In William Shakespeare’s play “Othello” the use of animal imagery was evident throughout the telling of Shakespeare explained several charactersactions by comparing them to similarities in animals. The characters in “Othello” were often depicted ashaving animal-like characteristics. Some characterswere even compared to animals by other characters inthe play. By defining characters in terms of thesecharacteristics one can get a clear description of whatthe character is doing or saying as compared to certainanimals. In this paper I hope to give examples of animalimagery used in “Othello” that assist in explaining theplay. The specific examples I present will describe acharacter either as seen by himself or by a fellowcharacter. The first use of animal imagery I noted occurred came in Act One when Iago, Othello’s standard bearer,has awaken Brabantio, who was a Venetian senator andthe father of Desdemona, to tell him that Othello hastaken his daughter Desdemona, and as they speak ismaking love to her. Iago was attempting to instigate afight between Othello and Brabantio, using Desdemona asthe bait. Iago stated, “Your heart is burst. You havelost half your soul. Even now, now, very now, and oldblack ram is tupping your white ewe” (p. 13). In thatstatement Iago was comparing Othello to an old blackram by comparing Othello’s skin color to that of theblack ram’s, and the white ewe, a young female sheep,to Desdemona. Shakespeare was trying to illustrate inhis writing the act of and old black man making love toa young white woman. The use of a black ram and awhite ewe to compare Othello and Desdemona helped inthe visualization of their affair. Shakespeare displayed animal imagery again in ActTwo when Cassio was explaining to Iago that if he hadas many mouths as Hydra, a many headed monster slain byHercules, he could silence the many questions asked ofhim....
