This moment is perhaps the most important turning point in Othello, and the climax to the lengthiest scene in the play. In the space of 461 lines (from "Ha? I like not that" to "I am your own forever"), Iago infects Othello's mind with the previously unconceived notion of his wife's infidelity, and swiftly reduces him to the turmoil of baseless near-certainty. What we're witnessing here is not just a revelation of Iago's cunning and insight or of the Moor's fragile and contingent sense of self, but the gradual dissolution of the pure and loving (but imperfect and unstable) marriage of Othello and Desdemona, and the consecration, in its place, of the new, diabolical union between Othello and his ensign. One of the ironies involved here is that Othello, in his suspicion that Desdemona has committed adultery, is the one who irreparably violates their wedding pact by choosing to trust his ensign over his wife. (This also indicates the incompatibility of the military and domestic spheres of life, a recurring theme in the play; a chasm dividing the homosocial bonds of men from the heterosexual union of man and wife.)
The act of kneeling is traditionally associated with a vow of loyalty, devotion, or submission. The contexts in which one might kneel to another include prayer, surrender to a conquering enemy, an oath of service to a lord or commanding officer, the receipt of titles or honors from one's superior, a proposal of marriage, or a wedding ceremony itself, in which both parties are often expected to kneel before a priest or other representative of the church who blesses the union. All of these diverse and contradictory associations are invoked in this short but complex exchange.
Othello is the first to kneel, and he does so not in the context of a mock-marriage, but of a holy oath: "Now, by yond marble heaven," he says, "In the due reverence of a sacred vow / I here engage my words." (His words, in this case, are his preceding promise not to let his anger toward Desdemona abate until he has satisfied it with revenge.) But Othello's genuflection is also, inadvertently and ironically, an indication of his submission and surrender to Iago, representing visually the inversion of power in their relationship. The sight of Iago standing over his general is one of many verbal and visual signs in the play that Othello has been made lesser by Iago's plotting, and it will be echoed even more powerfully later on when, in the midst of a violent seizure, Othello collapses at Iago's feet.
This meaningful visual configuration then shifts. "Do not rise yet," says Iago. (It is worth noting that, although editors generally insert stage directions to specify the kneeling and rising, these directions are not Shakespeare's own, and the implied physical action is gleaned from the dialogue itself. At this point, most editors assume, Iago kneels alongside his general.) "Witness, you ever-burning lights above, / You elements that clip us round about, / Witness that here Iago doth give up / The execution of his wit, hands, heart, / To wronged Othello's service." In this instance, the kneeling takes on the dual context of both a deeply insincere address to the heavens (which blasphemously mirrors Othello's own vow) and an oath of fealty to Othello himself. A few lines later, Iago accepts the title of lieutenant, which he so coveted at the play's beginning.
Narratively speaking, this moment is important because Iago has now succeeded in his original goal: the disgrace of Cassio and securing his own promotion to the rank of lieutenant. But he is now embarking on his ultimate project of revenge, the complete moral annihilation of Othello himself. Iago, who is repeatedly associated with demonic forces throughout the play ("Hell and night must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light," etc.) profanes the sacrament of prayer and of marriage by kneeling with Othello; there is an implication that, like Satan, his corruption of Othello separates him irreparably from God (as well as Desdemona), diverting the Moor's pledge to heaven into a false and earthly union founded on murder. Religious, military, and domestic/romantic ritual are fused together in the act of kneeling, and when Iago and Othello rise together (as before a priest), it signifies the solidification of their new, fatal bond of "marriage," concluding with Iago's distinctly matrimonial line "I am your own forever."
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