Who Is The Innocent In The Crucible

Innocent To The Truth

There is nothing more grieving than the death of an innocent person who did not deserve their death. In William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Othello, two main characters fall in love and get married; Othello and Desdemona. Due to the jealousy of Iago over Othello, the lives of many innocent characters come in between. In Shakespeare’s tragic play, the evil schemes and cruel lies told by Iago, lead characters to die, unaware of the truth of what is going on around them. Thus, in the tragic play of Othello by William Shakespeare, the characters called Desdemona, Roderigo and Emilia die innocently due to their blindness towards the truth.

To begin with, Desdemona is a tragic victim who is unaware of the horrific accusations

made against her behind her back.

Later on, these accusations affect her, causing her to suffer and pay for the acts she had never committed. Despite her father not approving the Moor, Desdemona takes the right step and admits her love for Othello, but goes against her father’s will. She confesses to her father, “And so much duty as my mother showed/ to you preferring you before her father/ so much I challenge that I may profess/ due to the Moor my lord.” (1.3. 215-218). By telling her father this, Desdemona proves she is still a good loyal wife, if not an ideal daughter. She is well aware and obedient of her duties as expected from an ideal wife back in the Elizabethan era. Iago grips Othello in his schemes of making Desdemona seem deceitful and unloyal. Othello is seen telling Emilia, Iago’s wife, that, “I saw it in his hand. It was a handkerchief, an antique token/ My father gave my mother.” (5.2. 255-257). At this point, Iago has convinced Othello that Desdemona had been unfaithful to him with Cassio. In Iago’s schemes, the handkerchief is is the “proof” of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness which he uses to strongly convince Othello with. Othello starts to believe this second-hand lie and and is furious with jealousy, without

confronting and asking his innocent wife instead. Had Desdemona known about the lies and accusations made against her, she would have not let her like be taken away from her. “As Othello succumbs to Iago’s insinuations that Desdemona is unfaithful, fascination-which dominates the early acts of the play-turns into horror, especially for the audience” (Mowat & Werstine xiii). Iago’s lies made Desdemona seem evil in Othello’s eyes, which lead him to taking her life in the horrific ending of the play. Therefore, Desdemona’s blindness to the truth and her loss of control over the circumstances, lead to the occurrence of her grieving death by the hands of her own husband.
From time to time, Roderigo constantly keeps falling for Iago’s lies and believes in the false hopes that were being put into his mind. He realizes this too late, resulting in his murder committed by Iago, who is afraid of getting unveiled. To get into it, Iago starts to slowly force Roderigo into
his traps, advising him to not lose his hopes to earn Desdemona’s love. He tells Roderigo, “It cannot be that Desdemona should (long) continue/ her her love to the Moor-put money in thy purse- / nor he his to her.” (1.3 385- 388). Therefore, by giving Roderigo this false advice that he can earn Desdemona’s love by earning money, Roderigo becomes confident and passionate. He agrees to do whatever that has been advised to him. As stated earlier, Iago constantly uses Roderigo, to achieve success in his plans. To elaborate more, he influences Roderigo into believing that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair, “The Lieutenant tonight watches on the court of guard. First, I may tell thee this: Desdemona is directly in love with him” (2.1. 238-240). Iago tells Roderigo this so he can use him to get Cassio fired from his lieutenancy. Once again, Iago takes advantage of Roderigo’s feelings for Desdemona as a reason for him to detest Cassio for stealing his “love”. He uses him to start a brawl in the streets with Cassio. In addition to this, Cassio loses his reputation. Lastly, Roderigo only listens and follows Iago, which proves that Roderigo is very gullible and patient. Roderigo is very gullible since he has believed almost everything Iago has told him, proving that Roderigo did not deserve to be killed, “With Roderigo’s help, it is not difficult for Iago to lead Cassio on the brawl.ing on the watch and quick demotion” (Snyder 291). Iago is fooling Roderigo just to carry out his plans, which makes him selfish and cruel. Roderigo does not realise the advantage Iago is taking of him, until the end of the play. Therefore, Roderigo did not deserve his death, as was kept blind from knowing the truth of Iago and his schemes, thinking that Iago was only trying to help him.
Coming to the final point, Emilia is unaware of her husband’s cruel and wicked schemes, which lead her to unknowingly help him to succeed in his plans.

Although she fights to bring out the truth in the end of the play, her actions end in unfortunate results leading to her death. Emilia innocently steals Desdemona’s handkerchief, remembering that Iago had always asked for it. “I am glad I have found this napkin/ this was her first remembrance from the Moor/ My wayward husband hath a hundred times/ wooed me to steal it” (3.3. 334-337). Emilia had also fallen for Iago’s lies and schemes, unaware of the truth and the consequences for it. The handkerchief is seen as a powerful symbol, which represents betrayal and plays the role of “proof”. Iago uses this symbol to convince Othello of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness. Innocent Emilia did not the reason behind Iago’s desire for the handkerchief. This becomes Iago’s final step to his evil scheme, as Othello vows to kill Desdemona and Cassio with the contribution of Iago. After Desdemona’s heart-breaking murder, Emilia builds up the courage in herself to pour out all her feeling and emotions, pointing at Iago and Othello for their villainy, while defending the innocent Desdemona. She cries to Iago, “You told a lie, an odious, damned lie! / Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie!” (5,2, 216-217). Emilia exposes Iago’s venomous plot against Desdemona, as she is the only person to know the truth behind the handkerchief. Due to this, Emilia’s

actions were daring and heroic, keeping in mind the value and status women had back in the Elizabethan era. As the final point, Emilia played an innocent character whose actions lead to a horrible end for her. Emilia is only faithful and loyal to her mistress Desdemona, and did not deserve the cruel abuse done to her. “As for Emilia, her decisive action in these crucial scenes transfigures her from a ‘common member’ of
society to a heroine” (Iyasere,4). Before her intense death, Emilia becomes a hero, who reveals the truth to everyone despite Iago’s orders, telling her to stay quiet. She helps clear Othello's mind and heart, revealing him to the truth. Therefore, Emilia did not deserve her crucial death, as she was innocent and unaware to Iago’s plot and only attempted to fulfill her husband’s desires.
In the final analysis, the three characters, Desdemona, Roderigo and Emilia had been kept away from the truth throughout the play, which lead to their innocent deaths. Desdemona had been killed by the hands of her own husband, while she was the most loving and loyal wife. Roderigo was constantly given wrong advice, but lost his life as he realised it too late. Lastly, Emilia only tried to fulfil her husband’s desires, without knowing the consequences of it, leading to her death as well. All in all, in this tragic play, characters are kept blind from the truth, and have constantly been taken advantage of due to her innocence, leading to their horrific murders.