Writers’ use of various semantic meanings in their creative works is traditionally associated with the author’s internal desire to carry a particular thought through that image. Readers who study literature independently tend to interpret these meanings through the prism of their own experience, which means that it is highly likely that the use of the same elements by different authors and even in different books by the same author may not be understood in the same way. On the contrary, it is often the case that different authors seek to bring similar meanings to works using the same semantic imagery. Among these, the role of contrast, which is achieved on the integration of dark and light images, is particularly noteworthy. The most notable use of dark styles is found in John Milton’s Paradise Lost and William Shakespeare’s Othello . In these classic works of poetry, dark imagery is used extensively by the authors to reinforce opposition to light styles, but additionally, the playwrights showed that darkness should not be taken unequivocally. This essay aims to qualitatively explore the use of such meanings in the two works mentioned.
One of the central themes of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy is the juxtaposition of contrasts. The reader is made aware of this almost from the very beginning when the protagonist Othello is introduced as an African of Moorish descent. For sixteenth-century British poetry, the use of dark-skinned characters in prominent plot positions was novel because racist slogans in public sentiment were still strong. This is perfectly illustrated in Othello , when the dark-skinned protagonist, which inevitably gives rise to thoughts of “crude Africans,” turns out to be a decent and pious character. Thus, one of the first and most obvious uses of dark imagery is aimed at Shakespeare’s desire to show that not everything “dark” is characterized as evil and bad, as it might seem at first glance.
However, it would be erroneous to say that Shakespeare did not use dark imagery, among other things, to demonstrate a dark, hidden style. The tragedy of Othello is replete with various uses of dark signs and characters to emphasize the character’s unkindness. One of these is Iago’s lieutenant, whose actions are often described in the context of a deep, dark night. Against the background of the angelic bright Desdemona, who traditionally wears white dresses, Iago appears as a grim ignoramus whose motives and actions are associated with self-serving evil. Thus, it is correct to say that the use of the image of darkness in the work of Othello was also necessary to reinforce the boundary effects between good and bad.
Dark styles to enhance the contrast with white imagery are used effectively in another work post-Elizabethan England, namely Paradise Lost by John Milton. Milton uses dark colors in his biblical subjects to signify the Devil’s powers. The use of dark colors to heighten the ominousness is particularly evident at the beginning of book three when the playwright uses words such as “obscure,” “eternal night,” and “darkness” (Milton 45). This is used for the apparent opposition to the luminous angels and God, which Milton describes in terms of divine-luminous shades. These thoughts are borrowed from the evangelist John, who literally wrote that “…God is light; in him, there is no darkness at all” (1 Jh. 1:5). Thus, the use of dark imagery in Milton’s work is implemented to heighten the contrast between light and darkness, good and evil.