her blood a second time. His second suggestion of poisoning her reminds us that Othello is truly the one respnsible for Desdemona’s "impurity". The image of his giving his wife a poison is a distorted image of his sexually contaminating her through intercourse. At Iago’s suggestion, Othello decides to strangle her in "the bed she hath contaminated". Shakespeare makes it abiguous with whom Desdemona has contaminated the bed. At first glance, Iago seems to be referring to Desdemona’s supposed affair with Cassio. However, Shakespeare never suggests that they used Desdemona and Othello’s bed. The only person we know for sure that had intercourse with Desdemona in that bed, thereby contaminating it, is Othello. Also importantly, Othello’s decision to strange his wife is an attempt to purify Desdemona and the bed: "Yet I’ll not shed her blood". Neither his wife or his bed will be stained with "lust’s blood." Emilia foreshadows Othello’s attempt to undo the consummation when she says "I might do’t as well I’ the dark…and undo’t when I had done". As if in response to her words, Othello says that he will "Put out the light [the candle], and then put out the light [Desdemona]" Furthermore, Janet Adelman states "…if virginity is the ground of Othello’s desire, death is its only preservative." Once Othello has "raped" Desdemona, she must die. In death, Desdemona loses her sexuality, thus regaining her purity and virginity. Othello can now absolve himself for making her impure, and once again admit his love for his wife: "I will kill thee,/And love thee after".Othello’s downfall was the result of his own devising. Iago may have aggravated the situation, but Othello’s own anxiety toward Desdemona’s sexuality would have forced her death regardless. The patriarchal society demands that a woman must not have desires of her own. In the ...
