Critical Evaluation

Courtesy of eNotes

Although Othello has frequently been praised as William Shakespeares most

unified tragedy, many critics have found the central character to be the most
unheroic of Shakespeares heroes. Some have found him stupid beyond
redemption; others have described him as a passionate being overwhelmed
by powerful emotion; still others have found him self-pitying and insensitive to
the enormity of his actions. Yet all of these denigrations pale before the
excitement and sympathy generated for the noble soldier in the course of the
play.
As a Moor, or black man, Othello is an exotic, a foreigner from a fascinating
and mysterious land. He is passionate, but he is not devoid of sensitivity.
Rather, his problem is that he is thrust into the sophisticated and highly
cultivated context of Renaissance Italy, a land that in the England of
Shakespeares time had a reputation for connivance and intrigue.
Shakespeare uses the racial difference to many effects: most obviously, to
emphasize Othellos difference from the society in which he finds himself and
to which he allies himself through marriage; more subtly and ironically to
heighten his tragic stance against the white Iago, the embodiment of evil in
the play. More than anything, Othello is natural man confronted with the
machinations and contrivances of an overly civilized society. His instincts are
to be loving and trusting, but he is cast into a society where these natural
virtues would have made him extremely vulnerable.
The prime source of that vulnerability is personified in the figure of Iago,
perhaps Shakespeares consummate villain. Iago is so evil by nature that he
does not even need any motivation for his antagonism toward Othello. He has

been passed over for promotion, but that is clearly a pretext for a malignant
nature whose hatred for Othello needs no specific grounds. It is Othellos
candor, openness, and spontaneous, generous love that Iago finds offensive.
His suggestion that Othello has seduced his own wife is an even flimsier
fabrication to cover his essential corruption.
Iago sees other human beings only as victims or tools. He is the classical
Renaissance atheistintelligent, beyond moral scruple, and one who finds
pleasure in the corruption of the virtuous and the abuse of the pliable. That he
brings himself into danger is of no consequence, because he relies on his wit
and believes that all can be duped and destroyed. There is no further purpose
to his life. For such a manipulator, Othello, a good man out of his cultural
element, is the perfect target.
More so than in any other Shakespeare play, one character, Iago, is the stage
manager of the whole action. Once he sets out to destroy Othello, he
proceeds by plot and by innuendo to achieve his goal. He tells others just
what he wishes them to know, sets one character against another, and
develops an elaborate web of circumstantial evidence to dupe the vulnerable
Moor. Edgar Stoll has argued that the extraordinary success of Iago in
convincing other characters of his fabrications is simply a matter of the
conventional ability of the Renaissance villain. Yet there is more to the conflict
than Iagos abilities, conventional or natural. Othello is the perfect victim
because he bases his opinions and his human relationships on intuition rather
than reason. His courtship of Desdemona is brief and his devotion absolute,
as is his trust of his comrades, including Iago. It is not simply that Iago is
universally believed. Ironically, he is able to fool everyone about everything
except the subject of Desdemonas chastity. On that subject it is only Othello
whom he is able to deceive. Roderigo, Cassio, and Emilia all reject Iagos

allegations that Desdemona has been unfaithful. Only Othello is deceived, but
that is because Iago is able to make him play a game with unfamiliar rules.
Iago entices Othello to use Venetian criteria of truth rather than the intuition on
which he should rely. Iago plants doubts in Othellos mind, but his decisive
success comes when he gets Othello to demand ocular proof. Although it
seems that Othello is demanding conclusive evidence before jumping to the
conclusion that his wife has been unfaithful, it is more important that he has
accepted Iagos idea of concrete evidence. From that point on, it is easy for
Iago to falsify evidence and create appearances that will lead to erroneous
judgments. Othello betrays hyperemotional behavior in his rantings and his
fits, but these are the result of his acceptance of what seems indisputable
proof. It takes a long time, and a lot of falsifications, before Othello finally
abandons his intuitive perception of the truth of his domestic situation. As
Othello himself recognizes, he is not quick to anger but, once angered, his
natural passion takes over.
The crime that Othello commits is made to appear all the more heinous
because of Desdemonas utter loyalty. It is not that she is naveindeed, her
conversation reflects that she is sophisticatedbut there is no question of her
total fidelity to her husband. The evil represented by the murder is intensified
by the audiences perception of the contrast between the victims virtue and
Othellos conviction that he is an instrument of justice. His chilling conviction
reminds readers of the essential probity of a man deranged by confrontation
with an evil he cannot comprehend.
Critics such as T. S. Eliot have argued that Othello never comes to an
understanding of the gravity of his crimethat he realizes his error but
consoles himself in his final speech with cheering reminders of his own virtue.

That does not, however, seem consistent with the valiant and honest military
character who has thus far been depicted. Othello may have been grossly
deceived, and he may be responsible for not clinging to the truth of his mutual
love with Desdemona, but, in his final speech, he does face up to his error
with the same passion with which he had followed his earlier misconception.
Just as he had believed that his murder of Desdemona was divine retribution,
he now believes that his suicide is a just act. His passionate nature believes it
is meting out justice for the earlier transgression. There is a reference to
punishment for Iago, but Shakespeare dismisses the obvious villain so as to
focus on Othellos final act of expiation.