A common question literary scholars ask themselves while reading The Moor Othello is who is to blame for the outcome of this tragedy. Several lay guilt on Othello for his gullibility and many others blame Iago for his scheming plot. I—not being a literary scholar—make Emilia culpable for the deaths in this classic Shakespearean play.
Those that fault the protagonist for relatively easily falling to Iago’s collusion fail to understand the Moor’s character. He is a successful aged black man living in a foreign white society; he is unaware of common custom and is vulnerable to impressionability. Should an apparent friend (Iago) suggest Venetian wives are lustful (3.3.235) why wouldn't he believe the friend? Piling on top of his vulnerability is his insecurities. Because of his age and color, he does not believe he can compete with other suitors (3.3.298) and he is constantly degraded with animal names such as “goat, monkey, and Moor.” Iago—being and excellent schemer—takes full advantage of him.
Making Iago liable for the deaths in this play is logical, but it is unjust because he is mentally ill and therefore cannot be held responsible for his crimes. By Robert Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist, Iago is sociopath; he has “…charm…compulsively lies… [lacks] guilt...and [has] poor behavioral controls” (Cross, 8). The first two listed symptoms are all present in act three; Iago charmingly remains in Othello’s favor while lying about Cassio’s sleep and Desdemona’s handkerchief (3.3). In act five, the extent to his hysteria is vast. Without guilt, “Iago kills his wife” (5.2.282) and decides to “never…speak a word” (5.2.356). This overwhelming evidence of our antagonist’s loss of sensibility allows him to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
While Iago schemed for Othello’s fall from power to the point Fortune, Madness, and Othello’s ignorance were on his side, Emilia—Iago’s wife—had the ability to end the chaos. She conversed in dyadic form with Cassio, Iago, Othello, and Desdemona leading to the climax of the play and had all the information necessary to understand and impede Iago’s treachery.
In act three, Emilia steals Desdemona’s handkerchief and gives it to Iago (making her an accessory murder) who then “loses [it]…in Cassio’s lodging” (3.3.370). This hard evidence convinces Othello of Desdemona’s affair with Cassio and allows Iago’s plot to move forward. Later in the act, Emilia sees a heated argument between the Moor and Desdemona about said “handkerchief” (3.4.59). Her inability to see the consequences of her actions and speak out at this point characterizes her as weak and leads to the deaths that allow this play to be called a tragedy.
In act four, she is interrogated by Othello about Desdemona’s relationship with Cassio. Here, she could confess to her crime of stealing the handkerchief and lives would have been saved—instead, she unconvincingly vows there is no affair. In Act five, it is Emilia’s evidence that convinces the remaining characters of Iago’s evil. Evidence that, if revealed earlier, would have saved lives.
Emilia’s lack of questioning Iago’s motives and failure to spew her crime leads to the climatic massacre. Her weakness for attention and fear of punishment combined with Othello’s understandable vulnerability catalyzed Iago’s plot—a simple “I took the handkerchief” would have saved four redeemable characters’ lives. She was the sole character that had a chance to stop Iago’s wrath; and, when crazy people decide to plot against the world, it is the world’s job, not Morality’s, to stop them.
Work Cited:
Cross, Colleen. Anatomy of Ponzi: Scams past and Present. N.p.: Slice, 2014. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. <https://books.google.com/books?id=6A5pBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT5&lpg=PT5&dq=Anatomy+of+Ponzi:+scams+past+and+present&source=bl&ots=guCIu9kVi1&sig=EEEbb_aJ463BefTw6ccvTS5YEpM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YpnEVOnpBpPfgwTaj4H4DQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Anatomy%20of%20Ponzi%3A%20scams%20past%20and%20present&f=false>.
Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. New York: Washington Square, 2004. Print.
Cross, Colleen. Anatomy of Ponzi: Scams past and Present. N.p.: Slice, 2014. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. <https://books.google.com/books?id=6A5pBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT5&lpg=PT5&dq=Anatomy+of+Ponzi:+scams+past+and+present&source=bl&ots=guCIu9kVi1&sig=EEEbb_aJ463BefTw6ccvTS5YEpM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YpnEVOnpBpPfgwTaj4H4DQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Anatomy%20of%20Ponzi%3A%20scams%20past%20and%20present&f=false>.
Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. New York: Washington Square, 2004. Print.