Shakespeare’s Othello and the Idiocy of Idolatry.
There’s no fool like an old fool, except maybe a young fool.
And Hell hath no fury like an acolyte scorned.
Burton Weltman
“Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Proverbs 16:18. King James Bible
Fans, Fanaticism and Foolishness: The Relevance of Othello in an Age of Idolatry.
“Thus credulous fools are caught.” Iago. Othello. Act IV, Scene 1, Line 44.
There are very few things upon which all of the Western religious and philosophical traditions agree but one of them is the abhorrence of idolatry. Another is the condemnation of pride.
Idolatry, worshipping someone or a representation of someone as though that person is a god, is prohibited in the first and foremost of the Biblical Ten Commandments. Idolatry is generally considered the worst religious offense in the Judeo-Christian-Muslim religious tradition that has historically predominated in Western society. It has been similarly condemned in Western philosophy from Socrates to the present. Idolatry is considered false, foolish and, to the religious, blasphemous because it elevates someone to a magisterial height that the person does not deserve, and renders the person and the person’s ideas impervious to criticism and change.
Pride is, in turn, the first and foremost of the so-called Seven Deadly Sins and is generally condemned as the root of all evil in the Judeo-Christian-Muslim tradition. “Pride is the beginning of sin, and he that hath it shall pour out abomination” warned St. Augustine, quoting from Ecclesiasticus 10:13-23. Rooted in egoism, pride can be considered a form of self-idolization, setting oneself up as the supreme judge of something or as a be-all-and-end-all in some way, as though one can take credit as solely responsible for something. Neither philosophy, science, nor religion accepts that claim.
What does it mean, then, that idolatry and pride are so prevalent, promoted and applauded in Western society today? “I am proud of…” is a commonplace reaction to someone having done something deemed good. People routinely proclaim pride in themselves and others, and it is a commonplace self-help mantra that “If you don’t have pride in yourself, you won’t achieve or amount to anything.” Pride has widely become a term of approbation instead of opprobrium.
Likewise, “I idolize …” and “…is my idol” are commonplace expressions of devotion in our society. People adulate athletes, actors and singers, effectively worshipping them like gods. Sports fans (short for “fanatics”) root so fiercely for their favorite teams that they hate each other to the point of violence. Idolatry has also invaded the political process. Voters insist on idolizing their favorite candidates as saviors of civilization, as messiahs who will deliver us from the evil of our opponents, and foolishly expecting things of them they cannot possibly deliver.
The contradiction between what Western ethics teaches about idolatry and pride and what people say and do is exemplified by the so-called leader of the Western world, the President of the United States, Donald Trump. As I am writing this essay in July, 2019, everything in the world seems to revolve around Donald Trump. Which is the way he wants it, and he seems to be getting his way. Congress, the mass media, the people in the street, all seem to be obsessed with his sayings and doings. Trump is a man whose vanity knows no bounds and who has made of himself an idol that he expects his followers to worship and seems to worship himself.
So, what does all of this have to do with Othello? As with most of Shakespeare’s plays, there are many different legitimate ways to interpret Othello. The play has been given psychological, sociological, sexual, cultural, historical, anthropological, theological, ideological, and other interpretations, most of which can be seen as relevant to us today. That is part of the genius of Shakespeare. My focus in this essay is on the nature and effects of idolatry in the play. It is an aspect of the play that is generally overlooked but is, I think, one of the things that makes the play particularly relevant to us in our age of idolatry and Donald Trump.
The Plot: How the mighty has fallen. And the unmighty with him.
The basic plotline of Othello is fairly simple. A revered Moorish military officer, Othello, who commands the Venetian army, elopes with the beautiful young daughter, Desdemona, of a Venetian aristocrat, Brabantio, much to Brabantio’s dismay. Brabantio idolizes Othello for his past military feats – he is an Othello groupie – and has hosted Othello in his home. Brabantio was unaware, however, that while Othello had been wowing him, he had also been wooing his daughter. Brabantio does not want Othello, a plebian and a foreigner, for a son-in-law. So, Othello steals away with Desdemona and marries her on the sly. When Brabantio complains to the ruling Duke of Venice about Othello’s behavior, the Duke dismisses Brabantio’s complaint because he needs Othello to defend Venetian interests in Cyprus against an attack by the Turks.
Othello has meanwhile passed over his long-time devoted aid Iago for promotion, and has promoted instead a novice aristocratic soldier, Cassio, to be his second-in-command. Outraged at being snubbed by Othello, and suspicious that Othello has previously slept with his wife, Iago plots revenge against Othello. He intends to use Roderigo, a rich Venetian gentleman who is besotted with Desdemona, as a vehicle for compromising her and, thereby, humiliating Othello. Along the way, but not in this exact order, Iago murders Roderigo, murders his own wife, plots the unsuccessful murder of Cassio, insinuates jealousy of Cassio into Othello and, thereby, instigates Othello’s murder of Desdemona and Othello’s subsequent suicide. The action is quite dramatic but the real drama is in the way the characters are presented and developed.
Othello is a play that focusses on the character of its main characters. Who and what are Othello, Iago, Desdemona, and Cassio, and how do they react to each other? These are its main focuses. As with most of Shakespeare’s plays, the characters in Othello are suggestively outlined but not precisely delineated. There is room for interpretation and legitimate variation in the way they are played. What Shakespeare doesn’t delineate in words can and must be delineated by the actions and inflections of the actors – how they look, speak their lines, move about the stage, and physically interact.
Interpretations of the play differ in many ways, for example, over whether Othello was a black Sub-Saharan African or a swarthy Arab, whether he was humble or proud, subject to epileptic seizures or just emotionally overwrought, and many other collateral matters.[1] But they generally agree on the primary characteristics of the main characters, comprising what could be called a conventional interpretation of the play. I don’t agree with this conventional interpretation. My reasons and suggestions for alternative ways to play the characters are the purpose of this essay.
Conventional Othello, Unconventional Othello.
In the conventional interpretation, Othello is portrayed as great, guileless, and in full possession of his physical and mental powers. Conventional interpreters take at face value the high esteem in which Othello holds himself and in which he is held by others in the play. They insist that he be played as “a great and fearful man,”[2] and agree on “emphasizing the greatness of Othello.”[3] He is often played by a vigorous, athletic young man, as was the case in a performance that I recently saw at the Stratford Theatre Festival in Canada. In this view, it is Othello’s greatness that makes tragic his descent into jealousy and murder.
Othello’s tragic flaw in this conventional interpretation is the combination of his blind trust in Iago’s honesty coupled with the social, psychological and sexual insecurities he suffers when he is in polite, civilian society. Despite his rugged background and demeanor, he is naive. This naivete and social insecurity are explained as the result of his being a professional soldier who has spent his life in military encampments. Although Othello is “not easily jealous,” according to mainstream interpreters,[4] Iago is able to play upon his naivete to generate Othello’s jealousy.
The conventional interpretation portrays Desdemona as naïve, virtuous, selfless and strong-willed, which supposedly made her “the perfect woman” in the eyes of Shakespeare.[5] Cassio is portrayed as a callow but kindly young man, the perfect gentleman, which makes him a perfect foil and fool for Iago.[6] Iago is portrayed in the conventional interpretation as the devil incarnate who “does nothing but evil” from beginning to end and “lives exclusively for evil.”[7]
I think there are significant flaws in the characterization of each of these characters in the conventional interpretation. Among other things, this conventional interpretation completely overlooks the importance of the rules of hospitality during the Renaissance, in which the play is set, and in Elizabethan England, during which the play was written. One of the prime rules of hospitality was that you don’t steal from your host, especially his young daughter. Othello very adroitly does just that. It is hard to see him as naïve and socially inadept in the way he courted and conquered the affections of Desdemona, and then secured a permanent hold on her.
Likewise, with respect to Desdemona, the conventional interpretation overlooks or underplays the fact that she disobeys her father and disregards longstanding social customs of the Renaissance and Elizabethan eras in eloping with Othello without her father’s knowledge, let alone consent, and without a traditional wedding. As sneaky as she is, it is hard to see her as an innocent naif. With respect to Cassio, the conventional interpretation overlooks or underplays the fact that he is a womanizer who treats his paramour with utter disrespect, leading her on to thinking he will marry her, and then laughing behind her back about his conquest of her and her gullibility. It is hard to see him as a perfect gentleman.
Finally, the conventional interpretation dismisses or disregards Iago’s complaints about being passed over for promotion and being cuckolded by Othello as insignificant or as contrived excuses for his evil actions. In so doing, this interpretation overlooks the norms of personal loyalty and honor among military comrades that prevailed during this time, norms which Othello has breached in passing over Iago for promotion and in sleeping with Iago’s wife, which Othello did in my interpretation.
In the conventional view, the conflict in the play is between the good characters, Othello, Desdemona, and Cassio, against the bad character, Iago, with Othello’s social insecurity as the flaw which enables Iago to work his dastardly deeds. This is essentially the version of the play that I saw in June, 2019 at the Stratford Theatre Festival. Although the performance at Stratford was very well done, I don’t think this interpretation of the play does justice to Shakespeare’s characters or to the complexity of the drama. Without justifying Iago’s actions, I think that a more nuanced interpretation would portray the other main characters as less than ideally good, especially Othello.
Othello: Less There Than It Seems.
In the view I am proposing, Othello is not a great and guileless warrior in full possession of his powers and eager for action. He is a grizzled, over-the-hill war hero who is looking for a soft retirement. Adulated in Venice for his past military prowess, he is an idol whose clay feet are starting to hurt. “I am declined into the vale of years,” Othello complains. (III, 3, 265-266) Burdened with the social disadvantages of being a plebian by birth and a foreigner, he is, however, a canny social climber who tells tales to impress his hearers and to gain prominence and power. He has cultivated Brabantio with a purpose in mind, which is to marry into a rich noble family. He seeks a pretty young wife and a nice dowry to enjoy in retirement.
It is in this context, I think, that you can understand why Othello eschewed the plebian Iago as his second-in-command and promoted instead the aristocratic Cassio. In so doing, Othello sought to bolster his own social status through association with the high-born Cassio, and thereby make himself seem worthier of marrying into an aristocratic family. It was not a good idea, to put it mildly, as it ultimately led to Othello’s downfall and death. Brabantio was not impressed, Iago was enraged, and by placing the handsome, well-spoken Cassio as Othello’s second-in-command, it called attention to Othello’s relative unfitness as a match for Desdemona. Cassio was just the man for Iago to use to get back at Othello.
As Othello’s ensign, Iago had previously idolized Othello and repeatedly risked his own life to help his commander. (I,1,25-28) Iago had been Othello’s flagbearer, the person who leads the army into battle and around whom the army rallies. It is a very dangerous position because the enemy usually tries to kill the flagbearer first. In passing over him, Othello enraged Iago, who reacted as an acolyte scorned. It is, thus, Othello who set in motion the train of events that led to his own downfall. In reaching too far, Othello fell over himself and into the abyss.
Othello, in this view, is not a vigorous young man at the height of his powers. He is a middle-aged man in decline, and all of his stories are about long past glories. “She loved me for the dangers I had passed,” he says in explaining Desdemona’s attraction to him. (I, 3, 165-170) But those dangers are all in the past tense.
Othello is clearly a man of two minds about himself. On the one hand, he still thinks very highly of himself and believes in the heroic image he has created of himself, idolizing himself even as he is idolized by others. On the other hand, he senses his decline.
When, for example, Brabantio comes to ask the Duke to indict and imprison Othello for seducing his daughter, Othello brags to Iago that “My parts, my title, and my perfect soul shall manifest me rightly” that is, his reputation for greatness and his usefulness to the Venetian government will stand him in good stead against even the aristocratic Brabantio. (I, 2, 33-35) And when Brabantio makes his appeal to the Duke, Othello is able to parry Brabantio’s accusations in the face of the Duke’s desire to make use of Othello to stop a threatened Turkish invasion of Cyprus. (I,2, 90-230) The Duke dismisses Brabantio’s complaint on the grounds that what has been done is done – a no-use-crying-over-spilt-milk rationalization. Othello is then duly sent to intercept the Turkish fleet. When the Turks are all drowned in a terrible storm, Othello gains a victory by default. His heroic image is, nonetheless, further burnished. (II,1, 1-40)
But Othello also senses his fallibility and approaching senility. He sees that Desdemona idolizes him but he isn’t sure he can sustain his iconic pose. He struts about with an aura of self-importance, always speaking of himself in grandiose terms, but he seems to be covering over his social insecurity with bravado. Othello’s egotism and concern for his public image coupled with his social insecurity make him easy game for fooling by Iago. Othello needs flattery, and Iago gives it to him, but with a taunting edge to it.
Iago showers Othello with flattery that touches on sensitive spots. He tells Othello, for example, that before marrying him, Desdemona had rejected “many proposed matches, of her own clime, complexion, and degree, wherewith we see all things in nature tends.” (III, 3, 229-235) While this statement can be taken as a form of flattery that highlights Othello’s specialness and greatness, in that Desdemona chose him despite his inferior social status compared with her and her other suitors, it also reminds Othello that he may be on shaky ground with Desdemona. And it points up the threat of someone like Cassio as a more suitable match for her and, therefore, a potential rival. Most important, Othello accepts Iago’s analysis and seems to agree.
Iago goes on to imply that there must be something wrong with Desdemona in having willfully chosen Othello over the others, saying of her that “One may smell in such a will most rank, foul disproportion, that’s unnatural.” And, again, Othello does not object and seems to agree. Although his underlying insecurity is pricked by Iago’s cunning description of him as socially unsuitable for Desdemona, Othello’s pride doesn’t allow him to admit there might be something wrong with him. There must, instead, be something wrong with Desdemona. (III, 3, 229-235) Othello’s egoism makes him easy game for Iago, who leads Othello on from rejection, to suspicion, to certainty of Desdemona’s infidelity based on nothing but innuendo.
An indication of the extent of Othello’s egoism is that he seems totally unaware that Iago might be upset at having been passed over in favor of Cassio. Othello apparently thinks Iago should be grateful just to have the honor of serving Othello. And perhaps of sharing Iago’s wife with Othello as well. And, so, Othello trusts Iago, repeatedly calling him “honest” – perhaps the word most used and abused in the play, as those considered most honest are generally the most dishonest. Othello seemingly cannot imagine anyone not being in awe of him.
It’s the pique to his pride and the threat of being knocked off his pedestal that seems to bother Othello most about the possibility of Desdemona’s infidelity. In an exchange in which Iago is cunningly driving the idea of Desdemona’s infidelity into Othello’s head, Othello moans “But alas, to make me a fixed figure for the time, for scorn to point his slow unmoving finger at.” (IV, 2, 53-55) Being mocked is his greatest fear. The idea of wearing a cuckold’s horns for all to see for all time galls him to death. And Desdemona has ostensibly dishonored him with his own second-in-command, a man that he appointed in order to furbish his image. Insufferable.
That it is the blow to his pride that most irks Othello is demonstrated by his explanation for why he killed Desdemona. He claims that he is “An honorable murderer, if you will. For naught did I in hate, but all in honor.” (V, 2 294-295) He is saying in this line that he killed her for the sake of his pride and reputation. And showing that he is totally unable to fathom his own motives or to escape his egoism, Othello claims that when people speak of him, they should speak “of one who loved not wisely, but too well. Of one not easily jealous…” Say, what?!
In conventional productions of the play, these lines about being “an honorable murderer” and having “loved too well” are taken at face value and played melodramatically. As though Othello has experienced epiphanies and is revealing truths about himself. But that seems like nonsense to me. Loved too well, and murdered your wife as proof of that love? Not easily jealous, but so easily tricked into jealousy by Iago that you fall over your own flattery?
These are great lines, sincerely said by Othello, but they are just part and parcel of his ongoing self-idolization and self-delusion. He is trying to play the part of a tragic hero, but it’s an act that is belied by his actions. A tragic hero is supposed to realize his tragedy before he falls. He is supposed to have learned something. That is not the case with Othello. In the end, Othello has learned nothing and he dies as an old fool. (V. 2, 344-345)
Desdemona: More There Than Meets the Eye.
As I see it, Desdemona is not the selfless goody-two-shoes and not the perfect woman she is proclaimed by conventional interpreters. She is a willful and wild child. A spoiled child of privilege who wants what she wants when she wants it and expects to get it. It is with this attitude that she deals with her father when he looks askance at her attachment to Othello, and it is the way she deals with Othello when he looks askance at her attachment to Cassio. Her father objects to Othello as a son-in-law, so she elopes with him. Othello resists her request that he pardon Cassio after Cassio has taken part in a drunken brawl, so she badgers Othello literally to death.
Desdemona is virtuous but not innocent, and she is chronically rebellious. It has been said that when children rebel against their parents, they either reject something about their parents and go in an opposite direction from them, or they adopt something from their parents and push it farther beyond the limits of their parents. Desdemona does the latter. If her father is going to idolize Othello, she is going to marry him. If her father objects to the marriage because Othello is from a lower social class and is a foreigner, she sees that as narrow-minded hypocrisy. Likewise, if Othello is going to make Cassio his second-in-command, she is going make Cassio her best friend. If Othello objects to their relationship, she sees that as an insult to her integrity. She will not take “No” for an answer. Desdemona is virtuous but she is not one to accept the deference to authority that a military man like Othello would naturally expect. That is foolish.
Desdemona is also a mistress of deception, or so she thinks. She successfully deceives her father in secretly courting with Othello and then eloping with him. But she is unsuccessful in deceiving Othello about losing the handkerchief Othello has given her. Her deceptions undo her. When she goes off with Othello and leaves her father to die of a broken heart, her father warns Othello “Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee.” (I ,3, 292-293) Later, in the course of leading Othello into believing Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio, Iago repeats her father’s warning: “She did deceive her father marrying you,” he taunts Othello. (III, 3, 206-211) She personifies the question that once someone has lied about something, how can you believe them about anything else? Desdemona is virtuous, but she has foolishly helped create the appearances against her.
Finally, Desdemona is attracted to Cassio, not as a lover but as a chum, and as someone from the same upper-class background as she to whom she can relate in ways that she cannot with Othello. She worships Othello. But she can’t kid around with him. He is not a kid and he is not a kidding sort of person. Desdemona still is a kid, as is Cassio, and she thinks she can kid around and flirt with him in innocent ways. She takes on a flirtatious tone in her interactions with Cassio, something that to her is just playing around but at which Othello looks askance. She does not see this. Virtuous but foolish.
Cassio: What You See Is What You Get, And That Isn’t Much.
About Cassio there is little to be said except that he is unwittingly the pivot around which the drama turns. If Othello is a fool of pride who thinks he deserves adulation, and Desdemona is a fool of privilege, who thinks she is entitled to get her way when she wants, Cassio is a fool of fate. He just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is from an influential aristocratic family, which is how he gets his position as Othello’s second-in-command. But he has no military experience and is clearly unfitted for the position. He is a gentleman by birth and education, but not behavior. He is a callow cad who mistreats his mistress Bianca and publicly laughs behind her back at her belief that he will marry her. (III, 4, 180-200. IV, 1, 101-140) He is also clearly attracted to Desdemona but his adulation and fear of Othello keep him from making romantic advances toward her. He is virtuous of necessity.
Iago: Seeing Is Not Believing.
Iago is the central character in the play and has the most time on stage. Almost everything that happens during the play has been orchestrated by him except for his getting caught at the end. He goes too far, trips over his own egoism, and will pay for his revenge with his life. Iago is conventionally portrayed from start to finish as a devil who delights in doing evil and has no real grievances to account for his actions. I don’t think that is a fair portrayal of him or is consistent with Shakespeare’s script. I think that he descends into devilry but that he starts with real grievances against Othello.
The first half of the play can be seen, I think, as the fall of Iago, spurred by Othello’s mistreatment of him, and the second half can be seen as the fall of Othello, spurred by Iago’s mistreatment of him. Both Iago and Othello unleash the evil in themselves. To his credit, Iago is at least aware of what he is doing and what he has become. “I am not what I am,” he admits when comparing his pose of honesty and loyalty to Othello with his deceitful efforts to bring Othello down. (I, 1, 63) Othello, on the other hand, is blithely unaware of the monster he has become in killing Desdemona, and sees himself as an iconic hero to the end.
Iago has two main grievances: being cuckolded by Othello and being passed over for promotion by Othello. As to the first, Iago repeatedly claims that Othello has slept with his wife Emilia, complaining that “the lusty Moor hath leaped into my seat” and that “it is thought abroad that twixt my sheets he has done my office. (I, 1, 285-290; I, 3, 380-381, also I, 3, 334-335)
And I think it is pretty clear in the play that he is right. In a long conversation about infidelity that Emilia has with Desdemona, she avows that she would be unfaithful with the right person. And she defends the right and rightness of women who do, claiming that “I do think it is their husbands’ faults if wives do fall.” (IV, 3, 60-100) I think she has done so herself and Iago knows it. And I would play her as making eyes at Othello when they are together in a scene.
As to the second grievance, Othello disregards Iago’s longtime service to him and Iago’s considerable military expertise in passing over Iago in favor of Cassio. This is a breach of both the personal loyalty Othello owes to Iago and the professional loyalty Othello owes to Venice. It is not just that Iago deserves the promotion, it is also that having a novice such as Cassio as Othello’s second-in-command puts the army and the city of Venice at risk. Iago has previously idolized Othello as a great and noble military commander, and has repeatedly risked his life for Othello. But Othello has betrayed Iago’s loyalty and the trust given him by Venice. Othello is a god who has failed and, as a result, Iago has become an antitheist and, effectively, a deicide.
An Age of Idolatry: Trump and an Unholy Host of Other Tyrants.
Othello is a play about idolatry and its disastrous consequences. It takes place in Renaissance Venice, which was almost perpetually at war or threatened with attack. As the play opens, Venetian territories are threatened by a Turkish invasion and the Venetians’ fears are palpable. They need someone to save them. In that context, the Venetians turn to a famous military leader, Othello, and they anoint him as their savior. As it turns out, it is the weather that saves them but that doesn’t diminish their adulation of Othello. The rest of the play portrays the consequences of Othello’s self-idolatry and the Venetians’ idolatry of him.
Elevating a leader to a position above the mores and moral laws of ordinary humans, and idolizing him as the solution to society’s problems, can lead to the denigration of the very society you are trying to protect. In the case of Othello, we see that the ruling Venetian Duke dismisses Brabantio’s complaint that Othello has violated the most sacred principles of Venetian custom and family law in eloping with Desdemona because the Duke wants Othello to confront the Turks. All must bow and all laws must bend before the idol. It is an example of undermining what you want to save in the name of trying to save it.
The danger of idolatry is a theme most appropriate to our time. We seem to be going through an age of idolatry and it isn’t good, especially the tendency to idolize political leaders. Looking for simplistic solutions to complex problems, people in many countries are turning to tyrants as saviors and giving them a free reign to do whatever they will. In turn, these tyrants play on people’s fears to create cults of their own personalities, promising things they cannot possibly deliver, and demonizing weaker social groups. Attempting to overcome their insecurities by dumping on those weaker than themselves – racial, religious, and ethnic minorities; immigrants; gays; whoever is different – people succumb to idolatry coupled with bigotry and demagoguery. Creating what could be called communities of hate, tyrants denigrate others to elevate themselves.
Donald Trump is a leading example of this type of demagoguery and the dangers of idolatry. An irreligious, immoral degenerate who represents almost all of the worst aspects of American society, he is regarded as a savior by many of the most supposedly religious people in the United States. He is a fraud who would not be considered believable if he were presented as fiction. But he plays to his supporters’ fears, exaggerates those fears, and clearly hates the people they hate. That seems to be enough for them to idolize him as a messiah, some of them literally. Fools and their liberty are soon parted.
Trump is, moreover, a fraud who has come to believe in his fraudulence. But not entirely. He is a man who is so consumed by insecurity that his self-importance seems to be a defense mechanism against himself. Sometimes he seems to be a knowing fraud, other times a true believer in his self-proclaimed omnipotence.
And the irony is how easily Trump can himself be fooled by flattery and phony idolatry. Making a career of fooling others can open oneself to being fooled. This was the case with Othello, who was so easily fooled by Iago, and also is the case with Trump. Trump is so pathetic in his need for flattery and is seemingly so easily manipulated by flatterers, that he could almost be pitied for his insecurity if he wasn’t doing so much harm in the world.
Shakespeare has other plays about the dangers of demagoguery, idolatry, and tyranny. Coriolanus, for example. Othello is particularly pointed because it portrays the way in which an iconic figure can be manipulated, unbeknownst to him or to his followers. That’s particularly dangerous, and that’s Trump. Unfortunately, we still don’t know who may be pulling his strings.
But setting yourself up on a pedestal for all to idolize can make you prime for a fall. It was Othello’s fate and, in his case, it was fatal to him and those around him. Writing this essay in July, 2019, I can only hope that Trump’s fate will also be to fall, albeit without fatality to him or others, but before he can do yet more damage to the world. Abraham Lincoln once said that you can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time. Lincoln offered the hope, the belief, that a sufficient majority of people will at some point in time refuse to be fooled any longer so that sense and sensibleness can govern public life. Let’s hope that this point will soon be reached in our public life today.
B.W.
July, 2019
[1] Burton Raffel. “Introduction.” Othello. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press. Pp. XVII-XXXVI. Isaac Butler. “Why is Othello Black?” Slate. 11/11/15. Harold Goddard. The Meaning of Shakespeare. Chicago: University of Chicago Books, 1951. Pp. 72-73. 88. Michael Wood. Shakespeare. New York: Basic Books, 2003. Pp. 250-254. Wikipedia. “Othello” Accessed 6/17/19.
[2] Mark Van Doren. Shakespeare. New York: New York Review of Books, 2005, P. 192.
[3] Harold Bloom. “An Essay by Harold Bloom.” Othello. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press. P.213, 223.
[4] Harold Goddard. The Meaning of Shakespeare. Chicago: University of Chicago Books, 1951. P.93.
[5] Harold Goddard. The Meaning of Shakespeare. Chicago: University of Chicago Books, 1951. P.84.
[6] Mark Van Doren. Shakespeare. New York: New York Review of Books, 2005, P.195.
[7] Burton Raffel. “Introduction.” Othello. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press. P. XXXII -XXXIII.
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