FREE ESSAY ON MAGIC AND OTHELLO

MAGIC AND OTHELLO

Repeated Image Clusters of Love and Magic in Othello
Arthur David Hash
Western World Literature
In Othello love is made to be deceitful and evil, spawned from magic. References of magic
are used to define Desdemona's love for Othello. Black versus white, good versus evil,
these themes are provided to the reader by a deceitful Iago. Convincing Rodrigo, other
characters and perhaps the reader that their love could only be the result of some spell
cast by Othello to usurp her love. Iago spins on his web of deceit. Desdemona's love is
not true. It is the result of some magic. Twisting reality Iago convinces them and the
result is death. 
The story begins. Branbanzio confronts Othello. ".......O thou foul thief, where hast
thou stowed my daughter? Dammed as thou art, thou hast enchanted her, for I'll refer me
to all things of sense, if she in chains of magic were not bound..." (p.2121 line 63-66).
Enraged, Branbanzio lashes out against Othello. He mind is clouded by rage spawned from
taunts yelled to him in the night by Rodrigo and Iago. When he approaches the duke with
his affairs the scene is described. "She is abused and stolen from me, and corrupted by
spells and medicines bought of mountebanks. For nature so preposterously to err, being
not deficient, blind or lame of sense, Sans witchcraft could not." (p 2124 line 60-64)
Branbanzio can't believe this match. His daughter cannot be in love with the moor. He can
only believe that witchcraft is to blame. This seed planted, he rants in front of the
court only later to be calmed by his old friend Othello. Shakespeare uses the references
as an aside. In reality they may have only been involuntary reaction to the situations.
Maybe if he says what he thinks out load then it will make the fact of his daughter
betraying him a fallacy. Othello says his tales enchanted her..."She'd come again with a
greedy ear Devour up my discourse; ..." (p.2126 line 148). He reminds his friend
Branbanzio that he has told him his tales and they moved his daughter. This was not
magic. "Of my whole course of love, what drugs, what charms what conjuration and what
mighty magic -for such proceeding I am charged withal -I won his daughter."(p.2124 line
91) The duke promises that whoever is responsible will be punished, and that Brabanzio
himself will decide the punishment, but when Branbanzio points out Othello as the
predator, there are shocked murmurs from everyone. This is not something they expected
from Othello, and it looks as if they might loose his services just when they need them
the most. 
Starting from the beginning Shakespeare wrote Iago's part to be the antagonist.
Convincing the other characters that the love of the Desdemona for Othello must have been
conjured up by magic. Shakespeare makes a theme of racism between Iago and Othello and
other characters in the play. Brabanzio can't bring himself to believe that his wife so
pure and white could be in love with Othello who is black the color of evil. 
Magic is peppered through the story like ingredients in a cauldron. During the times of
Shakespeare people believed in superstition, witches and sorcery. Shakespeare brought
amusement with these subjects to the stage. Making it a belief. For example seizures are
believed to be the way the body fights off the devil during. When Othello has these
seizures Iago exults in his "medicine" making Iago look like he is concocting something.
His stories taunt Othello making him break down to convulsions. Iago convinces Othello
that he can prove Desdemona is cheating on him. This throws him into a seizure. There is
a handkerchief that Othello gave to Desdemona and is in the possession of Cassio. Enraged
Othello confronts Desdemona, telling her of its magic. He tells her a story of how
Othello's mother received it from an Egyptian sorceress. There was magic in it. It made
Othello's mother lovable. This brought his father to her. If the handkerchief was given
away or lost that the magic of it would be lost. She gave it to Othello with the same
magic. Now lost by Desdemona, the fate will be the same in the end. This story of the
handkerchief could have been just a test. That he did not believe in the magic it held
but inference is stronger here than real life. For the fate of Desdemona is true to the
tale. 
The connection of Love and magic throughout Othello makes the play more stimulating.
Other stories from this period posses the same mystical belief. Dante's inferno suggests
levels of hell that have gruesome tortures. Sir Gaiwan and the Green Knight tell tales of
magic, using magical items as tokens of love. Similar to the handkerchief in Othello this
story uses a green girdle as a sign of temptation and love. Green symbolizing the magic
armor worn by the mysterious Green knight. If the mysticism were not there then Othello
would be a bit bland. 
Readers want to read about magic, mystery and murder. The themes of the play would be too
literal and obvious. The simplicity of the themes throughout the play would be a little
less interesting if a bit of magic was not thrown in.