In listening to the text of Othello during a recent rehearsal, I noticed an underlying thought that lead Othello astray.
Faith is alluded to early on in the play. Brabantio finds out at the beginning of the play that his daughter, Desdemona, has eloped with Othello the Moor. Near the end of a council at the Senate, Brabantio tells Othello to be aware that what Desdemona has done was deceptive. He says that if she could have deceived her own father, she may well deceive her husband.
From that point, Othello's faith begins to be undermined by Iago. Othello gradually loses his faith in his wife, and replaces the faith with a need for "ocular proof." Little of what Othello sees is actually an evil that is meant toward either himself or his wife. However, due to Iago's schemes, Othello sees everything through a mind full of doubt instead of through a mind of steadfast face.
By the end of the play, Othello's faith has decayed past repair. He becomes so obsessed with the need for proof that it in turn destroys him beyond repair. He loses all faith, and cannot bring himself to believe anything his wife begs him to believe. In the end, his faithless mind drives him to rid the world of the "evil" Desdemona.
A lack of faith destroys. How often we look for "ocular proof" of things that our eyes may never see. Many things that we do see, we mistake for things either better or worse than they are.
Faith is greater than we think.
Posted by TheIdeaMan at October 10, 2002 07:49 PM