Othello - The End

Tragedies always tend to leave a bad taste in my mouth. This one, certainly, was no exception. I mean, the mandatory ending in which about half of the major characters all kill each other usually makes it all worthwhile, but usually it doesn't quite go how I want it to. The wrong people get killed off and the deaths are kind of crappy. Now, I knew going into this that Othello was going to die, since it's a tragedy and all, but by the end there I was reeeeeally pulling for Desdemona. I didn't start off with a whole boatload of sympathy for the lady, but after about three acts of "I really don't understand why you're angry with me," I felt kind of bad for her. I think that the worst thing about the ending is that she doesn't even know why this is happening. Othello doesn't say "I'm going to kill you because you cheated on me." He just leads with "I'm going to kill you," and then he does. Frankly, Willy, I feel that she deserves better than that, you've been jerking her around for three acts now, I think she deserves an explanation. Othello killed himself, which is certainly to be expected. Frankly, I don't really care, by the end of the play, I'd decided he was an utter scumbag. I don't care if he personally saw Desdemona doing the nasty with the whole cast, nothing gives him the right to put his hands on a lady. I was also a tad disappointed in the ultimate fate of Iago. He doesn't actually die, he just gets wounded and then stops talking. I feel that one of the most outright evil characters I've ever encountered definitely ought to die, at the very least. I think it's just a bit silly to spend a whole play building up this character to be so totally hateable, and then you just...wound...him.... Disappointing.

Furthermore, I was extremely disappointed that the Duke did not make a reappearance at the end in order to give us all an inspirational speech. I was really looking forward to that...