Othello - Act 5 scene 1

How does Shakespeare create a sense of fear and confusion in Act 5 scene 1?


Setting

Language

Structure of lines

Use of characters

Shakespeare sets this scene in Cyprus in which Othello is part of the venetian military. Shakespeare sets this scene at  ‘Night’ on ‘A Street’ in a land away from Othello's home, this may create a sense of fear and confusion to the audience and the characters on stage. This night time setting may symbolise the hidden truth about Desdemona's fake infidelity and Iago's truth being revealed as Rodrigo has found his true nature out. This then evokes catharsis as the audience have fear in Desdemona and Iago to what will happen to them. 

Shakespeare also creates fear and confusion through Iago being manipulative throughout the play which lead him to being shown as the devil. This then creates fear in the audience as they would be scared of the devil. Towards the end of Act 5 scene 1, it is shown that Shakespeare has created fear and confusion through Iagos aside. The audience start to feel fear for the characters that are involved in the tragedy as Iago uses an aside to communicate to the audience, 'this is the night that either makes me or for does me quite.' This implies that he could be successful in his plan to take down Othello or fail in it. But the audience are unaware of which way this could happen therefore it creates fear and confusion for the audience. 

In this scene Shakespeare presents Iago as a fearful character, due to his realisation that his plan could fall apart due to Rodrigo saying that he will ask for all of his gifts back from Desdemona. Although this is ironic as Iago has just been keeping these gifts. Even though his plan is going to fall apart he is still shown as a strong character through his determination, 'He calls me to a restitution large.'  This si then shown through his jealousy of not having such a high status and wanting the role of lieutenant. 

Shakespeare also uses short lines with punctuation of exclamation marks and question marks in order for the audience to feel fear and confusion, 'thou diest!' This gives the audience the impression that the characters feel scared, therefore they are started to speak louder which gradually leads to shouting. At the start of this extract Iago has long speeches, but as it gets to the end his speeches are much shorter, this shows his fear as it shows lower power and fear also shows signs of weaknesses. Shakspeare also uses various different entrances exits and entrances in this scene. Having a lot of characters on the stage can cause the audience to have confusion, but this also creates an extremely manic atmosphere due to the amount of characters around and there are a lot of people to have to follow.