Musical+Casting+of+Othello



"Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell Act 5, Scene 2 (Before Othello kills Desdemona)

[|[Music Begins]] ** OTHELLO **: It is the cause; it is the cause, my soul. Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars; It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood, Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow and smooth as monumental alabaster. Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men. Put out the light, and then put out the light. If I quench thee, thou flaming minister, I can again thy former light restore should I repent me. But once put out thy light, thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature, I know not where is that Promethean heat that can thy light relume. When I have plucked thy rose I cannot give it vital growth again; It needs must wither. I’ll smell thee on the tree. [//kisses her//] O balmy breath that dost almost persuade justice to break her sword! One more,one more. [//kisses her//] Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee and love thee after. One more, and that’s the last. [//kisses her//] So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep, but they are cruel tears. This sorrow’s heavenly; it strikes where it doth love. She wakes.

[Music Fades]

 Explanation: Othello is an overall honest, caring, and loyal character, but lets his doubt consume him as he loses his self-control throughout the play to the point of Insanity. The song “Both Sides Now” is tragic, but is a soft tragedy. In the scene above Othello is talking to Desdemona while she sleeps before he is going to kill her. He repeats “the cause” representing his slight doubt in what he is about to do. He also confesses his love for her, despite the fact that he has to kill her, and wants to save her beautiful face, as he chooses to strangle her. The song is passionate, and the horns are exaggerated, as the ending of his fate and decision is very difficult for him because deep down this is not what he personally wants to do. The play is of love and loss, and the song, also predicted from the title “Both Sides Now,” can represent a person’s struggle with double perceptions. Othello faces this struggle throughout the whole play, and, unfortunately, follows the bad perception; Iago’s. The music is a sad melody, as one listens to when they are remembering the past, which is what Othello does in the above lines. He recalls his love for Desdemona, which is so tragic because his insanity, his violence, and disloyalty are not justified in the end of the play. The music simply can bring a tear to the eye, and is very loud and pronounced at times to express the loudness of his feelings and uncertainty that is silenced by Iago’s lies. The speech is the first moment of softness out of Othello’s mouth in several scenes, and this song, as mentioned earlier, is a soft tragedy, or a song of love.


 * P.S. The video clip of her singing is irrelevant. The song is a live version, so try to focus on the song Joni sings, and not let the audience’s noise become distracting.**