Of my whole course of love – what drugs, what charms
What conjuration, and what mighty magic
(For such proceeding am I charged withal)
I won his daughter
(Shakespeare’s Othello)
Readers of Othello who have fallen in love before will believe that the central theme of Shakespeare’s Othello is about a tragic love because they feel empathy and pity for both Othello and Desdemona. However, if we read the play through a formalist perspective as Ann B. Dobie recommends when she says, “some of the main elements that call for attention are form, diction, and unity, as well as the various literary devices they subsume” (41), we will see that the major theme is not only a tragic love but also the irony that Othello must face so many difficulties in claiming his true love, and after he attains it, he does not believe that it is real, making it possible for him to destroy his love with his own hands.
Othello and Desdemona’s love must struggle to survive from beginning, when it is challenged by her father and they both must declare it to be true to the Duke and senators in order to be married. At midnight, they go to a church outside Venice. The fact that they elope demonstrates Othello’s underlying belief that the marriage is some how unreal. At the same time, Iago and Roderigo try to wake up and provoke Barbantio saying that, “Zounds, sir, y’ are robbed! For shame, put on your gown! Your heart is burst; you have lost half your soul” (1.1.86). This provocation continues the conflict of Othello keeping his true love. Even though he has married Desdemona and declares: “my parts, my title, and my perfect soul” (1.2.31). The sound of ‘my and my’ echoes Othello’s need to reiteratethis love to himself in order to make it real and convince himself.
The outward difficulties of the marriage continue, as Othello has to go to fight the Turks of Cyprus, fulfilling his duties as a general of Venician military. Desdemona begs the Duke to follow him, saying: “that I did love the Moor to love with him, my downright violence, and storm of fortunes” (1.3.247). She is willing to live on the ship with the soldiers and and conflict. Even the image of “storm” does not frightened her will to live with her true love. It is ironic that despite her repeated demonstrations of devotions her true love killed her tragically in the final scene.
Othello is destined to kill Desdemona when he receives evidence from Iago and says, “that handkerchief which I so loved and gave thee thou gav’st to Cassio” (5.2.48). The handkerchief here is a symbol, not only the symbol of their love, but also the symbol of the betrayal that Othello believes that Desdemona has committed. The symbolic meaning of the handkerchief helps the play become real when readers can see the meaning of the handkerchief change from love to betrayal. Othello gave it as a symbol of love, but in his mind it becomes a symbol of his cuckolding and the ironic instrument of the tragic end of their love. So all the formalist elements in this play are ironic, just as Othello himself is an ironic character.
There are many indications in the play that show how much Othello loves Desdemona, but it is difficult for him to win her love through so many challenges, especially that her father will never agree to their love, since there are so many differences between them, including blood and religion. Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, even implies that their love is the result of trickery, “For I’ll refer me to all things of sense, If she in chains of magic were not bound” (1.2.65). For Brabantio, magic is Othello’s tool to achieve his goal. But in fact, Desdemona truly loves Othello, initially because he has huge stories and adventures in his life. But, even after Othello defends and proves his love and it is accepted by the Duke and senators, a part of him does not truly believe it. The images of magic are in Othello’s awareness, as well, and ultimately, he accepts the unreality of her love for him as if it had been based on magic all along, finally allowing him to kill it with her.
From the Formalist perspective, the images, symbols, sounds, and character elements of the play, it can be seen that Shakespeare’s Othello has a central theme, that both Othello and Desdemona’s loves are ironic. On Othello’s side, he fights for his true love but kills it after he wins it. On Desdemona side, she betrays her father’s expectation by marrying a man who is completely different from her, but eventually, after she proves her love, ironically, it is her love which kills her.
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