Читать реферат по английскому: "Troilus And Cressida And Othello" Страница 2

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A glove however, without a hand by which one swears one?s honor and word, carries with it several suggestions that add depth to Cressida?s decision to give it as a love token to Troilus. One image that is seen throughout time in countless portraits of aristocrats and monarchs, is that of the powerful land-owning, ruling man holding his gloves in one hand. This has always been a symbol of a man?s dominion over his property. Thus, the fact that Cressida is giving her glove to Troilus may seem to be a submission to him as dominating her. However, this idea can be immediately contradicted by the similarly familiar expression of throwing one?s glove to someone. This expression, referred to in the exchange scene by Troilus, is the declaration of a direct challenge (4.4.63). Cressida, by giving him the glove could be making a bet with him, challenging him, to remain true. She does not believe that he will keep his promise because, as she remarks earlier, ?They say all lovers? [vow] more than the perfection of ten and [discharge] less than the tenth part of one? (3.2.83-6). Here she has implied that, at the very least, he will make a half-hearted attempt, perhaps only a superficial attempt, at keeping his word to her. Perhaps she does not intend to keep hers, as she has only given him the shell, or superficial implication of her hand, thus, in a way telling him that he can possess the glove but not her?that her heart is not in her words, just as her hand is not in the glove; both are insubstantial.

One may wear one?s heart on one?s sleeve, one may hold it out in one?s hand. Does it ever make its way into one?s hand in the form of a handkerchief? Indeed, Shakespeare manages to place it there in Othello. Previous to the time frame encompassed by play, Othello, while courting his now-wife Desdemona, gave her a handkerchief. On the handkerchief are strawberries embroidered on a white background (3.3.450). Not only do strawberries resemble a heart in both color and shape, and not only are strawberries a commonly known aphrodisiac (an appropriate stencil for a love charm), but these particular strawberries were woven of silk from sacred worms which was then colored with dye derived from the hearts of mummified maidens (3.4.75-6). In other words, every aspect of the handkerchief is entirely pure and holy in its components yet sensuous in its subject matter. In this way, the hankerchief can represent Desdemona and her honest and pure sensuality (1.3.257-62). However, the visual image the description of the token creates?that of a white ground spotted with red?also suggests tainted purity, thus reminding the reader of the unused wedding sheets of Othello and Desdemona.

Blood is a constant image in the speech of all characters in the play and with each reference, it takes on a slightly different meaning. Primarily, one is aware that blood connotes a tainted, stained, or dishonest nature in someone. For instance, when Desdemona tries to defend her honesty (i.e.: chastity) against Othello?s accusations toward the end of the play, she says ?I hope my noble lord esteems me honest,? to which Othello replies ?O, ay, as summer flies are in the shambles,/ That quicken even with blowing? (4.2.67-9). In his reply to how honest and chaste he deems her, Othello compares Desdemona to an image of flies living in a slaughterhouse in the summer heat?living on bloody, rotting (read: corrupt) flesh, which is bloated with maggots. The description of blood-covered flesh full of maggots is how Othello sees the filth of disloyalty?bloody and impregnated. This image of a body filled with flesh-eating larvae is reminiscent of a description Iago gives of jealousy personified. In that excerpt, he warns Othello ?O, beware, my lord, of jealousy./ It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock/ The meat it feeds on? (3.3.178-80). This all-consuming double image of sin and jealousy as things festering in and living off of the characters in which they take root implies the corruption not of the bodies inhabited but the lies with which their minds are obsessed?each image imbued with an implication of blood and passion.

What is fascinating is the transformation through which the meaning of blood goes with a completely different reading of the play. In a way, Desdemona?s honor is maintained and her purity and virtue emphasized. The man who manipulates Othello to the point of killing her is Iago. The first word Iago utters in the play is ? ?Sblood?? (1.1.4), a contraction of the saying ?by His (Christ?s) blood? (footnote, 1.1.4). This helps to set an initially sacred ground for the significance of blood. In addition, this play more than others employs the expression ?Zounds? (1.1.88, 111, etc.), a contraction of ?by His (Christ?s) wounds? (footnote, 1.1.88). The wounds Iago inflicts on the character of Desdemona are not actual physical wounds, but the figurative blood she sheds as a result could be equated with the wounds and blood of Christ, as it is pure and virtuous. In one scene, while Othello repeatedly demands the handkerchief of Desdemona she ignores him, pleading Cassio?s case. Othello becomes enraged and leaves, frustrated and angry, with an exasperated cry of ?Zounds!? (3.4.100). The placement of the expression in this context seems to imply Desdemona?s innocence even as she asks after

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