Othello: The Concept of Love There are a variety of loves that exist between different characters in William Shakespeare's tragic drama Othello. The purest love, of course, is Desdemona's for Othello. In this essay we examine the full range of "loves" available to the audience in this play. Blanche Coles in Shakespeare's The Four Giants elaborates the deep and pure love shared by the tragic hero and heroine of the play: The Senate scene should be carefully studied to arrive at an adequate appreciation of the frankly declared love of these newlyweds . Only by realizing the great depth of their love can one understand the enormity of Iago's horrific crime against them. Some commentators tell us that it was a love in which one great soul called to another, but each reader must find his own evidence of such love in the lines of the play. A careful study will convince him that theirs was a greater love, deeper than the impetuous love of Romeo and Juliet or the passionate love of Antony and Cleopatra. (82) Initially the work presents a very distorted type of love. Act 1 Scene 1 shows Roderigo, generous in his old-fashioned gifts, questioning Iago's love for the former, whose concern has been the courtship of Desdemona. Roderigo interprets Iago's love for him as based on the ancient's hatred for the Moor. So the rich suitor says accusingly, “You told me you hated him.” And Iago replies: “Despise me if I do not.” Partly out of hatred towards the general, partly to demonstrate his loyalty to Roderigo's cause, Iago explains in detail the reasons for his hatred towards Othello, who gave the lieutenancy to Michael Cassio, a Florentine. Sec... halfway through the paper... on the scene, and Desdemona revives just enough to tell her friend that she dies a guiltless death. His last words are of kindness to Othello: "Recommend me to my kind lord: oh, farewell!" Emilia exonerates Desdemona and accuses Iago of having caused the murder. He actually gives his life for his lady since Iago stabs her to death for revealing the truth. Othello, pained by remorse for the tragic mistake he has made, stabs himself and dies on the bed next to his wife, his pain as deep as his love for Desdemona before Iago's machinations.WORKS CITEDShakespeare, William. Othello. In Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No lines nos.Coles, Blanche. Shakespeare's Four Giants. Rindge, New Hampshire: Richard Smith Publisher, 1957.