Othello’s Copious Imagery
Let’s look into Shakespeare’s drama Othello and admire the proliferation of imagery with which the playwright has decorated the play.
In the Introduction to Shakespeare’s Othello: The Harbrace Theatre Edition, John Russell Brown describes some “splendid images” in the play:
The elaborate soliloquy spoken by Othello as he approaches his sleeping wife (V.ii.1-22) contains some splendid images, such as “chaste stars,” “monumental alabaster,” “flaming minister,” and “Promethean heat,” but its key words are simple and used repeatedly: cause, soul, blood, die, light, love, and weep. In his last sustained speech (V.ii.338-56), the images are fewer and approached through the simplest words (“Speak of me as I am”) and most blatant antitheses (“loved not wisely, but too well”). (xiv)
H. S. Wilson in his book of literary criticism, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, discusses the influence of the imagery:
It has indeed been suggested that the logic of events in the play and of Othello’s relation to them implies Othello’s damnation, and that the implication is pressed home with particular power in the imagery. This last amounts to interpreting the suggestions of the imagery as a means of comment by the author – the analogy would be the choruses of Greek tragedy. (66)
The vulgar imagery of Othello’s ancient dominates the opening of the play. Standing outside the senator’s home late at night, Iago uses imagery within a lie to arouse the occupant: “ Awake! what, ho, Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves! / Look to your house, your daughter and your bags!” When the senator appears at the window, the ancient continues with coarse imagery of animal lust: “...
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...ore Evans. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.
Kernan, Alvin. “Othello: and Introduction.” Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Ed. Alfred Harbage. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1964.
Mack, Maynard. Everybody’s Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.
Muir, Kenneth. Introduction. William Shakespeare: Othello. New York: Penguin Books, 1968.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.
Spurgeon, Caroline. “Shakespeare’s Imagery and What it Tells Us.” Shakespearean Tragedy. Ed. D. F. Bratchell. New York: Routledge, 1990.
Wilson, H. S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1957.
Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971 in New York City to Afeni Shakur, a Black Panther member since 1968. She gave birth to him 2 months after she was released from Women’s House of Detentions in Grenwich Village. She was charged with conspiracy to bomb several New York public locations and just had her bail revoked. In court she represented herself and won against the state of New York in a surprising turn out. In Incan dialect, his name Tupac Amaru means “shining serpent” and Shakur is Arabic for “thankful to God.” For most of his childhood his crack addicted mother shuffled Tupac between the ghettos of Harlem and the Bronx. Young Tupac began his performance career with the 127th Street Ensemble and then enrolled Baltimore School for the Arts where he was educated in ballet and acting. Tupac was forced to drop out of the school because he had to move to California with his mother, where his criminal career began. He left his house at the age of 17 because of the continuous fights with his mother he then began selling/doing drugs, and was homeless for about 2 years. His life was spiraling down wards at a rapid rate. Till one day he got his big break. Tupac always dreamt about being famous someday, now his dream was becoming a reality. He struck a recording deal with Interscope records. He was on his way to super stardom, but as we all know with fame comes problems. He was involved in the shooting of two off duty police officers, although the chargers were later dropped. He was also convicted of rape, and sentenced to 5 years in Clinton Correctional Facilities.
When most people hear the name Tupac, they think of a tattooed thug, a gangsta rapper killed in a tragic shooting who only got what was coming to him, a man who lived by the gun, and who died by the gun. However, those people probably have never taken a chance to look beyond what their eyes tell them, past the ignorance and into the depths of the man who really was Tupac.
The Rosetta stone is three feet nine inches long, two feet four and a half inches wide, and eleven inches thick.
...Gardner, Helen. “Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from “The Noble Moor.” British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955.
Gardner, Helen. “Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from “The Noble Moor.” British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955.
Bradley, A.C.. Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.
mysteries which occurred in 1953 was the electrocution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg under the Espionage Act. They were convicted for giving the secret information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. The anti-communist sentiment that characterized the Cold War and McCarthyism led to their trial and execution. Even though there is some evidence of the Rosenbergs' guilt, numerous facts which were discovered after the death of Ethel and Julius argue more convincingly that they were innocent victims of Cold War hysteria.
Picture this- William Harold Shakespeare, the most coveted playwriter in the history of the world, sitting at his desk, perspicaciously pondering over what shall become his most prominant and delicated tragedy of yet. Of course, given what little is known about Shakespeere displays, such deepseated imagery cannot simply be accomplished without first the propriety of haste and vinction.And yet, his very own rhetorical vibe displays allows such a vague pictoration to be concieved. Throughout the whole of Othello, the great Shakespeare remarks through an astounding displays show of pronouns, allitteration, and cacophonous diction his own resentment of both the King of Italy and the poor conditions of the said novelist.
In the written text, Shakespeare emphasis's the hidden reality through the use of dramatic techniques of imagery and symbolism. There is a constant use of light and dark imagery which is used by the protagonist , MAC...
In Fools of Time: Studies in Shakespearean Tragedy, Northrop Frye shows how the playwright uses imagery to reinforce the theme:
Cohen, Walter, J.E. Howard, K. Eisaman Maus. The Norton Shakespeare. Vol. 2 Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York, London. 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-92991-1
They are the best. In this paper I hope to give examples of animals imagery used in “Othello” that assist in explaining the story. play. I will be there. The specific examples I present will describe a character either as seen by himself or by a fellow.
“A warrior poet had been born and bred, and now he needed to walk the earth. He would be in danger for the rest of his life. But he would also bring art to his world and ours” (Clifford 26). Born in New York on June 16, 1971 as Lesane Parish Crooks but known to the public as Tupac Shakur was an iconic Hip-Hop artist, actor, poet, dancer and writer. Being raised by his mother Alice Faye Williams also known as Afeni Shakur, a former Black Panther leader, and other members of the Black Panther Party may have been the reason Tupac Shakur fought for justice for African Americans. From the time he about two years old, he was encouraged by his mother to write his thoughts and emotions as a form of discipline. Biographer and family friend of the Shakur
Bradley, A.C.. Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.
Barthelemy, Anthony G. "Introduction" Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. (page 1-19)