Othello's Lost Identity Othello's identity in Venetian society is his role as a “Moor”. Few people use his real name when talking about him. By saying the given quote, Othello tells the Venetians how he won Desdemona's heart by telling her the story of his life, and he now tells it to the Venetians. This narrative is a way of using the linguistic system to reshape a new identity with more positive connotations than what “the Moor” can offer. “The Moor” is an expression that the Venetians associate with other expressions in the linguistic system which all have a negative value. Examples are expressions such as "old black ram... The above excerpt is for reference only. The full essay begins below. When considering the identity of Othello, in Shakespeare's play Othello, it is beneficial to reflect on the quote "I am not what I am." Perhaps Othello finds his identity threatened by Desdemona's reaction to his stories To better understand this, it is useful to note a quote from Pam Morris: Literature and Feminism, (Blackwell, 1993) where she discusses the resolution of the Oedipal crisis. For Freud, the result. of the child's fear of castration is his submission to the reality principle and therefore his entry into the social order. For Lacan, this must coincide with the child's entry into the system of language. the law of the father; a linguistic system within which our social and gender identity is always already structured (p. 104) Othello's identity in Venetian society is his role as a “Moor”. . While saying the given quote, Othello tells the Venetians how he won Desdemona's heart by telephone...... middle of paper ...... in himself he found it impossible that someone would 'other does it. This insecurity proves his downfall. His positive self-image gone, he is left with the choice between “the Moor” or nothingness. The moment Emilia realizes that Othello is the murderer, she begins to call him again with expressions linked to the negative image of the “Moor”: “And you, the blackest devil!... you are a devil. (V, ii, 129, 131) He cannot bear to be this person, the only one that society and the symbolic order can offer him. Building one's own identity proved impossible. To be without identity, a non-person implies death. He chooses to free himself from this unwanted identity by distancing himself from the social order and the linguistic system through suicide.Works Cited: Shakespeare, William. Othello. The Complete. Moby(tm)Shakespeare. Online. Mass. Institute of Technology. Internet. November 16. 1996