portionateness, a want of balance, in Desdemona, which Shakespeare does not appear to have in the least contemplated.' (Appendix) In Act 2, again conversing with Roderigo, Iago states that she will find the fault in her choice because she will notice how Othello lacks, IAGO: love-liness in favor, sympathy in years, manners andbeauties. Othello 2.1.226-228 Everyone seems to believe that Desdemona has little knowledge of the actions she is taking, and all the characters see the marriage as an inevitable failure. One of the most controversial scenes in all of Shakespeare takes place in the bedchamber where the Moor's virtuous wife sleeps soundly. The action is slowed down to a sombre pace. Othello has reverted to a savage-like state as everyone had suspected. Desdemona's death was inevitable or rather expected by everyone who first saw the marriage between the two as forbidden. However, Othello's death is much more symbolic because it represents the 'other' failing after trying to achieve the status of the white man. Othello ultimately acknowledges the fact that he is an 'other' when he realises his irreconcilable fault and chooses to take his own life. Thus upon his suicide his last words implicate that those who stand in his presence should speak of him as he truly is, and know that, OTHELLO: Like the base Judean, threw a pearl awayRicher than all his tribe Othello 5.2.345-346 At the end of the play Othello commits suicide in front of the audience, a public declaration of his shame at his dishonour, brought about by Iago, but only because he was able to play on the insecurities buried deep within Othello. Clearly, the binary opposition represented in the relationship between the black Othello and the white Desdemona is an illustration of cultural tension. The failure of these two individuals to mate successfully demonstrates a cultural failure. Racism is the tool used in Othello by Iago to destroy the lives of two visually different type...
