Othello V.2.1 "It is the cause"It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,

It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!
It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood;
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then Put out the light.
If I quench thee, thou naming minister,
I can again thy former light restore,
Should I repent me: but once put out thy light,
Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat
That can thy light relume.

-Othello V.2.1-13

This soliloquy of Othello’s precedes his murder of Desdemona. Othello opens mid-thought, stating “It is the cause,” though we must supply what he is thinking about. We could see these words as an explanation of why Desdemona, in Othello’s mind has been unfaithful. Also we can see them as a declaration of the cosmic cause for Othello’s unfortunate situation. The following imager involving light and stars supports this reading. Othello also mentions his soul after this statement. We could interpret this as a confession that his soul is in fact the cause of the trouble in the plot. This brings up issues of race and the assumption that Othello’s soul is somehow inferior to that of a white man. In this reading, Othello claims that his inferior soul is the cause for his misfortune. In juxtaposition with the mentioning of “light” so many times, this implication takes on more significance. Othello points out the distance between himself and the “whiter skin of hers than snow” that belongs to Desdemona. By underlining the fact that her skin is so white, he brings his darkness further under speculation. This speech could be seen as a self conscious acknowledgement of his supposed fault in attempting to marry a white woman. It reflects the cultural assumptions of the time that this match is somehow wrong and causes tragedy. In this way the play presents the true tragic flaw of Othello as his blackness, rather than his rash jealousy.

Alyssa Snyder
Discusion 1E