“Put out the light,
and then put out the light.”
Act 5 Scene 2 - Opening
Stage directions are critically significant
“Enter Othello, with a light, Desdemona in
her bed.”
Painfully ironic
Darkness and Light / Ignorance and Truth
Act 5 Scene 2 - Opening
Setting:
In most plays, the bed will be the central feature
of the stage in this scene
Exchange between Othello and Desdemona
frustrating and painful to watch
Act 5 Scene 2 - Opening
Othello’s opening speech delivered whilst
Desdemona is asleep
Motif of light a feature of his speech
Tragic irony: “Put out the light, and then
put out the light.” 5.2.7
Desdemona and Othello
 Othello finally confronts Desdemona but he is determined
to follow through with his actions – audience reminded of
his absolute, unwavering and steadfast nature
 Intradialogical directions indicate Othello’s physical
gestures and facial expressions, revealing of his
emotional and mental state
 “..for you’re fatal then/ When your eyes roll so.” 5.2.38
 “Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?/ Some bloody
passion shakes your very frame..” 5.2.43-4
Silencing of Women
 Final silencing of Desdemona
 Despite her pleading, Othello proceeds to smother her
 Othello denies her last request even for a prayer
 Contrast Desdemona’s firm and confident voice at the
beginning of the play – futility?
 Even Emilia, portrayed as the more worldly wise and
stronger than Desdemona, is unable to stop the tragedy
 “Nobody – I myself – farewell.” 5.2.125 Tragic as whilst
she is aware of her innocence, she remains silent in order
to protect her husband – spirit of self-abnegation
 Continues to blame herself
Othello’s Last Words
 “Then must you speak/ Of one that loved
not wisely, but too well; Of one not easily
jealous…”
True? Or another act of self-deception?
More apt if these words had been spoken by
Desdemona – another level of silencing –
female voice relegated to a male
Othello’s Last Words
 “Where a malignant and a turbaned Turk/ Beat a
Venetian and traduced the state, I took by
th’throat the circumcised dog/ And smote him
thus”
 Within Othello lies a barbaric Turk and by killing a Turk, he wants
to redeem himself
 YET, his absolutism still remains
 Real tragedy (?): He dies as unenlightened
Closing Line of Play
Spoken by Lodovico
“Myself with straight abroad, and to the state/
this heavy act with heavy heart relate”
0 rhymed couplet together with its sighing
alliteration closes the play on a solemn note
0 a final reminder to the audience of Othello’s once
respected, revered position as the Head of the
Venetian army
Othello Act 5 – Trial of the Hero?
To what extent is Othello the victim,
and how far is he an agent of his
fate?
Othello’s Suicide
 Consider Othello’s suicide: final and ultimate act of
exclusion from society and the society at large
 Filled with pathos and tragic poignancy at this inability to
assimilate completely into the Venetian society and as his
role as a husband
Othello Act 5 – Trial of the Hero?
Othello
Guilty
Agent of own fate
Not Guilty
Victim
Egoist
Igao’s manipulation
Jealousy—
Self generated
Natural reactions of
Man under pressure
Failing to admit
his guilt
Vulnerabilities & Insecurities
in a foreign society
Action—
Killing Desdemona
Nobility restored
Lang, action
Toyed by fate
Othello the Egoist?
 Sees himself as agent of justice to society
 Proves to himself that he is a fair and honourable
individual
 Blind to his own faults
 A victim of others’ cruelty; society’s injustice, perhaps?
Othello’s Final Speech
“Cheering himself up” self-soothing rhetoric –
T.S. Eliot
Compares Desdemona’s death to roses/light
Othello is not confronting the truth but shields
himself from it
As an individual he appears to be selfcentered and demonstrates self-idealization…
….to compensate for his sense of weakness
Othello’s Suicide
Suicide
INAUTHENTIC
Moral cowardice
Histrionic gesture
Self-admiring
dramatization
SINCERE
His drive to murder Desdemona
is also a drive to kill something
deep within himself
He’s not condemned
“rash & most unfortunate”
A result of him failing to attain
Real self comfort
Othello’s Suicide
Self-indictment so complete that it is an
act of self-annihilation
Because of his need for moral and
emotional finality
Recognition of his own desperate need
for Desdemona’s love
 Dies upon a kiss
As an individual, the act of suicide is a
complete removal of one’s self from the
society
Justice & Discernment in Society
Appalling injustice can go under the
name of justice
 Iago to Othello
 Othello to Desdemona
Justice & Discernment in Society
Human emotions alters aspects of justic
(falsify or enforce)
 Love and hate
 Desire for people, truth
 Fear
 Respect