In Act 5, scene 2 Shakespeare stages a
femicide: the murder of Desdemona by Othello. In the scene Othello is torn
between two drives, the instincts of Eros and Thanatos.
According to Freud, the human being undergoes
these two instincts that are hidden in the subconscious. Eros is the instinct
of reproduction and attraction. It is connected with love, passion and
relationships, and it it what ties Othello and Desdemona.
Thanatos is the instinct of defending life at
all costs. It is linked to death and aggressiveness.
Othello is the only character who is driven by
both Eros and Thanatos, instead of only one of them, as it happens to Desdemona
and Iago. Desdemona is driven by Eros and Iago is driven by Thanatos. We see Othello’s
two sides in the monologue where he
struggles between his attraction to Desdemona and his wish to destroy her, the
object of his passion.
In the play he is manipulated by Iago who uses Othello’s
insecurities respect to Desdemona’s love
to intensify his jealousy and revenge. In the end Othello will choose to follow
his wish for blood and death, instead of
love and passion. So he moves from being
the villain’s victim to becoming a villain himself as the killer of his
innocent wife.
No comments:
Post a Comment