Judgement in Othello
The idea, use, and misuse of judgement in William Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, plays an important role in establishing and exploring many of the main ideas of the play, as well as providing key weaknesses that are essential to the plot. The way the characters judge each other's characters and motives, and their own situations, is an important catalyst in the action of Othello. The "hierarchy of proper judgment" can illustrate a universal idea that was popular in the renaissance period that Shakespeare wrote and set Othello in. The basic idea is that governing all is reason, which includes understanding and will. Below reason are common sense, memory, and imagination. Finally, at the bottom are the five senses, emotions, and passions. In order to judge properly, it was believed that reason had to govern all else. Proper judgment could never occur if only one item was relied upon to make the decision. The plot of Othello belongs to Iago, who manipulates characters by suggesting falsehoods that encourage them to abuse this concept, and by doing so demonstrates how proper judgement occurs and the consequences when it does not. Judgement is the factor that provides the first original conflict and continues right through til
As a war strategist Othello would collect what knowledge he could from evidence available, assess it and then pass judgement that best reflects reason all known factors considered. " Iago is free from any emotional ties, or romantic notions of loyalty and reputation, and can therefore predict that jealously and Othello's inherent fear of female sexuality, of being cuckolded, will weaken the Moor's keen sense of logic, "The food that to him now is as luscious as/ locusts shall be to him shortly as acerb as the coloquintida. Victory for the will therefore demands a restoration of power, and power for Iago can only be war's power: to main, to kill, to humiliate, to destroy the godlike is another, the war god who betrayed his worship and trust. " Therefore, according to Brabantio's judgement, it's obvious to anyone in the world, plain to see, that Othello has used magic and drugs that cloud the mind, "Judge me the world, if 'tis not gross in sense/ That though hast practis'd on her with foul charms, / Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs or minerals/ That weakens motion. " Brabantio's rapid loss of respect for Othello, and his racially fuelled accusations set the scene to show how Venice differs greatly from the battlefield, how emotionally dependent judgement can dominate common sense and logical reason. In Iago's opinion Othello has the abused proper system for making judgement, and so the ensign plays on this weakness later in the play by manipulating his general to commit the same error again, and misjudge his faithful, loving wife for a lying, cheating, manipulator, "I put the Moor/ At least into a jealously so strong/ That judgement cannot cure. " By freeing himself of his loyalty ties to Othello Iago puts himself in a position where he is free to judge, predict and therefore dictate by influence other characters. No, Iago,I'll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove;And on the proof, there is no more but this:Away at once with love or jealousy! (III, iii, ll182-194). The two major characters in Shakespeare's Othello, Iago and Othello, are military men; trained and accustomed to a society of rank, where a superior's judgment can determine the success or failure and/or death of his men, and who's judgement is taken at blind faith. Iago and judgement are related at two levels: he uses his own quick and accurate judgement to understand and manipulate characters, and also to influence and distort their own judgement. She was innocent, happy, and so opposed to marriage that she "shunned/ The wealth curled darlings of our nation. Othello is a great tragedy, and it is the characters' misjudgement that eventually causes their own and each other's final tragic end. Shakespeare critic, Harold Bloom, says, "Othello's tragedy is precisely that Iago should know him better than the moor knows himself. This is a pre-established, universal idea that, under the guidance of Iago, all characters of Othello fall victim to.
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