pg. 1449
We brought up the question in class, but we never really came to the conclusion as to why Othello felt he had to kill Desdemona. Was it a custom back in those days, was he just overreacting, or was it just to move the plot along? My guess is the latter. When one considers the time that a play has to be performed in, it becomes obvious that things that would normally take a very long time to develop must be developed in the course of mere minutes. Dramatic situations have to happen to move a play along and therefore they may seem rash or unrealistic because of the hasty manner they take place in. One of the biggest problems that audiences face with Romeo & Juliet is that they believe the lovers fall in love too quickly. They argue that people who have been together such a short time would surely not die for each other. However, Shakespeare and other playwrights like him have a duty to keep an audience interested but to also keep their works short. Therefore, Othello had to kill Desdemona to move the plot along. It was a significant even that changed the story from there on out. Had Othello not killed her, nothing would have been found out and the denouement wouldn't have even been possible.
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