If only Desdemona frankly told Othello about her handkerchief. If only Othello pressed Iago for concrete evidence about Desdemona and Cassio's affair. If only Roderigo had been a little smarter. If only Cassio had noticed Othello's increasing dislike towards him.
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| Iago, Othello and Cassio. |
Iago made Othello, Cassio and Roderigo look like complete idiots. Roderigo was killed by Iago after his unsuccessful attempt to kill Cassio to destroy evidence against him. After Othello smothered Desdemona in her bedsheets (very dramatic indeed), he kills himself after discovering that it was all Iago's deeds which led him to believe all that slander about Desdemona and Cassio. But who would expect that it was the soft-spoken Emilia, wife to Iago to save the day when she shed light on Iago's horrible plans and schemes. She became a martyr of feminism as even after Iago told her to 'shut up', she connected the dots and revealed that it was all a part of Iago's plans. Iago then stabs her for revealing too much.
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| Othello commits suicide. |
Othello, poor Othello. At first, Othello was such a noble, brave, loving, confident and seemingly perfect general. Eventhough he was about to wed and consummate his marriage with Desdemona, he was willing to postpone it until after the war in Cyprus. He also reassures everyone that he will not be blinded by love and instead ensure a victorious battle against the Turks. But throughout the story, his character develops in such a way that all in all, it is revealed that Othello is mortal. He is a human and he is not perfect. He has his own flaws and with Iago's insinuation, he fell deeper and deeper into the little trap set by Iago. It was not wars, neither mortal injuries nor diseases which led of the downfall of a capable general; but it was jealousy which brought Othello to his knees (and his deathbed).
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| Desdemona strangled by Othello. |
Desdemona has my heartfelt pity. Of all the emotional and physical abuse that Othello had showered on her, it was until before her tragic death she knew the reason behind all that treatment. She was smothered for something she know not of, and something that she did not do. It was slanders and jealously that killed divine Desdemona. The little speech she gave before she died revealed how much she loved Othello for she blamed no one but herself for her tragic death.
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| Iago |
But I was very disappointed when Iago refused to speak anymore when all his evil schemes were discovered. After going through all Iago's meticulous plans to eliminate Cassio and Othello, I am still in the dark as to Iago's real motives. All the conversations Iago had with the audience, its credibility can be doubted as his manipulative nature is evident. He might have been manipulating, us, audience all along the play too. Why did he want to destroy the Moor? He hated Othello because he promoted Cassio instead of himself as a lieutenant. He felt that it was unfair as he certainly has the capability and experience to be a lieutenant, compared to Cassio who is all about books. He believed that Othello slept with Emilia. But then again, this is disputed because we know how manipulative Iago is and we simply do not know whether he intentionally made this up in his mind so that he has an excuse to eliminate the Moor. His main objective was to cast aside Cassio but in the process, he eliminated so many more people in the way.
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| Cassio lamenting about the importance of reputation to Iago. |
And Iago is so much smarter than Othello. He is by far, the smartest character in the play, second to none. (Perhaps Emilia could come close but her sudden revelation was too late to aid the situation.) But Iago's strategy seem almost plausible at some points. Firstly, I think that it was pure luck that Emilia obtained the handkerchief. It is not everyday that Desdemona drops/loses her handkerchief without noticing it. (It was in fact, Othello who dropped it.) When the handkerchief is dropped, Emilia suddenly tells us that Iago has often told her to steal the handkerchief for Emilia and she wanted to please him. Since Emilia knows that Desdemona prizes the handkerchief so much, why did she hand it to her husband first (for she certainly knows that Iago is definitely up to no good) instead of giving it back to Desdemona? Why is she craving for Iago's love and attention when she is so cryptical about men? And don't Othello know that he was the one who refused and dropped Desdemona's strawberry handkerchief that day? Secondly, Roderigo should know something is amiss when Desdemona paid no attention to him whatsoever eventhough Iago promised to help him. And when Roderigo finally got to his senses and decided to confront Iago, Iago puts Roderigo into action to kill Cassio. Roderigo's in the middle of shouting at Iago and then when Iago suddenly instructs him to kill Cassio, without any justifications, Roderigo agreed and went off. It also seems a little ludicrous (in today's context at least) to kill one's wife when Othello isn't even definitely sure that Desdemona cheated on him.
Lastly, why is this play called Othello when Iago is the mastermind behind this whole play? And what happens to Iago? Eventhough Lodorico promises that Iago would be dealt with accordingly (obviously to be prosecuted) but no more is revealed about Iago. That is upsetting because I would definitely what would happen to Iago after all the he has done.
But at the end of the day, I think Iago is still the winner eventhough his deeds were revealed anyway because he had mostly achieved what he wanted to. Othello is dead, Cassio is wounded, useless Roderigo and his rookies Desdemona and Emilia are all dead.
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| Jealous Othello. |
Jealousy can be very viscous and dangerous- that's the message of this play. When I first read the first few acts, I was under the impression that Othello would be all about Race and Racism as there were many derogatory terms such as Moor and black when referring to Othello. But after reading all 5 acts, I can thus conclude that Othello is a powerful play about jealousy, manipulation, deception and murder.
