The Helmet and the Skillet: How Military Background Determines Shakespeare’s Othello Zenon Andries College

Scholars have portrayed the character of Othello in remarkably different ways: tragic hero, sinner, victim, deluded romantic, noble outsider, and a myriad of other characterizations. Taking that into consideration, it is surprising how little attention has been paid to him in the role of a general and how it influences the story (Burgess 209). Yet it is precisely that role that defines him most as a person. The battlefield is Othello’s home; to him “the flinty and steel couch of war” is a “thrice-driven bed of down” (Shakespeare 25)[1]. Throughout the play, Shakespeare subtly hints at how Othello’s identity as a general motivates his actions. I will analyze these passages closely, and explore how they affect Othello’s social position and story.

In doing this, I intend to prove that Othello’s military background is a two-sided coin, inherently tied in with his fate and fortune: whereas his achievements on the battlefield bring him social and romantic success, the cause of his eventual downfall ironically consists of a of a fundamentally military shortcoming, i.e. an inability to reconcile his “military” and “domestic life” (Kliger 222).

Before the disasters at the end of the play, Othello is a reputable and fortunate man, and he...