Thursday, May 29, 2014

Might Iago be envious of Othello because he receives affection from Desdemona, when Iago and Emilia don't connect?I know that Iago is envious over...

I think it's certainly a possible interpretation. Desdemona and Othello are hugely affectionate - not least in the presence of Iago and Emilia when the army come aboard from the journey to Cyprus.

OTHELLO:
O my fair warrior!

DESD:


My dear Othello!

OTHELLO:
It gives me wonder great as my content
To see you here before me. O my soul's joy!
If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have waken'd death...
If it were now to die,
'Twere now to be most happy; for I fear
My soul hath her content so absolute
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate.

And the very little we see of Emilia and Iago together seems to suggest an extremely unloving, unwarm relationship (look, for example, at the way she gets the hankerchief to try and get his attention - but is simply told to go in once he has got it!). Emilia keeps saying things about how awful husbands are: this quote suggests Iago uses her simply for sex:

They are all but stomachs and we all but food;
They eat us hungerly, and when they are full
They belch us.

It's a good interpretation. Though, of course, we can never be sure about Iago's motives. His deliberate silence ("what you know you know") at the end of the play points to Shakespeare's intention: it's awful, but we never know why it has to happen.

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