By: Janie McRae
Shakespeare’s Othello depicts the swift and dramatic downfall of a man consumed by vicious jealousy. As he becomes convinced of his wife’s infidelity, Othello descends into a cruel and violent mindset that ultimately leads to the death of his wife by his own hands. In examining the crucial “murder scene” in Act 5 of this tragedy, Othello’s language reveals poignant truths about his character, his self image, and his changing perception of his wife Desdemona.
As Othello sets out to murder his wife, he reaches the focal point of Iago’s manipulation in which he stands perfectly at the dividing line between the savagery his jealous mind is capable of, and the morality that characterized his initial self. Despite his cruel intentions to kill Desdemona, he decides to show her small kindnesses that lessen the barbarity of his actions and illustrate the love he still has for his wife. He chooses to kill her in a gentle way, remarking to himself: “I’ll not shed her blood, / Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow… / Yet she must die” (Shakespeare 235). Then moments before his violent act he gifts her the opportunity to confess her sins, explaining to her that he “would not kill thy unprepared spirit” (Shakespeare 237).
Othello’s goodness and virtue is met with the violent power of his jealousy; though he plans to murder his wife and is ultimately successful, he lessens the cruelty of his crime by choosing a more humane method of murder, and granting Desdemona the human right to repent before her death. When Desdemona does not instantly die when he attempts to suffocate her with a pillow, he laments, stating: “I that am cruel am yet merciful. / I would not have thee linger in thy pain” (Shakespeare 243). In murdering Desdemona, Othello has finalized his villanous descent, yet elements of his former virtue shine through. Though he is unwavering regarding his wife’s death, he still ensures that she experiences as little pain as possible, and that her demise is swift and simple.
More important than the reality of Othello’s actions, though, is the way in which he perceives them. Throughout Act 5, Scene 2, Othello describes the murder of Desdemona as a tragic but necessary act, claiming to himself that “she must die, else she’ll betray more men” (Shakespeare 235). He continues on a vengeful rant berating Desdemona, describing her infidelity as a rose and deciding that he “cannot give it vital growth again” and that “it needs must wither” (Shakespeare 237). In depicting his murder in such a way, Othello places the blame on Desdemona rather than confronting the drastic lengths his jealousy has led to. He describes his violent act as both “justice” and as a “sacrifice,” illustrating that he views himself as virtually blameless in this endeavor (Shakespeare 235, 241). In Othello’s eyes, he is a martyr in killing the woman that he loves; he views his cruel and violent act as the sole logical punishment for Desdemona’s supposed crime.
A major contributor to Othello’s falsely heroic mindset while killing Desdemona is the skewed perception that he has of his wife. Othello, as well as all of the other men in the play, view Desdemona as the personification as chastity and purity, rather than as a flawed and human woman. He believes that in killing her, he will be able to restore her former innocence. While describing his plan to kill her at the beginning of Act 5, Scene 2, Othello reveals his ideology surrounding Desdemona’s impending death: “If I can quench thee, thou flaming minister, / I can again thy former light restore” (Shakespeare 235). Othello’s belief that Desdemona’s “former light,” representing her purity, can only be restored by killing her illustrates the way in which he views her as an object rather than as a person. Desdemona only has value in Othello’s eyes if she lives up to his ideal of goodness and chastity. When Othello becomes convinced that she has failed to do so, she loses all value to him and he is driven to kill her. Normand Berlin in his book O’Neill’s Shakespeare remarks that Othello “would have been relieved of his immense burden of guilt and shame if his wife were not the chaste Desdemona… [his] love is bound up with the feeling that [Desdemona] was ideal” (182). A major contributor to his dramatic downfall is his own flawed and unrealistic perception of his wife.
Historically, this concept was prevalent in 16th Century Venice, the period of time in which Othello is set. Venetian women were perceived as “emblems of Catholic morality, serving primarily as matriarchs of the domestic household,” equating their worth to their ability to remain pure and moral beings. During the period of Counter-Reformation, the female virtues of “Chastity, Silence, Modesty, Reticence, Sobriety, and Obedience,” were largely upheld in literature, in which the lives of moral women were portrayed to serve as a model for women in Venetian society (“Women of 16th Century Venice”). Desdemona, as she is perceived by Othello, is an embodiment of these Venetian values. As she presumptively loses them, Othello, having lost his “emblem of Catholic morality”, decides the only remedy for his newfound predicament is to murder his wife.
Works Cited
Annand, Simon. “Othello” at the Royal Shakespeare Company. www.playshakespeare.com/media/reviews/photos/original/ec/31/94/3745_rscothp04_1235056967.jpg.
Berlin, Normand. O’Neill’s Shakespeare. Ann Arbor, Univ. of Michigan Press, 1993.
Degrain, Antonia Muñoz. Desdemona and Othello.
Hossain, Anwar. “The dramatic significance of ‘the murder scene’ in Othello.” English Study Hub, 30 Sept. 2015, englishstudyhub.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-dramatic-significance-of-murder.html.
“Othello.” YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUKGesWwT6k.
Shakespeare, William. Othello.
“Women of 16th Century Venice.” USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, University of Southern California, dornsife.usc.edu/veronica-franco/women-of-16th-century-venice/.
