Shakespeare's Othello: themes and analysis

¶ … Othello's final speech in Act five of the play, paying close attention to poetic elements as well as imagery within the passage.

The analysis should be clearly focused and based on evidence found within the text. The essay should reflect a clear understanding of the play based on in-depth reading of the play for broader issues and intent by the author.

Othello's final speech redeems him even after he murders his wife and is duped by Iago. His eloquence and his ability to use words to his advantage make him a persuasive character in this tragic play.

To understand the final speech by Othello within the content of the play, first one needs to understand Shakespeare's writing style within this play and his development of his character, Othello. The play, Othello is considered a tragedy play. In particular, this type of play usually uses prose that can measure a collapse of some kind, such as when a character is quite eloquent and controlled and is then reduced to dialogue that is not much more then disordered prose. Such is the case with Othello, even before his final speech.

Othello is considered by some to be a poem and like most poems, it achieves its impact largely through imagery -- language that appeals to the senses. The richness and quantity of Shakespeare's imagery make it impossible to translate the language of his day into modern English. Let's examine consider the way Shakespeare uses the imagery to define character in Othello. The use of imagery in this case is what makes each character's voice so recognizable, and rarely did Shakespeare use it more brilliantly when he did in creating Othello. One can hear the rich texture of Othello's voice and that adds to the mystic of his eloquence. Shakespeare knew how to imbue tonal effects into his character's words even on the written page by the effective use of prose and poetry in speech.

Through the use of imagery and metaphors, Shakespeare is able to generate a considerable impact on the audience positioning them for the full extent of the tragic outcome. The use of these vivid images and comparisons effectively defines the nature of each character and explores central themes such as deception, race and jealousy.

At the beginning of the play, Othello is lofty and noble, full of sweeping imagery and when he speaks of his love for Desdemona, he expresses the wish that he may be "free and bounteous to her mind." But as the play progresses and Othello begins to see the world through Iago's eyes, he begins to change the way he speaks and no longer does he talk of beauty and grandeur. His dialogue changes more to a prosaic style that is much more brooding and "dark."

When Iago taunts him with his wife's unfaithfulness, Othello -- by now convinced that this wife is guilty -- exclaims, in a jealous rage, "Goats and monkeys!" Throughout Acts III and IV, Othello continuously refers to hell and damnation, devils, toads, dogs, ravens, flies, snakes -- all echoes of Iago, who by this time has possessed his soul. He is able to easily turn Othello's jealousy into a tool of destruction.

But after Desdemona's death and the revelation that she was indeed innocent, Othello returns to his own "voice." In his last great speech, the lofty and exotic imagery of the play's beginning returns when he asks his witnesses:

Of one that loved not wisely but too well;

Of one not easily jealous but, being wrought,

Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand,

Like the base Indian, three a pearl away

Richer than all his tribe.

Then and only then is the true voice of Othello heard once again. He speaks as the noble Moor that he was when the play begins.

But let's examine Act Five more closely. PRIVATE In Desdemona's bedchamber, Othello gazes down at the innocent beauty of his sleeping wife. As she awakens, he commands her to pray because she is about to die. Despite her pleas, Othello smothers her to death with a pillow. Just then, a horrified Emilia enters. Othello justifies his actions by citing the handkerchief as proof. Emilia is stunned by whet she sees and hears and then reveals Iago's guilt. In a frenzy of hatred, Iago kills her. He is arrested and Othello tries unsuccessfully to kill him; despite demands for an explanation of his treachery, Iago remains silent. Before Othello is led away to face justice, he begs his listeners to speak of him "as one that lov'd not wisely but too well." He then draws a concealed weapon, stabs himself, and kisses Desdemona as he dies.

When the play begins, Othello's speeches allow him to revel in his own military triumphs and demonstrate his misordering of priorities. But from the very beginning, he dazzles his audience with his effortless eloquence. But as the play progresses and he falls deeper and deeper under the deceptive spell of Iago's tainted words, we begin to notice his dialogue changes, especially in Acts 3 and 4. It is important to understand this change before the final speech. Readers will notice he uses half sentences, clipped exclamations and short answers. His passion has broken is self-worth and that is evident in his final speech before he commits suicide.

What is especially interesting is that his final words seem to restore him to some semblance of nobility so that he is more like the character he was. His final speech demonstrates and confirms to others his return to hypnotic eloquence. Though defeated and emotionally broken, his final speech brings us back to his speech in Act 1, scene iii using a rhetoric effect. Even then through his dying words, he makes suicide seem noble.

His words once again characterize the man he was, the noble soldier and he asks to be remembered for his good deeds:

Soft you; a word or two before you go. I have done the state some service, and they know't.-- No more of that. -- I pray you, in your letters, When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am;"