Privilege and the Misinterpretation of Othello

Social status and privilege are positively correlated with one’s ability to successfully persuade another and construct a believable story. Authority creates room allowing for manipulations of words that create false realities which mislead Othello, When words are expressed, they are opened up to interpretation and the original intended meaning may change. Privilege is directly linked with testimony. When Othello is approached by Iago, who has a similar social status, Iago takes advantage of this privilege and capitalizes on the ambiguity of Othello’s commands of acquiring proof and ultimately uses it manipulate Othello.

Iago abuses his power by positioning Othello to interpret language Then, Othello bases his decisions off of his interpretations of others, and Iago has made Othello desperate to interpret what Iago is trying to imply Then, Othello asks Iago for ocular proof of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness.

Yet due to Iago’s social status, Iago is able to generate supplemental stories to his benefit: he tells a story in which Cassio had a sexual dream involving Desdemona Although the story does not provide any circumstantial evidence, Iago‘s status gives him credibility and becomes a buttress for lago’s schemes Othello is then perturbed and since he is now in a state of shock, it makes it easier for Iago to come up with other ways to provide indirect visual proof, Othello fully believes lago‘s testimonies, and the more Othello believes, the more authority he credits Iago, leading to an endless cycle of unquestioned trust in Iago by Othello.

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In the final scene, a misinterpretation by Othello supports the idea that social status and privilege can influence the power of words. When Othello finally confronts Desdemona about her relationship with Cassio, Desdemona realizes that Othello has made a mistake. As a result, she laments on how Cassio has been betrayed. In reality, Desdemona has figured that Iago played some part in Othello‘s story.

She is upset out of fear and realizes that she has no word to support her own and cries. As a woman, she is rarely listened to in society. However, the weeping provokes an agitated response from Othello and he thinks that she is crying for Cassio right in front of his face due to her affection for Cassie. This misinterpretation pushes Othello past his threshold of tolerance for Desdemona s misdeeds” and causes Othello to kill her out of a jealous passion. The problem in the situation is not that Othello has been directly manipulated, but instead is the social system in which Othello exists in. Women such as Desdemona, and people of inferior social status like Emilia do not have much authority and lose the privilege to negotiate out of situations, such as Desdemona who could not reason with Othello moments before her death, Their testimonies do not stand as strong as testimonies from individuals such as Iago, Desdemona realizes this, and tells Othello to “send for [cassio], and ask him” (V.iiit56).

Desdemona calls for Cassio to come and help testify for her, but this has all come too late, and is futile In present-world India, the problem of social status affecting the ability to speak up and create change is still prevalent among women, Women are commonly raped and abused in society, but cannot do anything; laws are made against them, social norms favor males over females, and the females end up taking blame for crimes committed against them. In the patriarchal Indian society, women’s words are disregarded in a fashion similar to the situation in Othello, where Desdemona’s words alone cannot stand and must need someone else to support them, Similarly, although the women in India themselves cannot generate social change, they rely on the help of sympathetic others who have generated mass protests in recent events