What Does Iago Say He Will Never Do Again
-- Philip Weller, November 13, 1941 - February 1, 2021
Dr. Weller, an Eastern Washington University professor of English language and Shakespearean scholar for more than 50 years.
Detailed Summary of Othello, Act five, Scene 2
Folio Alphabetize:
- Enter Othello with a candle and Desdemona in her bed asleep.
Looking at the sleeping Desdemona, Othello has a difficult time trying to talk himself into killing her. - Desdemona awakes.
She awakes and defends herself against his accusations. He smothers her. - Emilia calls at the door.
Hearing Emilia call at the door, Othello finishes off Desdemona, so lets in Emilia. Emilia tells him that Roderigo is expressionless and Cassio is wounded. Desdemona cries out that she has been murdered, clears Othello of the guilt, and dies. Othello declares that he killed her considering she was a whore. Emilia refuses to believe that Desdemona was a whore or that Iago ever said and then; she cries "murder" and calls for help. - Enter Montano, Gratiano, Iago, and others. Montano, Gratiano, Iago and others reply Emilia's phone call. Emilia demands that Iago deny he e'er said that Desdemona was imitation, just Iago says that he did say and then and tries to shut Emilia up. Emilia declares that Iago is the villain who incited Othello to murder Desdemona. When Othello mentions that he saw the handkerchief in Cassio'southward hand, Emilia reveals that she found information technology and gave it to Iago.
- Othello attacks Iago; Montano and others disarm Othello. Iago stabs Emilia, and runs away. Othello attacks Iago. Iago gives Emilia her death-wound and runs abroad. The other men disarm Othello and leave Gratiano to guard him while they pursue Iago. Emilia says farewell to Desdemona, tells Othello that Desdemona was chaste and true, and so dies. Othello finds some other sword, but tin't use it considering the sight of expressionless Desdemona overwhelms him with guilt and grief.
- Enter Lodovico, Montano, Cassio carried in a chair, and Officers with Iago, prisoner. Lodovico is followed by Montano, Cassio, and Iago, who has been captured. Lodovico questions Othello, gives more proof of Iago'due south guilt, and announces that Othello will be returned to Venice for trial. As he is virtually to be led away, Othello asks for a chance to say "a word or two." He speaks of how he wants to exist remembered, then stabs himself, kisses Desdemona, and dies.
Enter Othello with a candle and Desdemona in her bed asleep:
Othello is hovering over the sleeping Desdemona, and he has been there for some time, trying to fix himself to kill her.
(The stage directions may seem strange to usa. How can Desdemona enter "in her bed"? The bed, with Desdemona on it, was probably pushed out by stagehands who were invisible to the imaginations of the audience. The bed is the four-poster type, with defunction that can be closed, which they will be afterwards in the scene. At the moment the curtains are open, and nosotros know that Othello has been in that location for some time considering his thoughts are the result of looking at his beautiful wife.)
Othello says, maybe whispers, "Information technology is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,-- / Let me non name it to y'all, yous chaste stars!-- / It is the cause (5.2.1-three). He ways that he is going to impale Desdemona considering of "the cause," the crime that she has committed, a offense so horrible that he can't say its proper noun fifty-fifty to the stars. Thus he denies to himself that he is killing her for himself, because he is jealous, because his sense of honour has been wounded.
Othello continues, "Yet I'll not shed her blood; / Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, / And smooth as awe-inspiring alabaster. / Yet she must die, else she'll beguile more than men" (5.2.3-half dozen). The last fourth dimension nosotros saw Othello he was saying to the Desdemona of his imagination, "Forth of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted; / Thy bed, animalism-stain'd, shall with lust's blood be spotted" (5.1.35-36). He meant that he had stopped loving her, then that her eyes no longer shone in his heart, and therefore he was ready to shed her blood. Now, however, even with her eyes airtight, Desdemona's beauty is tempting him to change his mind. Now he doesn't want to shed her claret or scar her skin, and he has to remind himself that what he is doing is but. His cocky-justification -- that if he doesn't kill her "she'll beguile more men" -- is extremely feeble, simply he would be ashamed of his real reason. He's not being hypocritical; he just can't face the truth.
Othello tries to focus on the steps he must take: "Put out the lite, and so put out the light" (five.2.7). All he has to do is blow out the candle, and then impale her, but another thought stops him. He looks at the candle and says to it, "If I quench thee, thou flaming minister, / I tin once more thy onetime calorie-free restore, / Should I repent me" (5.ii.seven-ten). A "minister" is a servant, one who carries out the orders of others. The candle, the "flaming government minister," is completely at Othello's command; once he blows out the light, he can easily light it again if he decides he has made a fault. But Desdemona is non a candle, though the whiteness of her skin shines in the nighttime. Othello, looking at her, says, "but once put out thy lite, / Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature, / I know not where is that Promethean oestrus / That tin thy calorie-free relume [rekindle]" (5.2.10-thirteen). Today the discussion "cunning" connotes deceit, but Othello is not using the give-and-take in that sense. A thing that is "cunning" has been made with great, fifty-fifty magical, knowledge. And a "blueprint" is an original, something which tin can just be imitated, not equaled. Othello feels he is about to destroy a woman who is and so wonderful that nature will never produce another like her. To bring her dorsum to life afterwards he kills her would crave the burn down that Prometheus stole from the gods.
Othello knows he is non Prometheus. He says, "When I have pluck'd the rose, / I cannot give information technology vital growth again. / It must needs wither: I'll smell it on the tree" (five.ii.13-15). (At this point editors usually put in the stage direction "Kisses her." Although Shakespeare didn't write the stage management, we know that Othello does kiss her because at the very stop of the play his dying words are "I buss'd thee ere I kill'd thee: no manner merely this; / Killing myself, to die upon a buss" (5.2.358-359). He kisses her and his struggle to be savage becomes even more difficult. He says,
Ah mild breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to interruption her sword! One more, i more than.
Be thus when chiliad art dead, and I will kill thee,
And love thee later. One more than, and this the last:
So sweetness was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,
But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly;
Information technology strikes where it doth honey. (5.2.16-22)
One buss leads to some other, and then another. All the while he reminds himself that he is an agent of justice, that she must dice, and that even though he tin't terminate himself from weeping, his tears are "cruel tears." His sorrow is "heavenly" in the sense that he feels the desperation of the Christian God, who punishes those He loves, considering He loves them. (You personally may accept doubts virtually the validity of this bit of theology, simply no ane in Shakespeare'due south time, though it was a fourth dimension of great religious controversy, challenged this fundamental doctrine.) Despite Othello's reminders to himself, information technology almost seems that if Desdemona had continued to sleep, Othello might not have killed her. Only she wakes upwardly.
Desdemona awakes:
From the time that Desdemona awakes to the fourth dimension Othello smothers her, the scene becomes more gut-wrenching from moment to moment. Every word that Desdemona says brings her closer to decease.
Coming out of her sleep, Desdemona asks "Who'south there? Othello?" (5.2.23). He identifies himself and she asks him if he wants to come to bed. He doesn't reply her question, but asks if she has prayed. She says she has, perhaps thinking that they are having a normal chat, as praying was a usual matter to do before going to bed. But then Othello says, "If you bethink yourself of any crime [sin] / Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace, / Solicit for it [ask forgiveness for information technology] straight " (5.2.26-28). "Directly" means "immediately," and now Desdemona realizes that a crisis is upon her. She asks him what he ways, and he replies, "Well, do it, and be cursory; I will walk by: / I would not kill thy unprepared spirit; / No; heaven forfend! I would non impale thy soul" (five.2.xxx-32). "I will walk by" is an offer to step out of earshot then that she can confess God before she dies.
In offering to permit Desdemona confess her sins before he kills her for them, Othello may be guilty of awe-inspiring arrogance, but he's sincere, just as parents sometimes really practise hateful it when they say to their children "this is for your own proficient." But Desdemona is very frightened at the discussion "kill." She says that she hopes that he doesn't hateful to kill her, but he just grunts and rolls his eyes. She says, "And nevertheless I fear y'all; for you are fatal then / When your eyes ringlet and then: why I should fear I know non, / Since guiltiness I know not; but notwithstanding I experience I fearfulness" (five.2.37-39). Fear of the unknown that lurks in our loved ones is the essence of terror; it is the outcome aimed at by horror movies in which the bodies of wives, husbands, children, and friends are suddenly taken over past evil aliens. Desdemona feels this fear; she sees the fatal danger in Othello's eyes, but has no inkling as to what she could have done to bring this on.
Othello, on the other manus, wants to believe that she knows "guiltiness." If she truly doesn't so he is a murderer, not an agent of the cause of justice. He demands that she "Call up on thy sins", but she answers, "They are loves I conduct to y'all" (v.2.40). She means that loving him like a god is equally close as she has come up to sin. He responds, "Ay, and for that thou diest" (five.2.41). He means that her betrayal of that dear is the crime for which she must dice, but she believes herself to be innocent of whatever betrayal and protests, "That death'southward unnatural that kills for loving" (5.two.42). She'southward correct, love doesn't kill, but beingness right doesn't help her.
Now there is a moment of frightening suspense. Othello has said that Desdemona must die, but he'due south non attacking her. Every bit she pleads for her life we see a man who is staring, pacing, gnawing his bottom lip. She says, "Alas, why gnaw you so your under lip? / Some bloody passion shakes your very frame: / These are portents; but all the same I hope, I hope, / They do not point on me" (5.two.43-46). He commands her to exist serenity, and she says she will, simply still he gnaws his lip and does naught.
After a few moments of silent fright, Desdemona asks what's the affair, and Othello gives vocalism to what he has been belongings back: "That handkerchief which I then loved and gave thee / Thou gavest to Cassio" (5.two.48-49). This is Othello'southward last chance to prove to himself that he'due south in the correct, that he knows the truth, only the evidence of the handkerchief does not make her confess. She denies everything and continues to deny it, even when he warns her against perjury. To him, her denial is an attack on his accolade. He says, "O perjured woman! thou dost stone my heart, / And makest me telephone call what I intend to do / A murder, which I idea a cede: / I saw the handkerchief!" (5.2.63-66). He wants to believe that he is near to kill his love as a cede to the crusade of justice, just she won't confess that she deserves to be sacrificed. If she's innocent, he'due south a murderer, so she must be lying.
Desperately, Desdemona says that Cassio must have constitute the handkerchief and asks Othello to send for him so that he can tell the truth. Othello answers that Cassio has already told the truth, that he has used Desdemona unlawfully. Desdemona says that Cassio wouldn't say that, and Othello counters, "No, his mouth is stopp'd; / Honest Iago hath ta'en order for't" (5.ii.71-72). This is a kind of triumph for Othello; his 1 true friend, "honest Iago," has stopped Cassio'southward lying mouth past killing him. Desdemona is terrified; her one possible witness is dead, and his expiry makes her understand that Othello is dead serious about killing her, too. She weeps. Desdemona's weeping simply further enrages Othello. Once again he misinterprets what he sees before his eyes. He says, "Out, strumpet! weep'st m for him to my confront?" (5.2.77). She's not weeping for Cassio, but out of pure fear, and it's too belatedly for explanations.
She pleads to exist banished, not killed; to live the dark and exist killed tomorrow; to live an 60 minutes; to live while she says a single prayer. None of her pleas are answered. He is upon her. She struggles to escape, but he, maxim, "Nay, if you strive" (5.2.81), easily overpowers her.
Emilia calls at the door:
Moments afterwards Othello begins to smother Desdemona, Emilia calls from the other side of the locked door: "My lord, my lord! what, ho! my lord, my lord!" (5.2.84). Hearing Emilia, Othello checks on the state of Desdemona, finds that she's not even so dead, and says, "I that am savage am all the same merciful; / I would not have thee linger in thy pain: So, so" (5.2.86-87). At this indicate editors usually add the phase management "Dispatches her," which means that he finishes her off.
(Well-nigh ii minutes after Desdemona will revive enough to proclaim her innocence and say farewell to Othello, which brings up an interesting question for the reader of the play. What did Othello practice to hasten Desdemona's death, and how could she have briefly revived from whatsoever he did? It doesn't seem that Othello could have dispatched her past continuing to smother her, since that wouldn't take speeded things upward. Perhaps Othello dispatches Desdemona with the dagger he uses on himself at the end of the scene. However, these speculations are for the reader only. When nosotros
viewthe play the scene moves and so speedily and is so powerful that we believe whatever the actors do.)
Guessing that Emilia has come with news of Cassio's expiry, Othello tries to decide what to do. Desdemona isn't moving, so it appears that she's dead, just if Emilia comes in, "she'll sure speak to my wife" (5.two.96). Saying this, Othello hears himself and begins to understand what he's washed:
My wife! my wife! what wife? I accept no married woman.
O insupportable! O heavy hr!
Methinks it should be at present a huge eclipse
Of sun and moon, and that the affrighted globe
Should yawn [gape] at alteration. (5.2.97-101)
Desdemona was Othello'south light, his sun and moon. Now that she is dead, he feels that a slap-up darkness should descend from an eclipse of the sun and moon, and that the earth, seeing this "alteration" should split open up. The current cliché for this kind of feeling is "His world is inverse forever."
For a moment, Othello is lost in his sense of loss, but Emilia again calls, and he decides he needs to let her in. He tells her to come up in, merely and then tells her to wait. Before he lets Emilia in, he draws the drape of the bed to hide Desdemona'southward body. As presently as she appears, Emilia starts talking near murders existence done, and Othello pretends ignorance of the reason, saying Information technology is the very mistake of the moon; / She comes more nearer earth than she was wont, / And makes men mad" (5.2.109-110). When Emilia delivers the news that Cassio has killed Roderigo. Othello asks if Cassio has been killed too, and when Emilia says that he hasn't, Othello comes nigh to giving himself abroad by maxim, "Not Cassio impale'd! then murder'southward out of tune, / And sweet revenge grows harsh" (5.ii.115-116).
Just then Desdemona revives and cries out from behind the bed curtain, "O, falsely, falsely murder'd!" (5.2.117). Emilia asks what that was, and Othello once more pretends total ignorance. "That? what?" (5.2.118), he says, as though he hadn't even heard anything. Even so, Emilia isn't put off. She recognizes Desdemona'southward voice, opens the bed curtains, and starts calling for help. Emilia too urges Desdemona to say more, and Desdemona responds, "A guiltless death I die" (5.ii.122). Emilia asks her who has done this to her, and Desdemona answers, "Nobody; I myself. Farewell / Commend me to my kind lord: O, farewell!" (v.2.125).
It may be possible to interpret Desdemona's last words as an example of the victim taking the blame on herself, but even if that is what's she's doing, she's also protecting her husband, and he knows it. He pretends surprise that she has been murdered, and then says to Emilia, "You heard her say herself, information technology was non I" (five.2.127). Emilia confirms it, saying, "She said and so; I must needs report the truth" (v.2.128). Othello at present has a witness to his innocence, so Desdemona has succeeded in protecting her husband, but in a minute Othello volition throw away that protection.
For a few moments Othello has been pretending ignorance and surprise, as though he wanted to go away with the murder of his wife. Now, with Emilia's testimony, he could get away with it. Just he's not a criminal. He doesn't want to become away with it; he wants to justify it. He says, "She'due south, similar a liar, gone to burning hell: / 'Twas I that kill'd her" (5.2.129-130). In other words, Desdemona lied, and like a liar she's gone to hell for her sins. And he sent her there, where she belongs. Emilia immediately springs to Desdemona's defence force: "O, the more angel she, / And you the blacker devil!" (five.2.130-131). Notwithstanding trying to justify himself, Othello answers, "She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore" (five.2.132). Emilia shoots back, "Thou dost belie her, and chiliad art a devil" (5.2.133). Then, to prove his betoken, Othello says, "Cassio did acme her; ask thy husband else" (5.two.136).
Emilia is stunned. Four times she asks if her hubby said that Desdemona was an adulterer, and each time Othello answers that he did. Othello also continues to justify himself, saying that if she hadn't been false to him, he wouldn't have exchanged Desdemona for some other whole globe, fifty-fifty one made entirely of a precious gem. Simply Emilia isn't interested in Othello's justifications and she won't modify her listen about Desdemona, even if Iago did say that she was false. Othello, on the other hand, thinks that she should believe whatever came from her married man, and he describes him equally "My friend, thy hubby, honest, honest Iago" (five.2.154). Emilia answers, "If he say so, may his pernicious soul / Rot one-half a grain a solar day! he lies to the heart: / She was too fond of her most filthy bargain" (five.2.155-157).
In her anger, Emilia has merely delivered a powerful insult. In her view, Desdemona'south marriage to Othello was a "most filthy deal" because she gave upwards everything for Othello, who has shown himself to be corrupt therefore filthy. (Mayhap the insult is also racist, and she means that Othello is filthy because he is black.) Naturally, this angers Othello, who makes a gesture -- perhaps puts a hand on his sword -- that Emilia takes to be threatening. She defies him, proverb, "Do thy worst! / This deed of thine is no more than worthy sky / Than g wast worthy her" (5.2.159-161). Othello tells her to close upwards, and she answers, "One thousand hast not half that ability to practice me harm / As I take to be hurt" (v.two.162-163). In other words, she can handle twice as much as whatever he dishes out. Then she calls him three kinds of fool, and swears that she volition make his crime known, which she immediately gain to do by shouting "Help! assistance, ho! help! / The Moor hath kill'd my mistress! Murder! murder!" (5.2.166-167).
Enter Montano, Gratiano, Iago, and others:
Emilia's cries for aid are answered by Montano, Gratiano, Iago and "others." (The "others" have no real part in the scene except to restrain Iago and Othello when things gets crude.) Montano asks what'south the affair, merely Emilia ignores him and says to her hubby, "O, are yous come, Iago? y'all accept done well, / That men must lay their murders on your cervix" (5.2.169-170). Gratiano besides asks what the matter is, and he, as well, is ignored past Emilia. Vehemently she demands that Iago show Othello a liar. She says to her husband, "Disprove this villain, if thou be'st a homo: / He says thou told'st him that his wife was false: / I know thou didst not, thou'rt not such a villain: / Speak, for my eye is total" (v.ii.172-175).
For the first fourth dimension in the play, Iago finds himself in a state of affairs he tin can't command. If he lies and says that he never said anything about Desdemona, Othello would probably impale him on the spot. This fourth dimension, he has to tell the truth, and he does. He says that he told Othello what they both thought was true, that Desdemona was false. Emilia, passionately loyal to Desdemona, denounces her husband, saying, "Yous told a lie, an odious, damned prevarication; / Upon my soul, a prevarication, a wicked lie. / She faux with Cassio!--did you say with Cassio?" (5.two.180-182). Iago replies that he did say "with Cassio," and tells her to close up, only she's not nearly to. She says, "I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak: / My mistress here lies murder'd in her bed--" (v.2.184-185).
The side by side line of the play is given to "All," who say, O heavens forfend!" (five.two.186). This does not mean that everyone says "O heavens forfend!" in chorus, which would be pretty silly. The men oasis't really looked at the bed until this moment. Now they see Desdemona'southward body and they're naturally shocked. There is a hubbub while each homo takes a look at Desdemona'south body and exclaims something like "I hope to God information technology isn't truthful."
Trying to end the hubbub and get himself out of an extremely sticky situation, Iago commands Emilia to get home, but she refuses. She says, "Good gentlemen, let me have go out to speak: / 'Tis proper I obey him, but non at present. / Peradventure, Iago, I will ne'er get home" (5.2.195-197). Emilia's brandish of backbone has a profound impact on Othello. He begins to believe that he murdered his beloved because of a prevarication, and information technology makes him throw himself on Desdemona's bed to roar in desperation.
Trying to recover himself, Othello declares "O, she was foul!" (five.2.200). Then he recognizes Gratiano as Desdemona's uncle and speaks to him: "there lies your niece, / Whose jiff, indeed, these easily [i.e.,Othello's own hands] take newly stopp'd: / I know this act shows horrible and grim" (5.two.201-203). Possibly Othello feels that if he tin can get a member of Desdemona's family to understand, and so everything will exist all right. Gratiano, however, doesn't seem to be interested in listening to explanations. He says that information technology'due south a good thing that Desdemona'south father died (which is news to us), because if he hadn't, Desdemona'due south death would have made him turn confronting God.
Still speaking to Gratiano, and still trying to maintain his belief that he did the right thing, Othello offers his proofs: Iago knew that Cassio had gone to bed with Desdemona a yard times; Cassio confessed it; and Desdemona gave Cassio the handkerchief which Othello saw in his hand. But the evidence of the handkerchief, which Othello thinks will prove him correct, proves him wrong.
At the mention of the handkerchief, Emilia bursts out, "O God! O heavenly God!" (5.2.218). Iago again tells her to shut up, but she says she'll speak no matter what. Iago tells her to go home, just she refuses, and he tries to use his sword on her. Gratiano and others restrain Iago while Emilia shouts out the terrible truth: "O thou tiresome Moor! that handkerchief thou speak'st of / I constitute by fortune [blow] and did give [it to] my husband" (5.2.225-226). Iago yells that she's a whore and a liar, but information technology's also late for him. His attempt to kill Emilia is the proof that he is the one who is a liar.
Unsheathing his sword, Othello says, "Are at that place no stones in heaven / Simply what serve for the thunder?--Precious villain!" (5.2.234-235). The rumblings of thunder sound like stones clashing together; Othello thinks that at present, if e'er, is the time for the heavens to do more than than make noise. Now is the time for a thunderbolt to strike Iago dead, but if sky won't do it, he volition, and he swings his sword at Iago.
Othello attacks Iago; Montano and others disarm Othello. Iago stabs Emilia, and runs away:
Considering he has just tried to use his sword on his wife, the other men are keeping a close center on Iago, and when Othello attacks, they restrain him, so that he misses Iago. In the commotion Iago takes the opportunity to stab his wife and run away.
The thrust of Iago's sword is fatal, and, feeling her life slipping away from her, Emilia says, "O, lay me by my mistress' side" (5.2.237). At the same time Montano takes charge of the situation. He gives Gratiano the sword he has taken from Othello and instructs Gratiano to guard the door from the outside, making sure that Othello doesn't escape. Montano and the rest of the men then go out to chase down Iago. Now Othello is lone with the body of Desdemona and with the dying Emilia, who says and sings her farewells to Desdemona and Othello.
(Who lays Emilia by Desdemona's side? The only original stage management in the whole passage is an "Get out " for Montano, but all of the other actions are clearly demanded past the characters' words. Gratiano is the one who announces that Emilia volition surely die of her wound, so maybe he carries Emilia to Desdemona. Or maybe Othello does it, signalling his acceptance of the truth that Emilia has told.)
Othello says, "I am not valiant neither, / Simply every puny whipster gets my sword: / Only why should award outlive honesty? / Let it go all" (v.2.244-246). A "whipster" is a contemptible person, one who tin make a show of whipping out his sword, but is no good in a real battle. Othello's phrase "puny whipster" expresses contempt for Montano and Gratiano, only much more than for himself. He has just permit the sword go, and with good reason. His reputation as a valiant man, his "honor," is hollow without true integrity, "honesty." He not only lost the sword, he deserved to lose it.
Next we -- with Othello -- hear Emilia's last words. She says to Desdemona, "What did thy vocal bode [prophesy], lady? / Hark, canst chiliad hear me? I will play the swan. / And die in music" (v.2.246-248). According to legend, the swan would sing as information technology died, and as she dies Emilia sings the song which Desdemona sang and which foretold Desdemona's decease. It is as though Emilia, lying beside Desdemona and singing her song, is Desdemona'southward vox from beyond the grave. That vocalisation then speaks to Othello: "Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, fell Moor; / And then come my soul to bliss, as I speak true; / So speaking equally I think, alas, I die" (5.2.249-251).
At first Othello doesn't seem to react to Emilia. He finds another sword and demands that Gratiano come in. Gratiano, thinking that Othello has no weapon, opens the door, but to detect himself face-to-face with an armed Othello. However, although Othello is armed, he's not dangerous. He has seen the truth and heard the voice from beyond the grave. He tells Gratiano that with such a sword equally he now has in his hand he has defeated men twenty times as strong as Gratiano, "Just (O vain boast!) / Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now" (5.two.264-265). Gratiano shouldn't be afraid, Othello says, because "Here is my journeying'due south end, here is my butt, / And very body of water-mark of my utmost sail" (5.2.267-268). By "here" Othello means Desdemona's bed. A "butt" is a boundary, a goal or target, the stop of something; a "sea-mark" is a beacon or large structure marking the entrance to a harbor; a "sail" is a voyage. In his voyage of life Othello has come as far equally he tin; hither he must stay, as a send stays in harbor at the end of a voyage.
Again Othello tells Gratiano to non be agape. Othello says, "Man [wield] but a blitz [reed] against Othello's breast, / And he retires [retreats]" (5.2.270-271). In battle Othello has faced swords and cannons without retreating, but now he is then weak that he can exercise zilch but retreat. And he has nowhere to go. He asks, "Where should Othello go?" (5.2.271), so looks downwards upon Desdemona and speaks to her: "O sick-starr'd wench! / Pale every bit thy smock! when we shall run across at compt [the Last Judgment], / This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven, / And fiends will snatch at it" (five.two.272-275).
Othello is certain that he has done a matter for which in that location can be no forgiveness. He blames Iago, exclaiming, "O cursed, cursed slave!" (5.2.276), simply he is overwhelmed by his own sense of guilt. He is so possessed by the prototype of his dead beloved that he feels it would be better to be in hell:
Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me near in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid burn down!
O Desdemon! Desdemon! dead!
O, O! (5.two.277-282)
Enter Lodovico, Montano, Cassio carried in a chair, and Officers with Iago, prisoner:
Every bit Othello is roaring out his grief, Lodovico enters at the head of a group of men and asks, "Where is this rash and well-nigh unfortunate human?" (v.2.283). He means Othello, who answers, "That'southward he that was Othello: hither I am" (5.two.284).
Lodovico, who was attending Cassio, has now taken accuse. Backside him are Montano, Cassio, and Iago, who is guarded past the officers. As we learn a picayune later, Lodovico has already learned much about the events from things that Iago has said and from letters found on the body of Roderigo. Lodovico'south business concern is now to become the rest of the story by questioning Othello, and to decide what is to be done with Othello and Iago.
Every bit though he were a judge, Lodovico calls Iago forth to stand beside his victim, Othello. Othello says of Iago, "I wait down towards his feet; but that'south a legend. / If that thou exist'st a devil, I cannot impale thee" (five.2.286-287). Then he swings his sword at Iago, wounding him. The "fable" which Othello mentions is the one that says that devils take cloven feet. Because it'south merely a legend, Othello can't tell if Iago is a devil past looking at his anxiety, so he swings his sword at Iago, to see if he'southward human being and can be killed. Othello'south idea may seem strange, but we ought to remember that information technology wasn't as well many minutes ago that Othello idea Iago the virtually honest man in the world. The transformation of Iago from honest friend to quack villain may easily seem devilishly unnatural.
Othello's sword is taken from him, and Iago says "I bleed, sir; but not kill'd" (5.ii.288). Information technology'due south not clear whether Iago is talking to Othello or Lodovico, but neither of them seems to care much if Iago lives or dies, and Othello says, "I am not sad neither: I'ld accept thee live; / For, in my sense [the way I feel], 'tis happiness to die" (5.2.289-290).
Lodovico says nothing about Iago's wound, simply gets down to business, maxim, "O thou Othello, yard wert one time and so good, / Autumn'n in the practice [evil plot] of a damned slave, / What shall be said to thee?" (5.ii.291-293). Where Lodovico uses the word "to" in "what shall be said to thee" we would use "of" or "about"; Lodovico is asking Othello to explain himself, to say what he should be chosen. Othello responds, "Why, any matter: / An honourable murderer, if y'all volition; / For nought I did in hate, but all in honour" (5.2.295).
(This brusk voice communication is extremely important to the interpretation of Othello's character. If he's justifying himself, we're going to think less of him. We are unlikely to think that there'south whatsoever such thing equally an honorable murderer, and earlier in the scene he didn't seem to think so, either. When Desdemona refused to confess to annihilation, Othello said "O perjured adult female! thou dost rock my heart, / And makest me phone call what I intend to practise / A murder, which I thought a sacrifice" (5.ii.63-65). And when he could accept used his sword to kill Gratiano and escape, he didn't. He said, "why should honour outlive honesty? / Allow it get all" (5.two.245-246). In short, it seemed that for Othello, murder and laurels didn't go together. Now, yet, it sounds as if he's justifying himself by saying that he is an "honourable murderer" and that he did null "in hate." This is difficult to consume considering nosotros have heard him limited fierce hatred of Desdemona and we have seen his rage when he murdered her. On the other hand, the phrase "honourable murderer" may be ironic. His first response to Lodovico is "Why, any thing," as if there was zip that could be said about him that could express the truth. Then, subsequently he uses the phrase "honourable murderer," he adds, "if you will," as though it doesn't really matter what others think of him. He may still be grappling with himself well-nigh what he is, and in using the phrase "honourable murderer" he may be making a bitterly ironic annotate on his own mistake almost what information technology means to exist honorable.)
Lodovico, going on with his research, asks if Othello conspired with Iago to kill Cassio. Othello answers just, "Ay" (5.ii.298). Cassio says, "Dear general, I never gave you cause" (5.ii.299). Othello reassures Cassio that he believes him, and asks his pardon. Then Othello has a question of his own to ask. To Lodovico he says, "Will yous, I pray, demand that demi-devil / Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?" (five.2.301-302). Iago's respond is famous. He says, "Demand me nix: what you lot know, you lot know: / From this time forth I never will speak give-and-take" (five.ii.303-304). Throughout the play Iago has been more than willing to explain himself to Roderigo, to Othello, and to u.s., in soliloquies. And then why does he shut upward at present? Maybe he can't think of some other prevarication; perchance he doesn't have a clear idea of why he did what he did; maybe he's just making some other power play.
Gratiano tells Iago that he'll be tortured into talking, and so Lodovico goes on with the business concern at paw. He produces 2 letters that Roderigo meant to send to Iago. The messages reveal what we already know, that Roderigo and Iago conspired to get Cassio fired, and so to kill him. Thus Iago's villainy is proved across a doubt, merely Othello has i more question. He asks Cassio how he came to have the handkerchief. Cassio answers that he found it in his chamber, and that Iago has already confessed that he dropped it in that location every bit part of his plot. Othello exclaims, "O fool! fool! fool!" (5.two.323). He's certainly describing himself.
Cassio adds that Roderigo revived long enough to tell that Iago was the one who killed him. Lodovico and so gives orders. Othello is relieved of his duties and is to be taken as a prisoner to Venice for the final decision of his fate. Cassio is appointed governor of Cyprus. Iago will be tortured. Having fabricated these announcements, Lodovico is set up to wrap things up. He says, "Come, bring away" (5.2.337), which is an lodge to the officers to follow him out of the room with the prisoners, Iago and Othello. But Othello stops everything.
"Soft y'all," says Othello, "a word or 2 before you go" (v.2.338). "Soft" means "wait a minute," and the rest of the men do wait to listen to what Othello has to say. He starts, "I have done the state some service, and they know't," equally though he thinks that his service should exist weighed against his offense, but then he changes his listen, saying, "No more of that" (5.2.339-340). He at present wants to speak not of what is to become of him, but of what he is:
When y'all shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me equally I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor ready downwardly aught in malice: so must y'all speak
Of one that loved not wisely but too well;
Of one non easily jealous, but being wrought
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose paw,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl abroad
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued optics,
Admitting unused to the melting mood,
Driblet tears equally fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum. Set yous down this;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat out a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took past the throat the circumcised canis familiaris,
And smote him, thus. (5.2.341-356)
Othello's exclamation that he "loved not wisely simply too well" can be the starting indicate for a long word. Was it unwise to love Desdemona at all? How is it possible to love "too well?" Can a passion which leads to murder be called "honey"? Is Othello taking responsibleness for his actions or making excuses?
All the same, all of this give-and-take volition come after the performance is over. When we see the play, nosotros run into a man who is describing the experience of a terrible error. Othello compares himself to the "base Indian," someone in a at present unknown tale who threw abroad a pearl considering he was ignorant of its truthful worth. "Judean" is an alternative reading for "Indian," in which case Othello would be comparing himself to Herod the great, who, in a fit of jealousy, had his beloved wife killed. Both comparisons make good sense; Othello did suffer from jealousy and he threw away Desdemona without knowing her true worth. And he is weeping. His eyes are lowered in grief ("subdued") and the tears flow as fast as all the drops of sap ("mucilage") in a grove of trees that have been tapped to harvest the fluid.
Many an ordinary man, having fabricated a mistake and feeling genuinely sorry, might experience that he deserved no more than probation or community service, merely Othello is not an ordinary man. Equally he punished the "cancerous . . . Turk," so he will punish himself, and so he pulls out his dagger and gives himself a mortiferous wound.
(What kind of wound? On stage, the actor playing Othello usually stabs into his heart. But Othello had indicated that he cutting the Turk's throat, then maybe he cuts his ain throat, equally well. In existent life and decease, cutting i of the carotid arteries in the neck can impale as apace as a stab into the middle.)
As Lodovico and Gratiano shout out their dismay, Othello returns to his dear. Making his manner to the bed, he says to Desdemona, "I buss'd thee ere I kill'd thee: no mode merely this; / Killing myself, to die upon a osculation" (5.2.358-359). Laying himself past Desdemona's side, he kisses her and dies.
The terminal thing said about Othello comes from Cassio, who says, "This did I fearfulness, simply thought he had no weapon; / For he was great of middle" (5.two.360-361).
Finally, in a short spoken language, Lodovico ties upwards all the loose ends. He orders the bodies to exist hid, which is done by endmost the curtains of the bed. Gratiano, Desdemona'south uncle, is to accept all of Othello'due south possessions. Cassio, now governor of Cyprus, is given the responsibility of torturing Iago (to death, presumably). Lodovico himself will return to Venice to deliver news of this tragedy.
mitchellcolon1982.blogspot.com
Source: https://shakespeare-navigators.com/othello/S52.html
0 Response to "What Does Iago Say He Will Never Do Again"
Post a Comment