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 flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore
Should I repent me. But once put out thy light, (Othello V.ii. 1-10).
In this scene, Othello prepares himself for the heinous act of murdering Desdemona. Before he does so, he needs to find reason and enough justification for his murderous act. He repeats “it is the cause” three times to show that there is enough passion and reason in his acts. He can no longer stand to suffer the torment of being a cuckold. He is an accomplished general, a man of stature and is humiliated and embarrassed by the supposed infidelity of faith Desdemona. There is irony in Othello’s words when he says “I’ll not shed her blood” (V.ii. 3). He wants Desdemona’s death to be noble is some way but forgets to acknowledge that death is still death. What he is seeking to preserve by not spilling her blood or scaring her skin is his own reputation and ideas about what a faithful wife should be like.
There are inconsistencies in Othello’s justification for murder. He does not acknowledge that he is murdering her because of jealous. He says that “she must die or else she will betray more men” (V.ii. 6). Desdemona is depicted as a dangerous loose woman who if not put down will destroy the lives of more men. The truth is that this is not the case. She is a kind hearted woman who is caught in Iago’s schemes and Othello’s inability to decipher that he is part of an elaborate, malevolent schemes of Iago. The repetition of “It is the cause” and “put out the light” shows how Othello is struggling to affirm his decision. In his mind the more he repeats it, the better he is convinced that Desdemona is guilty.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor
of Venice. New York: Washington Square Press, 1993. Print.
