7/29/2019 English Speech Othello

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English speech

Today Andrew and I will be vying for the character Emilia. Emilia is a wonderfully strong character

with many noble traits like her dogged loyalty, and her passionate spirit. But Emilia is only human so

she has faults like short sightedness and is motivated by loneliness. You should pick her for your

production because she a fleshed out character with strengths, weaknesses and motivation like any

normal human. This allows the audience to relate to her. This in turn makes her perfect for any

interpretation of Othello. My Emilia is characterised in her speech from act 4 scene 2 just after she

has been questioned by Othello about Desdemonas chastity

I drust my lord, to wager she is honest,

Lay my soul at stake. If you think other,

Remove your thought: it doth abuse your bosom.

If any wretch put this in your head,

Let heaven requite it with the serpents curse!

For if she not be honest, chaste and true,

Theres no man happy. The purest of their wives

Is foul as slander.

As you heard Emilias loyalty and Passion are all shown. But in context also her short sightedness and

loneliness are shown but I will expand later.

Andrew presents rebuttal

My Interpretation of Emilia is a mixture of Emilias from many successful productions from the

dogged loyalty interpreted by Laurence Fishbourn and shown in the lines of lay my soul at stake.

Her fiery passion as shown to us by Anthony Hopkins interpretation and as you heard through my

previous speech. Her need for love was shown to me through the critical analysis by Penny Gay

Emilia is truly tragic female figure in this story... Whose death is brought about as much by her

own inner conflicts of loyalty as by her psychopathic husband. The word loyalty can be swapped for

love and the same result achieved her conflict for love between Iago and Desdemona. Finally her

short sightedness I interpreted myself through her ability to not see the consequences of her actions

e.g. her giving the handkerchief to Iago.

My Emilia is suited to Shakespearian context because of her loyal and dutiful nature which would

have been expected from a handmaiden at the time. But she is also a character for the modern

audiences because her passion and willingness to stand up against the establishment for

Desdemona. So she will strike a chord with audiences of today.

Her loyalty is probably her most obvious trait with her saying in my first passage that she would lay

my soul at stake. That undoubtedly proves her loyalty that she would risk her immortal soul to

prove Desdemona was honest. But her loyalty is not only shown in that passage. loyalty is also

shown in act 5 scene 2 where Iago tells her to charm her tongue and she replies

7/29/2019 English Speech Othello

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I will not charm my tongue: I am bound to speak:

My mistress lies murderd in her bed.

The passage shows her dogged loyalty to Desdemona. This trait is desirable in Emilia because it is the

undoing ofIago. Because of her loyalty to Desdemona she manages reveals iagos plans.

A passionate spirit is a very distinct thing for my Emilia. It is very desirably trait as it frames her

loyalty to Desdemona. To show you the difference I will read part of my first passage without

passion If any wretch put this in your head let heaven requite it with the serpents curse! as you

can hear any Emilia without this trait sounds wrong.

But Emilia has flaws like the rest of us. Her flaw is her short sightedness. She is not able to predict

the consequences of her actions. This is acutely shown in act 3 scene 3 where she finds Desdemonas

fallen handkerchief and gives it to Iago even though she knows it is important to Desdemona and

she knows Iago is wayward. This would be a good trait because it acts as a gateway for the love

story to stop and the tragedy to start

Finally her motivations are very important. I mean why give away her handkerchief without a second

thought? Because she is lonely. Her marriage is on the rocks and that is why she looks to the

handkerchief to try to mend burnt bridges between her and Iago but once again she is rebuked. Why

would she fight so hard for Desdemona? Because she looks to Desdemona for company and

companionship. This is one reason why she is practically always seen with Desdemona. This also

explains why she fights so hard for her. In that she has lost her only companion so when she then

learns it was because of Iago, she makes sure that he pays.

So you should choose my Emilia because she is a fully fleshed character with motivations and flaws

like all of us. This makes for a more enriching viewing experience for the audience because they can

connect with the character.

Thank you