Othellos last speech

Othello's last speech is his way of expressing to the readers how he would have liked them to see the last events play out. Othello's final speech ultimately seals the fate as a man who lacks critical thinking skill, is a poor judger of character and has insecurity. This is because these are his final words, and they deal with fact not emotion. He addresses the reasons behind his downfall, and decides how he wants others to see him, in terms of the story and how he takes semi responsibility for it. Othello's last speech is how he would like the audience to view the play and not necessarily how the event of the play have unfolded. In his last speech it is almost like Othello discovered what he did wrong and how this whole time he has been deceived by Iago, but never once takes any accountability what he did. Othello is a very conscious man and in some ways obsessed with reputation. He himself is aware of this. Aware of the importance of opinion, which is unable to be affected by his reputation, he quickly jumps to tell people of how he would like to be remembered. Othello since he is very conscious he almost I would say has an insecurity about himself and is a very poor judger of character. Othello shows full authority and confidence when he is a general. In the book every time Othello speaks to Brabantio he has full authority of the conversations. Another example would be in act one scene three, Othello shows great confidence for his love Desdemona. Remember though this is in the being where Othello’s true character is showed. When his insecurities show up is in the middle of the book one example is when Othello says “Haply for I am black and have not those soft parts of conversation that chamberers” (act 3 scene 3 line 262). He’s basically doubting his and Desdemona’s love between the two because of his race. He is getting worried and coming up with all these scenarios of why or how Desdemona could be cheating on him which all along was not true. He also is worried that Desdemona will leave him for a young noble better looking man he states this “O curse of marriage, that we can call these delicate creatures ours, and not their appetites!” (act 3 scene 3 line 267). With his obsession with his reputation, it is very clear that Othello has strong motive to put a positive spin on his recent actions. I defiantly feel his reputation and public image was one of the reasons that he killed Desdemona. Also, it is Iago's reputation as an honest man which allowed him to deceive Othello without Othello once questioning his words. Othello has a strong motive not to portray himself as he really is, but how he would want us to see him. Othello's final words show that he does not quite understand himself or what he has done.

Othello wants the people in Venice to know that he is someone who loved too much, but was not wise about it. He wanted them to know he was not of jealous nature, but once he was manipulated by Iago he became confused and worked himself into a rage. Othello was more vulnerable to manipulation since he trusted and loved so easily. Othello especially had lots of trust in Iago and not until the end of the story realized that Iago was not an honest man. Othello says “Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought,” (act 5 scene 2 line 341) Iago worked and shaped Othello until he was just how he wanted.

As I stated in my being paragraph that Othello in the last speech he had a moment of discovery. A discovery to blame everyone else except himself. Othello does not recognize that he did this to him. The main thing that Othello could recognized was that he was jealous. Othello in this speech clearly never says anything about how he was jealous, he rather blames this all on Iago. The one and only time Othello talks about his own mistakes is when he says “Of one, not easily jealous, but being wrought, perplexed in the extreme” (act 5 scene 2 line 18). I think that in this line Othello is not admitting to his own flaws which would be jealousy, but admitting that since he trusted Iago it was all Iago’s fault. Othello does not think about what he did and how he was jealous he merely searches for everyone else flaws except for his own.

As I stated in the paragraph before Othello was blaming everyone else but himself. Othello first blames Iago with fate, and then he blames Desdemona his innocent wife that he killed and then to sum it up he blames Cassio. I do not think at all that Iago created the jealousy in Othello, Iago in the book warns Othello about jealousy “Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green eyed monster which doth mock. The meat it feeds on” (act 3 scene 3 line 165). This doesn’t not even faze Othello because he replies back with “O Misery”. I was surprised he did not listen because this came from “Honest Iago”.

Othello realizes that all of the good things he has done don't matter anymore, because of the death of Desdemona. Even though he knows this he still wants to be remembered as a brilliant soldier who risked his life many times for Venice.
Othello was a fine man with a harsh fate. Had not been manipulated by others he would have lived an admirable life. He regrets many things in his life. Marrying Desdemona, I believe, is one of those things. His decisions were greatly affected by his emotions. He was blinded by Iago since he did not listen to his heart, and let his emotions get in. In his final speech, Othello identifies his main flaw as being a bad judge of character. Othello trusted Iago and had absolutely no faith in Desdemona his wife. This is very poor judgment on Othello’s part and shows jealousy. I believe that jealousy will always get the better of Othello. This ended the way it did because it relied solely on Othello not being able to listen to himself he listen to the “noble” Iago, instead of figuring things out on his own. In that last speech I do believe that Othello realizes that he has poor judgment. Othello lets jealousy get the worse of him and does not get his thoughts together in his last speech and blames this on everyone else except himself. This is just a case of Not I Not I.