As the action begins to heat up towards the end of "Othello," several unfortunate events begin to occur. Within a a matter of pages, three characters end up dead. Of course, the murder of Desdemona was to be expected; for Othello plotted her murder after hearing about a supposed case of infidelity. Besides facing imprisonment for life, in present day society, a man would also have to deal with the discrimination of people in society for committing such a murderous act. Surprisingly, when Emilia and other characters discover that Desdemona has been murdered, they don't even rush to threaten Othello. In fact, they don't even seem particularly infuriated about what he has done. If I were Emilia, I would have experienced an adrenaline rush, which would probably lead me to attack Othello out of anger and disgust.
As if the murder of one person was not enough, Shakespeare creates two more deaths before the play ends. Kind of sudden huh? I mean, not that Shakespeare incorporates tons of gore and gruesome detail about each person's fall to death. Just the fact that the playwright kills the characters off quickly creates a personal impression that this is a way to sum up the play. Seemingly, there is not enough justification behind each of these deaths and the effects that the remaining characters may experience. For instance, Iago charges at his wife and kills her simply because she reveals the truth about the handkerchief. Now, who in their right mind would off and kill their wife for such a silly reason? Although centuries have passed since the time period of this play, was there not still a lingering since of humanity and ethical behavior that existed in society? Besides Othello's decision to kill himself, the other characters don't even appear traumatized by the drama taking place amongst themselves. It seems like the characters die, and that's that.
Because the matter of these deaths seem so simply and matter-of-fact, I feel like the issue of death was taken rather lightly.
As if the murder of one person was not enough, Shakespeare creates two more deaths before the play ends. Kind of sudden huh? I mean, not that Shakespeare incorporates tons of gore and gruesome detail about each person's fall to death. Just the fact that the playwright kills the characters off quickly creates a personal impression that this is a way to sum up the play. Seemingly, there is not enough justification behind each of these deaths and the effects that the remaining characters may experience. For instance, Iago charges at his wife and kills her simply because she reveals the truth about the handkerchief. Now, who in their right mind would off and kill their wife for such a silly reason? Although centuries have passed since the time period of this play, was there not still a lingering since of humanity and ethical behavior that existed in society? Besides Othello's decision to kill himself, the other characters don't even appear traumatized by the drama taking place amongst themselves. It seems like the characters die, and that's that.
Because the matter of these deaths seem so simply and matter-of-fact, I feel like the issue of death was taken rather lightly.
1 comment:
Brittani,
I understand what you mean by an adrenaline rush, but I feel as though I would have reacted like Emilia... I feel like shock would set in more so than anger and disgust and then trepidation, because if he could kill his wife just like that, he could kill me too and not even flinch...
And on the issue of death being taken heedlessly, I feel like Shakespeare was intending for the deaths to be quick and sudden and numerous so as to create more of an affect on the reader's senses...
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