Othello is one of the four major tragedies by William Shakespeare. It reflects the interwoven human relationships controlled by the human passions and obsessions. The assigned act is act V which is the lastact of the play and exhibits the tragedy of the moor’s love and trust. It pictures Othello driven insane by extremity of his passions and lack of control. The death ofCassio and Rodarigois result of counting on the jealous Iago; and castes away the curtain of trust from the personality of Iago. The passionate love of Othello for his beloved wife led to the tragic death of Desdemona.
The previous scenes show the insane and imbalanced behavior of the black Othello in terms of his blind trust on Iago, and mistrust on Desdemona and Cassio. The short-sightedness of Othello results in the tragic death of Desdemona and Othello in the end. Loss of the handkerchief from Desdemona and its presence in the room of Cassio becomes the basis of disbelief of Othello on the goodness of life. The self-complexes of Othello are fully highlighted by his bitterness and arbitrariness before the end scene.
Act 5 deals with the tragic resolution of the play; and one of the scenes involve a partial complication as well: which is Rodarigo’s attack on Cassio. The exposition of the play shows power and success. The complication is full of instability which rises from a conflict between love and jealousy. The resolution is based on desire to gain power and manipulation of means to exercise it.Iago exhibits the traits of steering the misguided emotions. In the resolution the mental conflict of Othello disappears and the conflicting passions of love and hatred possess him. He is tragically certain and powerful again.
There is less characterization generally and no psychological contact particularly in the assigned act. The speed of action is fast and the dialogues are short. All the minor characters are dispensed and the major characters are brought at the forefront in this act. The death of Rodarigo implies the end of plotting and scheming, the framing technique is not used further, and the audience would not be used as an accomplice.
The structure is analyzed by taking into account the shift of setting from “Venice to Cyprus”. Venice shows civilization, security, and order under the rule of the Duke. Cyprus contrasts with Venice being on the edge of civilization, threatened by war with savage Turks. Cyprus emphasizes insecurity, doubt and therefore destruction. The complication of the play takes place in an insecure setting dominated by the threat of war and clash of civilizational identities. Othello’s passage from Venice to Cyprus; interconnection of the physical and mental journey; from absolute love of Desdemona to extinguishing the light of her life in her bed chamber; and his self-execution to restore order sum up the plot of the play in the end scene.
The setting of the resolution is changed as the tragic ending takes place in the only private place of the play which is the bed chamber of Desdemona. The secret and intimate truth is revealed in the bed room of Othello and Desdemona and the tale of honor and chastity is woven by the cunning of Iago.
The structure of the play with the aid of the major characters of Othello, Iago, and Desdemona evoke two types of chemical reactions conceptualized from literary perspective. These are exothermic and endothermic chemical reactions. Iago acting as a “catalyst” increases the rate of the chemical reaction: that is the increase in the jealousy and hatred of Othello for Desdemona and Cassio. This at a metaphoric level is an endothermic reaction as the negative energy (heat) is transformed inside Othello (the chemical substance) by Iago (the catalyst) and there is an increase in the rate of the reaction leading to the catastrophe. The killing of Desdemona, which is the focal point of scene 5, is an exothermic reaction by Othello.
The dialogues in the assigned act are generally short and signify a speedy action. Rushed line of action shows that Shakespeare is trying to tie all the loose ends of the tragedy quickly. The language of Othello deteriorates in the scene. He no longer uses the name of Desdemona to address her but repeatedly calls her a “strumpet”. The act involves a monologue which portrays Othello as a judge, and is highly significant as it narrates Othello’s psychological justification of killing his wife. He says, “Yet she must die, else she will betray more men”.
The monologue has a Greek reference about Promethean heat. Promethean was a god who stole fire for mankind from gods and was punished. It symbolizes the lost passion for, and stature of Desdemona in the eyes of Othello. Othello’s last address to the officers employs a grand style of speech and lofty language. Iago is referred to as a “circumcised dog”which implies that he is a Jew.
There are references to physiographic topography of India, Arabia, Turkey and Venice. The last two locations also evoke the theme of Chaos and order. The military vocabulary or ‘Epithets of War’ are of crucial importance in the act. “General Othello”, “Lieutenant Cassio” and “Honest” is used in the act. ”General Othello” demonstrates the most advanced military knowledge in choosing for his lieutenant: a man (Cassio) who is well-versed in military science, rather than (Iago) who has proved himself only a good combat soldier. The expression “Honest and just” used for Iago highlights the Dramatic Irony in the act.
The use of personal pronoun “I” throughout the speech of Othello depicts his self-realization and consciousness about the ‘to be committed’ deed. He expresses his thoughts, feelings, and opinions without ambiguity.
The images used in the act can be divided into two main groups:
- Light and dark imagery, and
- Sea imagery.
Othello enters the dark bed chamber of Desdemona, carrying a taper. He sees her brightness which he cannot trust yet hates to sully. Putting the light out suggests two kinds of darkness for him i.e.:
- Night and chaos; and
- The loss of Desdemona and the beauty she embodies. She was the monument alabaster (smooth white marble with blue veins).
- It also may suggest for Othello the extinction of his own integrity. (3-7)
- Post Desdemona’s death, Emilia informs Othello that his jealousy and crime have made Desdemona even brighter, whereas he has become a “blacker devil”. (130-131)
- In recognition of his total calamity and approaching death, Othello sees it all as the end of a sea voyage. “Both the tempest and icy currents, with their beautiful yet terrible agitation are now gone”. scene 5, act 2(267-268)
Imagery of extinguishing light is constantly used in scene 2. The imagery of “put out the light”, and “flaming minister”, is changed after the murder into “a huge eclipse of sun and moon” and “it is the very error of the moon”. Imagery of hell and heaven is used in the scenein “burning hell” where Othello is as “rash as fire”. Contrast of Desdemona and Othello is highlighted by the imagery of “more angel she” for expressing Desdemona, while Othello as “blacker devil”. She was “heavenly true”, “better angel” etc. The similes of “rash as fire” and “ignorant as dirt” are used.
Act 5 scene 1 starts with a sense of suspense and of curiosity of the reader/viewer.Rodarigo learns the reality of Iago. The tone of Rodarigo is hesitant as he is not willing to do the deed but the constant instigations of Iagomake his mind. He says in a soliloquy, “I have no great devotion to the deed; and yet he hath given me satisfying reasons”. (8-9)
Rodarigo is the first one to lose his life because of the cunning and treason of Iago. He is also the first person to recognize the dark nature of Iago as he calls Iago, “O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!’’.(68)
Cassio in the assigned scene could not realize that he himself is the prey of Iago’s treachery. He saves himself from Rodarigo but Iago wounds him. He is blind and calls Iago for help, “Iago! O, I am spoil’d,undone by villains! Give me some help.” (58-59)
When Cassio battles with Rodarigo his tone is brave and courageous; but he is stung by the snake that he believed too much. In scene 2, he appears as a lame person, wounded. He reveals the truth about the handkerchief and he is saddened by the death of the General. He knew that his General is so brave that he will kill himself, he says after Othello kills himself, “This did I fear, but though he had no weapon; for he was great of heart”(410-411). His tone is woeful at the tragedy of the innocent people.
Emilia appears in the end of scene. Her tone is of questioning and inquiring what has happened. She is the only strong feminine character. She condemns, and Bianca replies, “ I am no strumpet; but of life as honest as you that thus abuse me”(133-134). Bianca’s reply is a point to ponder over. In reality both are same but social tags make one strumpet to be condemned and the other a wife to be respected. Emilia’s tone is courageous and brave in scene 2, she very boldly questions Othello, calls him “Blacker Devil”, “Ignorant as dirt”, “rash as fire” etc. She is courageous to speak when Iago asks her to leave, she says: “Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, all, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak” (253-254). Her tone is sad at the death of her mistress.
In act 2 after her initial shock, she angers at her husband’s lies which seize her, and she demonstrates her loyalty to Desdemona(155-157). He will speak the truth, come what might. It is this that leads one to believe. She is speaking the truth when she tells Desdemona; she knows nothing about the handkerchief. Within the limits of a rather generous moral code, she is a virtuous woman, loyal to what she judges to be right (218-226).
Scene 2 reflects her thoughtfulness where she generally started at the fact that it is Iago who is the villain, thought the handkerchief episode should have caused suspicion. Often shrewd people miss what is under their noses. Emilia’s repeated use of “my husband” shows her horror and disbelieve.
Iago is a character revealed to us through soliloquies. He has the power of convincing, the power of his tongue which he uses throughout the play. He is cunning enough to put all doubts to Bianca at the end of scene. His tone is full of cunning and treachery. In scene 2 when his plot is about to be reveal, he tries his best to stop Emilia and uses abusive language and ultimately stabs her. Throughout the play he uses his mind, his tongue to deceive everybody.
Iago is constantly working on his reputation in act 5; as Othello addresses him as “O brave Iago” (33); this is a statement of great faith of Othello in Iago. Iago is called “a very valiant fellow’’ by Lodovico who praises him for a quality totally unearned with which everyone seems to credit him (52).
“I’ll after that same villain” is a significant comment upon Iago. His reputation is finally that of a merely “villain”. He is almost insanely troubled by the virtues of others, since he cannot understand them. His last words: “Demand me nothing, what you know/ From this time forth I never will speak word” (347-48). His intelligence when confronted with defeat; turns sullen, perhaps his wit cannot operate. He announces his own punishment of not to speak.
Desdemona is the innocent sufferer of the play. Her tone is convincing to Othello about her purity. She becomes desperate to convince him when she is unable to do so. At last she asks for mercy when she realizes that some “bloody passions” are shaking Othello but she is unable to understand that these passions are against her. The change of her tone is evident through her words, “O, banish me, my Lord, but kill me not!...or kill me tomorrow ; let me live tonight…” (93-95). Desdemona displays courage and strength in her final act to shield her husband by saying, “nobody – I myself” (124). Her words, “Alas , he is betray’d…” show that she lacks even the cunning to save herself. What she says throughout the scene reflects her innocence as an impartial virtue and purity of passions.
Othello, the tragic protagonist of the play is the victim of cunning of Iago. Act 5 shows the Romantic Idealism which colors his love and his jealousy, and is the cause of some of his self-deceptions; turns the murder from passion into a ritual purge. Othello at last realizes that it is not simple to cast off love for revenge and hatred; nevertheless he still is unable to understand his own motivation for the murder: as reflected by his soliloquy in the beginning of act 5. He is tormented and confused which is expressed by his cruel and insane tone. He has an enquiring tone when Emilia enters. After knowing the truth his tone changes into submission. His repents and condemns himself openly.
In the breakdown of his ordered existence, Othello desperately clings to one thing which seems certain in the friendship of Iago. His trust and blind faith in Iago is obvious in his address to Iago where he calls him as “Honest Iago”, “O brave Iago” etc.
In the classic anti-colonialist treatise ‘Black Skin, white Masks’ Frantz Fanon; invoking psycho-analytic discourses, emphasizes that in colonist ideologies “the real other for the white man is and will be the black man… For not only must the black man be black; he must be black in relation to the white man…” This is clear in the case of Othello. The disorder or the blackness is plain in the wonders of Africa. Physical monstrosity is parallel to the cultural monstrosity; ”the cannibals that eat each other…”.Othello kills Desdemona because of both physical and cultural monstrosity.
According to Fanon it was only through violence that people of different color could liberate themselves from colonialism, particularly from mental bondage and inferiority complex that accompanied colonial subjugation.As Othello does in the end justifies Othello’s monstrousact. In act 5 Desdemona herself exclaims, “Some bloody passion shakes your very frame”. She requests him, “O, banish me, my Lord, but kill me not!”but he kills her.
In the early colonialist setting of the Shakespearean tragedy, Othello’s subjectivity as measured by the visual signifiers “white and black”, constitutes an otherness that is internally chaotic. As a black man, Othello represents racial difference. Through Iago’sracist attack together with the insistence on Othello’s lack of:-
“…soft parts of conversation,
Thatchamberers have or for that I am declined
Into the vale of years”
In black skin, white masks, Fanon develops his thesis about the impact of inferiority complex of black people resulting in their wish to be identified with the colonialists or imitate the Europeans.Fanon explains how to colored people can liberate themselves physically and mentally and his insights into psychological damage resulting from colonialism and racism.
In Othello, the racial hatred can be seen as Fanon pointed it. The white father shows hatred for the black lover of his daughter and the black male’s desire for the white women may be perceived as a path to social acceptance,as seen with the love of Othello for Desdemona. Thus Othello is constructed as neither subject nor other, but, “an object” cutoff from his “own presence”.
In the final scene of the play, the only surviving characters on the stage are the elite white men. The audience is invited to pity Othello for the suffering and calamity that have led to his tragic death, Othello’s downfall as an inevitable function of his transgression, is apparent in his exclusion from subjectivity.
From feminist theory throughout the act women appear as commodities, where the place of women is shaped by the social and political forces. Act 5 examines the oppressed position of women. The infringement on a women’s personal space, her person and her pride by a male is evident via the characters of Desdemona and Bianca. The play presents a trait of the Victorian society where never was the woman accepted as a rational being; women were valued as objects of possession rather than individuals.
Psycho-analyst Joan Riviere in his article “Womanliness as a Masquerade” published in the International Journal of Psycho-Analysis argued that women adopt a public mask of “womanliness” or “feminity” in accordance with a male image of what a woman should be. Thus they conform to the stereotypes of patriarchy as the idea of woman holding power of any kind over any man attacks the male ego.
Emilia pictures a very bold and brash image of woman in terms of her ideas. Her ideas are very liberal and modern and she speaks of moral and social equality of women and men. Her ideas generate strength and passion of her character. Her dramatic words in the last scene express her individuality as she says:” ‘T will out, ’t will out. I; peace! No, I will speak as liberal as the north. Let Heaven and men and devils, let them all, all, all cry shame against me, yet I will speak’’.