Shakespeare’s presentation of reputation
(intro not included)
The power and importance of reputation is conveyed throughout the play. Shakespeare presents his
protagonist Othello as a public figure, whose identity is based on his reputation as a great military
leader. Through Othello’s measured and poetic speech style, which G. Wilson-Knight refers to as
‘Othello music’, Shakespeare stresses Othello’s nobility. His powerful rhetoric at the beginning of the
play, in which he uses exotic imagery and incantatory rhythms, such as the hyperbole ‘hills whose
heads touch heaven’, encourages the audience to accept his perceived reputation as a ‘valiant’ and
skilful soldier. Othello places significant importance on his reputation, evident when he states that
his ‘services…/shall out-tongue’ Brabantio’s ‘complaints’, demonstrating not only Othello’s
confidence in his reputation, but the power it gives him against his socially taboo actions of engaging
in an inter-racial marriage. The importance of reputation is further emphasised in Othello’s reaction
to the possibility of his public image being tarnished by Desdemona. His self-dramatisation in his
‘Othello’s occupation gone’ speech, as he refers to himself in the third person, theatrically repeating
‘farewell!’ and constructs torturing images of ‘pioners and all’ having ‘tasted her sweet body’,
demonstrates the extent to which reputation is everything in the context of the play. Othello’s
reaction reflects the prevalent male fear of cuckoldry in Shakespeare’s time, as a man’s reputation
would be destroyed by an unfaithful wife. Arguably, it is the importance that Othello places on his
reputation, which leads to his downfall. As Coleridge argues, ‘Iago would not have succeeded but by
hinting that (Othello’s) honour was compromised’. Indeed, it is the idea of being cuckolded, which
appears to release Othello’s savage and primitive side. Shakespeare presents Othello as increasingly
losing control of himself, evident in Othello’s increasingly disjointed prose, in which he repeatedly
uses short sentences, exclamations and questions such as ‘is’t possible? -Confess?’ and
‘Handkerchief? O devil!’, contrasting markedly to the orderliness of his speech at the beginning of
the play. The distress of losing one’s reputation is further reinforced by Othello’s visual collapse on
stage as ‘he falls in a trance’, therefore having been mentally and physically weakened by the very
idea of losing his great public image.
(Preview ends…buy to see the whole essay…)
Shakespeare similarly demonstrates the importance of reputation in Brabantio’s reaction to his
daughter’s inter-racial marriage. Iago whips up a sense of panic in Brabantio using animalistic
imagery such as ‘on old black ram is tupping your white ewe’, evidently exploiting Brabantio’s social
(intro not included)
The power and importance of reputation is conveyed throughout the play. Shakespeare presents his
protagonist Othello as a public figure, whose identity is based on his reputation as a great military
leader. Through Othello’s measured and poetic speech style, which G. Wilson-Knight refers to as
‘Othello music’, Shakespeare stresses Othello’s nobility. His powerful rhetoric at the beginning of the
play, in which he uses exotic imagery and incantatory rhythms, such as the hyperbole ‘hills whose
heads touch heaven’, encourages the audience to accept his perceived reputation as a ‘valiant’ and
skilful soldier. Othello places significant importance on his reputation, evident when he states that
his ‘services…/shall out-tongue’ Brabantio’s ‘complaints’, demonstrating not only Othello’s
confidence in his reputation, but the power it gives him against his socially taboo actions of engaging
in an inter-racial marriage. The importance of reputation is further emphasised in Othello’s reaction
to the possibility of his public image being tarnished by Desdemona. His self-dramatisation in his
‘Othello’s occupation gone’ speech, as he refers to himself in the third person, theatrically repeating
‘farewell!’ and constructs torturing images of ‘pioners and all’ having ‘tasted her sweet body’,
demonstrates the extent to which reputation is everything in the context of the play. Othello’s
reaction reflects the prevalent male fear of cuckoldry in Shakespeare’s time, as a man’s reputation
would be destroyed by an unfaithful wife. Arguably, it is the importance that Othello places on his
reputation, which leads to his downfall. As Coleridge argues, ‘Iago would not have succeeded but by
hinting that (Othello’s) honour was compromised’. Indeed, it is the idea of being cuckolded, which
appears to release Othello’s savage and primitive side. Shakespeare presents Othello as increasingly
losing control of himself, evident in Othello’s increasingly disjointed prose, in which he repeatedly
uses short sentences, exclamations and questions such as ‘is’t possible? -Confess?’ and
‘Handkerchief? O devil!’, contrasting markedly to the orderliness of his speech at the beginning of
the play. The distress of losing one’s reputation is further reinforced by Othello’s visual collapse on
stage as ‘he falls in a trance’, therefore having been mentally and physically weakened by the very
idea of losing his great public image.
(Preview ends…buy to see the whole essay…)
Shakespeare similarly demonstrates the importance of reputation in Brabantio’s reaction to his
daughter’s inter-racial marriage. Iago whips up a sense of panic in Brabantio using animalistic
imagery such as ‘on old black ram is tupping your white ewe’, evidently exploiting Brabantio’s social
