him fall apart the way he does. First off, Iago is truly the snakiest of snakes I’ve ever encountered, real life or fictional. Iago has a monologue at the end of Act 2 that I couldn’t get out of my head when reading Act 4 and 5. He reminds me of Ramsey Bolton from GoT, a character you despise so much but you can’t stop watching him. They’re both incredibly well crafted characters that propel the story forward and grab the readers attention. I mean, without Iago, there isn’t really a story to be honest. Brabantio wouldn’t have gotten all riled up by Roderigo, and Othello wouldn’t have been so blinded by anger and emotion if he didn’t have Iago constantly in his ear whispering nonsense about Desdemona. No snakey-Iago, no tragedy to be honest.

Jealousy is a crazy thing, that motivates people to do things that are incredibly out of character. Act 4, scene 1 (lines 40-60) has such an important passage that puts Othello’s insecurity on display (as well is Iago being SUCH a snake). It reads…

IAGO 
Faith, that he did—I know not what he did.
OTHELLO What? What?
IAGO 
Lie—
OTHELLO With her?
IAGO With her—on her—what you will.

Othello would eventually fall in a “trance” as the play describes it. It’s impressive, to be honest, how well Iago can manipulate everyone around him. He simultaneously turns Othello against Cassio and plunges him further into despair and jealousy. He’s a mastermind, truly. There are so many other in-text examples of Iago being a snake and manipulating Othello, Cassio and Roderigo that it’s hard to choose which one.

There’s a lot that can be unpacked from this story, but my biggest take away was how easy it is to manipulate someone. By planting the handkerchief in Cassio’s and making it seem like they were talking about Desdemona, it was over. As humans, it’s easy to spiral downwards blinded by emotions and fall victim to our insecurities. While Othello was a successful, valiant and admired military man, the thought of his right-hand-man sleeping with his wife took control of his life. Listen, I’m not saying being cheated on is great, but it can really set people down a self-destructive path. It really says a lot about masculine insecurity, where even the thought of being a “cuckold” or whatever they called back then can lead to self-destruction. It didn’t matter if the affair was true or not, the damage was already done. This story says a lot about humans and our emotions.