Unproper Beds & Othello
The reading gave some interesting insight into the imagery and the usage of the "bed".
From Unproper Beds:
" For the tragedy ends as it began with a bedding - the first clandestine and offstage, the second appallingly public..."
From Othello:
"I kissed thee, ere I killed thee: no way but this, Killing myself, to die upon a kiss (lines 354-55)
The passage from Unproper Beds goes on in this citation to say that the first mention of bedding, or Othello and Desdemona's intimacy takes place off screen, yet that act alone consumes much of the opening of the play itself. Later, the play comes full circle when Othello mistakenly murders Desdemona in their bed. (Not mistakenly in that he didn't mean to do it, but mistakenly in that it was bad information and lies that lead him to that action.) It is interesting that the bed is so central to not just their relationship, but to their intimacy.
A bed is someplace that, when shared with another, usually has a strong intimate component. This is where you are most vulnerable - sleeping peacefully next to another person and trusting them to be by your side. It's ironic then that so many of the vulnerabilities that we see within Othello himself, are represented by what happens in the bed. Even the murder of Desdemona is an intimate act. It's not romantically intimate, but it is intimate in the sense that Othello watches her as he takes her life. I've never taken anyone's life, but I can only imagine the passion and pain that Othello must have been feeling, the vulnerability that he has about her and the insecurity in their love as a result of the lies.
I think the bed serves as a great metaphor for the comfort that we seek in one another.
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