Act 5 Flashcards
“If Cassio do remain he hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly”
Act 5 Scene 1 Iago: Although often Iago is labels as a “motiveless villain” this quote highlights his jealousy as one of the sources and roots to the tragedy he is creating, emphasizing the destructive nature of jealousy as a whole.
“Oh brave Iago, honest and just That hast such a noble sense of thy friend’s wrong! Though teachest me.”
The dramatic irony and the height of which Othello has fallen is extremely evident here. Othello is a mighty war general who should not be taught how to slay and kill. The audience continue to view the extent that Othello is completely blind to Iago’s villainy which is where the absurd and comic nature lies. Conversion of roles. Iago as a master manipulator taking control.
“O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!”
Act 5 Scene 1 Roderigo: Very important quote to remember. Of course, it seems that Shakespeare never wishes us to fully understand Iago’s motives. When Othello demands an explanation, Iago is silent. Iago can often be likened to the devil which this quote portrays him as lacking humanity. If Iago is the devil incarnate, pure evil, then he needs no motives other than evil itself. That is his motive. Only human compassion forces us to try to humanize him by projecting the various motives upon him but his silence evidently his true evil has no explanation to offer. Quote shows Roderigo to be a comic figure even though a pitiful one. Only now in death does he realize that Iago has taken everything from Roderigo, his money, his time, his effort, and eventually his life for his own gain.
“This is the night that either makes or fordoes me quite”
Act 5 Scene 1 Iago: Shakespeare is reflecting some of Iago’s weaknesses in this quote. Although throughout the play Iago is constantly portrayed as a somewhat director of a play within a play, ultimately no one is really invincible in the tragic genre.
“My wife, my wife! What wife? I have no wife”
Ac 5 scene 2 Othello: Shakespeare is trying to show Othello’s confusion; his speech at line 90 is a little disjointed, with short phrases and questions. It is completed by a yelp of pain, “‘My wife, my wife, what wife? I have no wife; / O, insupportable! O heavy hour!’” (lines 96-7). Admittedly Othello does not confess his own guilt or express remorse here, but he clearly understands what he has lost. That he sees Desdemona’s death as a monumental loss can be confirmed by the fact that he thinks there should now be “‘a huge eclipse / Of sun and moon, and that th’affrighted globe / Should Yawn at alteration’” (lines 97-9). He feels that nature should reflect the chaos he finds himself mired in.
“It is the cause” “else she’ll betray more men” - Othello 5.2
Trying to justify his actions. Euphemistic language, he is unable to name the cause. Hyperbaton used throughout this speech. No longer raving and confused but certain of his actions.
“I told him what I thought, and told no more Than what he found himself apt and true”
Act 5 Scene 2 Iago: Even though this quote does once again highlight Iago’s villainy, it does emphasize the fact that Othello in reality really did concoct his own downfall. Iago gave Othello very little fuel to go by his claims and yet, Othello readily let his jealousy get away with him. Questions the extent of Iago’s villainy and more of Othello’s own hamartia that caused his tragic downfall.
“O falsely, falsely murdered” - Desdemona
Repetion of the adverb ‘falsely’ highlights the innocence of Desdemona. Vocalisation.
“You told an odious, damned lie” “‘Tis proper I obey him, but not now” - Emilia
Important to note the parallel between Emilia’s use of ‘lie’ to reflect the mistruths that have been told whereas Othello’s use of ‘lie’ is in refernce to Desdemona’s sexual activites that he has been decieved to believe by Iago. Femminst perspective would consider how through her actions and words, Emilia emerges as a powerful symbol of resistance against the injustices faced by women in Shakespeare’s society and beyond.
“honourable murderer” - Othello
But does Othello remain somewhat deluded and self-dramatising, as some critics have suggested? He still insists that he is honourable: has his pride been his downfall? In his final speech the Moor presents himself as both hero and villain. He reminds Lodovico and the others (with characteristic self-effacement) that he has been of service to the Venetian state, and seems to want to insist on his identity as heroic soldier, not disastrous husband.
“Demand me nothing. What you know, you know. From this day forth I never will speak a word”
Act 5 Scene 2 Iago: This could be seen as a weak ending for such a diabolical villain, however it adds to the enigmatic nature of his evil and suggests that Iago was acting entirely without motive. Throughout, his motives have been questionable and founded merely on rumors and hearsay. The fact that he offers no explanation seems to make his actions all the more worse and furthers the link between him and the devil.
“Circumcised dog”
Poetic justice, kills himself with the sword he used to kill enemies of the venetian state. And this is followed by him stabbing himself. This now conforms to A. C. Bradley’s interpretation of the Shakespearean tragedy, and the tragic hero. The tragic hero, according to Bradley, must go through a gradual torture that leads to his death, and will not die from just cause or a sudden death. Othello has, indeed, died after a long, manipulative journey from Iago, who has now vanished from speech. We are now completely alienated and Othello is the tragic hero who says ‘Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.’ and then falls onto the bed alongside his dead wife, and dies himself.
