OL Past Exam Questions


Othello


However, Othello feels compelled to murder Desdemona. He argues that this is an act of justice and will prevent further betrayals: ‘Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.’ I believe that despite the righteousness of his language, Othello is acting out of a need for revenge. In the scenes leading up to this moment, Othello is filled with rage and anger. I think that he can only come to murder his love if he thinks of it as a just act rather than a violent need for revenge. When Desdemona wakens, Othello tells her to pray as he is going to kill her. She begs for him to stop and pleads her innocence. So blinded is Othello by his jealousy that he ignores her pleas and smothers her. When Emilia arrives, Desdemona is not quite dead. Desdemona looks to avert blame from Othello by claiming she committed suicide.


As the scene continues, Othello comes to learn the truth of Iago’s treachery. He is consumed by grief, crying out for punishment: ‘Whip me, you 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! Dead Desdemona! – Dead! O! O! O!’


His heartrending cries made me feel hugely sorry for him. Othello is unable to bear the guilt of his crime and commits suicide. He asks to be remembered as ‘one that loved not wisely, but too well’.


3. Answer ONE of the following: [Each part carries 30 marks] (i) At the very end of the play, Lodovico describes Iago as a ‘hellish villain’. Do you think this is a fair description of Iago? Support your answer with reference to the play.


I think that Lodovico’s description of Iago as a ‘hellish villain’ is very fitting. It is not merely Iago’s cruel manipulation of others and his disregard for human life that mark him as a villain, it is also the complete lack of convincing motivation for his crimes that points to his villainy. Iago’s frequent references to hell and the devil suggest that his behaviour is truly ‘hellish’. Iago is clearly a vindictive and manipulative individual. He encourages Othello’s jealousy by suggesting that Othello’s wife, Desdemona, is having an affair with Cassio. Iago maliciously looks to cause Othello huge suffering in the process: ‘Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons, Which at the first are scarce found to distaste, But, with a little act upon the blood, Burn like the mines of sulphur’.


Iago’s comparison between Othello’s suffering and burning sulphur illustrates his malice and also echoes the idea of hell. Iago’s villainy is not limited to ruining Othello. He also destroys Cassio’s reputation by encouraging him to drink alcohol and pushing him into a drunken brawl. This causes Cassio to lose his position as Othello’s lieutenant and allows for Iago’s promotion. Roderigo is also a victim of Iago’s villainy. Not only does Iago use his cunning to steal from


him (‘Thus do I ever make my fool my purse’) but he also murders Roderigo by stabbing him from behind. A true villain, Iago has little regard for human life. Desdemona’s death is the result of Iago’s cruel manipulation of Othello, while Emilia, Iago’s wife, dies by Iago’s own hand.


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