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Recognition and Reversal: Othello

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Recognition and Reversal: Othello
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The greatest recognition in Othello occurs in Act V, Scene II, lines 87-91. Othello kills Desdemona. Then Cassio and Emilia appear and reveal Iago's evil plot and Desdemona’s innocence. Othello then realizes that he was wrong and that his trusted friend Iago has played him for a fool. Recognition again occurs in Act V.II. when Emilia hears Othello mentions the handkerchief, after he has killed Desdemona: "With that recognizance and pledge of love / Which I first gave her. I saw it in his hand; / It was a handkerchief, an antique token / My father gave my mother." (Othello, V.II. 221-224) Once Othello says this, Emilia knows that Iago is the person who set up Desdemona and Othello isn't the one to blame. Emilia keeps repeating the words, “My husband?” (Othello, V. II. 145, 152, 156) as she makes an incomprehensibly swift journey from knowing absolutely that Iago, her dear husband, is honest and totally trustworthy, to realizing that in fact he is a quintessential villain. The most powerful and heart-rending of these moments comes near the end of Othello, when Emilia, Desdemona’s friend and ally, realizes that her beloved husband Iago is the cause of all the misery and misfortune that is killing them all. Furthermore, she realizes that she has played an unintentional part in the tragedy by following Iago’s request to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief. It has all been a plot by Iago to destroy Othello and this is finally revealed to everyone, including Emilia. (Othello, V. II. 179-182, 187-189) Seeing Emila come to full awareness is to see first the emotional earthquake caused by such a revelation, and then to see a tsunami begin to build, as she shows heartbreak, guilt, awareness of betrayal, recognition of supreme cruelty on the part of someone she has trusted with her life. She finally bursts forth with the words,

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