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.