Animals

Animals

1. IAGO

   • 'Barbary horse'
     • Act 1, Scene 1
     • 'An old black ram is tupping your white ewe'
       • Act 1, Scene 1
       • 'Making the beast with two backs'
         • Act 1, Scene 1
         • Suggests that their relationship was purely animalistic. Link to race. Link to white being the colour of innocence -> Othello has tainted Desdemona with his evil ways
   • 'Ere I would say I would drown myself for the love of a guinea-hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon'
     • Act 1, Scene 3
     • Iago would rather be a baboon than kill himself out of lust for a woman that he cannot have. This is indirectly aimed at Roderigo because he lusts after Desdemona but he cannot be with her because she is with Othello. Also, a baboon is not a well-appreciated animal and can be seen as quite stupid, reflecting the extent of Iago's beliefs because he would rather become so under-appreciated and unloved than kill himself
   • 'drown cats and blind puppies'
     • Act 1, Scene 3
     • Telling Roderigo that drowning is only for cats and blind puppies suggests that he is trying to say that Roderigo is not manly because he is willing to commit to a form of torture that Iago believes should be reserved for animals

2. CASSIO

   • (when drunk) 'by and by a fool, and presently a beast!'
     • Act 2, Scene 3
     • Suggests that he becomes a 'beast' when he is drunk which explains him hitting Roderigo. This links to animals being savage

3. OTHELLO

   • 'Exchange me for a goat, when I shall turn the business of my soul to such exsufflicate and blowed surmises'
     • Act 3, Scene 3
     • I might as well become a goat if I ever become as jealous as you're saying I will become. This is ironic because Othello's jealousy is ultimately what kills him and the jealousy becomes a vicious circle in which he ends up killing Desdemona despite the fact that she was innocent
   • 'A horned man's a monster and a beast'
     • Act 4, Scene 1
     • This describes how he is feeling; strange and non-human

4. EMILIA

   • 'play the swan and die in music'
     • Act 5, Scene 2
     • The swan has connotations of innocence due to its colour, suggesting that Emilia died an innocent woman. However, it can be argued whether Emilia was an innocent woman or not because she aided Iago in gaining the handkerchief behind Othello and Desdemona's backs

5. Like the repeated references to plants, these references to animals convey a sense that the laws of nature, rather than those of society, are the primary forces governing the characters in this play

   • When used in reference to Othello, animalistic language reflects racism, not just of the characters but of the audience. Even without seeing Othello, a Shakespearean audience would imagine a savage 'Moor' almost instantaneously after Iago said 'Barbary horse'