Fishburne, Branagh as Othello, Iago
Thursday
Which Shakespeare character does Donald Trump most resemble? In the past I’ve compared him to the narcissistic Lear for the way that he’ll sacrifice his country to his ego and to Macbeth for his readiness to override convention in his lust for power. Associating him with one of Shakespeare’s kings, however, would only feed the vanity of one who would rather be George III than George Washington. Furthermore, neither Lear nor Macbeth is a liar and a conman. A more apt comparison, I’ve decided, is Iago, a malevolent trickster driven by resentment against his black superior.
In this comparison, Othello would be Barack Obama, the high-minded and competent leader whose fatal flaw is his credulity. Obama, who went high when others went low, got played by two conniving racists in the past election (Trump and Putin), believing that it was enough to have right on his side. At times Trump appears to see his life’s mission as undoing the legacy of his predecessor, just as Iago’s mission is to bring Othello down.
As to why Obama and Othello were/are both credulous, it stands to reason that they would believe in a system that recognizes their qualities and elevates them accordingly. Each is officially accepted within the club, with even Desdemona’s father eventually opening his arms to the Moor. Their faith that merit will rise to the top, even in a racist society, seems borne out.
It’s useful to contrast such credulity with that of Edgar in King Lear. Edgar’s credulity arises out of his privilege: he naively believes his bastard brother because he assumes his rightful place in the lineage is assured. It is Othello’s earned success, on the other hand, that makes him a believer. “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible,…tonight is your answer,” Obama said in his 2008 victory speech.
Perhaps because reality has matched up with their dreams, both Obama and Othello underestimate the extreme lengths to which racial animosity drives their enemies. Their stratospheric rise is experienced as salt rubbed into wounded white pride, but they can’t see it. After all, doesn’t their success benefit all of society?
We the audience are given access to Iago’s thinking and thus can watch the hatred at work. It’s as though we’re watching Fox News rather than living in an MSNBC bubble. We see Iago’s rage in his early conversations with Roderigo, who has his own bone to pick with Othello over Desdemona.
I think we can dismiss, as the reason for Iago’s hatred, Othello’s choice of Cassio as his lieutenant. After all, Iago’s rage doesn’t diminish once be gets the post. We see similar racial resentment, driven by threatened white entitlement, amongst the young Venetian men who taunt Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.
To use today’s terms, Iago is driven by fear of losing status, not economic anxiety.
Note, for instance, how Iago talks about Othello’s marriage to Desdemona. “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is topping your white ewe,” he tells her father. This is how racists often experience miscegenation: it is they themselves who feel desecrated, with the white woman symbolizing their own sense of violation.
Iago, like Trump, gets his way by saying one thing and acting another. Arguing that loyalty is for suckers, Iago mimics the “forms and visages of duty” while actually attending only on himself:
Others there are
Who, trimm’d in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves,
And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,
Do well thrive by them and when they have lined their coats
Do themselves homage: these fellows have some soul;
And such a one do I profess myself….
In following him, I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end…
I think of Trump promising that he would work only for the American people, even as does himself homage by lining his own coat. “I want to be greedy for our country,” he told us during the campaign, but it’s clear that he has only ever been greedy for himself. We get new examples every day of how he and his family are monetizing the presidency.
Greed is one thing but, like Trump, Iago also thrives on the chaos he creates. He’s a consummate liar who riles people up with fake news, the major instance being Desdemona’s supposed love for Cassio. Like Trump, he is plagued by “the green-eyed monster which doth mock/The Meat it feeds on.” In the end, he succeeds beyond his wildest dreams.
His success also leads to his downfall, however, and in the end, he is led away to the torture chamber. I don’t wish the same for the president, but I pray that he will be held accountable for the damage that he is doing. Shakespeare believed in divine justice and his tragedies always end with order restored. Pray that our own tragedy ends with the republic working its way back to health.
