Love

The Theme in the Work

In scene 3 of Act I, Othello sums up the courtship by saying that she loved him for the dangers he had passed and he loved her for the pity she felt for his sufferings, and Desdemona answers her father that her duty is divided, as her mother's once was. In scene 1 of Act II, the reunion in Cyprus is the play's highest point of contentment, and Othello fears his own happiness before any reason for jealousy: if death came now, it would be the greatest joy.

In scene 3 of Act III, before Iago raises any doubt about Desdemona, Othello already states what is at stake: when he stops loving her, it will be Chaos again. In scene 3 of Act IV, Desdemona sings the willow song, asks that, if she dies, they wrap her in the wedding sheets, and closes the night with a line about not repaying evil with evil.

In scene 2 of Act V, Othello kisses his sleeping wife and says that he will kill her and then love her. Desdemona denies it to the end and, with her last breath, spares her husband. His last words repeat the gesture that opened the murder: a kiss.

The play shows love in several ways, and Othello and Desdemona's is not the only one. Roderigo, in love with Desdemona without hope, tells Iago in scene 3 of Act I that he will drown himself, and Iago replies that the body is a garden and the will is its gardener, and that what Roderigo calls loving is only the lust of the blood: where he speaks of loving, Iago sees planting, staking, grafting. Bianca, in scene 4 of Act III, demands from Cassio the seven days in which he did not see her, and in Act V cries out his name when he is wounded in the street. Desdemona, for her part, tells the Senate that she has dedicated her soul to her husband's virtues and, in Act III, tells Othello that when she has a request to test his love, it will be a weighty one. Iago, who reduces love to will and interest, is the one who dismantles it in others.

The love in the play is a language of surrender that does not change between Act II and Act V: what changes is what Othello does with it. The same voice that said "Chaos again" says that he will kill her and then love her, and Desdemona keeps her love to the last line.

Where It Appears

• Scene 3 of Act I: Othello sums up the courtship to the Senate, saying that Desdemona loved him for the dangers he had passed, and Desdemona declares to her father that her duty is divided, as her mother's was.
• Scene 1 of Act II: Othello is reunited with Desdemona in Cyprus, at the play's highest point of contentment, and says that if death came at that instant, it would be the greatest joy.
• Scene 3 of Act III: After Desdemona leaves the stage, Othello declares that he loves her and that, on the day he stops loving her, it will be Chaos again, before Iago raises any doubt about her.
• Scene 3 of Act IV: Desdemona sings the willow song, asks that they wrap her in the wedding sheets if she dies, and takes leave with a plea to learn not to repay evil with evil.
• Scene 2 of Act V: Othello kisses the sleeping Desdemona and says he will kill her and then love her, and ends by killing himself so as to die with a kiss.

Passages

Othello sums up the courtship in two lines:

At the height of it, he fears that nothing will equal this moment:

Before Iago raises any doubt about Desdemona, he already speaks of ruin:

His last words repeat the gesture that opened the crime: