Exam (elaborations)
A-level Othello Act 4 Scene 1 Extract Question Response
A response I completed regarding Act 4 Scene 1 in Othello and how it contributes to the tragedy of the play. I gained an A* on this particular essay.
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In this extract, the audience witnesses the exchange between Othello and Desdemona, whereOthello seems to dominate and make his fears regarding Desdemona’s infidelity known. Prior to this
scene, the Jacobean audience has witnessed the machinations of Iago, who has sought to poison
Othello’s mind with jealous accusations. The audience has seen Desdemona challenging the
patriarchy through choosing her own husband, overreaching her status as a woman. Throughout the
extract, Othello elucidates his inner-turmoil as a result of his hubris. This extract is taken from the
Brothels scene, alluding to the idea of adultery which Othello seems to impose on Desdemona. This
scene is significant because the audience is acutely aware of the dramatic potential of the theme of
sexual jealousy. Shakespeare utilises dramatic methods to emphasise the conflict that has emerged
between Othello and Desdemona, heightening the dangers of hubristic pride.
This scene acts as a catalyst to magnify the developing conflict between Othello and Desdemona.
Othello begins hyperbolically using two antithetical Biblical images, ‘Heaven truly knows that thou
art false as hell’. Using oppositional figurative language enables Shakespeare to foreshadow the
tragic end of the play through exposing that Othello no longer trusts his wife. Furthermore, the
audience can see that Iago’s dramatic warning at the start of the play, ‘O beware my lord of jealousy.
It is the green-eyed monster’. The audience witnesses Iago’s Machiavellian plan is coming to fruition.
Moreover, Othello is attacking Desdemona’s fidelity, which was an important female value in the
Elizabethan era, which Othello also attacks.
Further along in the extract, Desdemona’s response to Othello heightens the tragic aspect of the
play as the audience witnesses that Desdemona is oblivious to the charges and her naivety is
exposed to the audience, ‘To whom, my lord? With whom? How am I false?’. The fragmented line
that uses interrogatives, used to heighten Desdemona’s disbelief and confusion, makes the audience
sympathise with Desdemona. Her innocence serves to make her death more tragic. The repetition of
the pronoun ‘whom’ heightens the naivety and innocence of Desdemona, emphasising her status as
a hegemonic female. Furthermore, the triplicate question could reflect her confused state, which
foreshadow her murder and the tragic nature of her death. In the final scene, she accepts her
punishment and does little to resist Othello’s suffocation. Notably, the exploitation of the tragic
victim cultivates a sense of tragedy through the use of the character construct of Desdemona.
Significantly, external forces push Othello to murder Desdemona. Othello is undeterred from a
jealous rage shown through his use of language. Othello claims any other hardship would be
preferable to Desdemona’s adultery, which reflects the attitude towards female sexuality in the
Jacobean age. Despite Desdemona’s protestations, the audience sees Othello dominate the
conversation using biblical references to reflect his disgust at Desdemona’s alleged infidelity. His
reference to ‘sores and shames’, enhanced by the use of the sibilance, refers to the suffering in Job,
an Old Testament reference. This used to heighten to idea that Desdemona’s infidelity is sinful, and
Othello has been ‘cuckolded’. Therefore, Othello will be able to justify his action of suffocating his
wife at the end of the play. His emotional struggle is highlighted through his use of imagery, ‘a
cistern, for foul toads. To not engender in!’ Together with the exclamative the figurative language
illustrates Othello’s struggle to reconcile the warring emotions of love and jealousy which is
dramatized through these contrasting images. Consequently, the audience can witness Othello’s
desolating, controlling logic and see why he is driven to kill the woman he loves so much at the end
of the play.
Notably, Shakespeare demonstrates the terrible consequences of giving in to jealousy. But the tragic
aspect of the play is magnified through seeing the Iago has sowed the seeds of jealousy. In the
extract Shakespeare uses dramatic methods in this to create a sense of foreboding, which is
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