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dancer4god
Student
High School - 10th Grade

When Iago stabs Roderigo in Act 5, where does he stab him?

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Posted by dancer4god on Friday March 13, 2009 at 1:14 AM and tagged with act 5, darkness, iago, iago and roderigo, othello, roderigo, shakespeare, stabbing.

Answers:


  1. robertwilliam

    The text doesn't actually tell us. We know that Iago wounds Cassio in the leg from behind, when Roderigo fails to kill him:

    ROD:
    I know his gait; 'tis he. Villain, thou diest!

    CASSIO:
    That thrust had been mine enemy indeed,
    But that my coat is better than thou know'st;
    I will make proof of thine.

    ROD:
    O, I am slain! 
    [Iago from behind wounds Cassio in the leg, and exit.]
     
    CASSIO:
    I am maim'd forever. Help, ho! Murder! Murder! 

    Roderigo is wrong, though. He isn't slain. He lies on the floor crying out for help, but no-one dares come in case he's a faker trying to set a trap so he can hurt them:

    ROD:
    O wretched villain!

    LODOVICO:
    Two or three groan; it is a heavy night:
    These may be counterfeits; let's think't unsafe
    To come in to the cry without more help.

    ROD:
    Nobody come? Then shall I bleed to death.

    Roderigo lies there in the dark. Until Iago steps in with a light to see what is going on - and finishes the job:

    IAGO:
    O treacherous villains!
    What are you there? Come in and give some help.

    ROD:
    O, help me here!

    CASSIO:
    That's one of them.

    IAGO:
    O murderous slave! O villain!

    ROD:
    O damn'd Iago! O inhuman dog! 

    And that, stabbed in the dark, is the end of Roderigo.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/othello-text/act-v-scene-i

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    Posted by robertwilliam on Friday March 13, 2009 at 4:25 AM