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Benjamin Chen
Smith
IB English
September 4, 2014
Animals in Othello: Act I
Shakespeare liberally employs comparison to animals, especially through the voice of Iago, as a
recurrent motif to communicate scorn, disdain, or perceived inferiority. A prominent example is
when Iago and Roderigo are informing Brabantio of his daughters marriage to Othello; without
explicitly using technically vulgar language, Iago declares an old black ram / Is tupping your
white ewe, reducing Othello and his wifes love to the mating of livestock, immediately
demeaning their relationship to the level of beasts driven solely by instinct and carnal desire
rather than emotion and reason. Iago goes on to say youll have your daughter covered with a
Barbary horse, youll have your nephews neigh to you, youll have coursers for cousins, and
jennets for germans; here, Iago references Othellos race once again, comparing him to a horse,
with the implication being that if he does nothing to stop it, Brabantios family will be defiled.
This description deliberately associates Othellos foreign origin with the otherness of being of a
different species, driving Brabantio to almost immediately reject what he later describes as his
daughters unnatural attraction for a black African, exploiting existing prejudices and fears to fuel
Brabantios ire; indeed, Brabantios response to the second statement is What profane wretch art
thou?, clearly disturbed by Iagos insinuations, unable to stand idly by while Iago uses such
diction to describe the behavior of his daughter with respect to a man he disapproves of. The use
of animal dysphemisms thus connects with the theme of racial otherness, giving Iagos claims
greater weight by recalling images of farm animals, usually perceived as dirty and dumb, that

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reinforce his message by eliciting an instinctive, involuntary, almost visceral reaction, Iagos
subtle implication being that black Africans, like animals, are outsiders to culture that cannot be
treated as equals.
Iago also uses animal references when trying to convince Roderigo to take heart, stating
Ere I would say I would drown myself for the love of a guinea hen, I would change my humanity
with a baboon. In this backhanded consolation, Iago describes the object of his companions
affection as a lowly bird, ridiculing his feelings as not even becoming of a lower simian, going on
to say that they are the fruits of lust rather than love. Throughout Iagos discourse, animals
represent beings ruled by the needs of the flesh, incapable of thought and motivated action; by
saying Roderigos actions are worthy of not men but cats and blind puppies, he is harshly telling
him to resist unworthy desires and to take control of his fate. In his final soliloquy, Iago closes the
act by calling Othello an ass, trusting and easily misled; his diction throughout this scene not
only evinces his powerful ability to manipulate others thoughts with emotionally charged
rhetoric but also helps build up a general theme of contrasting intentioned characters, such as
Iago, who perceive what is happening and understand how to twist the situation to their
advantage, and less acute characters, like Othello, Brabantio, and Roderigo, who merely react to
events and suggestions without deep planning or reflection, the contrast between thinking man
and mindless beast.