Othello's Soliloquy Close reading
...thello’s inner angers and once suppressed fears have peaked, as Iago force feeds him with a sea of lies and convincing evidence of Desdemona’s infidelity. Destined to retain his honor and seek justice, Othello strangles his beloved wife. His rabid mindset begins to calm, believing that justice has been served. Othello’s usage of the words “soft” and “tears” reflects upon his settling mood, as his words have become much less vulgar from his previous remarks (when he chastises Desdemona), showing the first signs of his recovery from a savage mindset, back into the noble man he once was. However, alongside his recovery, Othello realizes what he has done wrong, and the “soft” mood seems to also refer to a numbness in emotion, after going through such perplexing thoughts and realizing that it was all to no purpose, as Desdemona was innocent after all. This combination of shock, guilt, and anger overwhelms Othello, causing him to become stoic from all the emotions. As the soliloquy progresses, the audience is already seeing the desperation Othello has gone through, as he describes that he has “threw (thrown) a pearl away”. This great loss, his status, his beloved, his respect, and his dignity, falls unto his last wish of hoping people will remember him as who he was, nothing “extenuated” nor said with “malice” to keep his honor, to regain this nobility that had faded into savagery. As we know, this desolation will eventually lead to his demise, as he stabs himself. This deception Othello had just uncovered is familiar to us since the beginning. This foreknowledge leads us to irony, as Othello’s sudden realization of the truth has made him lose his nobility, as his actions became uncalled for, while the initial intention was to retain his nobility by serving justice. His final words were told as Othello’s last stand, ...