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Theme Of Responsibility In Othello

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Responsibility is the ability to realize the fault in your actions and accept the consequences. In Shakespeare 's Othello, a play that explores love, jealousy and betrayal, three characters experience a pivotal revelation than fundamentally changes them. Both Othello and Emilia experience a moment of truth in which they accept responsibility for their actions and achieve nobility of character.

During his moment of truth, Othello accepts that his irrationality cost Desdemona her life and that he must receive punishment. After Iago has killed Emilia for her disloyalty Othello exclaims towards Desdemona 's body “O ill-starr’d wench, pale as thy smock” By calling Desdemona “ill starr 'd” Othello is drawing an allusion to the belief that people …show more content…

During her moment of truth, Emilia accepts punishment for her naivete towards her husband 's evil plot and redeems her damaged character. Distraught from Desdemona 's death, Emilia asks Iago if he really has done what she fears, she declares “Disprove this villain if thou be’st a man” On the surface, Emilia is telling Iago that he is to tell Othello what he did if he “man” enough to publicly acknowledge his true evil, as much of his treachery is sneaky and underhanded. Additionally, asking Iago if he “be’st a man” also insinuates that Iago is not a man, but rather a malicious demon that is not human. Later in the scene, Iago tells Emilia to go home and she replies with “T’is proper I obey him, but not now Perchance, Iago, I will never go home” To be “proper” is to be suitable or appropriate. Emilia is expected to follow all of her husband 's commands yet when Emilia says that she will never go home she means that she will never take orders from her husband again now that she knows the atrocities he committed. There is also an element of irony as Emilia never makes it home because soon after she speaks out against her husband, she is killed by Iago. This act of defiance against her husband restores Emilia to a self sufficient woman no longer under the manipulative grasp of her husband. After she is stabbed by her husband Emilia utters her last words “Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor; So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true”. “Chaste” means pure and

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