r, glory, and excellence of tongue, his final words show that he does not quite understand himself or what he has done. His goal is to tell the emissaries from Venice what has happened, but he lacks insight in his articulation. Every step of his short recitation reveals an inaccuracy or a blinding of a personal problem. Othello says he "loved not wisely, but too well." (V.2.404) It is true that he did not love wisely, but neither did he love too well. His marriage is based on storytelling and pity; he objectifies his wife at every point, and does not trust her in the least. And while it might be debatable whether Othello is "easily jealous" or just gullible, he does buy Iago's tale of deceit based on a handkerchief and words. (V.2.405) This is all Othello says in relation, besides a description of his tears - which, no doubt, are real and genuine - and begins to set up his suicide. Othello blames not his rashness or judgmental faults, but rather condemns his hand for the sin he commits ("of one whose hand, / … threw a pearl away"). (V.2.404) This idea that his body is somehow possessed with evil, but not his mind, is perpetuated in his last words:And say besides, that in Aleppo once,Where a malignant and a turbanned TurkBeat a Venetian and traduced the state,I took by th' throat the circumcised dog,And smote him, thus. Othello truly believes that a malignant Turk has taken over the good Venetian within him. He still does not see that his faults are exploited by Iago and used against him. Although he kills himself in such a dignified fashion, Othello is really thinking that he was forced to do this by some unseen evil power. He never has any complete sense of tragic recognition.Shakespeare sets up Othello as his perfect leader: no one ever questions his ability to conduct an army (because he does not engage in combat during the play, this opinion must be drawn from the lack of negative sentiment from anyone in the play). He speaks ...
