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Summary Othello Act 4 & Act 5
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Thorough summary notes of Act 4 and 5 of Shakespeare's Othello for A Level English Lit!
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ACT 4 SCENE 1● Othello has fallen under Iago’s spell of manipulation → language is debassed → by the end
cannot even utter a full sentence - reduced to words due to anger
● ‘Lie with her’ repetition → obsessed with image of C/D caught in sexual act
● Handkerchief → seeing the handkerchief as proof of her infidelity → obsessed with thought
of it being with Cassio
● ‘He falls into a trance’ → has an epileptic fit due to being driven by passion and loss of
logic → shows how overwhelmed he is by this → effecting him holistically → vulnerable/
weak → loss of respect now reduced by laying on floor unconscious → fully at the mercy of
Iago → Iago stripped him of everything important to him
● Iago sets up the conversation by telling Othello that Cassio is talking about Desdemona
when in reality he is talking about Bianca. Timing works to Iago’s advantage as Bianca’s
arrival was not planned.
● Othello is hoodwinked into believing Iago - power is growing not only through language
but through physicality of the characters - places people in particular places for his own
advantage
● Othello believes that Cassio is debasing D in the street by calling her a prostitute - Othello
feels upset by this - this debasement is not about Desdemona being slandered but his
reputation being slandered as he made vows with this woman in the eyes of God - male
pride
● Cassio’s language is animalistic when it comes to women (Similar to Iago)
● To Othello, Desdemona is throwing herself at Cassio → ‘she haunts me’ + ‘so hangs and
lolls and weeps upon me’ → O would believe this as D had been haranging him to bring
Cassio to their home/ to reconcile → intimacy that Othello thinks belongs to him → would
feel betrayed/ foolish as he thinks D is making a public spectacle of herself - worried for his
own reputation
● ‘Bauble’ → adornment → sense that he does not take her seriously → mocks the pursuit of
him/ treats it like a game
● From Cassio’s language we can see that Cassio is capable of debasement seen in the way
he refers to and is contemptuous of Bianca’s feelings for him
● Sense Iago is not the only villain - aspects of villainy on all characters (villainy in characters
reading)
● Desdemona is the only character without aspects of villainy → naivety is what leads to her
downfall – does not understand people’s ulterior motives
● Othello sees the handkerchief and has ‘ocular proof’ of the affair → everything works to
Iago’s advantage - lucky for him that Bianca arrives
● Othello's first thoughts are of killing Cassio after he leaves ‘How shall I murder him Iago?’
→ asking Iago for advice - moral compass is no more
● ‘A fine woman! A fair woman! A sweet woman’
● ‘Ay, let her rot and perish and be damned tonight, for she shall not live. No, my heart is
turned to stone. I strike it and it hurts my hand. Oh, the world hath not a sweeter
creature, she might lie by an emperors side and command him tasks.’ → Othello has
dilemma → on the surface Othello seems steadfast to kill D but his feelings for her surface
, - almost talks himself out of doing it - still has sway on his heart → problem for Iago as he
needs Othello to go through with it
● ‘I will chop her into messes! Cuckold me?’ → mixture of egotism and savagery —> turning
into the barbarian the audience expects of him → ‘with mine officer’ → jealousy is greater at
the fact it is Cassio
● ‘Get me poison’ → ironic as Iago has already been poisoning his thoughts to put him into his
current jealous rage → ( link to lady Macbeth)
● ‘Do it not with poison. Strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated’ →
strangling would make the murder untraceable to Iago - Iago is able to save himself from
any accusation BUT by suggesting Othello killed her in their marital bed supposedly soiled
would drive Othello on to complete task as this seems as a putting revenge → strangling is
a more personal way of committing murder → Othello will have to live with what he has
done → visual memory of what he has done → for Iago he wants to ruin/ destroy Othello’s
image of Desdemona through this personal crime and knows this image will forever haunt
Othello
● Othello hears D plead for L to reinstate Cassio - misconstructs her intentions
● Othello makes it clear he will not be apart of any placating between them - will not comply
with any pact between him and Cassio
● ‘A most unhappy one. I would do much to atone them, for the love I bear to Cassio.’ to
which Othello responds with ‘Fire and brimstone’ → furious/ cannot bear to hear D’s love for
Cassio - enraged
● Staging works to Iago’s advantage → Othello has been called back to Venice while Cassio
will assume the role as general → humiliation
● Othello lost control when he struck her in public → in front of Venetian nobility and not in
private → has brought shame onto himself → not lived up to his own high standards → has
turned into the savage the audience expects of him
● Othello thinks Desdemona’s tears are fake → crocodile tears → she is a deceptive woman in
his eyes → he thinks she is crying in order to perceive herself as an innocent woman/ to
protect herself → Desdemona doesn’t know she’s done wrong → never explains why he
has hit her → plot thickens
● ‘Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature
Whom passion could not shake? Whose solid virtue The shot of accident nor dart of
chance could neither graze nor pierce?’ → idea of initial respect for Othello that is now
damaged → shocked at Othello’s transformation from a man ruled by logic/rational thought
into a man governed by his emotions → links back to ‘when you love me not chaos will
come’ → Othello is now a man who has lost control and respect of those around him → had
‘solid virtue’ → believed Othello was beyond reproach – lost his moral compass/ integrity
which is what set him apart from other men
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