Sunday, January 19, 2020
Copious Imagery within the Tragedy Othello :: Othello essays
Copious Imagery within the Tragedy Othelloà à à à à In the Shakespeareââ¬â¢s tragic drama Othello there resides imagery of all types, sizes and shapes. Let us look at the playwrightââ¬â¢s offering in this area. à In the essay ââ¬Å"Wit and Witchcraft: an Approach to Othelloâ⬠Robert B. Heilman discusses the significance of imagery within this play: à Reiterative language is particularly prone to acquire a continuity of its own and to become ââ¬Å"an independent part of the plotâ⬠whose effect we can attempt to gauge. It may create ââ¬Å"moodâ⬠or ââ¬Å"atmosphereâ⬠: the pervasiveness of images of injury, pain, and torture in Othello has a very strong impact that is not wholly determined by who uses the images. But most of all the ââ¬Å"system of imageryâ⬠introduces thoughts, ideas, themes ââ¬â elements of the meaning that is the authorââ¬â¢s final organization of all his materials. (333) à The vulgar imagery of Othelloââ¬â¢s ancient dominates the opening of the play. Francis Ferguson in ââ¬Å"Two Worldviews Echo Each Otherâ⬠describes the types of imagery used by the antagonist when he ââ¬Å"slips his mask asideâ⬠while awakening Brabantio: à Iago is letting loose the wicked passion inside him, as he does from time to time throughout the play, when he slips his mask aside. At such moments he always resorts to this imagery of money-bags, treachery, and animal lust and violence. So he expresses his own faithless, envious spirit, and, by the same token, his vision of the populous city of Venice ââ¬â Iagoââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"world,â⬠as it has been called. . . .(132) à Standing outside the senatorââ¬â¢s home late at night, Iago uses imagery within a lie to arouse the occupant: ââ¬Å" Awake! what, ho, Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves! / Look to your house, your daughter and your bags!â⬠When the senator appears at the window, the ancient continues with coarse imagery of animal lust: ââ¬Å"Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is topping your white ewe,â⬠and ââ¬Å"you'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews neigh to you; you'll have coursers for cousins and gennets for germans.â⬠à After Brabantio and his search party have reached the Moor, he quiets their passions with imagery from nature: ââ¬Å"Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.â⬠The senator, thinking that his daughter has been ââ¬Å"enchantedâ⬠by the Moor, employs related imagery in his confrontation with the general: ââ¬Å"If she in chains of magic were not bound,â⬠ââ¬Å"foul charms,â⬠ââ¬Å"drugs or minerals / That weaken motion,â⬠ââ¬Å"practiser of arts inhibited,â⬠ââ¬Å"prison,â⬠ââ¬Å"bond-slaves and pagans.
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