Othello's Epilepsy

The diagnosis of Othello's attack (IV-i. 35-80) as epilepsy which is climaxed by the folio stage direction, “Falls in a Traunce,” has long been accepted, but the significance and the imagery of the seizure have been neglected. It is true that in 1860 a doctor of medicine had objected: “Iago's designation of this [trance] as an epilepsy, of which it is the second fit, appears a mere falsehood.” 5 However, by 1880, medical doctors and others all agreed that Othello has an attack of epilepsy.¹²

Shakespeare scientifically depicts Othello's trance. Its causes are natural and dramatically appropriate. Nineteenth-century members of the medical profession observe that Othello's very intense emotional state leads to his epileptic fit. 13 Contemporary doctors point out that “Emotional disturbances may be at fault” 7 in causing epilepsy and that mental agitation frequently precedes an epileptic seizure. 4 The incoherence of Othello's speech just before he falls is characteristic of the disease. 17 In the unconscious, Othello desired to escape unbearable reality by means of a trance. An English doctor and psychologist comments that Othello's fit is typical of many comparable observed cases: “It is a desperate effort of the mind to rid itself of intolerable thoughts by fading or swooning into unconsciousness—by taking refuge in Nirvana, if only for a brief space of time.” 19 Iago's warning to Cassio to let Othello regain consciousness naturally in order to avoid foaming at the mouth and temporary madness is in keeping with modern views on the prevention of postepileptic mania. 18 Iago's asking Othello if he has hurt his head involves “the likelihood of injury from the sudden fall.” 18 Othello appears to be unaware of his fall, and there “is always complete amnesia of the seizure.” 22 Shakespeare's accurate realism and his dramaturgy are startling also when