CORINNENOTES
OTHELLO'S LANGUAGE.
For all that Othello is set in a "masculine",military world it is the language which dominates the play rather than actions. Language defines character, revealing Othello as the eloquent outsider who descends into madness through the breakdown of his language and Iago as Janus. Moreover it reveals that appearance isn't always the same as reality...
The eloquence of the play is characterised by Othello's language. His eloquence in the opening Act contrasts sharply with the short sentences of the other characters. He claims that "Rude am I in my speech/And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace" but this is recognised by the audience to be modesty. The audience is not alone in noting the beauty of Othello's language with the Duke stating that Othello's "tale would win" his daughter as well. Indeed the quality of Othello's language has been labelled as "Othello music" by one critic and if it is worthy of such a label it is in the opening Act. For Othello the "tented field" is something characterised by romanticism and heroism. He talks of "Rough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven" mixing the military world with imagery of heaven. Equally Desdemona is the "fair warrior" and his "captain's captain". This shows how he not only considers Desdemona to be his equal (something which none of the other characters do with the "maiden never bold") but how he has moved his affection and preoccupation with his career on to Desdemona. For Othello, who is undoubtedly a character of extremes, this is an unsurprising transference of affection but it is also one which creates an ideal of Desdemona which she has little chance of living up to. The audience knows that in terms of idealism they are separated from the more brutal world but, crucially, Othello doesn't. For him the world is one coloured, like his language, with extremes. Extremes of perfection, extremes of evil. There is no room for shades of grey in such a world and this is why he is able to dramatically state "my life upon her faith" without realising the implication of such a statement. Equally he can talk of "my soul's joy" and can state "If it were now to die/ 'Twere now to be most happy". This is indeed the peak of his life, the peak of his relationship, the peak of his "music" but in such a world, for such a person as Othello, a peak is unsustainable, merely an illusive picture which is open to his own dramatic interpretation as much as Iago's untuning.
When the breakdown of Othello's language occurs it is as dramatic as his former eloquence. Again the dramatic nature of his language is shown in his comment of "Tis the plague of great ones". He may swear by "heaven" to know "thy thoughts" and then talk of the "monster" in them, demanding proof but he is unable to recognise that he is jealous, ironically stating "Think'st thou I'd make a life of jealousy". During his conversation with Iago in Act 3 Scene 3 he talks as if he is addressing a captive audience and yet there is only him and Iago present, and then just himself. For Othello his language is shaped by his life experience. Every aspect of it is elevated, powerful,as if he is telling one of his stories which he previously told Desdemona. This leads to his dramatic "farewell" speech:
Farewell the tranquil mind, farewell content!\ Farewell the plumed troops and the big wars\ That makes ambition virtue...\ Farewell: Othello's occupation gone".
From this point in the play it is indeed farewell: farewell to the "Pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war" in Othello's language; farewell to heaven which is now made of "marble" and farewell to his "music".Earlier in the play Othello ironically states "when I love thee not/ Chaos is come again". As Othello's love is so absolute it is unsurprising that when he no longer loves Desdemona the chaos, in both his life and language, is also absolute. Imagery of heaven is replaced by imagery of "hollow hell" and "sweating devil[s]" and his language becomes more sexual: "Hot, hot moist". His speech on the importance of the handkerchief in Act 3 Scene 4 shows how his origins colour his language. He states that "there's magic in the web of it" and that his mother received it from a "charmer" who "could almost read/ The thoughts of people". The speech is designed to make Desdemona realise the importance of the handkerchief and it undoubtedly does this, however it also prevents either of them escaping from the situation they are in. Whether Othello actually believes in the superstition or is exaggerating to impress the importance of it on Desdemona is unclear but again it is an example of the dramatic nature of his language. With such a powerful story Desdemona has little chance of revealing the truth, especially after his rejection of her in the previous scene. After this Othello's language rapidly disintegrates. In Act 4 Scene 1 he has lost all sense of reason stating "first to be hanged and then to confess". His language breaks up further as he stops talking in verse and finally is no longer able to communicate even in sentences: "Noses, ears, lips. Is't possible? Confess! handkerchief! O devil!". Desdemona is now the "devil" who is as "false as hell". Equally he has adopted the animal imagery of Iago: "Goats and monkeys!". For Othello the accumulative nature of the brutality and ugliness which he is surrounded by has undermined his language. Othello's world, and his language, has been untuned by an "eternal villain" and his own nature.
Once Othello's language has traversed the spectrum of being exquisite to blatantly ridiculous it again begins to regain its former structure. By Act 4 Scene 2 his rhetoric has returned, even if it is only to justify his motives: "Was this fair paper, this most goodly book/ Made to write 'whore' upon?". He is still using mixed metaphors however: "rose-lipped cherubin/ Ay, here look, grim as hell!". As in Act 3 Scene 4 Othello uses repetition, this time with the word "committed", highlighting how, to Othello, his actions are "justice". Act 5 Scene 2 however opens with a soliloquy that is filled sensuous imagery of Desdemona's "whiter skin...than snow"..."smooth as monumental alabaster" and her "balmy breath". She is no longer the "devil" having regained her former status of the "light" which Othello will put out. Othello still sees the murder as being a "sacrifice" and this is another of his attempts to justify what he is doing (which is the very thing that preoccupied Iago in his early soliloquies). Once he has murdered her however Othello recognises the impact of what he has done: "Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse/ Of sun and moon". This may well be over dramatic but for once Othello's dramatisation of his life seems appropriate . Even in Othello's world of extremes Desdemona's death makes its impact on him. His conversation with Emilia after the murder is characterised by the repetition of the word "husband" as realisation begins to dawn on Othello. His final speech, which is effectively his epitaph, shows a return to his "music" of the opening Act. It contains a list of similes to describe his condition, in which we encounter the "base Indian" and the "Arabian trees". This again shows how his language is coloured by his origins. After the first-person opening however Othello stands back from himself and speaks in the third person of "one" who has done all these things. His judgement on himself is "Of one that loved not wisely, but too well", which may suggest that even at this point our tragic hero is deceiving himself. It also has to be noted that Othello is conscious that this is his epitaph and it is therefore worded accordingly. Othello is a highly introspective character who creates images of beauty and elegance in a way which none of the other characters do and yet, his final speech gives a clue to the problem of such a style of language. It is not only his language which is coloured by his dramatisation but his life as well and this undoubtedly leaves him open to having his poetic talents used for negative effect on both his life and language.