Act 5: Murder, Truth & the Ending
“It Is the Cause” — Othello’s Murder Speech (Act 5, Scene 2)
Othello enters the bedroom with a candle, delivering one of Shakespeare’s most complex speeches: “It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul — / Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars! — / It is the cause.” He never names the “cause” (Desdemona’s supposed adultery), as if the word itself is too terrible to speak. The repetition of “It is the cause” three times shows Othello trying to convince himself that this is justice, not murder. He addresses the stars as witnesses, seeking cosmic endorsement for what he is about to do.
He speaks in restored iambic pentameter — a striking change from the fragmented prose of Act 4. Shakespeare gives Othello back his eloquence at the moment of his greatest crime. This structural choice is devastating: the language of dignity is used to commit murder. He compares Desdemona to a “light” he must extinguish: “Put out the light, and then put out the light.” The double meaning (the candle and her life) creates a double entendre that encapsulates the tragedy: once the light of Desdemona’s life is extinguished, it cannot be re-lit.
Othello’s murder speech restores his eloquent verse, using the language of dignity to commit murder. “Put out the light, and then put out the light” is a double entendre: the candle and Desdemona’s life. He frames murder as justice (“It is the cause”), believing he acts for honour rather than jealousy. This self-deception makes the scene unbearably tragic.
Desdemona’s Death
Desdemona wakes and protests her innocence: “I never did / Offend you in my life; never loved Cassio / But with such general warranty of heaven / As I might love.” She begs for time to pray. Othello smothers her. With her dying breath, when Emilia asks who has killed her, Desdemona says: “Nobody; I myself. Farewell. / Commend me to my kind lord.” This extraordinary line protects Othello even as he murders her. She takes the blame upon herself and calls her killer “kind lord.”
The line has been interpreted variously: as proof of Desdemona’s saintly forgiveness, as the ultimate expression of a victim’s conditioning under patriarchy, or as both simultaneously. A Jacobean audience might have admired her wifely obedience; a modern audience is more likely to see the horror of a woman so conditioned by patriarchal values that she blames herself for her own murder.
Emilia discovers Desdemona’s body and pieces together the truth. When Othello reveals that Iago told him of the affair, Emilia is horrified: “My husband!” (repeated three times, each with escalating disbelief). She tells the truth about the handkerchief: “I found it, / And I did give’t my husband.” Iago commands her to be silent: ‘Go to! Charm your tongue.’ (Act 5, Scene 2) Emilia’s defiance is extraordinary: “I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak.” She chooses truth over obedience — a direct challenge to the patriarchal system that has killed Desdemona.
Iago stabs Emilia to silence her. She dies next to Desdemona, asking to be laid beside her: “Lay me by my mistress’ side.” In death, Emilia completes her arc from unwitting accomplice to heroic truth-teller. Her murder by Iago mirrors Othello’s murder of Desdemona: both men kill women who threaten their control.
Othello’s Final Speech (Act 5, Scene 2)
When the truth emerges, Othello’s final speech attempts to control how he will be remembered: “Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, / Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak / Of one that loved not wisely but too well.” The phrase “loved not wisely but too well” has become one of Shakespeare’s most famous lines. But it is also self-serving: Othello presents himself as a victim of excessive love rather than a man who murdered his innocent wife.
He then compares himself to “a base Indian” who “threw a pearl away / Richer than all his tribe” — recognising too late that Desdemona was infinitely precious. The speech’s final action is violent: Othello stabs himself, falling on Desdemona’s body. His self-inflicted death can be read as justice, repentance, or a final act of hubris — he controls his own ending rather than submitting to Venetian justice.
Othello’s final speech is deliberately ambiguous. “Loved not wisely but too well” presents him as a victim of excessive love. “A base Indian” recognises Desdemona’s preciousness too late. His suicide can be read as justice, repentance, or hubris. The exam rewards students who can argue both readings.
Iago’s Silence
When caught, Iago refuses to explain himself: “Demand me nothing. What you know, you know. / From this time forth I never will speak word.” This silence is one of the most chilling moments in Shakespeare. Throughout the play, Iago has controlled events through language — manipulation, insinuation, soliloquy. His refusal to speak is a final act of power: he denies everyone the explanation they desperately need. The audience is left without catharsis. There is no satisfying explanation for evil. This denial of closure makes the play’s ending profoundly disturbing.
Lodovico orders Iago’s torture and Cassio’s installation as governor: “This is thy work. The object poisons sight; / Let it be hid.” The bed is covered. Cassio, the man Iago tried to destroy, inherits power. But the play’s resolution is hollow: Desdemona and Emilia are dead, Othello has destroyed himself, and Iago’s silence means the truth of his motivation remains unknown. Shakespeare offers justice (Iago will be punished) but not understanding. The audience leaves disturbed, not reassured.