George Washington University The Women's Voices in "Othello": Speech, Song, Silence Author(s): Eamon Grennan Source: Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 275-292 Published by: Folger Shakespeare Library in association with George Washington University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2870503 . Accessed: 18/06/2014 11:05 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Folger Shakespeare Library and George Washington University are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Shakespeare Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 62.122.72.20 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:05:03 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Women's Voices in Othello: Speech, Song, Silence EAMON GRENNAN "I am bound to speak." OTHELLO IS A PLAY OF VOICES, a dazzling register of pitch,range,and in- tonation. Think,forexample,of the distanceOthello's voice mustcover betweentheOlympiancalm of "Keep up yourbright swords,forthedew will rustthem" (I.ii.59) and thegutter frenzy of "Lie withher?lie on her?We say lie on her,whenthey belieher.Lie with her!['Zounds,]that's fulsome" (IV.i.35- 37).1 Or considerIago's quicksilverfluency, everyvoice a lethal instrument to its occasion, whether he pretends piety,bluff philosophy, or pornography.2 Beside such extremes maybe heardthemournful, foolishaccentsof Roderigo, the civil tones of the Venetiansenators,and the curiouslypliable speech of Cassio, whomcircumstances can alterfrom Petrarchan idealistto sexual cynic, frommodestcourtier to drunken braggadocio.Given such richvariety of dra- matic utterance, it is reasonableto assume thatOthello is not only a play of voices but also a play about voices, an anatomy of the body of speech itself, in all its illocutionary variety.3 Even a slightacquaintance withthetextshows this indeed to be the case: the explicitly uncivilshoutsof Iago and Roderigo 1 All citations are from The Riverside Shakespeare,ed. G. BlakemoreEvans (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974), withsquare brackets indicating emendations or variants fromthe Fl copy-text. 2 See, forexample,his remarks to Cassio (II.iii.323-35), to Roderigo(I.iii.319-32), to Othello (III.iii.396-426). 3 See J. L. Austin, How to Do ThingswithWords(Oxford:Oxford Univ. Press, 1962), pp. 148- 49. Many of my assumptions about speech and "speech acts" have this work as theirultimate source. Termssuch as "constative"and "performative" similarly go back to Austin,as does the notionthat"the dichotomy of performatives and constatives . . . has to be abandonedin favorof moregeneral familiesof relatedand overlapping speechacts" (p. 149). Austin'sseminalidea, that "in uttering our performatives we are undoubtedly in a soundenoughsense 'performing actions'" (p. 21), is especiallyrelevant,as is his primary claim that"wheneverI say anything I shall be performing both locutionary and illocutionary acts" (p. 132). The workof JohnSearle, Speech Acts:An Essay in thePhilosophy ofLanguage (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1969), is also important, especiallySearle's distinction "betweentheillocutionary act and thepropositional con- tentof the illocutionary act" (p. 30). Keir Elam's The Semioticsof Theatreand Drama (London and N.Y.: Methuen, 1980) is an extremely valuableand original application of some of theprinciple tenetsof speech-act theory to an illuminating analysisof "dramatic"and "theatrical"elements in a dramatic work. I foundElam's pointsabout "metalanguage"(language itselfas the object of dramatic,and critical,discourse)of particular interest (see especiallypp. 154, 156), as well as his accountof how speech acts operatein drama(pp. 157-59), especiallyhis stressing of Austin's point that "all utterances have an 'executive' or 'performative' force,includingso-called 'con- stative'ones" (p. 158). His pointabout"paralinguistic" factors is a usefulreminder of thetextural density of dramatic language: "Such features supplyessentialinformation regarding the speaker's state,intentions and attitudes, serving further ... to disambiguate thespeechact" (p. 79). Further references to Austin,Searle, or Elam will be to the textsmentioned in thisnote. This content downloaded from 62.122.72.20 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:05:03 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 276 SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY wake Brabantioand begin the play; Brabantioaccuses Othello of havingbe- witchedhis daughter withforbidden magic charms;Othello's actual wooingof Desdemonais in heroictales; Iago's lies (primary corruption of speech) destroy Othello;Othello'slastrequests are for"a wordor twobefore yougo" (V.ii.338), and forthe letters to Venice to "Speak of me as I am" (V.ii.342). The first words of the play are "Tush! nevertell me"; the last is "relate."4 As dramatic means and thematic end, then,speech is of vital importance to the play. This is truenot only of the male characters but also of the women. A welcome amountof recentcriticism of Othello has, in fact,dealt withthe women, especially withthe problemsraised by the moral ambiguities many criticsfindin the character of Desdemona.5 My purpose in this essay is to enlarge thefocusof suchcritical discussions by considering thewomen'svoices, theirspeech, and what these mean to our total experienceof the play. The speechof thewomen,I wantto argue,occupies a pivotalpositionin theplay's moralworld,and mustbe a criticalelementin any understanding of its moral experience.6 4 "Othello is, distinctively, a play about the speakingand hearingof words": JohnN. Wall, "Shakespeare'sAuralArt:The Metaphor of theEar in Othello," ShakespeareQuarterly, 30 (1979), 358-66, esp. p. 360. Wall's comments on Iago's rhetorical skill are especiallyhelpful in the way theyestablishthe importance of the spoken, its maligneffects, in the play. (For the way Iago abuses the conditions of illocutionary acts forhis "perlocutionary" purposes,see Elam, p. 163.) In such a contextit mightbe possible to see the women's speech as redemptive of the value of speech itself.To show this,at least, is partof the aim of the present essay. 5 Apartfrom such books on Shakespeare'swomenthatconsiderin passingthefemalecharacters in Othello(Juliet Dusinberre, Shakespeareand theNatureof Women[London:Macmillan, 1975]; MarilynFrench,Shakespeare'sDivision ofExperience[New York: Summit Books, 1981]; Angela Pitt, Shakespeare's Women[Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble, 1981]), a numberof perceptive essays specifically on the womenin Othellohave appearedin recentyears. I have foundthemost comprehensive and usefulof theseto have been thefollowing: S. N. Garner,"Shakespeare'sDes- demona," Shakespeare Studies, 9 (1976), 233-52; Carol Thomas Neely, "Women and Men in Othello: 'what should such a fool / Do withso good a woman?'" ShStud, 10 (1977), 133-58; W. D. Adamson, "Unpinnedor Undone?: Desdemona's Criticsand the Problemsof Sexual In- nocence," ShStud,13 (1980), 169-86; and AnnJennalie Cook, "The Design of Desdemona:Doubt Raised and Resolved," ShStud, 13 (1980), 187-96. The lattertwo essays includeextensiveref- erencesto the spectrum of criticalthought on the subject,providing a usefulcriticalintroduction. Desdemona is usuallythe centerof attention in such contexts, as she is in the comments devoted to the play in the illuminating essay by MarthaAndresen-Thom, "ThinkingAbout Women and theirProsperousArt: A Reply to JulietDusinberre'sShakespeare and the Nature of Women," ShStud, 11 (1978), 259-76, esp. p. 264. The particular emphasisof myessay shouldallow fora helpful reappraisal of thevariousquestionsraisedby thesecriticsand themanyothers whose work theydraw on and dispute.Seeing Desdemona in the contextof the dramatist's interest in all the women and theirspeech may providea freshperspective on her character. My own positionon the issue is closest to thatheld in different ways by Neely, Cook, and Adamson, all of whom resistthe extremities in whathas been a dichotomy of criticalattitudes towards Desdemonawhich polarize her as saintor strumpet. Attending carefully to her speech and its specificcontexts will, I hope, endorsetheir reasonableconclusionsand deepen our understanding of Desdemona's char- acterin its richlyfeminine and humancomplexity. For a more specifically feminist view of the play, see Gayle Greene, "'This That You Call Love': Sexual and Social Tragedyin Othello," Journalof Women'sStudies in Literature,l.i (1979), 16-32. 6 "Linguisticforegrounding" such as I intendheremight be seen to correspond, in method, to some of Keir Elam's semioticanalysis. The speech of the women,it seems to me, is special and "strange" enough to encouragethe spectator(reader) "to take note of the semioticmeans, to becomeaware of thesign-vehicle and itsoperations"(pp. 17-18). On theplay's moralexperience, it is specifically Othelloto whichElam is referring whenhe says that"the moraland the semiotic issues are indivisiblein the play" (p. 163). This content downloaded from 62.122.72.20 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:05:03 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE WOMEN'S VOICES IN OTHELLO 277 I Act IV, scene iii of Othello is not only a mostmovingpiece of theatre; it is also one of themostdramatically compelling scenes in Shakespeare.7 While Emilia helps Desdemona prepareforbed, thewomentalk,idlyenough,about men and women,love and sex. Desdemona removessome of her clothesand loosens her hair. She sings a sad song of love betrayed. Emilia gives an im- passioned lectureon sexual realismand the rightsof wives. The scene ends witha briefprayer.To accountforthe perfection of the sequence one could pointto its intimacy, thequotidianfamiliarity of its action,its unhurried sim- plicity,its willingness to be ordinary. One might also refer to the atmosphere of privatefreedom withinthis protected feminine enclosurewhich the men (Othello,Lodovico, and attendants) havejust left.The knowledge mostreaders or audienceshave thatwithin a veryshort timeboththesewomenwill be dead, violently murdered by their husbands, mustalso contribute to thespecial pathos the scene generates.8 The feature of the scene I would especially single out, however,is its shifting tonality. What mostmoves us, it seems to me, is the rise and fall of voices engaged in intimate conversation; the brief,beautiful pause in thecenter of actionthe song makes; thereassuring worldof ordinary objectsalludedto; themounting intensity of Emilia's radicaldefenseof wives; the dyingfall of Desdemona's concludingprayer.Understood, heard in this way, the scene composes both a "theatrical"and a "dramatic" (see note 7) interlude suggesting peace and freedom, withinthe clamorousprocessionof violentacts and urgent voices. As the men leave, Othellobids his wife go to bed and dismissEmilia. The scene betweenthetwo womenbeginsthenon a noteof obedience,Desdemona reminding her companion"We mustnot now displease him" (IV.iii.17). She soothes Emilia's more volatile naturewith an unconditional assertionof her love: "My love dothso approvehim,/Thateven his stubbornness, his checks, his frowns- / Pritheeunpinme-have grace and favor[in them]" (11. 19- 21). Her speech is simpleand direct:heracceptanceis particular and realistic, as casuallyunrhetorical as theparenthetical request callingattention to herbody. Such speech makes her love seem as natural to her as herphysicalexistence, as muchto be takenforgranted as theordinary acts of dressing and undressing. Such speechseemsa lovinginstrument oftransmutation, turning Othello'sflaws to "grace and favor." The love such speech embodiesis the antithesis of his jealousy which,deafand blindand furiously or high-mindedly rhetorical, trans- lates her goodness to wickedness. So farEmilia is quietlyfunctional, herspeechand actionfilling outoursense of thisdomesticinterior ("I have laid those sheetsyou bade me on the bed" [1. 22]).9 For all theirunassuming simplicity, however,her words convey a veryreal senseof speechas tangible communication. Anchored in present things, 7 For theusefuldistinction between"theatre"("the complexof phenomena associatedwiththe performer-audience transaction") and "drama" ("the network of factors relating to therepresented fiction"),see Elam, p. 2. 8 The "boudoir scene," as it has been called, has oftenbeen used by criticsto support their morallyantithetical readingsof Desdemona's character. See Adamson,pp. 172-79. 9 The scene reminds me of a painting by Vermeer: whatlightis to thepainter, theshifting modes and meaningsof speech are to the dramatist. This content downloaded from 62.122.72.20 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:05:03 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 278 SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY in the here and now, such statements are, as it were, home truths.10 The ref- erence to the sheetsprovokesDesdemona to a curiousutterance: All's one. Good [faith], howfoolish areourminds! If I do die before [thee], prithee shroud me In one of these samesheets. (11.23-25) In thisworld,objectsalso carry symbolic weight, transmitting meaning beyond theirapparentsignificance. Here the words seem to offer a glimpseinto the deep interior of Desdemona's mind,wherelife and fidelity have become one, bound up in the symbolicwedding/winding sheets. Her wordsmay be under- stood as only the glittering tip of her meaning,the mass of which, like an iceberg,remainsconcealed. And even in the gravity of such sentiments her speech strainsagainstrhetoric, as her exclamatory, dismissive"how foolish are our minds!" shows. For all its profound seriousness,it seems to be the unstudied image and expression of herinvoluntary self. To bendJohn Austin's terms, her speech seems "happily" or "felicitously" to "perform"her self. Building the rich emotionaltexture of the scene, then,Emilia's replyis all spontaneous affection: "Come, come; you talk" (1. 25). Significantly, it is to Desdemona's speechshe refers, gently pointing up thedifferent levels at which thesetwo womenlead theirlives. For whatEmilia hearsas just talkseems for Desdemona a profound, instinctive apprehension of reality. Taking what seems to be a new direction, but without strainor any sudden shift in mood, Desdemona mentions hermother's maid, Barbary.The sense of observing spontaneous character in theact of reflective thought and unrehearsed conversation is verystrong in these sentencesand clauses, each one anchored in some solid fact: My mother hada maidcall'd Barbary; She was in love,andhe shelov'd prov'd mad, Anddidforsake her.She hada songof "Willow,". . . Andshediedsinging it. Thatsongto-night Willnotgo from mymind; I havemuch to do Butto go hangmyheadall at one side Andsingit likepoorBarbary. Prithee dispatch. (11.26-28, 29-33) Althoughthis speech deals with facts,the factspersistin an atmosphere of feeling.Doing injury to neither, Desdemona's speechhas thepowerto identify implicitly factsand feelings.And while to us the speech may recall Ophelia, 10This presentparticularity is intensely "deictic." "Deictic definition," says Keir Elam, "is the crucial marker of the present contextas opposed to the remote'theres' thatone can imagine or describe" (p. 113). One mightprofitably contrast such speech withthatof Iago and Othello, whichseems profoundly, and fatally, non-deictic. 1 See Austin,lectureII, pp. 14-16. I am aware of StanleyFish's strictures againstthe sortof "stretched"applicationof these termsthatI employhere. (See "How to Do ThingswithAustin and Searle: Speech Act Theoryand Literary Criticism," ModernLanguage Notes, 91 [1976], 983- 1025.) Othello is not a "Speech Act play," as Coriolanus, in Fish's brilliant reading,obviously is. But Othello is not only "full of speech acts," which,as Fish says, is "by definition . . . true of any play" (p. 1024); it is also, in a veryspecificway, aboutacts of speech. In orderto clarify thenature of theseacts, I have, in spiteof Fish's strictures, feltit legitimate to use Austin'sterms in the metaphorical way thatI have. This content downloaded from 62.122.72.20 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:05:03 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE WOMEN'S VOICES IN OTHELLO 279 to Desdemona the reminiscence suggestssomething in herown emotionallife whichevades the reach of logical speech and can seek adequate embodiment only in therarermediumof song and in herown powersof sympathetic iden- tification. Her speechis an acting-out of herself. The end of herspeechreturns herto thehereand now, and again Emilia endorses thisworldwithherpractical "Shall I go fetch yournight-gown?" (1. 34). Such allusionsto thebusinessin handare likerepeated motifs revealing theorderand rhythm of thewholepiece. Desdemona's "No, unpinme here" restoresher fullyto this world (in its physical-its deictic-emphasis, and in its being an answerto a question;this reciprocity of speechbetweenthetwo womenis one of its mostaffecting char- acteristics).12 It marks,too, anotherturning point for the scene. Afterwhat mustbe a slightsilence (and silencemustplay as significant a partin thescene as it does in anycomplexpiece of music),Desdemonaremarks "This Lodovico is a properman" (1. 35). As withthe memory of Barbary,it is not possible to say exactlywherethis comes from.13 Possibly she connectsLodovico, as an eligiblebachelor,withthesong. The important thing is that thespeechseems to exist forits own sake: being is its reason forbeing. At the same timesuch conversation denoteseach womantruly, forto Desdemona's remark aboutLo- dovico's manners, Emilia responds witha comment on his physicalappearance ("A very handsomeman" [1. 36]), and when Desdemona adds "He speaks well" (1. 37), Emilia refers to his sexual desirability ("a touchof his nether lip" [1. 39]). The rich harmonies of this conversation, however,resolve the different values of the two womenintocomplementary chords.Although they seem to value thingsdifferently (and to value different things),theirspeech nevertheless suggeststhattheycan share,unthreatened, withone another their respectivesenses of the world. Surprisingly, then,yetwithout tearing thedelicate,toughfabric of thescene, Desdemona singsBarbary'ssong. Singing,she ascends to a plane of pureper- formance, and becomes in our mindsthe last in a line of abandonedwomen, stretching back through Barbaryand the countlesswomenwho have sung the song beforeDesdemona to the girlherself in the song, thatanonymous "poor soul" responsible forthisextensive sisterhood of grief.The songitself, as well as the silence thatsurrounds it as we listento hervoice, transport us to a zone of feelingwhereanalysisbecomes futile.The pointis thatwe do feel; thatfor the unreflecting moments while the song endureswe are boundwithEmilia to Desdemonain sympathy. To prevent (I suspect)such sympathy becoming ethe- real or sentimental or abstract,Shakespearehas her interrupt the song at a number of points,either to pass a remark abouthergarments or to urgeEmilia to haste, thuskeepingin touch withthe deictic groundof the scene and its manymeanings.Peculiarlyaffecting in the theatre, such seamless transitions betweensong and speechshowthateven in the "performance" of singing Des- 12 See Elam, p. 138, fora fineaccountof "context-of-utterance"; fora fullyillustrated account of whatdeixis and deicticstrategies are and how theyfunction, see pp. 139-48. As regards Des- demona's imperative here, it mightbe notedhow her commandsserve to link Emilia to her, to be the means of uniting, not dividingthem.In the case of Iago and Othello, commandsare in- variablya forceof division. 13 The critics,though, have triedto make much of it, oftento cast shadowsover the notionof Desdemona's innocence.See Garner, pp. 248-49; Adamson,pp. 175-77; and M. R. Ridley,ed., The ArdenShakespeare,Othello (London: Methuen,1958), p. 166n. "This" suggestsagain the way thingsare deicticallypresentto Desdemona, as well as how implicita continuity thereis between. her unspokenand her spokenthought. This content downloaded from 62.122.72.20 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:05:03 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 280 SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY demonais neveroutoftouchwiththenaturalness of normal speech.Effortlessly her voice can slide betweenthe two, rootedin the actual quotidianworldof husbands,beds, and nightgowns, but able also to achieve the more rarefied feeling of songand itsenvironment (in thiscase) of sympathetic natural objects. Her fluency is audible too in theway she singsa mistaken line ("'Let nobody blame him,his scornI approve'" [1. 52]-a Freudianslip, perhaps,as heruse of "approve," echoing the startof the scene, would suggest),then catches herself and breaksoffin some apprehension: "Nay, that'snotnext.Hark,who is't thatknocks?" (1. 53). Emilia's "It's the wind" underlines again the re- assuringreciprocity of speech betweenthese two women,as well as creating a tangiblesense of the enclosed, protected, and at the same timepotentially vulnerable worldof thescene. This latter sense is intensified whenDesdemona resumesthe song but thenbreaksoffabruptly. Firstshe sings: "I call'd mylovefalselove;butwhat saidhe then? Singwillow, willow, willow; IfI court moewomen, you'llcouchwith moemen." (11.55-57) Then she stops and addressesEmilia: "So get thee gone, good night"(1. 58). Presumably the unpleasant reminder in the song has touchedtoo closely upon her actual life, upon her conscious unhappiness at her own predicament. Her sense of actualitydisallows the consoling gestureof the song, as Othello's actual violence will disallow the potentially consolingand curativepower of hertruthful speech, herlife. Such natural movement betweensong and speech illustrates the subtlevariety of Desdemona's expression,as well as revealing the vulnerableopennessyetprivacyof her life. Although she bids Emilia good-night, Desdemona seems unwilling to let her go. "Mine eyes do itch," she says, "Doth thatbode weeping?" (11.58-59). Emilia's reassuringly pragmatic answer(" 'Tis neither herenorthere" [1. 59]) calls speech back from possibility to fact,countering Desdemona's morecon- ventionaltrustin authority ("I have heard it said so" [1. 60]). Anotherun- predictable curvein thisscene, then,is signalledby Desdemona's suddensigh (presumably after another distinct pause, a silencein whichwe shouldregister, I think,the way this scene has a sortof coherent and continuoussubtextof theunspoken),"0, thesemen,thesemen!" (1. 60). Hard (as with"All's one" at line 23) to attachto an exact source-the song, Lodovico, herown plight- the statement embodiesspeech as unafraid emotionalutterance, and servesas prologueto an extraordinarily honestexchangebetweenthetwo womenon the subjectof sexual morality. The termsof the exchangeare Desdemona's naive purity (the honesty of whichshouldcounteract any suggestion of coyness) and Emilia's earthier pragmatism: Des. Dost thou in conscience think-tell me,Emilia- Thatthere be women do abusetheir husbands In suchgross kind? Emil. There be somesuch,no question. Des. Wouldstthoudo such a deed forall the world? Emil. Why, would not you? Des. No, by thisheavenlylight! Emil. Nor I neither by thisheavenlylight; I might do't as well i' th' dark. (11.61-67) This content downloaded from 62.122.72.20 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:05:03 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE WOMEN'SVOICESIN OTHELLO 281 In its essentially comic energy, its morality and amorality grounded in a world of clothesandjewelry,theaffectionate exchangemakesus forget thattheissue theylightly discuss is thereasonwhy,in less thanan hour,boththesewomen will be dead. But that,precisely, is thepoint:we hearthesewomenspeak with rareanimation abouta subjecton whichtheir husbands will notlistento them, or will effectively silence them.Again the veryfactof theirspeech is as im- portant as whattheyare saying. In otherwords,thattheyspeak at all about thissubject,thatit can be a subjectof frank and friendly intercourse between them,seems as muchthepointof the exchangeas is the fact-content of what they say.14 When Desdemona doubtsthe existenceof "such women," Emilia's speech rises fromprose to eloquentverse, brought by the subjectto an intensity of expressionthe veryenergyof whichcreatesits own sturdy formality. A pas- sionatedefenseof wives againstmale double standards, it arguesforwomen's freedom in sexual matters, stressing thecommon humanity of thesexual natures of men and women. Behind its generality it is hard not to detect(as partof its illocutionary force)thepressure of personalpain and sexual disappointment, her own anger and bitterness at Iago.15 A powerfully bluntstatement of its kind,her speech deservesquotation in fullfortheway it exemplifies thefree- dom of speech in this scene, the confidence each womanhas thateven if the otheris not of her mind,she may speak thatmindfreely,sure thatwhatshe says will be heard aright.(For of course the scene is as muchabout listening and hearingas it is about speaking.) ButI do think it is their husbands' faults If wivesdo fall.Say that they slacktheir duties, Andpourourtreasures intoforeign laps; Or else break outin peevish jealousies, Throwing restraint uponus; or saythey strike us, Or scant ourformer having in despite: Why, we havegalls;andthough we havesomegrace, Yet havewe somerevenge. Let husbands know Their wiveshavesenselikethem; they see, andsmell, Andhavetheir palates both forsweet andsour, As husbands have.What is it that they do When they change us forothers? Is it sport? I think it is. Anddoth affection breed it? I think it doth. Is't frailty that thus errs? It is so too. Andhavenotwe affections, Desiresforsport, andfrailty, as menhave? Thenletthem use us well;else letthem know, The ills we do, their ills instruct us so. (11.86-103) Withits echoes of VenetianShylock's plea forhumanrecognition of another victimized group,thecontent of thisspeechis matched by thevigorof its style. Its colloquial, tactilediction("throwing restraint," "scant," "galls," "see and 14 It might be said thatin such ordinary conversational speech the two womenare united,and in a way thatcasts therhetorically extravagant (and parodic) "marriage"between Othelloand Iago (at III.iii.445 ff.)intoan even moreperverse light.(It is incidentally interesting to notethatOth- ello's kneelingvow is accompaniedby the phrase "I here engage my words.") 15 For a persuasiveaccountof the Iago-Emiliarelationship, see Ralph Berry,"Pattern in Oth- ello," SQ, 23 (1972), 13-16. I would give Emilia creditformorestrength and complexity than Berrydoes. This content downloaded from 62.122.72.20 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:05:03 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 282 SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY smell," "sweet and sour") and muscular syntax (thefirst sevenand a halflines formone complete,logical, urgentsentence)pull its statements against the formaltug of the iambic line (at the level of metric, most of the lines could be regularly scanned);its velocity is fuelledby thepressing shift from question to statement, statement to impassionedinjunction. In its unleashedenergyit suggestshow Emilia has been denied such freedom by Iago, illustrating yet again the nature of thisscene as a protected enclosurewherethewomenmay, fora few minutes freeof a worldthatputschecksupon their voices, speak (or sing) their mindsand hearts.The entire sequenceends,then,withDesdemona's oppositeview of things, herearnestly pious coupletputting a sortof linguistic lock on the door of the scene: Goodnight, goodnight. [God]me suchuses send, Notto pickbad from bad,butbybad mend. (11.104-5) Even in disagreement such open speech is possible betweenthem,as it has been throughout the rich, fluent, and variouscadences and intonations of the scene. In brief,thescene composesa spectrum of femalesexuality-including worldly innocence andexperience, extravagant passion,all-forgiving love, faithful and unfaithful wives, and death fromdisappointed desire. There is even, in Desdemona's mention of hermother (at line 26), a faint evocationof maternity, and themother-daughter relationship.16 Whenit is over,bothof its temporarily liberatedspeakersare undersentenceof death,condemned to a worldof final silence. II Bianca's is the smallestof the threewomen's roles in Othello. Small as it is, however,it is nonetheless an indispensable element in thedramatic design. As a prostitute she intensifies our sense of thepredominantly sexual nature of thisworld. As a womanconventionally scorned,desired,used, and abused by men, she underlines thethemeof femaleabuse at theheartof theplay. Spoken about by men in termsthatdeny her humanity-to Iago and Cassio she is strumpet, rogue,monkey, bauble, fitchew, trash-her own speechportrays her as a passionate,spontaneous, and honesthumanbeing.17 (She is not,however, the whore withthe heartof gold; she is difficult and tough,and can be un- 16 The only otherreference to the mother is in Desdemona's defenceof her "disobedience" to her father (by engagingherself to Othello), whereshe cites her mother'sactionin marrying Bra- bantioas a justification forherown decision. To mention heragain in thescene I am dealingwith intensifies, I would argue, the explicitly"female" nature(and texture) of the scene, as well as associates explicitlyDesdemona's femalenesswithher potentialfor freedomand the ultimately tragicloss of thatfreedom.Because she is a woman she can be free,but it is her freedom as a womanthatcauses herdeath. Finally,in the worldof thisplay, the freewomanis an oxymoron, a livingfigure of speechthatmustbe denied(voided, silenced)by theremorseless "logic" of male egotismand power (a power thatseems littlemorethanthe exteriorizing of the fearof thaton- tologicalambiguity whichthewoman'sfreedom, literally, embodies).ThatOthello'stworeferences to his mother are in connection withthe ill-fated handkerchief, and thatat least one of themhas to be a lie, since he has "an Egyptian" first, and thenhis father give the handkerchief to his mother, show how, for Othello, his mother is merelyan item, a prop, in his self-justifying ar- gument.As anotherelementin his attempt to increase the emotionalpressurehe is putting on Desdemona, his mother does not appear to have a palpable personalexistenceforhim, as Des- demona's mother does seem to have forher. 17 See Neely, pp. 139-40. This content downloaded from 62.122.72.20 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:05:03 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE WOMEN'S VOICES IN OTHELLO 283 pleasant.) She is able to give concrete,empiricalexpressionto her feelings, as her railingagainstCassio's casual absence proves: What? keepa weekaway? seven daysandnights? Eightscore eight hours? andlovers'absent hours, Moretedious than thedial eightscore times? O weary reck'ning! (III.iv.173-76) Whatever itsextravagance (tedium multiplies theweek of hoursby eightscore, to make whatshe will call its "felt absence"), the simpleparticularity of her speech guarantees theauthenticity of herfeelings.In everything she says (and in manyways she is themostoutspoken character in theplay) herspeechrings withthisexpansivehonesty of feeling.Whenjealous, she speaks herjealousy straight out, as when Cassio gives her the handkerchief: "This is some token froma newerfriend; / To the feltabsence now I feel a cause" (11. 181-82). Her directness of speech contrasts withOthello's convolutedresponseto his own jealousy, while her stresson outward-directed feeling(feltabsence, felt cause) counterpoints the egocentric,narcissistic Cassio. Far frombeing the object men have made of her in theirspeech (IV.i.108 ff.), her own verbal energy (IV.i. 153 ff.)constitutes a dangerto men's sense of propriety and order in theirworld.18 For this reason Cassio pursuesher fromthe stage afterher jealous outburst, his specific aim beingto stopherspeaking:"she'll rail in the streets else" (1. 163). In her finalappearance,the spontaneity and emotionalhonesty of Bianca's speech are at their mostintense.She rushesonstage,flings herself on Cassio's woundedbody, and can only wail his name: "O my dear Cassio, my sweet Cassio! / O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio! . . . Alas, he faints!O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!" (V.i.76-77, 84). But it is just such defenseless speechIago can ma- nipulateto his advantage.The veryemotionalism of Bianca's speechbecomes theground in whichhe plantssuspicion.Led offto be tortured fora confession ("Come, mistress, you musttell's another tale" [1. 125]), her speech is to be twisted againstitselfand its own truth. Beforeshe is swallowedup in silence, however,she has a memorable assertionof self to make, in a speech thatis calm, dignified, and fullof feeling.To Emilia's abusive "strumpet!"(1. 121) (subjectingboth of themto the values of masculinelanguage) she replies in such a way as to mutesuddenly thehigh-pitched violenceof the scene: "I am no strumpet, but of life as honest/ As you thatthusabuse me" (11. 122-23). In Bianca's passionatespeech Shakespearehas embodieda feelingthatwould give, though the worldwould smother it, adequate expression to her identity. In its own way her speech is a moralreality thatbringsintosharper focusthe moraldeficiencies of the worldthatwould condemnher. In many respects,Emilia seems to belong to thatworld. But in the end Emilia's speech too achieves a moral identity thatshe mustexercise against the world. Described in her first appearanceas a naggingwife (II.i.), she is in fact at this point almost entirely silent. "Alas! she has no speech," says Desdemona (II.i. 102), whileIago beratesherforhavingtoo much.In hervery silence,however,it is easy to detecttheunhappy antagonism betweenthehus- band and wife, a conditionexacerbatedby her humiliating need to win his 18 MarthaAndresen-Thom, amongothers,speaks of the "masculinefearof speech in women" in the hierarchical, patriarchal cultureof ElizabethanEngland(p. 263). This content downloaded from 62.122.72.20 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:05:03 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 284 SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY affection. This she especially reveals in her soliloquy aftershe has foundthe handkerchief and has decidedto give itto her"waywardhusband"(III.iii.292- 99). Having triedand failedto use the languageof sexual provocation to win Iago to a kindness (11.301-5), herreawakened concern forDesdemonais help- less beforeherhusband'sdismissive power,whichbrusquely silenceshercom- plaintswitha perfunctory "Go, leave me" (1. 320). Her silentexit is a sign of her servitude: he is interested in nothing she has to say. Ironically enough,and givinga special vividnessto herfurious loquacityat the end of the play, it is Emilia's speech and her silence thatserve as direct catalysts to thetragicaction.Askedby Desdemonaaboutthehandkerchief, she tells a deliberatelie ("I know not, madam" [III.iv.24]), and duringthe con- tentious argument betweenOthello and Desdemona over the missinghandker- chiefshe remains silent. The bitterness of herremarks after thisexchange suggests she is aware of her guilt in so devaluingspeech, and needs to venther rage by removing attention from theoffending object. Perpetrating one of themany disgusting sexual images of the play, she shows how freeher speech can be whenthemenare absent,as well as revealing again whatappearsto be a painful sexual experiencefestering at the core of her character: 'Tis nota yearor twoshows us a man: Theyareall butstomachs, andwe all butfood; .Theyeat us hungerly, andwhen they arefull Theybelchus. (III.iv.103-6) In its raw intensity such speech is likelyto convinceus thatits generalizations are rootedin personalexperienceand, like Emilia's othermostforceful utter- ances, seem intended as statements of factor opinion.Thus theycontrast both withIago's generalizations, rootedin animosity and malice,and withOthello's, rootedin egocentric self-conceit, withthemen's performative utterances seem- ing always to have a deliberaterhetorical end-persuasion-in view.19 In additionto the sexual angerit manifests, Emilia's speech is concreteand honest.Defending DesdemonaagainstOthello(IV.ii), she is direct, pragmatic, exact, insistent, and fearless.In her accountof havingseen Cassio and Des- demonatogether, she offers the hardevidence of her senses: "But thenI saw no harm,and thenI heard/ Each syllablethatbreathmade up betweenthem" (IV.ii.4-5). Emotionally flexible and fluent, she can movefrom gentleconcern forDesdemona ("How do you, madam?How do you, mygood lady?" [1. 96]) to thebrusquecolloquialismof herangeragainstOthello("He call'd herwhore. A beggarin his drink /Could nothave laid suchterms uponhis callet" [11.120- 21]). She can temper suchforward passionwithpragmatic (even forensic) good sense: "Why shouldhe call herwhore?Who keeps hercompany? /Whatplace? what time?whatform?whatlikelihood?" (11. 137-38). Askingthe questions Othelloshouldask, herspeech is a moralreminder of his abdicationfrom such responsibility. The freedomof such speech naturally poses a threat to lago, who hastensto silence her all-too-accurate speculationthatOthello has been "abus'd by some most villainousknave, / Some base notorious knave, some scurvyfellow" (11. 139-40). Iago triesto hush her by invoking his authority 19 Of course, Emilia also "performs,"but what she performs is herself,so forthe mostpart her utterances are, to extendAustin'sterms a little,"felicitous,"while thoseof Othelloand Iago are "infelicitous,"are infelicities of the kind Austincalls "abuses." (See Austin,pp. 14-16.) This content downloaded from 62.122.72.20 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:05:03 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE WOMEN'S VOICES IN OTHELLO 285 as her husband,and referring to her properplace as a wife: "Speak within door" (1. 144). Such personalrevelations as she proceedsto, however("Some such squirehe was / That turn'dyourwit the seamyside without, / And made you to suspectme withtheMoor" [11.145-47]), are even morethreatening to Iago's will to power,and thistimehis angry attempt to silenceheris successful: "You are a fool; go to" (1. 148). While her silence shows her subordination (as well as revealing the significant terms in which,in thisworld,the struggle betweenmen and womenis carriedon), it also servesas thebackdropagainst which we know the importance of Emilia's speech: in this case, her speech functions as a moralmeasure fortheworldoftheplay,morality beingimplicitly identified here withhonestfeelingand plain speech. Whilemarkedly different in many respects from Emilia's, Desdemona'sspeech sharessome of these criticalfeatures of "meaning." At her first entrance we are, like the senators,eager "to hear her speak," eager to get her versionof a story thathas come to us in three male translations-lago's, Brabantio's,and Othello's. Throughout this scene in thetrying context of the Venetiansenate, herspeech is a modelof plain-spokenness, dignity, and good sense. Balancing a sense of dutywithindependent self-respect, she bringsreason and passion into persuasiveequilibrium.Her addressto her father is sufficient indication of the remarkable character thatfindsexpressionin such remarkable speech: My noblefather, I do perceive herea divided duty . . . I am hitherto your daughter. Buthere'smyhusband; Andso much duty as mymother show'd To you,preferring youbefore herfather, So much I challenge that I mayprofess Due to theMoor,mylord. (I.iii.180-81, 185-89) The speech is a perfect expression of mature balance in, forexample,the de- cisive way Desdemona's sentences cutacrossthemetrical pattern yetstillmain- tainit,manifesting control without rigidity. Herdiction achievesa similar balance, beingplain yetpainstakingly exact. The whole speech managesto preserve an impeccablepoise betweenobjectiveand subjectiveconsiderations, thebalance between"you" and "I" reachin