Modes of Story-Telling in Othello

Abstract

The matter of Othello’s competence has been at the centre of many long-standing discussions of his character.¹ To some critics he is above all the ‘noble Moor’, grand, dark, mysterious.² Other critics, usually reluctant to declare their outright hostility to him are, nevertheless, aware of a kind of failure of imagination and intelligence. Bradley himself noted, as A. D. Nuttall reminds us, that ‘if the heroes of Hamlet and Othello change places, each play ends very quickly. Hamlet would see through Iago in the first five minutes and be parodying him in the next’.³ William Empson noted that it is reasonable to complain that Othello was stupid to be deceived,⁴ and more recently, Michael Long has alluded to the question of Othello’s failure of comprehension in remarking the ‘pained irritation’ which is a strong component of our feelings at many points in the play.⁵ In referring to Othello’s incompetence I do not use the word to suggest any moral or, for that matter, intellectual weakness in Othello; rather I am referring to a reason for his vulnerability.