We spent a good deal of time in class discussing what “The Moor of Venice” meant, and we came to many interesting conclusions. I believe that we get some closure to this issue at the end of the play within Othello’s last breaths. HIs final speech displays not only his final thoughts before death, but also speak to his perspective on his actions and what he has done. This is where he famously says about himself “[as] one that loved not wisely, but too well” (V.II.363). He recalls his actions as ones done from someone who is “not easily jealous” (V.II.364), but by someone who was tricked. By the end of his speech, he gives me the feeling that his pride has gotten in the way of his ability to see reality, so in the end he is able to equate his killing of his wife to throwing a pearl away, not knowing it’s worth.

The most interesting part of his speech is the very end, in which he is drawing upon allegories related to his situation. The last one he thinks of involves comparing himself to a Turk he beat in the street for beating a Venetian. He stabs himself immediately after, and the biggest question I had was why was this his last speech, his last say in the story? After much thought, I decided that a pretty plausible reason for it ties in with the secondary title of the play, The Moor of Venice. We talked about what this title really means in reference to Othello, and I believe the ending speaks to that. Othello is, at the end of the play, comparing himself to a Turk, or a Moor. He dies with this comparison clinging to his heart, and so it makes sense for the play to have this title, as it is ultimately how Othello views himself at the end of his life.