SOURCE: King, Rosalind. “‘Then Murder's out of Tune’: The Music and Structure of Othello.” Shakespeare Survey 39 (1987): 149-58.
In the following essay, King traces a pattern of musical metaphors and connotations in Othello that underscores the disintegration of the harmonious partnership between Othello and Desdemona. She contends that Iago's two songs, the military drums and trumpets, and Desdemona's “willow song” are integral to the play's narrative, characterization, and thematic development.
