Act 5 Scene 2

Question 1

‘Put out the light, and then put out the light/ If I quench thee, thou flaming minsiter/ I can again thy former light restore’

Answer 1

Themes: madness, loss of love
Light is symbolic of light and happiness, it is also symbolic of God. Othello is asking to hide his act from God to kill Desdemona, which itself is for selfish reasons, as he seeks to restore his peace of mind rather than their relationship

Question 2

‘Have you prayed tonight, Desdemon?’/ ‘I would not kill the unprepared spirit’

Answer 2

Themes: conflict, religion
Othello takes Christian princip.les into his killing, even though the act is far from Christian morality

Question 3

‘My wife, my wife! What wife? I have no wife.

Answer 3

Themes: loss of love, violence
The repetition shows his init.ial shock at the act and the realisation of what he has done and now what he has lost

Question 4

‘It should be now a huge eclipse of sun and moon, and that th’affrighted globe/ should yawn at alteration’

Answer 4

Themes: conflict
His perceived expectation of w.hat should happen is something great and supernatural, a disruption of the Great Chain of Being, yet it remains the same, perhaps confirming Desdemona’s purity or that this may be an act that is commonly committed

Question 5

‘O falsely, falsely murdered’/ ‘A guiltless death I die’/ ‘Nobody; I myself. Farewell’

Answer 5

Themes: female passivity
This emphasises her as a tragi.c victim as she dies believing she has done something wrong, yet she is not guilty

Question 6

‘Thou art rash as fire to say/ that she was false. O, she was heavenly true.

Answer 6

Themes: female agency, female friendship
Emilia combats Othello’s helli.sh description of Desdemona with light and heaven, revealing the truth of her mistress and showing the solidarity between females

Question 7

‘My Husband?’

Answer 7

Themes: female agency, manipulation
Repetition - the truth begins t.o reveal to her, it is ironic that as a woman she puts the pieces together in the contextual period

Question 8

‘If he say so, so may his pernicious soul/ rot half a grain a day’

Answer 8

Themes: female agency
The violent imagery, especially referring to her husband, shows her love for Desdemona and her strong sense of sisterhood - she wants Iago to suffer just as Desdemona did, slowly

Question 9

‘Lay me by my mistress’ side’/ ‘I will play the swan and die in music’

Answer 9

Themes: female friendship, female agency
Swan is an image of wisdom s.howing Emilia’s overall function, which is to depict the truth under a patriarchal society - she wants to be by Desdemona and the image of the two women dead next to one another with the men around emphasises patriarchy

Question 10

‘Speak of me as I am; nothinh extenuate/ nor set down aught in malice… speak of one that loved not wisely; but too well/ of one not easily jealous but, being wrought/ perplexed in the extreme’

Answer 10

Themes: manipulation, jealousy, love
This seems to be a reversion. back to the Othello we see at the beginning of the play, someone rational and authentic and now in his deat,h he wants to be remembered for his faults as a lesson to other men to not be easily misled

Question 11

‘Tis proper I obey him, but not now’/ ‘Charm your tongue’/ ‘I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak

Answer 11

Themes: female agency
Emilia is defying gender stereotypes in order to stand up for Desdemona who was abused at the hands of the patriarchy