Othello And Desdemona's Death Analysis

Readers often found the difference of the death in the characters of Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice and Benn’s Oroonoko. Shakespeare wrote Othello in 1603 and the play was published in 1622. During Behn's lifetime, Oroonoko was not well known however it is her most profoundly respect work. It additionally impact the advancement of the English novel by building up the female narrator voice. I will start by giving a brief summary that leaded to Othello’s death than leaded in to Oroonoko’s death. After that, I will make a comparison and evaluate their death. As readers, we know that Behn knew the story of Othello as she revises the ending, I will explain of why she might have revised the ending and the matter of those changes. In Othello and Oroonoko, their death differs from each other in conjunction with Desdomona’s death differs from Imoinda’s death.

Iago mislead Othello to believe that Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio.

He planted the seeds of doubt about Desdemona's faithfulness in Othello's head. After multiples of calculated lies and planted evidences of Desdemona's infidelity by Iago, Othello arrived at her bedroom to kill her with a pillow. He got interrupted when Emilia knocked on the door and draws the curtain to hide Desdemona. When Emilia discovered Desdemona, she and Othello confronted each other. Othello explained to her that Iago knows about Desdemona's affair and how he is honest. At first, she is surprised at her husband. When Iago, Montano and Gratiano appeared as they heard Emilia shouting, she’d then started to explain to Othello of Iago's plot by finding the handkerchief that he had asked her to steal and give it to him. Othello figured out the truth that Iago tricked and manipulated him. He stabs himself that lead to his death as he depicts of throwing Desdemona

away:
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drops tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinable gum. Set you down this,
And say besides that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turbaned Turk. (5:2:346)
With this in mind, Othello compared himself to a base Indian, someone that threw a pearl away not knowing of its true value. As a comparison to it, he’d knew that he threw Desdemona away not knowing how much she means to him. He threw away the most valuable of pearl which is his wife as she is the pearl of his life. As a pearl, Desdemona is beautiful as he calls her “pearl.” He mention the Turk that remind the reader of the tales of adventure and war that made Desdemona ran away and marry him. As a military general, it made him famous in Venice. By murdering himself as he is depicted of how he kill a Turk, he defined himself as an outsider. It also allow him to give one last act of service; he killed the only rival he has left to subjugate which is himself.
In Oroonoko, the deputy governor Byam consulted with Oroonoko to surrender and promised him that he will give him an official pardon. Byam assured that Oroonoko that he and his family will be free and return to Africa. He lied to Oroonoko and pours pepper on his wounds as he was whipped before. Oroonoko figured out the he and his family will never be free. He became depressed after killing Imoinda and waited for eight days next to her body to take revenge on Byam; the smell of the rotting body bring Byam's men to the site. Behn described of how they kill Oroonoko when they found him:
After that, with an ill-favored knife, they cut his ears and his nose, and burned them; he still smoked on, as if nothing had touch him. Then they hacked off one of his arms, and still he bore up, and held his pipe. But at the cutting off the other arm, his head sunk and his pipe dropped, and he gave up the ghost without a groan or a reproach (Behn 76).
As a prince, Oroonoko is given an honorable death. Byam's men cut off his ears and nose than burned them, Oroonoko continues to smoke on as if he did not care of what happen to his body. They cut off one of his arm off but Oroonoko continues to smoke. He did not care what Byam's men do to him and his body. To Oroonoko, he feels no pain while he is being kill by Byam's men compare to killing his wife and child.
In contrast to Othello's death and Oroonoko's death, Othello stabbed himself with a dagger and Oroonko have his body parts cut off with a knife and killed by his enemies. Another way that their death differs from each other is that Othello realized that he was lied to and manipulated by Iago, he did not believed that Desdemona was loyal to him and she did not had an affair. On the other hand, Oroonoko saved his wife by killing her and he did not cared of having his body cut off piece by piece. Similarly, Othello dies by Desdemona's side as he give her a final kiss before he dies. While Oroonoko spend eight days next to Imoinda's body before he dies.
Desdemona died by Othello entering her bedroom and strangled her with a pillow. She asked Othello not to killed her but to let her lived a little longer or banish her. When Emilia discovered her, Desdemona told her that she killed herself and no one did anything to her. At her last moment, she call Othello kind and say her good bye to him. She continued to remain loyal to Othello during her last moment. In Oroonoko, Oroonoko killed Imoinda by cutting her throat because he knew that once she gives birth to the child, the child will be born into slavery. Behn described of how he killed Imoinda and put flowers on top of her body:
while he, with a hand resolved and a heart breaking within, gave the fatal stroke, first cutting her throat, and then serving her yet smiling face from that delicate body, pregnant as it was with the fruits of tenderest love. As soon as he had done, he laid the body decently on leaves and flowers, of which he made a bed, and concealed it under the same coverlid of Nature, only her face he left yet bare to look on (Behn 74).
Imoinda was happy when she was killed by Oroonok when he cut her throat because she knew that he did out of protection and tender love. He did not want Imoinda get rape by her master in the slavery society as he knew that slave women get raped. Oroonoko could not buried her deep in the earth so he covered her with leaves and flowers from nature that he made a bed from it. The flower and the leaves represented that he hoped that she is at peace. He was so devastated that Imoinda is dead that his grief turned into rage as he screamed her name over and over again.
In contrast to Desdemona’s death and Imoinda’s death, both of them were killed by their husband. Similarly, both wives loved their husband to the point that lead them to their death. For Desdemona, she was killed by Othello out of jealousy however Imoinda was killed out of love. Another way that their death differs from each other is that they died different way such as strangled with a pillow and cutting by the throat.
As readers, we know that Behn knew the story of Othello as she revises the ending as we read Othello too. I think that she revised the ending because of the slave society. In slave society, slaves do not get proper burial as they just get covered up in dirt. Slaves often get whipped by their master and treated as objects that can be threw away at any time. If Behn did not revised the ending of Oroonoko, the ending will became same as Othello. The ending will be a repetition of killing his wife and killing himself with a dagger or a knife. These changes allowed the reader to explored and understand the changes of being a prince to a slave meant compared to being a general or a daughter of a senator.