Othello Character Soundtrack: Othello

"I would not my unhoused free condition/Put into circumscription and confine for the seas worth" p.1461
"And you know they're running for me
You know my love won't let them keep me away
I'm a smooth rider baby..." Dave Matthews Band "Smooth Rider"

"This sorrow's heavenly; It strikes where it doth love" p.1532
"You think of things impossible then the sun refused to shine
I woke with you beside me your cold hand lay in mine" Dave Matthews Band "Grace is Gone"

"Ay, 'twas he that told me on her first. An honest man he is, and hates the slime that sticks on filthy deeds" p.1536
"I heard it through the grapevine not much longer would you be mine" Creedence Clearwater Revival "Grapevine"

"I must be found. My parts, my tithe, and my perfect soul shall manifest me rightly" p.1461
"Man I got the sun hatin' on me cause I'm hotter than the sun
Spring hatin' on me cause I ain't never sprung" Lil Wayne "Mr. Carter"

"Why, anything: An honorable murderer, if you will; For naught I did in hate, but all in honor" p.1540
"And the world will wonder how we made the tables turn
And the world will see
That we had to choose" Newsies Cast "The World Will Know"



In the play "Othello" the protagonist is a man of honor and truth, yet his demise occurs in lieu of treacherous and immoral actions. It is because of Othello’s unfailing truthfulness and unrestrained trust in others that he is able to be manipulated into an evil conspiracy. The antagonist, Iago, preys on the naïveté of Othello and through Othello’s misguided trust, Iago ruins him.
Part of Othello’s completely loyal character as he says he would not be “confined for the seas worth,” in relation to his love for Desdemona. Even though he knows Desdemona’s father is trying to “keep him away” Othello will not give up on his love for her.
Though Othello be an honorable man, he knows his own strengths and is willing to express such in attempts to prove he deserves Desdemona. “My perfect soul shall manifest me rightly,” shows the defiance of Othello’s character as he stands against the oppression of Desdemona’s father. Even though he is a brute of war, and a moor, Othello strives to explain why he’d be good for his love.
When Othello comes to the false realization that he has been dishonored by Desdemona, he concludes "This sorrow's heavenly; It strikes where it doth love.” The incredible pain he endures by suspecting his wife of cheating on him is compounded by the fact that Othello himself knows no such disgrace in character. Because Othello is pure in heart, his heart is all the more traumatized by Desdemona’s perceived actions which is mirrored in the words of Dave Matthews, “I woke with you beside me your cold hand lay in mine.”
Othello’s purity comes to haunt him yet again as he misplaces his trust in the word of Iago, saying “an honest man is he.” As he “heard it through the grapevine” that Desdemona was cheating on him and “not much longer would [she] be [his]” he took empty words and drastically acted upon the accusation. Othello’s trust in Iago would ultimately lead to his own destruction.
At the end of the play Othello’s pride comes back into play as he requests to be named “an honorable murderer” as he expresses the fact that his actions were done “naught…in hate, but all in honor.” The lyrics “the world will see…that we had to choose” summarizes the pickle in which Othello was placed. Othello had to choose between abandoning his trust in other men’s truthfulness, and ultimately his own purity, and questioning the purity of his wife.