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What are some gaps and silences in Othello?
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Key gaps and silences in Othello include the consummation of Othello and Desdemona's marriage, with ambiguity over whether it occurred, and the details of their wedding and courtship. The play also omits specifics about Othello's rise to power as a general, providing only broad information about his strength and intelligence without detailing his path through the ranks. These omissions create areas of uncertainty and interpretive potential in the narrative.
One important gap is the consummation of Othello and Desdemona's marriage. In fact, there's such silence about it that we don't even know whether it happened or not. We know that Othello was woken up in the middle of the night by Cassio's fighting and the consequent ringing of the bell. The anger he shows suggests the interruption of something important:
For Christian shame, put by this barbarous brawl!
He that stirs next to carve for his own rage
Holds his soul light; he dies upon his motion.
Silence that dreadful bell. It frights the isle
From her propriety.
They have married but not yet slept together. So...The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue;
That profit’s yet to come ’tween me and you.—
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One of the gaps would be Othello and Desdemona's wedding. We know that they went off and eloped, but we don't know the details of the wedding. Also, we know little about their brief courtship, except what Othello tells the senators during his speech to them. There are also gaps/silences about how Othello came to be such a powerful general (we know that he is strong and smart, but this is general information). We don't really know how he rose through the ranks, for example.