Othello I.ii.31-32

Here are some scattered thoughts on this short but significant passage.

"Othello: My parts, my title, and my perfect soul/ Shall manifest me rightly..."

This passage is in the beginning of the play where Iago is telling Othello to go inside because Brabantio's men are coming to get him for stealing his daughter. The passage is symbolic because Othello refuses to go inside claiming that his abilities and clear conscience will make his case. The passage plays with the theme of honor and reputation and masculinity. Othello refuses to run but rather chooses to face the ordeal. This shows his masculinity as he chooses to face what's coming to him instead of running and hiding. He relies on his military reputation to set things right. He is a successful captain and assumes that because of his clean slate in the military, he will be able to clear his name with Brabantio as well. He believes he has done nothing wrong and has a clear conscience as Desdemona went to him willingly (as we later find out)and that his rank makes him worthy of such a woman.
The theme of reputation remains strong throughout the play as Othello deals with the risk of looking like a cuckold when he thinks Desdemona is cheating on him.
Cassio also loses his good reputation when he gets drunk and stabs a man and further loses his rank.
The theme of reputation also runs in Shakespear's other plays such as in Measure for Measure where we have the Duke going away and having Angelo do the dirty work of enforcing unenforced laws as he does not want to have the reputation of being a tyrannical leader.
In Much Ado about Nothing the whole story line runs along the tainting of Hero's reputation.
It must be noted that for men, reputation was an issue of masculinity and military performance and honesty and politics and so forth. On the other hand, for women, the single most important factor of her reputation was her virtue. An obedient woman was one that kept her virtue and listened to her father and then gave her virtue to the man her father approved of as her husband. In Desdemona's case her father did not choose her husband, but it is almost a variation of the same concept. Thus, we can see that even gender plays a key role in reputation.


(Armineh Dereghishian)