A Paper on Othello

Matthew Butcher
English 412(G)
Dr. Colvin
30 October 1993

Hutchings, Geoffrey. "Emilia: A Case History In Women's Lib." English Studies in Africa. 21 (1978): 71-77.

Cynical Love

Othello may be seen as a tragedy of love overcome by cynicism. This love is recounted throughout Geoffrey Hutchings' article, "Emilia: A Case History In Women's Lib." Hutchings presents his case, detail after detail, in such accounts as marriage, psychological love, and the development of Emilia's character.
The article begins by Hutchings commenting on a speech by Emilia that is an attack on the sexual double-standard (IV,iii,87-104). "The seriousness of this in a play so seriously concerned with revenge cannot be doubted. Why should revenge be a male prerogative?" Emilia thus presents the impasse of women at conflict between grace and just revenge.
Hutchings starts with this to make his next main point throughout the article: "An examination of Emilia's function in the play offers us an illuminating view of the play as a whole. For, minor character though she is, she is brought into vital dramatic conflict with all the major characters."
Othello may be therefore seen as a tragedy of love overcome by cynicism. "This cynicism is based upon a profound sexual alienation that refuses to recognize love except in terms of profit and loss, or of domination and submission." Hutchings says that the crux of the dramatic action is cynicism. Hutchings insists that as Iago exhibits this cynicism, he has his motivation in the "destructive urges of this alienation."
Hutchings' next point delves into the contrasting worlds of the play, of Venice and Cyprus. Venice represents a proud civilization, "corrupt in part, but arrogantly conscious of the rule of civil law," and Cyprus is a vulnerable outpost, "isolated by tempests,a nd subject to martial law." This serves only to emphasize the domestic vulnerability of Othello and Desdemona. Marriage is contrasted between the outlooks of Desdemona and Emilia. "Marriage is for her [Desdemona] a grace, for Emilia a servitude."
The next point is of the concept of love. Hutchings quotes from psychologist Erich Fromm about the "shame that frequently accompanies human attitudes to love."
That handkerchief
Did an Egyptian to my mother give. . .
And bid me when my fate would have me wive,
To give it her. (III,iv,58-68)

"It is not just Othello's alien status in Venetian society that is underlined in this speech, but a fundamental attitude to his love. Desdemona's love is, in Fromm's terms, more mature."
Hutchings now brings forth the differences between Emilia and Desdemona. They are contrasted to each other "not as a witch to an angel, but as one corrupted by cynicism to one who loves maturely, without loss of integrity." Emilia is the one who loves immaturely while Desdemona's is a full developed love. "Emilia cannot conceive, let alone accept, a role reconciling femininity with full human integrity."
Emilia represents the cynical corruption by which Othello and Desdemona are tragically besieged. Emilia is the proof that Hutchings says that Othello needs to fall completely for Iago's seduction of his confidence. "Emilia is therefore a vital dramatic component int the working out of one of the major themes of the play, the destructive power of sexual alienation."
After Hutchings' article. I understand more on Othello's concept of love. I now understand a little better the role of three major character, Emilia, Desdemona, and Othello.
The problem with this article is how it jumps around from point to point without clear segueways or transitions. The first point seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the article, and Hutchings doesn't help in showing any relationships. A reader gets stuck backtracking because he did not understand how he flowed into this new topic.
Although Hutchings is detailed in his research, documenting many Shakespearean lines for support, his ideas do not come across easily. A few thorough readings are required in order to simply grasp the content.
Hutchings' arguments are very sound. With the amount of support he has, one can easily see where and how he draws his conclusions, even if one cannot understand them immediately.