Achilles’ Heel
Racial Anxiety in Othello’s Downfall
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Once the full title of Othello----“Othello, the Moor of Venice” is mentioned, with its highlight on the hero’s origin, attention would be immediately, and inevitably, aroused to the crucial issue of racial difference. As the vital infirmity, the suppressed racial anxiety in Othello, rather than his succumbing to jealousy or Iago’s cunning craft, ultimately accounts for the downfall of the giant.
Born of a noble background as a prince, Othello has a mind that is characterized with high principle and earnest feeling. His valor and intelligence win for him the prestigious position as General in Venetian army, with his capability much treasured by the Senate. He has the respect of the Venetians, among whom Desdemona’s father is no exception. As Othello himself claims, “Her father [Brabantio] loved me, oft invited me”(1.3.128). However, it becomes quite another thing to accept Othello’s match with Desdemona----a white noble lady. Brabantio finds his daughter’s eloping with a black man so preposterous that it is “against all rules of nature”(1.3.101). The only logical explanation Brabantio can conceive is that there must have been magic involved.
A black among the white society----that is the basic background that carries the tragedian seeds. Rubinstein considers the race of Othello as the issue of utmost importance in this tragedy (Rubinstein 74). If this fact is neglected, the whole dramatic complication that makes Othello a tragic hero would lose its emotional authenticity.
Critic tradition attributes Othello’s collapse to his jealousy or external agents such as the intrigue of Iago. However, jealousy is rather against the grain of his nature. Initially, Othello appears as a hero of self-confidence, intrepidity and calmness. He disarms the accusation of Brabantio with eloquence, gains the approval of the whole Senate and quiets the turbulence in the army. Even though at Iago’s provoking terms, his sense of dignity and confidence seems all the same inviolable:
My parts, my title, and my perfect soul
Shall manifest me rightly. (1.2.30-32)
Just as H.N. Hudson describes him, “Such is our sturdy warrior’s habitual carriage: no upstart exigency disconcerts him, no obloquy exasperates him to violence or recrimination; peril, perplexity, provocation, rather augment than impair his self-possession; and the more deeply he is stirred, the more calmly and steadily he acts” (Hudson 481).
Neither can such external agent as Iago’s intrigue completely explains Othello’s collapse. Rather, Iago only takes a subsidiary role, stirring some hidden predisposition in Othello. Palmer comments, “the mind that undoes him [Othello] is not Iago’s but his own”(Palmer 142). Othello has an underlying anxiety over his race and his position as an alienated member of Venice. As the process of Othello’s downfall illustrates, once this suppressed self-awareness is surfaced, Othello’s world encounters its vital crisis.
On the one hand, Iago constantly suggests Othello’s position as an alien, claiming “I Know our country disposition well…”(3.3.201) and “I may fear / Her [Desdemona] will, recoiling to her better judgement, / May fall to match you with her country forms, / And happily repent”(3.3.234-236). On the other hand, Iago repeatedly stresses the “unnaturalness” of Desdemona’s choice in her marriage:
Ay, there’s the point: as, to be bold with you,
Not to affect many proposed matches
Of her own clime, complexion, and degree,
Whereto we see in all things nature tends,
Foh! One may smell in such a will most rank,
Foul disproportion, thoughts unnatural. (3.3.226-231)
Iago’s offer of the two “facts” does none other than confirm Othello’s suppressed awareness o racial difference----a doubt he has been reluctant to admit. It is only after such provocation that Othello no longer claims “I’ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove” (3.3.185). Othello then bids Iago “Farewell, farewell”(3.3.237), but it is actually Othello the sturdy warrior whom is no more seen. He can no longer rationalize Desdemona’s love as before. He exclaims bitterly:
Haply, for I am black
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have; or for I am declined
Into the vale of years----yet that’s not much----
She’s gone: I am abused, any my relief
Must be to loathe her. (3.3.260-265)
Self-doubt coming into the healthy noble mind, Othello gradually loses his wits until he is possessed with the determination to kill. Desdemona’s supposed disloyalty confirms his hidden doubt of inferiority, which hurts him more than any personal injury. Othello’s soliloquy suggests the collapse of his inner world:
Farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!
Farewell the plumed troops and the big wars
That make ambition virtue----O, Farewell!
Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, th’ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner and all quality,
[…]
Farewell! Othello’s occupation’s gone. (3.3.345-354)
By the time Othello decides to finish Desdemona, the conflict in his has become one that is not between love and jealousy but between love and honor. Not only his personal dignity but also the equality request from his race is demanding revenge. Therefore, the initial suppressed racial anxiety, when provoked and manipulated, constitutes Achilles’ heel in Othello’s downfall.
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