"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

    This Shakespearean play is unique from others in that all but one single character is innocent.  Shakespeare characterizes all characters aside from Iago as being taking advantage of.  Othello has been made to believe his wife is having an affair with his dear friend causing him to feel great anger and hatred toward them both.  Through her own knowledge, Bianca concludes that Cassio is having an affair with another woman.  Though she does not necessarily like him all the time, Emilia still has a regard for her husband and is surprised to hear the rumors he has created.  She repeats the line "My husband!" (Shakespeare, 1454, Vii145) over and over again when Othello says Iago told him about Desdemona and Cassio.  Roderigo is led to believe that Iago is working diligently to get him in Desdemona's favor when, in reality, Iago has done nothing.  All of this makes Iago all the more deserving of his fate.

"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

     Though the play did not necessarily have a happy ending, Shakespeare offers a deserving resolution for Iago.  Reading Shakespeare's other works, the audience would not assume Iago to be one to survive after the others have learned of his deception.  However, Othello claims death would be too merciful for Iago: "I'd have thee live, For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die" (Shakespeare, 1458, V.ii.288-289).  For Othello, being kept alive would be a punishment to him as well.  He now knows he has unjustly murdered his wife.  This knowledge takes every human sense from him.  Othello was innocent, and he is reinstated with honor by Cassio in the end who claims he was "great of heart."  Knowing he and Iago could share the same fate disgusted him.  Yet, Lodovico reassures that Iago will be kept on the brink of death.  In the final moments of the play, Lodovico expresses his desire to see Iago brutally tortured.

"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

    Shakespeare characterizes Desdemona as an innocent, compassionate character even though Iago forces the other character to see her as an adulterer.  Shakespeare maintains this characterization even to Desdemona's final moments.  Before Othello comes to murder Desdemona, she and Emilia foresee that murder may be Othello's plan.  Because of this, the audience perceives that Emilia was "on guard" and aware of what might happen.  Not knowing Othello was in the midst of strangling Desdemona, Emilia interrupts to tell Othello about the death of Roderigo.  In the midst of this conversation, Emilia hears her mistress and asks her who has done this to her.  As a final display of loyalty and love, she says, "Nobody, I myself" (Shakespeare, 1453, V.ii.122).  This scene remotely reminded me of the deaths of Brutus and Cassius in Caesar.  Cassius dies selfishly asking Pindarus to kill him and then covering his own eyes.  Brutus dies an honorable death by telling the person holding the sword to turn his head and then Brutus would push himself against it, causing his own death.  Like Brutus, Desdemona maintains her honest, compassionate character up to and including the moment of her death.

"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

    In the first scene of Act IV, dramatic irony collides with Iago's deceptive ways nearly to the point of confusion.  By this point, Iago has become a master puppeteer.  While Iago is lightly discussing Bianca with Cassio, Othello believes them to be talking of Desdemona.  "Now will I question Cassio of Bianca...As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad, And his unbookish jealously must construe Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behavior Quite in the wrong" (Shakespeare, 1429, IV.i.91;98-101).  Iago orchestrates the situation perfectly.  Bianca arriving at the last minute with the handkerchief in hand was the cherry on top.  For Iago, the situation could not have worked itself out more perfectly.  However, the anger that Othello expresses in whispers while Cassio and Iago are speaking shows that he was truly in love with Desdemona.  No matter what she does, that love for her is still there.  This fact is below Iago's scope of awareness.  Iago obviously does not have these feelings for Emilia; therefore, he cannot comprehend how deep Othello's predicament is.  His desire to think the affair untrue can be seen in the opening of scene 2 when Othello questions Emilia about the affair.