The True Beast in Othello

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The True Beast in Othello

"What is left when honor is lost?" This maxim from first century BC plays a pivotal role in Shakespeare’s play Othello. The question serves as a basis for the struggle between Othello and Iago. Both men are engaged in a battle over Othello’s honor. Iago is intent on destroying Othello’s sense of honor and reducing him to a bestial state. Iago views Othello as a beast masquerading in warrior’s dress. He wants to return Othello to what he believes to be his natural bestial state, and he realizes that to achieve this goal he must dupe Othello into violating his code of honor. Ironically, as Iago tries to unmask Othello’s bestiality, it is the beast within Iago that is exposed.

From the beginning of the play, Iago’s view of Othello as a beast is obvious. Iago repeatedly describes Othello in terms of animals. When Iago attempts to incite Brabantio’s anger, he does so by referring to Othello in vulgar, bestial terms. He says to Brabantio, "Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is tuping your white ewe" (1.1.89-90). He continues with, "you’ll have your daughter cover’d with a Barbary horse; / you’ll have your nephews neigh to you; / you’ll have coursers for cousins and gennets for germans" (1.1.110-114). He even exclaims to Brabantio that "your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs" (1.1.117-118).

Each of these animalistic phrases could be viewed only as Iago’s attempt to anger Brabantio if it were not for the fact that Iago also refers to Othello as an animal when he is alone. In his soliloquy at the end of Act 1, Iago says that Othello "will as tenderly be led by th’nose / As asses are" (1.3.395-936). He again refers to Othello as an ass in Act 2: "Make the Mo...

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...question, "What is left when honor is lost?" His answer comes from the mouth of Cassio: "Reputation, reputation, reputation! / O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial" (2.3.254-256).

Works Cited

Bandello, Matteo. "Certaine Tragicall Discourses of Bandello." Trans. Geoffrey Fenton.

Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare. Ed. Geoffrey Bullough. Vol. 7.

New York: Columbia UP, 1973.

Cinthio, Giovanni. "Gli Hecatommithi." Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare.

Ed. Geoffrey Bullough. Vol. 7. New York: Columbia UP, 1973.

Physiologus. The Book of Beasts: Being a Translation From a Latin Bestiary of the

Twelfth Century. Ed. T. H. White. London: Jonathan Cape, 1954.

Shakespeare, William. "Othello." The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. London: Collins, 1951.

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