Othello

I found this picture when I google-searched images of "Othello," it was my favorite one that I found.

I actually really enjoyed Othello. I am not always one for Shakespeare, but I did find this to be a good read. I was loathing Iago more and more as the play went along, and I couldn't help but think "what an a**" as the story progressed. As with my frustrations with teenage passions in Romeo and Juliet, I was also frustrated with Othello's unwavering trust in Iago, and his immediate jumping to conclusions without any substantial evidence whatsoever. I was surprised that, given Othello's normally very mature and slow-to-anger disposition as lieutenant, he was so quick to suspect Desdemona of infidelity. If it hadn't been for Iago fooling everyone like the puppets they were in his plan, no one would have ever had to be murdered in the first place. I guess one mark of a good writer is making the reader react in a way like this.

I wanted also to point out one interesting line from Desdemona (who sometimes has been referred to as "Desdemon"... does that mean anything or is it just a shorter way of saying her name? It's not really making it that much shorter). After Othello has smothered Desdemona in her bed on their wedding sheets (which I thought was weird), Emilia arrives and opens the bedcurtains to catch her mistress' dying breath. After Desdemona truthfully states that she has "died a guiltless death," Emilia asks her, "Oh, who hath done this deed?" Desdemona's response intrigues me: "Nobody; I myself. Farewell." Why does she say "I myself?" Is this because she is truly that good of a person that she will not even blame Othello for this after he killed her? Or, does she physically mean that no one killed her, but that she has murdered herself? I guess that when she says "I myself" then that could be taken both physically and metaphorically.

• What do you think Desdemona means when she says, "I myself"?

• Were you as frustrated with the way Othello took Iago so seriously without any real evidence too?

• Did you wonder also why Desdemona had Emilia make up their bed with their wedding sheets?