Who Was Responsible For Othello's Downfall

Othello, although first playing the role of a noble man who was in love actually turned out to be a spiteful foolish murderer. Even when breathing through his last words, he could not find it within himself to recall the great memories with his wife or even apologize for his wrong doing of killing her. This so called noble moor did not take responsibility for his actions as he tiptoed around the truth trying to manipulate the situation. Othello, in his final words, attempts to save his own reputation rather than express his remorse and repent for killing his wife Desdemona. Othello, a man who without his reputation would be greatly looked down upon due to his race, acknowledges the importance of upkeeping his name. Othello mentions, “I pray you, in your letters,/ when you shall these unlucky deeds relate,/ speak of me as I am” (5.2.382- 384). In his last speech, he assumes he is worth writing about and does not want it to be as what we see as the truth. Ironically, to the audience, we have seen Othello's downfalls and his inability to be selfless, open-minded, attentive and understanding to his wife, Desdemona. For if we were to write of who he was, it would sum up to something completely opposite than what Othello wishes for himself.

He states, “of one that loved not wisely, but too well;/ of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought,/ perplex’d in the extreme; of one whose hand,/like the base Judean, threw a pearl away/ richer than all his tribe..” (5.2.386-389). Of course from what we have witnessed, we can conclude we saw a lover who was dominant, abusive and obsessive. However, what Othello wishes people would say about him, is his own twisted alternate interpretation of his actions only to try and uphold his great reputation of a noble