In 'Othello', what does Shakespeare present as the cause of the failure of love?
In Othello, Shakespeare suggests the reason relationships fail is not due to those in them. Rather, the failure of a relationship stems from external influences. Whether this is from a specific individual or the wider society, it is the impact of others that instigate the failure of love.
One way love may fail is due to a person actively trying to cause the love to fail. In Othello, Iago serves as the antagonist to Othello and Desdemona’s relationship. Iago is the one responsible for inducing jealousy in Othello, consistently reminding the Moor to “look to your wife: observe her well with Cassio.” Through this choice of language, Iago constructs the idea of an infidelity: by telling Othello to “observe well”, he is implying there is something that needs to be observed, therefore creating doubt and jealousy in Othello’s mind. Moreover, Iago’s influence over Othello is perhaps epitomised in Act 3.3, where he fully controls Othello, represented by “he kneels”: Iago’s poison has left Othello hooked on his words; Othello is now the servant to Iago’s master. Furthermore, Iago joins him at this level, before they rise unified: this indicates that Othello is now on the ‘same-wavelength’ as Iago; Othello thinks only what Iago has buried within him, physically represented to the audience through Iago leading Othello up and down. Shakespeare, in terms of authorial style, rarely used stage directions, further highlighting how critical and demonstrative this movement is. Thus, it can clearly be said that Iago, as an antagonist, is responsible for Othello’s darker side of love: he has complete control over Othello’s mind, in which he concocts the idea of disloyalty. In the literary context of the play, the Machiavellian style of villain was prominent: Shakespeare featured many himself, such as Edmund in ‘King Lear’ and Don John in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. This variant of villain would embody qualities outlined by Niccolo Machiavelli such as “let none see what you are”. In this sense, Iago is the perfect Machiavellian villain: Iago professes to be Othello’s “honest” friend, yet serves as the main antagonist to his relationship; Othello doesn’t see what Iago truly is. Thus one reason love can fail is through the influence of a specific individual.
On the other hand, the wider society can also be blamed for the failure of a relationship. In Othello, the racial intolerance of the 16th Century could provide the backdrop for Othello and Desdemona’s failed romance. From the offset of the play, the racial prejudice is apparent, with Iago describing Othello’s affair with Desdemona in a bestial format, that the “old black ram is tupping your white ewe” or, simply, that he is a “Barbary horse”. Through pairing Othello with these animalistic descriptions, Iago likens Othello to a beast: suggesting he is as coarse in sex as a “ram” or “horse”, indicating that Othello is on the same level as them. In this sense, his relationship with Desdemona would be under considerable strain: she would be considered to be engaging in a bestial relationship, damaging her relationship consequently. Indeed, this is evident in her response to “think on thy sins”: “they are the love I bare for you”, to which Othello responds with “ay, and for that thou diest”. The knowledge of this “sin” – their interracial “love” – is shared by them both: the burden they bare throughout their relationship. Thus, by assuming the role of the executioner (he will make sure she “diest”), Othello reveals the impact the society has: the love has been warped due to the contextual views of Moors, from undeniable love, to where their ‘sin’ is so potent that Othello is motivated to kill his wife; these societal elements has instigated this failure. A colonial reading therefore may suggest that Othello’s hamartia is his skin colour: it is his ethnicity that causes the breakdown of his relationship, as societal opinions would put too great a strain on their “sinful” relationship; it is Othello’s most damaging ‘fatal-flaw’.
