Othello Part 2

Storytelling in Othello:

            When recalling the origins of the handkerchief to Desdemona, Othello uses the word “charmer” to describe his mom. Upon first reading this line I assumed this word to mean the same that it does in today’s society, which is someone who is charming or has an engaging personality. However, after realizing that this is actually utilized by Shakespeare to mean a witch, the story appears to have a very different history. Recognizing this meaning of the word as opposed to the one that we are used to gives the handkerchief superstitious ties and makes losing the entity or giving it away as Othello thought Desdemona did seem to have more serious repercussions. Shakespeare represents this through the use of “perdition,” basically stating that if something were to happen to it that person would be cursed for eternity. This gives us a better understanding to why Othello would go as insane as he did when he was told that the handkerchief was given away even if he had no proof. If we understood the word “charmer” to mean an engaging person we would miss this important aspect to the handkerchief’s origin and would simply assume that Othello’s mother was a well-liked person, contrasting with the negative connotations the word used to have.

In scene 5 act 2 of Othello, Othello kills himself after killing his wife and then finding out that she was innocent and never actually stopped loving him. It appears that he did this because a person could clearly not live with them self after this, however is this really why? Or does it have more to do with the idea of being with his dead lover eternally as we have seen this theme in other Shakespeare plays, such as Romeo and Juliet? Does Shakespeare also want to engage his audience and leave them shocked by killing off the main character as he often did?