Essay About William Shakespeare’S Play And Use Of Animal Imagery

The Use of Animal Imagery in Othello
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In William Shakespeare’s play “Othello” the use of
animal imagery was evident throughout the telling of
the story. Shakespeare explained several characters
actions by comparing them to similarities in animals.
The characters in “Othello” were often depicted as
having animal-like characteristics. Some characters
were even compared to animals by other characters in
the play. By defining characters in terms of these
characteristics one can get a clear description of what
the character is doing or saying as compared to certain
animals.
In this paper I hope to give examples of animal
imagery used in “Othello” that assist in explaining the
play. The specific examples I present will describe a
character either as seen by himself or by a fellow
character.
The first use of animal imagery I noted occurred
came in Act One when Iago, Othello’s standard bearer,
has awaken Brabantio, who was a Venetian senator and
the father of Desdemona, to tell him that Othello has
taken his daughter Desdemona, and as they speak is
making love to her. Iago was attempting to instigate a
fight between Othello and Brabantio, using Desdemona as
the bait. Iago stated, “Your heart is burst. You have
lost half your soul. Even now, now, very now, and old
black ram is tupping your white ewe” (p. 13). In that
statement Iago was comparing Othello to an old black
ram by comparing Othello’s skin color to that of the
black ram’s, and the white ewe, a young female sheep,
to Desdemona. Shakespeare was trying to illustrate in
his writing the act of and old black man making love to
a young white woman. The use of a black ram and a
white ewe to compare Othello and Desdemona helped in
the visualization of their affair.
Shakespeare displayed animal imagery again in Act
Two when Cassio was explaining to Iago that if he had
as many mouths as Hydra, a many headed monster slain by
Hercules, he could silence the many questions asked of
him. In this Shakespeare presented Cassio as being
burdened by many questions that he could not answer all
at once, but if he had as many mouths as Hydra it would
be more accessible for him to do so. Cassio said, “I
will ask him for my place again; he shall tell me I am
a drunkard! Has I as many mouths as Hydra, such an
answer would stop them all” (p.101). Cassio was
explaining to Iago that if he went to Othello now to
speak with him, Othello would call him a drunk because
he had been drinking all night. This is exactly what
Iago wanted. His plan was to get Cassio drunk and have
him mutter words of hate and disgust to Othello, a
person who Cassio had great respect for, until he was
drunk and then fed him lies told to him by Iago.
Shakespeare’s animal imagery in this paragraph helps
one to understand Cassio’s burden of having too many
questions and not enough answers. In using the
comparison of Hydra, the many headed monster, to Cassio