Vanish into thin air Why Should I Care

Why Should I Care?

Sure, it’s pretty cool that Shakespeare came up with this phrase that we use all the time. But check this out: he didn’t just create a phrase. He also summed up what happens in the play with that one little line.

You see, Othello starts out as a pretty noble guy – he’s a celebrated war hero, he’s obviously overcome quite a bit in order to reach the rank of a military general, he’s respected by the Venetian government, he’s a loving husband who has snagged a great wife, he's an eloquent storyteller (kind of like Shakespeare), and so on. By the end of the play, Othello’s an irrational, violent, and insanely jealous husband who murders his own wife.

What happened? Well, Iago happened. What we’re interested in is the way Othello drastically changes over the play. You might even say his noble, loving character vanishes into thin air.

Or how about the genre of the play? Othello has a lot of the hallmarks of comedy. Family drama? Check. Light, humorous tone? Check. Clever dialogue and witty banter? Check. Deception and disguise? Check. Mistaken identity? Check. We could go on, but you get the idea. If you check out some of Shakespeare’s other comedies (such as Twelfth Night or Much Ado About Nothing), you’ll see these basic rules for comedies all over the place.

That’s exactly what we see in Othello. Until the end of Act 3 that is. It’s as if the genre itself vanishes into thin air after the first half of the play is performed.

So what we’re saying is that Shakespeare not only invented this little phrase, but he also used it to sum up the bigger changes that are taking place in the play. It’s not just the musicians that vanish into thin air. It’s the main character and the comedy as well.