In Act V of Othello, all the tensions of the play finally come to a head and plans unfold in spectacularly tragic fashion. The effort to kill Michael Cassio fails as his “coat” is thick enough to protect him from Roderigo’s blow. Cassio is then able to strike Roderigo. Iago does his best to salvage the situation by killing Roderigo. Othello, still convinced Desdemona was unfaithful to him with Michael Cassio, decides to carry out his plan to kill his wife. Desdemona begs Othello, trying to convince him of her faithfulness. Blinded by passion and anger, he ignores her cries and suffocates her. Othello later learns of Iago’s lies and deceit, and as Iago sees his master plan being completely ruined, he chooses to kill his own wife for attempting to share the truth. Othello tries to kill the captured Iago but is unsuccessful, and when faced with the realization that he will be punished for his actions, decides to take his own life. Iago is set to be tortured for his role, and the tragedy concludes.
Othello begins with the plans of Iago and Roderigo to deal with Cassio, and it is their actions that drive a wedge between all characters involved. Through lies and deceit, they shroud the truth and selfishly play characters against one another. Love fueled Othello’s passion, and the stereotypes associated with moors appear to apply. Iago’s desire to oust Cassio, mixed with his underlying dissatisfaction with Othello himself lead him to take unfathomable action. The inability to see consequences for their actions, solely focused on reducing another man’s power and status in hopes of increasing their own, resulted in utter disaster.
Questions:
- Why do you think Iago refused to accept defeat, instead choosing to kill his own wife?
- What does the repeated use of the word “whore” say about the character accusing and accused of the claim?
- Are there any benefactors from these terrible events?
- How can we relate this story to our own lives and learn from the character’s misfortune?
Iago was nothing but a pure evil character. He didn’t want to accept that he has been defeated and admit to his evil plans because of his selfishness. Iago only cared about himself and he killed Emilia because in his head he still thought that his wife had slept with Othello. He was mad that his wife had betrayed him by telling the truth about the handkerchief and the relationship between Cassio and Desdemona. Another reason why he killed her was because he also showed a hate towards women throughout the play. Iago didn’t want to admit to his wrong doings and would rather be kept quiet about it even if that means his own death.
This story shows that you should be careful about the people around you and who you can trust. One should not be so quick into making judgements unless you have solid evidence and make sure you have gotten to the real truth for yourself before deciding of revenge so quickly. This story also showed the outcome of what can happen when you make the mistake like Othello has. You’ll end up hurting yourself and the people who really love you.
Iago refuses to accept defeat because he has nothing else. He is clearly miserable. He is unhappy with his life, his wife, and everything around him. The only happiness he finds is in watching others suffer. Killing his wife is his way of teaching her a lesson. She is clearly starved for his attention, and she is willing to do anything to please him. When she stands up for herself and speaks out against him, he has to show her who is in charge and takes her life. How dare she defy him? I’m sure that is what he thinks as he plunges the knife into her.
I don’t think anyone benefits from the tragedies, but I think that is the point. Stories never teach us that we can succeed by causing pain to others. The ending is supposed to make us think about our own lives and question the perceptions we have of people. Who is who they say they are? I think everyone is a victim of Iago, and even so, he only has moments of enjoyment but never real happiness. We can learn to be careful who we trust, question people’s motives, and not be gullible. Always, commit to finding real evidence before reacting and not be misled to react on innocent people in our lives.
The benefactors that one can get out of this story is that communication and interpretation of words and gestures are very important to comprehend fully. The end result of the story is that the misunderstanding Othello had of Desdemona’s actions cost them both their lives. Of course, Desdemona is the innocent party in the situation, but as a reader you can take out the fact that it’s important research and analyze pieces of information before making rash decisions. Another benefactor about this story is reading the intentions and actions of the character Iago. The character is evil, and full of bad intentions, but as a reader one should be able to observe this character and understand the limitless course a desperate man will take.
I’m pretty sure we’ve all met a Iago-like person in our lives, and it’s important to understand what drives that person, what that person is willing to do to get what he or she wants.