“What, ho! No watch? No passage? Murder! Murder!” (V.i.37). These are far more frequent in Act Five and are therefore inconsistent with the rest of the play.
Some key words are repeated throughout the scene to remind us of what is just, not what Iago wants us to believe. This seems crude and too obvious in comparison to the rest of the play. The word ‘lord’ is repeated ten times in six lines by Emilia:
“My lord, my lord! What ho! My lord, my lord” (V.ii.87). It is repeated to remind us of the fact that Othello did not kill Desdemona out of his own hatred but that Iago had to feed his jealousy by making this happen. The word ‘Villainy’ is another word repeated many times:
“Villainy, villainy, villainy!” (V.ii.189). This is telling us not to forget that Iago is a psychopath who can not control his jealousy. We need reminding of this because as his plan falls into place he appears to be more of a mastermind and we start to like him. This also crudely emphasises the fact that Iago is the complete opposite of ‘honest’, which was how he was known in the earlier scenes. ‘Honest Iago’ became his name:
“Good night Honest Iago” (II.iii.323).
Putting ‘O’ in front of a line greatly increases the melodramatic effect. This classic device is used countless number of times throughout Scene Two. The most dramatic use of it is when Othello realises what he has done, he just says:
“O,O,O” (V.ii.195).
The melodramatic and ironic behaviour of the characters in the last scene is not at all in keeping with the rest of the play. Acts One to Four are carefully created with no ‘action’ but have a steady build up of tension, thus forcing the audience to concentrate and become immersed in the single plot. The enjoyment comes from the dramatic irony created by Iago’s manipulation of the other characters. He gets Othello to believe that Desdemona is having an affair, and the use of asides. In Act Two Scene One, Iago says [aside]:
“But I’ll set down the pegs that make this music, as honest as I am” (II.i.195), Explaining that he will decide what happens within his plan and how. The ‘as honest as I am’ line is very ironic as it is one thing to get everyone else to think he is honest but another to think it himself. This confirms to the audience that Iago is psychopathic and has pulled himself into his plan just as much as he has with everyone else. In the last scene anticipation is created by people dying as well as Iago’s manipulation and asides. Melodrama changes it from a believable play, which could well have happened to an unbelievable fantasy.
The last act is not psychologically believable. The last act resembles a pantomime rather than a sophisticated Shakespeare play, although I do think Shakespeare meant it to be like this. Evidence for this comes at the beginning of Act Five Scene One when Roderigo is hiding behind the bulk (shop framework) and Cassio comes along. Roderigo lunges out with his sword, a rather melodramatic movement in itself. I think that if Shakespeare had not meant it to be like this he could have just as easily made Roderigo sneak up behind Cassio and stab him silently. This would have caused a bit of an anticlimax to the ending of Iago’s plan and he would still have to kill Roderigo himself. This gives satisfaction to the audience as all the emotion felt beforehand has finally resulted in excitement and action.
During the last Act Iago appears very out of character compared to the way he is previously portrayed. It is clear from his manipulation of other characters earlier in the play that he is able to think ahead, just as if he is playing a game of chess. The only difference is that he is playing with real people. He never actually commits any crime himself, and due to the fact that he tells Othello that he often jumps to conclusions, he always has an escape rout in case someone reveals him. In Act Five his character is reversed. He appears to have lost his patience and all the trust, which has enabled him to execute his plan. He blew his cover in one thoughtless act when he killed Emilia for no real reason apart from the fact that she would not go home:
Iago: Be wise, and get you home.
Emilia: I will not.
[Iago thrusts at Emilia] (V.ii.221-222)
A section that makes this act farfetched is when Cassio is wounded. He can not stop moaning and saying how much pain he is in by using lines such as:
‘O, I am slain’(V.i.27) and
‘My leg is cut in two’ (V.i.72). Yet when he is put into the garter he seems to be miraculously cured and he does not moan again. Rather unbelievable seeing as he has just been stabbed. It is also ironic when Othello tells Desdemona that he is going to kill her. It would have been thought that any self-respecting woman would cry for help and try to run away. But not Desdemona, instead she replies by saying:
‘Then heaven have mercy on me’ (V.ii.35). What is even more ironic is that in her dying breaths she denies that Othello had murdered her and says that she had killed herself. This can be explained by the fact that she was dying and would have been very confused, but still it seems rather unbelievable.
I think that Shakespeare has tried to make the characters partially realistic by portraying them as human. He makes their opinions of other characters change as the play progresses just like a real human would in their situation would. An example of which can be found in Act Four Scene One where Iago tells Othello how to kill Desdemona:
“Do it not with poison, strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated” (IV.i.203-4). Othello agrees and says:
“Good, good; the justice of it pleases; very good” (IV.i.205). Later during Act Five Scene One Othello totally changes his mind and contradicts himself by saying:
“Thy bed lust-stained shall with lust’s blood be spotted” (V. i.36). This shows he is confused and can not think straight, just like any human in his situation. His character also changes. Othello starts off being very calm and collective and as he gets more engaged with Iago’s plan he appears to be going mad. At the beginning it would never be thought that he would ever kill his wife whatever the reason. The changing of the characters almost provides the audience with another plot line.
The last scene does not by any means sort everything out. It leaves the audience frustrated, not knowing if everyone (the remaining few who are not dead) will ever be happy again. This is unlike other Shakespearean tragedies where there is a sense that things will be all right eventually. In the play ‘Macbeth’, for example, the villain, Macbeth dies and the young and lawful king, Malcolm takes the throne. This leaves the audience satisfied with what has happened and that the situation is resolved. In ‘Othello’ all we know is that Cassio is injured and Roderigo, Barbantio, Emilia, Desdemona and Othello are all dead. There is also a great amount of unresolved anger in Lodovico’s final speech:
“More fell than anguish, hunger or at the sea,
Look on the tragic loading of this bed.” (V.ii.558-59). This tells the audience that there is still more to come for Iago. It leaves the audience thinking about what is going to happen to him. We know Lodovico wants him dead as he calls Iago:
“Spartan dog” (V.ii.359). This is reference to Melampus, of the Spartan breed. Melampus was first to turn on his master in the play ‘Ovid Metamorphose’. Lodovico also says:
“To you, Lord Governor, Remains the censure of this hellish villain; the time, the place, the torture, o enforce it (V.ii.363-365).
The lack of a conclusive ending may be a reflection of the greatness of Othello and the spitefulness of Iago. Shakespeare must have thought that this was an appropriate ending, leaving it up to the imagination what happened to Iago, some might think they do not know the whole story.
I think that Shakespeare made the right choice of ending to the play. He could have chosen a realistic approach but I do not think the audience would benefit from it as much. This is because then there is no action in it and the whole play becomes very bland. Another reason Shakespeare chose this ending is because throughout the play anxiety has been building up to the outcome of Iago’s plan. In the last scene the audience gets the outcome of his plan, plus what appears to be a situation where all hell is let loose. The stage is very crowded during this scene, at one point there are twelve characters alive, three dead and two injured characters on stage at once! The overacting also makes Iago seem even more villainous as it appears that he has caused his victims to be even more distressed than they really are.
Overall, I think that the ending makes an exciting contrast to the previous acts and leaves it up to the imagination as to what things could have happened to Iago. Personally, I think that, with all Iago’s asides, we have managed to really get into his head and know what he is thinking. This makes him seem extremely life like and is nice to go away thinking that one day, maybe, he could do it all again.
