Othello - Othello 7 - Iago's Final Presence

In the final scene of Othello, the antagonist Iago only speaks for a few critical lines. While blame is starting to form around him, he merely reverts to his original plan of trying to play it off as if he is not the villain by stating: "I told him what I thought, and told no more / Than what he found himself was apt and true" (V.ii.212-213). The one factor that Iago did not account for was Emilia's betrayal, or, even if he suspected she knew, he did not believe she would disobey his orders: "Go to! Charm your tongue" (V.ii.219). Many of Iago's last amount of lines are repetitive way of him telling his wife to be quiet, to go home, or that she is a whore. Iago's facade of bystander crumbles completely when, in his heated temper, he stabs Emilia, killing his own wife in front of everyone in the room.

Iago's last lines in the play are: "Demand me nothing. What you know, you know. / From this time forth I will never speak a word" (V.ii.355-356). This greatly juxtaposes Iago's plan to bring down Othello, which consisted of luring Othello to ask questions that made it seem as if Iago was trying to hold his tongue as to not hurt anyone. Now Iago no longer wishes to be asked anything at all, for he sees how everything has turned against him. "What you know, you know" adds on the idea that Othello can now decide to see things the way he sees fit to, not to always as Iago what he thinks. The way that the play ends with a silent Iago is an odd end, for Iago speaks to the audience so often in the play, and just speaks a lot in the play in general, that it is strange for him to no longer have lines. Iago also used words to his advantage, such as how he enraged Othello with sexual innuendos and baited the hook that pulled Othello to ask questions. This speechlessness is the last straw of Iago's defeat, leaving himself without his last weapon, his words.

Othello - Othello Interlude - Othello's Soliloquy at V.ii.1-24

At the very beginning of Act 5, Scene 2, Othello has a soliloquy that expresses his views on how he is about to kill his wife, Desdemona. Othello starts by repeating to himself "it is the cause" three times, addressing this idea to "[his] soul" (1). It seems that this repetition may be to convince Othello that the act of killing the woman he once loved must be done, even when his "perfect soul" is telling him not to, for it would forever be stained I.ii.36). Othello then speaks of how he is going to kill Desdemona, saying that "[he'll] not shed her blood, / nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, / and as smooth as monumental alabaster" (V.ii.3-5). This line foreshadows that the death of Desdemona will either be by strangulation or poison of some sort, for these methods would  be the most likely to not shed blood or hurt Desdemona's looks. The line also speaks to how Othello still finds Desdemona to be pure, for snow and alabaster are pure white objects; However, snow in literature is often used as a symbol of death and obscurity, which again foreshadows Desdemona's demise, while alabaster is known as a symbol of purity and honor.

Othello compares Desdemona to firelight, stating: "put out the light, then put out the light" (V.ii.7). The first "light" refers to the actual firelight that is in the room, for it is night time and Othello and Desdemona are supposed to go to sleep, but the second "light" refers to Desdemona. At this moment, this firelight can be viewed as not only another praise to her purity, but also as a a symbol of cleansing and purifying,  for Othello wishes to "restore [Desdemona's] former light" by first putting it out (V.ii.9). Othello does not understand how he will restore her, though, for he "[knows] not where is that Promethean heat / that can [Desdemona's] light relume" (V.ii.12-13). "Promethean heat" is an allusion to the Greek myth of Prometheus, a Titan known for intelligence who created humans and then stole fire for them to use. The heat from this first human fire is supposedly what lights Desdemona's life force, which is no longer able to be attained in Othello's time. Desdemona is simply one of a kind, unable to be replicated.

Othello then compares Desdemona to a rose that he has plucked and cannot "give it vital growth again, / It needs must wither" (V.ii.15-16). Roses, depending on the color, can symbolize romance, youth, purity, or death. This rose that Othello compares Desdemona to could be used to symbolize any of these things. All roses, however, are sweet and seemingly innocent; Yet their stems rooting them to the Earth have sharp, hurtful thorns that sometimes go unseen until it is too late. This relates to how Othello thinks Desdemona is cheating on him and so in his mind the sweet, flower-like girl has been keeping a secret hidden and that idea sticks him like a thorn, a thorn that he did not believe Desdemona would ever have. Yet Othello believes that he has found out the hard way that every rose has it's thorn, and this thorn dug deep enough as to stir him to murder.

Othello - Othello 5 - Othello's Change

At the beginning of Othello, the title character is a man who is quite rational. He states in the first act of the play: "My parts, my title, and my perfect soul / Shall manifest me rightly" (I.ii.36-37). He sees himself as having desirable and respected qualities, being high in power (due to his rank as a general), and also having a pure and guiltless soul. He speaks with authority and certainty that comes from a place of ethos. A man like Othello needs to keep a steady head, for he leads troops for a living. He must be strategical and organized; However, once he makes the move to Cyprus, he begins to lose his rationality. Cyprus is between Venice, which is seen as rational and logical, and where the Turks are from, which is viewed as instinctual and emotional. Being in this split place makes a change start to brew in Othello, which is stirred even more by Iago's insinuating ideas. The change manifests itself in two ways, the first being the way that Othello speech starts to become less rational as the play progresses. At one point he begins to use many dashes to break up his words: "Handkerchief - confessions - handkerchief" (IV.i.45-46). This jolted speech seems broken and irrational compared to the beautiful and skillful way Othello speaks in the beginning of the book. The other way the change in Othello is shown is when he strikes his wife Desdemona near the end of Act 4 Scene 1. Desdemona does not understand why Othello does this, and Iago explains to a bewildered Lodovico that "[Othello] is much changed" (IV.i.302-303). Othello used to love his wife with all his heart, but since getting to Cyprus, he has started to love her less and less due to Iago's penetrating lies. If Othello was in his right mind, he would never have done this to his wife who he views as pure and innocent and loving.