Springtime - O Henry

Springtime - O Henry

A famous American short story writer William Sydney Porter is known to the literary world as O. Henry. When he was 22, he moved to New York and published over three hundred short stories under the pen name of O. Henry. His short stories are marked with realistic details culminated with effective surprising endings.

“Springtime” is a beautiful romantic love story between Sarah, a typist at a restaurant in New York and Walter Franklin, a farmer in the country. Sarah, a beautiful young lady with fine figure working as a typist in Schulenberg Home Restaurant. It was just next door to the red-brick building where she had a living room. Sarah has to type menu cards and bills of fare every day for 21 tables of Schulenberg Home Restaurant.  

Sarah, an intelligent young lady, chose to work on a typewriter. Though she did not type very quickly yet she did her work skillfully and pleasantly. Mr. Schulenberg was delighted at her work and willingly agreed to send her room three meals a day. Sarah had to prepare menu cards for 21 tables of the restaurant every day.  She listed the dishes so temptingly in each of the menu to catch the eye of the costumer. However, she did not feel quite happy despite her comfortable life.

In the summer of the last year, Sarah had gone into the country and had fallen in love with a young farmer, Walter Franklin. Together they sat and wove a crown of dandelions to her nut brown hair. He praised the effect of those yellow flowers against to her nut brown hair. They decided to marry at the very signs of the next spring.

Sarah returned to New York to hit the typewriter. One afternoon she was shaking with cold in her room. A waiter came to her and handed the list of the menu written in unreadable hand writing. There were many changes in the menu than usual. She classified all dishes properly. When she was typing the list of fruits she reminded the arrival of the spring. Tears welled up in her eyes by remembering her lover, Walter. She had not received any letter from him for more than two weeks. The lonely time proves to be depressing for Sarah. The memories of Walter tormenting her ceaselessly.

One-day, as Sarah began her typing work for the day, one item among the list of menu that read Dandelions with Eggs.  This upset her as she remembered Walter’s offer of the crown made of dandelions. Immediately tears welled up in her eyes by the memory of dandelions. Sarah tried to force back her tears to type the menu cards.

At six O’clock the waiter brought her dinner and carried away the typewritten menu. She ate her food sadly and after a while she sat for reading. As settled down for reading the front-door bell rang. The landlady answered it. Sarah left her book and listened. The farmer Walter Franklin had come there in search of Sarah.  Listening to this Sarah rushed to meet him and cried “Why haven’t you written?”

Franklin had come to New York a week ago and went to her old address. But she had left that house. He searched for her. She told him that she had written to him but that had not reached him. In the course of his search for her he had somehow come to the restaurant that evening. When he saw the typewritten menu-card, he observed certain clues in it and instantly he shouted for the owner and got her address.

The capital letter ‘W’ in the menu card was above the line. In the upper right-hand corner a tear had fallen between two titles of dishes on the list was description: ‘Dearest Walter, with hard-boiled Egg’. It was the surest sign that the lovelorn Sarah had typed it. Through the owner’s help, he lands in Sarah’s room. For Sarah and Walter, it is a God-sent gift.

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If You Are True To Your Gift – Irakli Abashidaze

If You Are True to Your Gift - Irakli Abashidaze

Irakli Abashidaze was a Georgian poet, a literary scholar and a politician born in 1909. Most of his poems were patriotic but normally loyal to Soviet Union. In this poem ‘If Your Are True To Your Gift’, the poet expresses his true feelings about life and its importance. The poet says that if a person is true to the gift i.e. ‘life’ given to us by the God and if that gift is true, then such a gift opens the radiant and dazzling gates of the dawn. If a person is true to his life and has some moral values in his life, nothing can harm his life (gift). The three beasts or the three plagues i.e. neither ‘Old Age’, nor ‘Time’ nor ‘Space’ can do anything to the gift of life.

The Poet says that the bells will toll and the old age which is like a bandit (thief) would come creeping. Man will not be known that his worn out face in his own old age when it comes to him.  As time passes old age comes to a person, his knees are bent and crippled but his daily life goes on through ages till the end of his life.

Man has to face the physical changes that are brought about the Time but his ethical (moral) values should be retained as it is till the end. His screen (vision) grows dimmer and greyer. The charm of a person will be faded away by the Time day by day. Man is not the same next day even though he is clad in precious stone from ‘Eklari’; he is unaware of the sudden movement of the swift wings of the bats.

The bells will toll as long as man lives then he says a few sundry words and leads his life after sometime he makes room for the new generation. He is uprooted from this Earth just leaving his outline in this world. Some other person will soon fill his place. They say that the voice of a person leaves a visible phrase of him. Hence the poet says that if we are true to our lives and led a worthy life properly and morally that itself is a gift to us. Each and every person should know – what you are? What is the purpose of life? And use this gift of life in a most perfect way as it is required. Then they wouldn’t have any fear for man about his life because the Time, Old Age and Space will spare him and do not harm.

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WINDHOVER--To Christ our Lord

WINDHOVER--To Christ our Lord

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889)

I caught this morning morning's minion, Kingdom

Of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding

Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding:

High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing

In his ecstasy! Then off forth on swing,

As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding

Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding

Stirred for a bird,--- the achieve of, the mastery of the thing

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here

Buckle! And the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion

Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!

No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down sillion

Shine, and blue --bleak embers, ah my dear,

Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.

Glossary:

The windhover: a kestrel, a small hawk that hovers in the wind

minion : wings of a pet bird

dauphin: heir (figuratively)

rolling level underneath him steady air : this refers to the buoyancy of the air to lift up the bird while flying.

how he rung :  the line brings out the poet's joy and surprise

'rung upon the rein' : checked at the rein's end i.e., the speed of flying.

Buckle: to fasten

chevalier: a knight of the medieval times

sillion: furrow made by ploughing

ah, my dear: refers to Jesus Christ as the subtitle of the poem indicates.

fall …. Vermilion: this is a reference to Christ's bleeding on the crucifix.

Summary:

                           

Gerard Manley Hopkins was the pioneer of the Modern English verse. Like many other poets he too was highly experimental in writing the modern verse. As a poet, he has the originality of thought and style. His poems are capturing at the beauty and splendour of the Nature, which he saw as a manifestation of God's glory. His concepts of inscape, instress and sprung rhythm gave rise to new aesthetic theory and today he is seen as the first of the moderns. But his critics often commented that his poetry was imperfect in many ways.

As a parson G. M. Hopkins glorifies the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the poem The Windhover. The windhover, the falcon, symbolises the spiritual majesty and the glory of Jesus Christ.

One day, early in the morning Hopkins saw a falcon flying. It seemed the steady air held him up in his flight. The flight of the bird and gliding with its stretched wings was so majestic. He sails smoothly and glided over. It is just a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend.  The majesty of the brute beauty and valorous act appease our eyes and gladden our hearts. The chivalrous heroic deeds are lovely though it sounds dangerous. The furrows made by plough while ploughing reminds us the past activities of Jesus Christ and suffering himself on the Cross.

Jesus Christ suffered the inexplicable pain inflicted on him at the time of crucification was a supreme sacrifice. This indicates the glory and spiritual height he attained. Thus G. M. Hopkins poems are full of religious with pure spiritual experience.

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Channel Firing – Thomas Hardy

Channel Firing – Thomas Hardy

“Channel Firing”; The poem is an illustrative of Thomas Hardy’s view that the pain-inducing flaws in the nature of things are ever present and eternal. This of course is not Hardy’s only view on the war subject. Inconsistently, in some poems, he implies a view that history had degenerated to a condition of endurable suffering and disillusionment, and that time should stop before things get worse.

‘Channel Firing’ is Thomas Hardy’s way of saying that war is pointless. They’ve been around forever, but what was truly been accomplished by it?

The narrator is a dead person awoke from its eternal sleep in its grave by cannons going off out at sea to practise firing just before World War I. At first the narrator believes, it is ‘God’s Judgement Day’. Then Hardy states that the mouse and the worms got scared by the roaring sound of the guns, but the glebe cow, or cow at a church used for keeping the grass short, just drools as if understands too well what is going on thus the guns going off is expected.

Then God tells the narrator that it is not Judgement Day, and that the noises are from gunnery practice at sea. He says the world is just like it used to be. God also tells the dead that those involved in the war do not do anything more than the dead people in their graves as far as forwarding his purposes. He says that most of the living are lucky. It isn’t Judgement Day because they could all being sweeping the floors of Hell for their threats of war. Then one of the dead asks themselves if the world will ever understand what it’s meant for, or if it will always be as confusing as when that dead person was alive. Another one of the dead persons is a preacher who says he wished he would have just smoked and drank instead of preaching. The final stanza mentions avenging, or getting revenge for, at three places Stourton Tower, Camelot and Stonehenge.

The essence of the poem is a criticism of war and of the endless human desire to have war and violence. Hardy points out that though it occurs time and time again, and though it is incredible devastation, people are too crazy to stop, and would always continue to make red war more redder though it displeases and doesn’t honour God(s).

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Channel Firing – Thomas Hardy

Channel Firing, one of the few war poems in the selection, is by far the most savagely critical in its scornful condemnation of man's irredeemable desire for conflict.

The poem is spoken in the first person by one of the dead buried in a church the windows of which have been shattered by the report of guns being fired for "practice" in the English Channel.  So great is the disturbance that the skeletons believe Judgement Day (the resurrection of the dead) has and make all suddenly sitting up in readiness for the great day. Then the poem takes an irreverent turn as Hardy introduces God to the proceedings, reassuring the corpses that it is not time for the Judgement Day but merely "gunnery practice", adding that the world is as it was when the dead men "went below" to their graves.  That is to say, every country is trying to make its methods of destruction more efficient, and shed more blood, making "red war yet redder".  The living are seen as being insane and no more ready to exercise Christian love than are the dead, who are perforce "helpless in such matters".  In other words, they do nothing "for Christ’s sake". 

God continues, observing that those responsible for the "gunnery practice" are fortunate that it is not the day of judgement,  as, if it were, their bellicose threats would be punished by their having to scour the floor of Hell. Hell seems to be the appropriate place for the war-makers.  With a hint of malice God suggests that He will ensure that His judgement day is far hotter, though He concedes that He may not bother as eternal rest seems more suited to the human condition.  The blowing of trumpet signals the end of the world.

God's remarks being at an end, the skeletons voice their own opinions of the gunnery practice, wondering if sanity will ever be achieved by man.  Significantly, while many of the skeletons nod as if to suggest that man will never learn, the parson regrets having spent his life giving sermons which have had no effect on his congregation: "preaching forty year" has made no difference to his hearers.

In the final stanza of the poem Hardy writes of how the threatening sound of the guns, ready "to avenge” resounds far inland, as far as the places he names.  The landmarks to which Hardy refers are not chosen merely to provide authentic local detail. By invoking the dead civilizations of the past, Hardy sets the poem in a far more expansive historical time-scale.  Perhaps he further suggests that civilizations (including his own?) are doomed because man's nature never makes any moral advance.

12 Manners to get respect from others

12 Manners to get respect from others

The Golden word is “Mannerism make a man, good manners make a good man.”

Sometimes, even educated people behave unnatural way even in trifle matters and become cheap in the eyes of others. So to avoid such embarrassing situations, it is well and good to observe the following 12 points and be dignified.

1. Never read the letters of even your closest relatives, friends, and family members like brothers / sisters. If you read their letters, they will treat you a person without manners.

2. Never show interest in others personal matters and do not read their personal diaries.

3. Never see their SMSs in their cell phones and also their money purses.

4. Don’t see their albums, unless they request you to see them and also not pass your comments about the album’s nature and external appearance.

5. Switch off the cell phones or keep them in silent mode, when you are attending the official meetings, cultural programmes and also during dinner times in the presence of guests.

6. Whenever guest visit your home, open the door and invite them politely and walk behind them (not in front of them) and make them be seated comfortably either in the chairs or in a sofa.

7. Whenever you go to your friend’s house, take with you, sweets and fruits and for the children biscuits and chocolates etc.

8. Whenever anyone visits your home, usually they bring something for you and to your children also and you also reciprocate them in the same manner.

9. Whenever you have taken help from others, express your gratitude by saying words like, ‘thanks or please…’, etc. you will get good impression in their opinion about you. Give tips to waiters in hotels or restaurants.

10. During parties or in functions take the food items along with the guests (not alone) and also it is good to serve each other and drink together. It is a good social behaviour.

11. While taking coffee, tea or cool drink in the office, always keep the office files on your left side (not on a right side).

12. A simple smile on your face brings laurels and creates good impression on you in other’s minds; moreover it costs nothing but fetches everything.

‘Give respect and take respect’ is a good slogan and keep it in your mind, wherever you go and whatever your profession and position may be.

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Waterloo - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Waterloo - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Summary 

There are four characters in this play. Corporal Brewster aged ninety-six, Norah Brewster, his grandniece, Sergeant McDonald and Colonel Midwinter. In a front room in a small country house there is a roughly made painting of Corporal Brewster in a red coat with a bearskin. On one side of the portrait, there is a cutting from a newspaper framed, and on the other, there is a medal also within a frame. 

Norah Brewster comes in with a bundle of her luggage. She finds nobody at home. She is impressed with her grand-uncle's portrait and medal. Her granduncle seems to have been neglected, so she has come to look after him. The housekeeper seems to have gone after lighting the fire. Norah waxes to prepare food for her granduncle. She thinks only a brave man dared to fight against him. 

Just then Sergeant McDonald has come to see Corporal Gregory Brewster, who was in the Scots Guards and who fought in the battle of Waterloo. Then the Sergeant goes out wishing to come again in an hour or two when he comes back from the butts. Then Norah asks who she will say came for him. He returns and says that he is Sergeant McDonald of Artillery. He has heard that the old gentleman was not properly looked after. Norah says that that is why her father sent her to do what she could. She is preparing tea for the old man. McDonald says that there is not many living now who can say that they fought against Napoleon Bonaparte. He reads the slip of paper beside the medal. There is the date, August 1815: He also reads the cutting of the newspaper. There's the heading "Heroic Deed" and the following report: "On Tuesday an interesting ceremony was performed at the barracks of the third regiment of the Guards and a special meal was presented to Corporal Gregory Brewster in recognition of his bravery in the recent great battle. On the 18th of June four companies of the Third Guards held the important farmhouse of Hougoumont. At a critical period of the action the troops found themselves short of powder, and Corporal Brewster was sent to bring the reserve ammunition. The Corporal returned with two carts, but he found that in his absence the French had ignited the hedge around the farm and the passage of the carts had become almost impossibility. The first cart exploded, killing the driver and his comrade turned his horses, but Corporal Brewster jumped into his seat, threw the driver down and drove the cart through the flames and rejoined his comrades and the battle was bravely won." He hands back the frame and Norah says that they are all proud of her uncle. 

Taking his carbine, the Sergeant goes and Norah thinks that he kindly reads to her all about her uncle. Her uncle calls Mary, the housekeeper, to give him his food. Corporal Brewster enters. He is walking unsteadily. He's very thin, bent and his hair is white and his face is wrinkled. When he walks across the room, Norah looks at the man first and then at his picture on the wall. The old man is dissatisfied and asks for food because the cold has injured him without food. He wants to have tea. Then Norah introduces her as his brother, George's granddaughter and he is surprised at his little George having a girl. He remembers that he gave a pup to his brother and asks her if he did not give it to her to bring. And Norah replies that her grandfather died twenty years before. He drinks tea with loud supping. She gives him butter and egg and he eats voraciously. He asks her if she came by coach yesterday. Then she replies that she came by the morning train. But the old man is afraid of the new things. He wonders how she travelled more than twenty miles in the morning. He is surprised at the rapid progress in the world. He says that he gets energy from food. Life does not seem very long to him. He is over ninety, but he thinks that he got his bounty only yesterday and he still feels the smell of the burned powder on his nose. He is proud of the day when he was given the medal. He coughs and drinks medicine out of the bottle. 

A regiment of soldiers is coming down the street. Norah is quite excited. The old man wants his glasses and complains that bands don't seem to play as loud nowadays as they used to. He wants to know their number, but Norah says they have no numbers, but names. He is not very happy with this change. He enjoys watching them march and swing. He feels pain in his chest and his skin also causes him pain. 

The Sergeant appears again in the room. He wants to see the old man. He says that he is proud and glad to see the old man. He salutes him. Norah is half frightened and half attracted to see the young man. The old man asks him to sit down. When he sees the three stripes, he says that it is three times easier to these days. The Sergeant introduces himself and says that all his mates are proud to have the old man in the town. He also invites the old man to the non-commissioned mess to have a pipe and a glass of rum. The Corporal says that he will go there in fine weather. He is happy to hear about the non-commissioned mess. When the Sergeant asks him if he was in the Guards, he replies that he was in the Scots Guards. He adds that all the Guardsmen from the Colonel Byng to the drummer boys have marched away and that he is still here as a loafer. He thinks that it is not his fault because he can't leave his post without being called. The Sergeant gives him a pouch of tobacco. He tries to fill his clay pipe, but drops it. It breaks and he begins to sob like a child. The Sergeant soothes him by giving him his wooden pipe and he smiles instantly bursting through his tears. He says that it's a fine pipe, and that his brother, George, never had pipes like this. He also wants to have the feel of the carbine and is surprised at it. Then the Sergeant goes out. Norah thinks that he will be like her granduncle in sixty years and that her granduncle was once like him. The old man asks her to move his chair to the door. It will be warm there and the flies won't disturb him. 

The old man then asks Norah to read to him from the Bible. He wants her to read about the wars and soldiers. When Norah says that it's all peace in the next world, he replies that there will be the final battle of Armageddon. He wants to go back to the corner. When he is rising, Colonel Midwinter comes in civilian costume. He has come to see the Corporal (the old man). When he introduces himself as the Colonel of the Scots Guards, the Corporal jumps to his feet and salutes Then he staggers and is about to fall. The Colonel and Norah support him. He feels very happy that the colonel has come to visit him. The Colonel also says that they are proud of the Corporal in London. He tells the Colonel about his health. But his memory is excellent. He remembers the names of every person in the company and every detail of the battle. The most impressive thing of his life was that he lost three half-crowns that he lent to Jabes Smith at Brussels. The Colonel says that the officers of the Guards want him to buy him some little present which may add to his comfort. Then the Corporal requests the Colonel to do him a favor He wishes to have a flag and a firing party when he dies because he is not a civilian and he also wants two lines of the bearskins after his coffin The Colonel says that he will see to it but hopes that they may have nothing but good news from him. And he goes out. 

Norah supposes that the old man is asleep. But he is so grey and thin that he frightens her. She wishes she had someone to advise her when he is ill and when he is not. Suddenly the Sergeant enters and asks how he is. But she feels quite frightened about him. He hopes that the sleep will bring strength to him. He has collected a pound of fine tobacco for the old man. He asks her if she has been to the barrack and requests her to come with her granduncle. The old man, in a loud voice says that the Guards need powder and struggles to rise. Norah is frightened. He again says that the Guards need powder and falls back into the chair. Norah and the Sergeant rush to him. Norah starts to sob and asks what he thinks of the old man. The Sergeant seriously replies that the corporal is dead and with his old companions. 

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1984 – George Orwell

1984 – George Orwell 

Summary of the Novel 

The concepts of free enterprise and individual freedom no longer exist in 1984. Only three superpowers remain to dominate a world of Hatred, Isolation, and Fear. Eurasia and Eastasia are two of these superpowers. Oceania, the other, is always at war with one of them. 

Winston Smith is a 39-year-old employee at the Ministry of Truth, London, located in Oceania. His world is shaped by the Party and its dictator/leader Big Brother, whose face is everywhere on posters captioned “Big Brother Is Watching You.” Big Brother controls life in Oceania through the four ministries of Peace, Love, Plenty, and Truth. Winston’s job at the Ministry of Truth involves revisions of historical documents and rewrites of News stories to reflect the Party’s infallibility. 

The Party, which carries out government policies in Oceania, rations food, issues clothing, and selects social activities. Both chocolate and tobacco are in short supply during this latest war. Winston’s clothing, including his tattered pajamas, is government issued, and his evenings are spent in government-sponsored meetings. 

War and Hatred dominate Oceania, where the Party monitors every move and expression with telescreens, hidden microphones, and spies. The Thought Police, Big Brother’s secret militia, help the Party quell any sign of revolt by eliminating all who think or behave in a disloyal fashion. Hate Week intensifies feeling against Emmanuel Goldstein, Enemy of the People, while increasing devotion to Big Brother. The Party also preaches that the proles (proletarians), the majority, are natural inferiors to be kept in check. 

The Party, however, does not completely control Winston. He secretly buys an illegal diary in which he writes the heresy “Down with Big Brother.” In doing so, he commits the worst offense, “thought crime,” a new speak term for the “essential crime that contained all others in itself.” Many of Winston’s thoughts revolve around his attempts to remember various events and people from his childhood, especially his mother who had disappeared years before. Winston tries to investigate the specifics of life in London before the Revolution, but it seems the Party has been successful in eradicating all remnants of daily life in the past. 

Winston enters into an affair with the free-spirited Julia, a fellow employee at the Ministry of Truth. At the beginning they view their desire for one another as a political act against the Party dominated by hate and suspicion. Since promiscuity among Party members has been forbidden, they view their affair as an act of rebellion. As the affair continues, Winston’s feelings for Julia change. Although the couple knows the affair is doomed, they continue to meet secretly in an attic room above a junk shop owned by Mr. Charrington, the man who sold the diary, and later, a coral paperweight, to Winston. The lovers discuss the repressiveness of their lives and the possibility of joining the Brotherhood, the secret underground of Emmanuel Goldstein whose express purpose is to overthrow Big Brother. 

At work at the Ministry of Truth, Winston is approached by O’Brien, an acquaintance who seems to share his views. After Winston and Julia visit O’Brien at his apartment, he recruits them as members of the Brotherhood and promises to send them a copy of Goldstein’s book, which details strategies to destroy Big Brother. Winston pledges to do whatever it takes, including murder and suicide, to erode the power of the Party. 

The inevitable occurs when Julia and Winston are arrested in their secret room, betrayed by Mr. Charrington, a member of the Thought Police. Winston is taken to the Ministry of Love where he is starved, beaten, and tortured during the next months in an effort to “cure” him. Ironically, his torturer is O’Brien, who confirms his identity as a dedicated Inner Party member. Winston submits after a long struggle when he is taken to the mysterious room 101 and threatened with a cage of hungry rats prepared to devour him. At this point he finally betrays Julia. 

Soon Winston is released, but he awaits the bullet he knows will extinguish him. He unexpectedly runs into Julia, who admits that she too had betrayed their love. Surprisingly, Winston feels no desire for her, preferring instead to take his usual seat at the Chestnut Street Cafe where he spends another night in his habitual alcoholic stupor. Winston knows that it is only a matter of time before the Party executes him; nevertheless, when the telescreen barks the news of the army’s latest victory, he weeps with joy. The Party finally controls Winston, whose defeat is summed up in the final sentence, “He loved Big Brother.”  

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Othello - William Shakespeare

Othello – William Shakespeare (Summary of Act V)

Iago and Roderigo wait outside the brothel where Cassio visits Bianca. Iago keeps Roderigo in a position with a rapier where he will be able to ambush Cassio. Iago then withdraws himself though roderigo asks him not to go too far in case he needs his help in killing Cassio. Cassio enters and Roderigo stabs at Cassio but fails to pierce Cassio’s armour. In self-defense, Cassio immediately stabs Roderigo and wounds him fatally. In this commotion, Iago darts out from his hiding and stabs Cassio in the leg and exits.   Not knowing who has stabbed him, Cassio falls crying ‘murder’, ‘murder’.  At this same moment, Othello hearing Cassio’s frantic cries of murder and believes that Iago has killed Cassio. Then, Othello returns to his bedchamber under the influence of Iago’s successful vengeance to kill his own wife, Desdemona.

Othello enters his bedchamber holding a candle and stands over his sleeping wife, Desdemona and prepares to kill her. He bends down to kiss her once before he does his deed. She wakes up as he is trying to kiss her. He tells her to prepare to die. Growing frightened, Desdemona asks her husband why he means to kill her. Othello tells her that she has been unfaithful to him with Cassio for which he had a proof in the handkerchief. She pleads with him for her innocence and tries to convince him about her honesty against his charges of guilt. Othello refuses to believe Desdemona’s denial of his charges, saying that Cassio has confessed but he will speak no more, since he has been killed by Iago.  Desdemona begins to weep for Cassio, as she hears about his death, which only drives Othello into a greater rage. Othello tries to strangle her. Struggling to escape from manly grip of her husband she begs him to allow her to live just a little longer. In spite of her helpless begging, Othello finally succeeds in smothering his wife. By the time, Emilia calls from outside the door. In delirium, Othello confused her cries with his wife’s and concludes that Desdemona is not yet dead. Thinking himself to be merciful; and not wanting his wife linger in pain, he smoothers her again. 

Later, Othello draws the bed curtains and lets Emilia in. Emilia informs Othello that Cassio has killed Roderigo. Othello asks her if Cassio has also been killed as well. Emilia informs him that Cassio is still alive. As Othello begins to realize that his plans have gone awry. In the mean time Desdemona cries out that she has been murdered. She stays alive long enough to recant this statement. She tells Emilia that she was not murdered but killed herself. She dies. Othello triumphantly admits to Emilia that he killed Desdemona. Emilia asks him why she was killed. Othello tells her that Iago opened his eyes to Desdemona’s falsehood. Emilia is unfazed by Othello’s threat that she was best to remain silent. Then, Emilia calls out for help. Montano, Graziano and Iago enter the scene to take stock of the situation. 

As the truth of Iago’s villainy begins to come out through Emilia’s accusations. Hearing all, Othello falls weeping upon the bed that contains the body of his dead wife. Still, Othello clings to his belief in Iago’s truth and Desdemona’s guilt, mentioning the handkerchief and Cassio’s ‘confession’. When Othello mentions the handkerchief, Emilia erupts, and Iago, no longer certain that he can keep his plots hidden, he attempts to silence her with his sword. Graziano stops him and Emilia explains how she found the handkerchief and gave it to Iago. Realizing this Othello runs at Iago but he is disarmed by Montano. In this commotion, Iago is able to stab his wife, Emilia. Emilia falls dead apparently. Emilia’s dying words tells Othello that Desdemona was chaste and loved him. Hearing this, Othello stabs himself and falls across the bed on which where his wife, Desdemona had fallen dead. Thus, Othello meets his tragic end as he was lending his ears for others’ words.

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