Iago as cultural arbiter

Iago picks Cassio as Desdemona's suitor because Iago is a cultural arbiter in the play. That is, Iago discerns what Englishness means in society and determines the likes,dislikes and tastes of the English. Iago as a cultural arbiter demonstrates that English society grapples with issues of identity and what exactly a proper Englishman or woman is in society. Professor Little suggests that the English constantly question what constitutes an apropos Englishman. Does porper Englishness include stamping out other societies that encourage multiculturalism and miscegenation such as Venetian culture? The dislike of Othello suggests that the English define themselves in terms of the other. That is, English identity rests on labeling those that are outside of English culture. Africans function in the play then as a yardstick by which the English measure themselves by and highlight the tension Englishmen face in terms of what proper Englishness entails. It appears then that English society places importance on the purity of white womanhood when Iago acts as the cultural arbiter and that in the period defeintions of self plague the English because of unstable political situations or possibly because of the prescene of others, such as Africans.


Thomas Christian