Othello Overview ‘Who can control his fate?’ (Act 5 Scene 2, l.309)


Š Othello remains an enigmatic figure who continues to divide opinion. We are left considering the extent to which he is a vulnerable victim or a pompous villain. He describes himself as an ‘honourable murderer’ who has acted out of love. His numerous dying claims infuriate and fascinate – particularly his self-assessment as ‘one that loved not wisely, but too well’. Othello’s assertion that he was ‘not easily jealous’ must leave many people asking if he ever really knew himself.


Š However, it is possible to feel some sympathy for the Moor although we can never condone his actions. In his final moments, he appears to be almost entirely self-centred and concerned with his reputation. Is he essentially narcissistic and self-dramatising? It is characteristic that Othello judges himself before carrying out his own execution and dying alongside the woman he loved?


Whatever about his heroic qualities on the battlefield, Othello is a poor judge of character, particularly of the


deceitful Iago. As a result, he falls from a position of power and authority to a debased shadow of his former self. By Act 5, he is hardly recognisable even to himself.


Š Over the course of the story, Othello shows that he is not just capable of admirable restraint (‘Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them’), but also of great ferocity. He is prepared to chop Desdemona ‘into messes’. In contrast to Iago, he has little inner life and is given no revealing soliloquies. Unlike his multi-layered arch-enemy, Othello’s character lacks complexity.


Character Studies


Š The Moor’s death could be seen as an attempt to regain his distinguished military identity. Whether his suicide is an act of redemption or an effort to restore his good name is open to debate. Some critics view Othello’s violent death as a cowardly escape from taking responsibility for his actions. For others, his decision to die ‘no way but this’ is an acceptance of his inevitable fate as a wretched hero.


Š On the surface at least, Iago is the undeniable architect of Othello’s downfall. Yet it could be argued that it is the tension between Othello’s experience as an outsider adopting to a foreign culture and his own personal trauma that makes him a truly tragic figure. At any rate, the protagonist’s story forces audiences to consider the nature of his character flaws as well as his difficulty in acknowledging his own destructiveness.


Š Significantly, Othello’s last words focus on his own failings, not on Iago’s deceptive plot. He does not deflect the blame but maintains that he was blinded by his own passion. His final plea before taking his own life is for his memory to be preserved and his name to retain the quality of heroism he fought so hard to establish throughout his life.


Š In the end, fate is cruel to Othello. But in his ultimate speeches, there are some glimpses of the protagonist’s former greatness: his military achievements, loyalty to Venice, the intensity of his love and his terrible realisation that, by killing Desdemona, he has destroyed the best in himself.


Othello – Key Characteristics


• Honourable, dignified, calm, accomplished, idealistic. • Insecure, naive, jealous, paranoid, uncontrolled.


• Violent, self-obsessed, heroic, delusional, tragic.


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