"Therefore, as I am bound, Receive it from me. I speak not yet of proof. Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio; wear your eyes thus..." (Othello, 59).
"To degrade is to bury, to sow, and to kill simultaneously, in order to bring forth something more and better...This is the reason why medieval parody is unique, quite unlike the purely formalist literary parody of modern times, which has a solely negative character and is deprived of regenerating ambivalance" (Bakhtin, 688).
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The question that these two quotes raises is, "Why do so many people attempt to bring about a beneficial end result by degrading the something or someone they seek to improve?"
In Shakespeare's Othello, both Iago and Othello long for Desdemona, making her an object of desire for both parties. Othello cares for her in a wholesome way, whereas Iago only cares about her in a self-serving negative way. Iago feels that by degrading Desdemona, he can defeat Othello by destroying that which he loves, thus destroying Othello, his enemy and making personal gain for himself. I find this particular concept of degrading women for personal benefit oddly interesting. Keep in mind when I say degrading I don't mean physically abusing or humiliating them in any way, but rather talking down to/about them. It goes back to the idea that the more uninterested a male acts about a woman, the more said woman tends to seek their approval. I learned from my older brother that if I am interested in a girl, act like I couldn't care less about her, and she will oddly be attracted to me. This has proven true more than once although it makes absolutely no sense. I guess in summation, although the Othello situation regarding degrading women differs slightly than the one I described above, I do recognize there is a similarity between the two, albeit a small one. In regards to the question, I think it is human nature to seek approval from those that disapprove of us, and mistreat that which we already have.
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