The role of good literature is to teach life lessons without having to live those lessons. The story of Othello is one of those lessons. In the final Act, the deadly deeds are done. Othello, now convinced that he is god-like takes his wife’s life to prevent her from sinning again. His delusion has reached its logical summit. Once the fact of her innocence is revealed to him, he understands he has committed murder, and can no longer look upon her beautiful corpse. He now fears Judgment Day, not because of what he has done, but because he fears her look of pure innocence upon him. This will be his torment, and he cannot endure it. He calls for demons to take him away. He acknowledges his crime. He deserves punishment. He learns the lesson too late. She is gone. He is dammed. In his final moments, he regains composure, becomes a soldier again. He is a divided man. Once the defender of justice, he became the offender of justice. He has no home in Cyprus, no home in Venice, no home in his native land. He takes a dagger, stabs himself, and dies with a kiss on Desdemona.
This last part of Dr. White’s conference on David Copperfield opens with a discussion of an episode at David’s school which emphasizes the importance of boys’ early friendships and how David chooses a bad model in Steerforth, who defies his teacher and leads the boys in rebellion. The other possible friend for David, Traddles, is presented by Dr. White as an important character by reason of his normality and decency. Dickens’ talent for foreshadowing is again touched upon, then Dr. White explains the duality running through the novel: David very often much choose between two people, and he always seems to choose the wrong one. Dr. White presents Uriah Heep as David’s “dark side,” and shows the influence of Scripture on Dickens. He treats of the meaning of marriage as illustrated by David’s rather foolish first marriage, and presents a central theme of the novel springing from this and other situations throughout the book: that one’s emotions must be educated and disciplined if one is to be happy. The lecture ends appropriately with a discussion of the ending of the book.
At the heart of Act Three is Othello doing all of the work to create the illusions of deception. He only needs subtle hints from Iago. Othello does all the rest, driving himself to madness. The audience witnesses the events, but it is the interpretation of these events that causes the trouble. Iago forces Othello to see what Iago wants him to see. This is a warning that throughout life we are constantly viewing the world through interpretation. We must be certain of our guides, our sources. And the only source of order and proper interpretation in life is in the setting of a patriarchy to teach us the truth. Othello is the story of order dissolving into disorder. The proper place for Desdemona is in the home. She is at a battlefield. Disorder. Othello’s suspicion of her infidelity causes him to give up the battle. Why? She has no virtue, hence, nothing to defend. More disorder. At the heart of civilization is the virtuous woman. Through her virtue she can rule over her realm, the home. Her virtue gives men the reason to defend, the home, and if necessary, the country. The realm of the man is outside the home, defending the home.
Dr. White continues his discussion of Cordelia and Kent’s loyalty as the cause of their disobedience and shows that, since they love the king, they must sacrifice, for love and sacrifice are one. He then discusses the setting of King Lear in pre-Christian Britain, showing that it was purposely done to circumvent trouble with the government – but that nevertheless it is filled with beautifully Christian iconography, presented subtly but meaningfully. Dr. White speaks of the expectations that audiences would have had for the play, and how it would have shocked them by its tragic ending. Finally, he reaches the scene where Lear enters with Cordelia dead in his arms, covering the symbolism of Lear’s line of inverted iambic pentameter and the way in which the scene is a kind of vision of the Pieta, but with father and daughter in place of mother and Son.
This is a question and answer session, with a wide range of topics. Shakespeare had an eighth grade education, equivalent to a Harvard doctoral degree of today. Shakespeare was raised in a good Catholic family with good Catholic ancestry who heroically professed their Faith. He possessed a vivid imagination that was fed the best that theater could offer in the form of the Corpus Christi plays that he witnessed as a child. By the end of his career he was able to recover the lost prominence of the family name by purchasing a title of Gentleman. Shakespeare is credited as being the most creative writer in the English language, perhaps in all of literature. It is said that between him and Dante, they share the world. Dante was a religious writer and Shakespeare was a secular writer. They both wrote about the same things but from different perspectives. Dante was firmly rooted in the medieval world while Shakespeare had one foot in the medieval world and one foot in the modern. This is the central conflict in all of his work. But Shakespeare is far more creative, having created thousands of characters. It is said that after God, Shakespeare created most.
This superb lecture by Dr. White opens with a discussion of the definition and nature of tragedy and what precisely separates it from comedy. The fact is emphasized that the destruction taking place in tragedy must not be meaningless, but must serve a purpose. Dr. White discusses King Lear’s tragic flaw, the prominent theme of fallen man, and the unusual format Shakespeare chose, giving the play five acts of falling action instead of having the climax near the end of the play, as is customary. Also covered is the double plot of King Lear, the play’s presentation of the destruction of language by overuse and twisting of meanings, and the parallel between the situation in King Lear and the situation in the Church today: in both conditions, those who are disobedient (Kent and Cordelia in the play) are the ones who are truly caring and trying to preserve what is good.
