Act 5 Scene 2

Othello’s soliloquy:

“It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul”
He uses ‘it’ as if he cannot even name
adultery.
 His speech reminds the audience that she
looks white but is also innocent: “that

whiter skin of hers than snow and smooth
as monumental alabaster”
 Othello is calling on darkness - “Put out the
light” - again, literally and metaphorically
Another euphemism he uses is “pluck’d the
rose” – he loves her, she is beautiful, fragile
 He is torn between love and hate

Desdemona repeatedly begs for her life
 But Othello smothers her, angrily calling
her “strumpet”
 Emilia still cannot persuade him of D’s
innocence
 When Iago is accused of lying all Othello
can say is “O! O! O!” (197)

When Othello finally realises what Iago
has done he tries to attack him and
wishes Iago could be punished by God:
“Are there no stones in heaven but what
serves for the thunder?”
 He feels hopeless and no longer trusts
human justice
 He is restrained and then seems too weak
to attack Iago; “I am not valiant either.”
 He is completely broken and says “Let it
go all.” Nothing matters to him any more:
bravery, honesty, honour, respect… (244)

He goes to Desdemona’s dead body.
 He now accepts her “chastity”. Notice this
line is much shorter than the standard
iambic pentameter (274)
 He calls himself a “cursed, cursed slave”.
 Othello imagines his punishment in hell:

“Whip me, ye devils…Blow me about in
winds! Roast me in sulphur!”

Again he descends into a series of painful
howls: “O Desdemon! Dead Desdemon!
Dead! O! O!”
He recovers slightly to justify his actions:
 “For naught did I in hate, but all in

honour”

He says of Iago: “that demi-devil…hath
ensnared my soul and body”
Then returns to pained exclamations “O
villain!”, “O fool, fool, fool!”
 In his final speech he reminds people that
“I have done the state some service”
