The western legal court system fails

to be a good model for how people

come to disciplinary conclusions in
real life.
 Justice is Failed.
•Othello has a military and governmental background, so he naturally
falls into a court orderly way of dealing with Iago’s suspicion.
•But he conducts an investigation in an improper and incorrect
manner, he allow his emotions to run to high, and persuasion takes
control of the case study.
•He does not lead in an objective way. Perhaps this is because the
matter is so closely related to him, his marriage.
•“It is not only jealousy and certainly not fear that brings Othello to
act as he does. Instead, it is Othello’s total allegiance to justice.
Othello dismisses Cassio from his high office with no thought of
vengeance, but because it is the just thing to do. And he brings
himself to hill his wife in spite of his personal feelings0he does not
want to kill her, but his sense of justice demands that he do so.
Similarly, when he finally discovers what he has done, he kills
himself—not from shame or remorse, but as an act of justice”
(Crawford).
 Who’s on trial?
• The main conflict of
the story, is Iago’s
persuasion on Othello
which ultimately
convinces Othello that
his wife, Desdemona
has been unfaithful.
 Click for
Point

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Othello’s Courthouse
The impersonal atmosphere in the court system
ignores the significance of personal
relationships, emotions, and reputations.

• P: Desdemona is the most significant victim of this

flaw in the court systematic process. Her love and
support for her husband Othello is forgotten as her
allegiance is questioned and her life is put on trial.
• E: “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got
without merit and lost without deserving.” Iago (Act II, Scene
3)

• P: “This great chop removes one of the most

poignant moments in the tragedy, when Othello
recalls Desdemona’s sweet loveliness, and wavers in
his murderous purpose” (Rosenberg).
• I: Although he still has strong emotional ties with
his wife, Desdemona, and he recently professed his
love in front of the entire Venice Senate, his
emotions are left out of the matter when it comes to
the trial of her faithfulness. Even in the last moment
before he administers her punishment, Othello fights
to keep his non objective emotions at bay; he
remembers the purity and kindness Desdemona has
constantly displayed, but this is no match up against
the hard proof against her.
 Because the cases are won by the power of
persuasion of lawyers and case-makers, a stress
on “winning” rather than finding truth prevails
in the legal system.
• P: Iago is a manipulative character who alters facts, and uses
the power of persuasion to mislead Othello’s investigation.

• E: “The Moor is of a free and open nature, That

thinks men honest that but seem to be so, And will as
tenderly be led by the nose As asses are” Iago (Act I,
Scene 3)
• P: “Iago’s maipulation of the rhetoric of pity…is a
key factor in his deception of Othello” (Smith).

• “Iago does not undermine the system here, but, on

the contrary, expresses it clearly and succinctly. Thus
when he consciously employs his knowledge of the
instrumental faculties in turning Othello from
reasoning man into unreasoning animal, his success
is more convincing than it, as one critic implies, he
were to muddle through error after error to produce
evil” (Curtis).

• I: His actions are deliberate as he obscures the story and the

events, but in this flawed organized structure, one man like Iago
has so much power over the outcome of the ultimate ruling.
Lawyers paint a picture in the minds of the judge and jury much
like Iago plants ideas and thoughts into Othello’s mind. He
looks for Othello’s weakness in judgment and attacks.

http://www.bing.c
 The emphasis on evidence and visual proof
stresses logic and ignores the social context of
the situation of interpersonal interpretation
• P: Othello is not successful in uncovering the truth although
the material evidence supports his conclusion. He assumes that
his wife, Desdemona, has been unfaithful once he sees Cassio
with her handkerchief, but this is not true. Othello forgets the
context in which this evidence was supplied to him.
• E: “It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul. Let me not name
it to you, the stars. It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,
nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, and smooth as
monumental alabaster. Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more
men” Othello (Act V, Scene 2).
• P:“The Moor’s travesty of justice results from the delusion of
his senses. In the source, the Moor demands to see the proof
which will reinforce the suspicions aroused through his ear”
(Adams).
• “As he develops the proposition that “seeing is believing,”
Shakespeare transforms from his source a term denoting mere
physical eyesight into a metaphor of spiritual vision and the
lack of it” (Adams).
• I: Othello is blinded by the hunt for clues and justice that he
does not take time to digest the information that he is being
presented with. He jumps to conclusions. He wholeheartedly
believes the leads that he has been shown, and does not weigh is
own ideas and gut feelings with the rest of the case material.
 Synthesis
• There is a false trust of order and correct results
that comes from the court system layout, but this
process fails Othello. He was taught to analyze
visually, and he learned to put feelings aside. By
the tragic ending of the novel, the reader observes
that decisions cannot be made solely on the
strength of proof and argument, but rather with the
consideration of instinct, internal consideration,
and a conscience “gut feelings”.
 Works Cited
Adams, Maurinne S. “’Ocular Proof’ in Othello and Curtis, Jared R. “The ‘Speculative and Offic’d
its Sources.” JSTOR. Web. 7 Dec. 2009. http:// Instruments’: Reason and Lov in Othello.” JSTOR.
jstor.org.ezproxy.bpl.org/stable/. Web. 7 Dec. 2009.
http://jstor.org.ezproxy.bpl.org/stable/.

Rosenberg, Marvin. “Reputation, Oft Lost Without Smith, Shawn. “Love, Pity Deception in Othello.”
Deserving…” JSTOR. Web. 7 Dec. 2009. http:// Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica,
jstor.org.ezproxy.bpl.org/stable. 2008. Web. 4 Dec. 2009. http://www.britannica.com/.

Crawford, Jerry L. “Othello: Total Allegiance to

Justice”. Midsummer Magazine. 1995.