1. Act 5, Scene 2 AO1: What happens in this scene?
Look at your notes and quickly summarise.

2. Act 5 Scene 2
Othello explains he is going to kill Desdemona, then wakes her
He tells her Cassio is dead and when she cries, he smothers her
Emilia arrives and discovers Desdemona’s murder; Desdemona briefly revives to claim she caused her own death
Emilia calls for Montano, Gratiano and Iago
Emilia reveals Iago’s villainy; he stabs her and flees
She dies on the bed next to Desdemona
Guards return with Iago, who will not speak
Othello acknowledges his mistakes and kills himself

3. How does Othello’s opening soliloquy show his thoughts and emotions?
Read Othello’s opening soliloquy and annotate it, considering the following:
Any images or metaphors he uses
His use of light and dark imagery
Any way Othello has changed since the beginning of the play
The battle between Othello’s love and hate
It is debateable whether Othello and Desdemona have actually consummated their marriage yet. In what way might the final lines of the first section allude to this?

4. AO2: Othello’s soliloquy
He uses ‘it’ as if he cannot even name adultery.
It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,--
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!--
It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood;
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then put out the light:
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore,
Should I repent me: but once put out thy light,
Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat
That can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd the rose,
I cannot give it vital growth again.
It must needs wither: I'll smell it on the tree.
He refers to her as ‘white’, representing how innocent she appears – but also refers to her as a funeral monument.
He calls on literal and metaphorical darkness: he will put out his candle, then he will kill her, putting out her ‘light’.
The repetition of ‘light’ enhances his desire for Desdemona’s purity – he thinks if he kills her, she will be innocent again.
He refers to her as a rose – a beautiful, fragile symbol of femininity.

5. AO2: Othello’s soliloquy
He is convinced that what he is doing is ‘justice’.
But he puts off what he feels he must do – ‘one more’ kiss. He still loves her.
Ah balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to break her sword! One more, one more.
Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
And love thee after. One more, and this the last:
So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,
But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly;
It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.
He feels his sorrow is ‘heavenly’, therefore what he is doing is right and just. It also suggests his reluctance.
In previous scenes we have seen hatred, jealousy and anger towards Desdemona. Here, he loves her just as much as he hates her. This increases the tragedy of the scene.

6. AO2: Desdemona’s fate
OTHELLO Have you pray'd to-night, Desdemona?
DESDEMONA Ay, my lord.
OTHELLO If you bethink yourself of any crime
Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace,
Solicit for it straight.
DESDEMONA Alas, my lord, what do you mean by that?
OTHELLO Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by:
I would not kill thy unprepared spirit;
No; heaven forfend! I would not kill thy soul.
DESDEMONA Talk you of killing?
OTHELLO Ay, I do.
DESDEMONA Then heaven
Have mercy on me!
OTHELLO Amen, with all my heart!
DESDEMONA If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.
OTHELLO Hum!
DESDEMONA And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then
When your eyes roll so: why I should fear I know not,
Since guiltiness I know not; but yet I feel I fear.
OTHELLO Think on thy sins.
DESDEMONA They are loves I bear to you.
OTHELLO Ay, and for that thou diest.
Why does Othello ask Desdemona if she has prayed?
How does this use of religious imagery fit in with his image of himself as a just and noble man?
Does Othello take responsibility for what he is about to do?

7. How many things does Othello get wrong in this section of the text?
DESDEMONA And have you mercy too! I never did
Offend you in my life; never loved Cassio
But with such general warranty of heaven
As I might love: I never gave him token.
OTHELLO By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in's hand.
O perjured woman! thou dost stone my heart,
And makest me call what I intend to do
A murder, which I thought a sacrifice:
I saw the handkerchief.
DESDEMONA He found it then;
I never gave it him: send for him hither;
Let him confess a truth.
OTHELLO He hath confess'd.
DESDEMONA What, my lord?
OTHELLO That he hath used thee.
DESDEMONA How? unlawfully?
OTHELLO Ay.
DESDEMONA He will not say so.
OTHELLO No, his mouth is stopp'd;
Honest Iago hath ta'en order for't.
DESDEMONA O! my fear interprets: what, is he dead?
OTHELLO Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
Had stomach for them all.
DESDEMONA Alas! he is betray'd and I undone.
Desdemona is finally told what she is accused of. Othello, however, does not listen to her denials – his trust in her is gone – and he continues to use the language of justice. It is telling that he makes the distinction between a murder and a sacrifice.
How many things does Othello get wrong in this section of the text?

8. How many things does Othello get wrong in this section of the text?
DESDEMONA And have you mercy too! I never did
Offend you in my life; never loved Cassio
But with such general warranty of heaven
As I might love: I never gave him token.
OTHELLO By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in's hand.
O perjured woman! thou dost stone my heart,
And makest me call what I intend to do
A murder, which I thought a sacrifice:
I saw the handkerchief.
DESDEMONA He found it then;
I never gave it him: send for him hither;
Let him confess a truth.
OTHELLO He hath confess'd.
DESDEMONA What, my lord?
OTHELLO That he hath used thee.
DESDEMONA How? unlawfully?
OTHELLO Ay.
DESDEMONA He will not say so.
OTHELLO No, his mouth is stopp'd;
Honest Iago hath ta'en order for't.
DESDEMONA O! my fear interprets: what, is he dead?
OTHELLO Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
Had stomach for them all.
DESDEMONA Alas! he is betray'd and I undone.
How many things does Othello get wrong in this section of the text?

9. What is it that ultimately triggers Othello’s murder of Desdemona?
OTHELLO Out, strumpet! weep'st thou for him to my face?
DESDEMONA O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
OTHELLO Down, strumpet!
DESDEMONA Kill me to-morrow: let me live to-night!
OTHELLO Nay, if you strive--
DESDEMONA But half an hour!
OTHELLO Being done, there is no pause.
DESDEMONA But while I say one prayer!
OTHELLO It is too late.
[He stifles her]
What is it that ultimately triggers Othello’s murder of Desdemona?

10. AO2: Desdemona’s death
What is significant about Desdemona’s final words? How does it fit with her characterisation throughout the play?
DESDEMONA O, falsely, falsely murder'd!
EMILIA Alas, what cry is that?
OTHELLO That! what?
EMILIA Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice.
Help! help, ho! help! O lady, speak again!
Sweet Desdemona! O sweet mistress, speak!
DESDEMONA A guiltless death I die.
EMILIA O, who hath done this deed?
DESDEMONA Nobody; I myself. Farewell
Commend me to my kind lord: O, farewell!
[Dies]

11. AO5: Desdemona’s death
Consider different readings of this scene. Is Desdemona condemning her husband with her final words, linking them to ‘falsely murdered’? Or is she absolving him of blame?
DESDEMONA O, falsely, falsely murder'd!
EMILIA Alas, what cry is that?
OTHELLO That! what?
EMILIA Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice.
Help! help, ho! help! O lady, speak again!
Sweet Desdemona! O sweet mistress, speak!
DESDEMONA A guiltless death I die.
EMILIA O, who hath done this deed?
DESDEMONA Nobody; I myself. Farewell
Commend me to my kind lord: O, farewell!
[Dies]

12. And you the blacker devil!”
Line 131:
AO2: Emilia’s language
“O, the more angel she,
And you the blacker devil!”
How does Emilia’s language show her disgust for Othello and his actions?
Line 133:
“Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.”
Line 155:
“She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.”
Lines 160-5:
Thou hast not half that power to do me harm
As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!
As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed--
I care not for thy sword; I'll make thee known,
Though I lost twenty lives.--Help! help, ho! help!
The Moor hath kill'd my mistress! Murder! murder!

13. And you the blacker devil!”
Line 131:
AO2: Emilia’s language
Emilia’s language highlights Othello’s race, using the same stereotypes Iago has throughout the play. Her motivation, however, is different – Othello has proved ‘a devil’ to Desdemona.
“O, the more angel she,
And you the blacker devil!”
Line 133:
“Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.”
Line 155:
“She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.”
Lines 160-5:
Thou hast not half that power to do me harm
As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!
As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed--
I care not for thy sword; I'll make thee known,
Though I lost twenty lives.--Help! help, ho! help!
The Moor hath kill'd my mistress! Murder! murder!

14. “I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak”
Line 182:
AO2: Emilia and speaking
“I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak”
Once Emilia discovers her husband’s role in the murder of Desdemona, she insists that she will speak, despite Iago’s attempts to get her to be quiet – attempts which include stabbing and killing her. She still uses the imagery of speaking as she dies.
Why is this significant? What is the effect of her speech?
Line 193:
“Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak”
“Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.”
Line 220-1:
Line :
“Willow, willow, willow,--
Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor;
So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true;
So speaking as I think, I die, I die.”

15. “I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak”
Line 182:
AO2: Emilia and speaking
“I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak”
It is through Emilia that Iago’s villainy is revealed. She rejects his vision of the perfect woman and speaks against him, disgusted by his deceit. In doing so, everyone learns of his true nature – and Emilia pays with her life. She echoes the Willow Song as she dies, adding to the pathos of the scene. She is honest and true.
It is appropriate that ‘honest’ Iago’s villainy is revealed by the true honesty of his wife.
Line 193:
“Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak”
“Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.”
Line 220-1:
Line :
“Willow, willow, willow,--
Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor;
So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true;
So speaking as I think, I die, I die.”

16. How is Iago’s response to being found out typical?
AO2: Iago’s response
Line 222:
“Be wise, and get you home.”
“Villanous whore!”
Line 228:
Line 230:
“Filth, thou liest!”
How is Iago’s response to being found out typical?
Lines 301-2:
“Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:
From this time forth I never will speak word.”

17. “Be wise, and get you home.”
AO2: Iago’s response
Line 222:
“Be wise, and get you home.”
Iago very quickly turns from threatening, to insulting, to killing his wife. His language shows his misogyny, as does his willingness to dispose of her to silence her. His act of cowardice in running off is also typical – yet again he abuses a woman to preserve himself.
“Villanous whore!”
Line 228:
Line 230:
“Filth, thou liest!”
After he is captured and returned to the scene of Desdemona and Emilia’s deaths, Iago utters his last words of the play. They are typically selfish and cruel. He gloats as he refuses to explain himself.
Lines 301-2:
“Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:
From this time forth I never will speak word.”

18. Behold, I have a weapon;
A better never did itself sustain
Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day,
That, with this little arm and this good sword,
I have made my way through more impediments
Than twenty times your stop: but, O vain boast!
Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now.
Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd;
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt,
And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear;
Man but a rush against Othello's breast,
And he retires. Where should Othello go?
Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd wench!
Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt*,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl!
Even like thy chastity. O cursed slave!
Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead!
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Lines
AO2: Othello’s response – honour and tragedy
Faced with the truth, Othello continues to use religious imagery but no longer to justify his actions: instead, he invites God’s judgement.
Annotate Othello’s speech – how does it show his desire for punishment? How has his opinion of himself changed?
* compt = judgement day

19. Behold, I have a weapon;
A better never did itself sustain
Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day,
That, with this little arm and this good sword,
I have made my way through more impediments
Than twenty times your stop: but, O vain boast!
Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now.
Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd;
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt,
And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear;
Man but a rush against Othello's breast,
And he retires. Where should Othello go?
Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd wench!
Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl!
Even like thy chastity. O cursed slave!
Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead!
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Lines
AO2: Othello’s response – honour and tragedy
Where he used to boast, Othello now belittles himself and his achievements.
Othello’s use of language here is a return to the romanticism he once shared with Desdemona. Shakespeare is allowing Othello a route back to honour through his language, whilst reminding us how far he has fallen.
This fatalistic question highlights Othello’s desolation; his use of the third person here suggests not egotism but dislocation. He is lost.
He believes he deserves the torments of hell. The ‘cursed slave’ here is himself.
He is overcome with grief.

20. AO2: Othello’s rehabilitation?
“Come, guard the door without; let him not pass,
But kill him rather.”
Line 240-1:
Montano and Gratiano treat Othello like a common criminal, but Othello rises above this (and above Emilia’s view of him) by readjusting his view of himself to someone who is lost and who deserves punishment. He also, however, claims that he has done “naught in hate, but all in honour” (line 293). He also says he is “an honourable murderer, if you will” (line 292).
How does Othello’s final speech reinforce this idea of regained nobility/honour? Can Othello be rehabilitated in the minds of the audience?

21. Soft you; a word or two before you go.
I have done the state some service, and they know't.
No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him, thus.
[Stabs himself]
I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee: no way but this;
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.
[Falls on the bed, and dies]
Even though Othello feels he was not entirely to blame for his actions, he takes responsibility for them.
Othello’s speech is reminiscent of his testimony in Act 1: this return to verse and noble language is a sign that Iago’s spell is broken. His measured calm has returned and the ‘cruel’ Othello whom Emilia described is gone; even though he describes a cruel act it is aimed at himself.
By linking kissing and killing, Othello is suggesting that he cannot live without Desdemona.

22. Soft you; a word or two before you go.
I have done the state some service, and they know't.
No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him, thus.
[Stabs himself]
I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee: no way but this;
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.
[Falls on the bed, and dies]
Note that Othello again casts himself heroically – he reminds his captors of his success as a war hero and casts himself as the victor in his story about the Turk and the Venetian.
Does he see his suicide as a victory over Iago? Does this change the way we view it?

23. Do we agree with Cassio’s assessment of Othello?
AO5: Othello’s rehabilitation?
“This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon;
For he was great of heart.”
Line 358-9:
Do we agree with Cassio’s assessment of Othello?
It makes the resolution of the play more satisfying if Othello has returned to his nobility: we can then see his suicide as an act of honour.
However, he still claims that he was not entirely at fault, and that he acted from a place of honour throughout. It’s possible that his suicide is about his honour more than his love.
Does he fully accept his guilt? Can he be forgiven?
How does Cassio’s character affect the way we interpret his words?

24. “I have always felt that I have never read a more terrible exposure of human weakness -- of universal human weakness -- than the last great speech of Othello. What Othello seems to me to be doing in making this speech is cheering himself up. He is endeavouring to escape reality; he has ceased to think about Desdemona, and is thinking about himself.”
--T. S. Eliot (1934)

25. Othello – William Shakespeare
Re-read Othello’s final speech and respond to the following:
How does Shakespeare present aspects of love in this passage?
Examine the view that, in this passage and elsewhere in the play, ‘Othello thinks only of himself’.
[25 marks]

26. Weightings for each question are as follows: AO1: 7 marks AO2: 6 marks AO3: 6 marks AO4: 3 marks AO5: 3 marks

27. Weightings for each question are as follows: AO1: 7 marks AO2: 6 marks AO3: 6 marks AO4: 3 marks AO5: 3 marks