What if Iago's motive really
is the toothache he mentions ('I lay with Cassio lately/And, being troubled with a raging tooth,/I could not sleep';
Othello, 3.3.458-60)? Assume this is a real toothache; untreated pulpitis and inflammation of the nerve. This would do more than keep Iago awake the one night; it would persist, until either the infection created an agonising abcess or else spread to the jaw as a whole, and perhaps into the bloodstream. Iago's 'motiveless malignancy', then, becomes actually a symptom of extreme pain mixed with chronic sleeplessness. The tragedy of Othello? Inadequate dentistry.
No comments:
Post a Comment