Transcript Othello - Weebly

OTHELLO
Act Five
ACT FIVE SCENE I: KEY POINTS
 Iago
and Roderigo wait in the street to
ambush Cassio.
 When Cassio appears Roderigo attacks
him, but is himself badly wounded.
 Lodovico and Gratiano are alerted to the
scene.
 Iago arrives shortly afterwards and
discreetly stabs Roderigo in order to
finish him off.
 He also looks to blame Bianca for the
brawl.
Othello
Othello as a soldier:
•There is a sharp contrast between the
Othello of this scene and the Othello of Act 2
Scene 3.
•In the earlier scene Othello came across as a
military commander. His greatest concern
was for order and civility in the town.
•His response to the earlier fight between
Cassio and Roderigo was stern and
immediate.
•Now, however, he seems uninterested in
maintaining law and order in the city. He
gives no response at all to the chaos
unfolding nearby and is instead focused on
the affair.
•His own jealousy has overshadowed his
sense of public duty as a soldier.
Iago
EXPERT SCHEMER:
•In this scene Iago sets into
motion a wave of chaos and
exploits it perfectly. He gives a
brilliant display of his ability
to steer a highly changeable
situation to his own
advantage.
•He is uncertain how the fight
he has instigated will work
out but is confident he can use
its outcome to his advantage.
•When help arrives he
deliberately adds to the
confusion as the characters
attempt to identify each other
in the darkness.
•He exploits this chaos to slip
away and murder Roderigo.
•He also exploits Bianca’s
arrival, deflecting attention
away from himself by blaming
her for the attack
MANIPULATIVE AND PERSUASIVE:
•Roderigo acknowledges the strength of Iago’s
persuasion and shows us the great influence Iago
holds over others.
•Iago convinces Lodovico and Gratiano that
Bianca is somehow involved in co-ordinating the
attack. He had not anticipated her arrival but
instantly finds a use for her in his web of lies.
•Othello’s brief appearance in this scene
highlights Iago’s extreme sway over others.
•Othello has fallen so hard for Iago’s lies that he
is convinced the affair is real and ignores Cassio’s
plight.
AN EXCELLENT ACTOR:
•Iago makes great use of his theatrical abilities in
this scene, shifting effortlessly between the role of
general with Roderigo, innocent bystander with
Lodovico, protector with Cassio and prosecutor with
Bianca.
•Lodovico and Gratiano buy into Iago’s act of
confusion.
•He convincingly feigns brotherly concern for Iago,
binding his wound and calling frantically for help.
His cold blooded instinct is clear as he easily
pretends to be Cassio’s protector though he plotted
his murder and stabbed him.
ACT FIVE SCENE II: KEY POINTS
 Othello enters Desdemona’s room, determined to kill
her. He behaves in a calm and composed way convinced
that her death is justice being done.
 When Desdemona wakes Othello tells her to pray, that
she is about to die and there is nothing she can to so to
prevent this.
 When Desdemona hears that Cassio has been killed
and realises her protests are futile she begs to be
allowed to live.
 Othello is incapable of believing her and smothers her
with a pillow.
 Just as he is doing this Emilia approaches the room
crying out that a murder has taken place.
 Othello eventually lets her in and she tells him Cassio
has killed Roderigo.
 Desdemona manages to speak one more time before
dying and when Othello admits responsibility for her
death, Emilia starts to scream “murder”.
ACT FIVE SCENE II: KEY POINTS
 Emilia’s cries bring Iago, Gratiano and Montano
running.
 Emilia confronts her husband about his deception,
calling him a liar and a villain. She reveals the truth
about how the handkerchief ended up with Cassio.
 Iago stabs her and runs off. Emilia dies beside
Desdemona.
 Othello realises, too late, that Desdemona was never
unfaithful to him. He is overcome with guilt and
despair.
 Iago is captured and partly confesses his crimes but
refuses to say anymore. However, letters found on
Roderigo reveal much about his various schemes.
 Lodovico decides Iago will be imprisoned and tortured;
Cassio will be the new governor of Cyprus and Othello
will be stripped of his command and taken into custody.
 However, after a final moving speech, Othello stabs
himself and dies while kissing Desdemona’s lips.
EMILIA
 Emilia’s loyalty to Desdemona is clearly shown in this scene. She
expresses genuine grief when she sees her dead body.
 In her grief and anger she defies Othello himself. Othello’s threats are
meaningless to her and she has no fear of him. She is determined to
reveal what Othello has done.
 She is also determined to expose Iago as a villain and perseveres
bravely, defying society’s norms again and again by speaking out against
her husband’s wishes .
 Emilia pays with her life for this crusade but she dies having achieved
justice for her friend. Othello has been exposed as her killer and Iago
as a master schemer who has deceived them all.
Iago
MALICIOUS AND DESTRUCTIVE:
•Iago’s malicious nature is very evident in this scene.
•He is unrepentant about what he has done, utterly lacking in remorse
and empathy.
•He argues he only told Othello what he already believed or was ready
to believe.
•His malicious streak is also clear when Emilia starts to expose him. He
threatens her and insults her again and again, urging her to shut up
and commanding her to leave.
•He finally kills her. Whereas Roderigo’s death was out of strategy,
Emilia’s is purely out of spite.
•By the time he stabs her she has already revealed his deception.
Murdering her cannot benefit him. It only invites greater punishment
from those around him but he does it anyway.
•Iago’s destructive nature is also clear at the end when Othello
demands to know what motivated him. Othello is desperate to know but
Iago will say no more.
•He has destroyed Othello’s life but won’t give him the satisfaction of
saying why.
Othello
His love for Desdemona:
•Othello thinks Desdemona’s actions
with Cassio have made her a “whore”
and that she must die.
•However, the Moor still recognises
Desdemona’s beauty and when he is
with her struggles with his feelings for
her.
•The moment she is dead he realises
what a heinous act he has committed but
his true remorse only comes when it is
made clear that Iago has been deceiving
him and that his wife was always faithful.
•There is no way he can live with the
monstrous deed he has committed and
so ends his life, saying that he loved “not
wisely, but too well”
Dignified and Proud:
•
•
•
•
•
Othello is very calm when he
enters the room, he is no longer
unsure of himself.
He has decided she deserves to
die and sees the act as one of
justice rather than revenge.
Even when Desdemona awakes
he doesn’t allow feelings of love
or hate to influence his actions.
However the moment that he
thinks of Cassio and Desdemona
making love he immediately
loses his temper
All his rage and frustration
resurfaces and he begins to
smother her.
Desdemona
As we observed in recent scenes, Desdemona is
meekly tolerant of her husband’s unnatural
behaviour. When she realises he has come to
kill her she makes some effort to defend
herself and convince him he has no reason to
doubt her, but her efforts are meek and
achieve nothing. It is almost as if she has
accepted her fate, even though she can see no
reason for having to die. Perhaps there was
nothing she could have done to save her life
but she does not even scream or fight. Her
behaviour contrasts with Emilia who is not
shy about challenging Othello and screaming
“murder” once she realises what he has done.