| What are the two reasons that Iago wants Cassio dead? | Iago knows Othello will always favor Cassio.He may say something to Othello that would reveal Iago’s evil plotting. |
| Iago believes it would benefit him if Cassio manages to kill Roderigo. Why would that benefit him? | If Roderigo dies, Iago won’t have to worry about returning the jewels he’s stolen from Roderigo.Dead men don’t talk! (Roderigo cannot tell anyone about Iago’s deception and plot.) |
| Who is killed or injured in the attack on Cassio? | Cassio stabs Roderigo, and Iago cuts Cassio in the leg. Afterwards, Iago delivers another stab to Roderigo and kills him. |
| Why does Iago use Bianca as an easy target to make it seem as if she tried to kill Cassio? | Because of her very low social status, people are likely to believe bad things about her. |
| What are some things Othello considers in his soliloquy before he kills Desdemona? | How white she is.Why he is justified in killing her.How he doesn’t want her to suffer.How once he acts, he cannot undo that action.How full of sorrow he is, but how he must be cold in his action. |
| What does Othello hope for Desdemona to do just before he kills her? | He hopes for her to repent her sin (the alleged affair with Cassio).He hopes if she does this, her soul can go to heaven instead of hell. “I will not kill thy unprepared spirit.” |
| Before Desdemona dies, she tells Emilia she killed herself. Why? | To the very end she is the “perfect” wife, completely obedient and loyal to her husband, so she chooses not to betray him. |
| What ultimately causes Iago’s evil plotting to unravel? | He didn’t count on his wife, Emilia, to betray him in the end. He counted on her to live up to her marriage vow of “obedience.”He was too confident, believing in his ability to fool every one and control the situation. |
| When asked, what ultimate reason does Othello give for killing Desdemona? | He acted out or honor, not out of hate. “An honorable murder.” |
| What are Othello’s final requests? | When they report the events back to Venice, that they treat him fairly in their reports.They should remember the good things he did for Venice, and that in the end he was tricked by a hellish villain into destroying a perfect and pure person (Desdemona). |
| Who rules Cyprus at the end of the play? | Cassio |
| Why is the Othello we see at the end of the play a pitiful figure compared to the Othello that greets us in act 1? | Answers vary….but, ultimately, it is a tragedy. |
Othello Act 5
August 9, 2019