Act 5, Scene 1

How does Shakespeare create a sense of fear and confusion in Act 5 scene 1? 

Act 5 scene 1 begins with Iago and Roderigo plotting about how they plan to kill Cassio this builds up an immediate fear, as the audience begin to worry that perhaps the villains in this story will win and an innocent man will die unjustly and as the fight between Cassio and Roderigo unfold. That tension only builds.

The confusion in this scene in this scene comes mainly from Cassio, perhaps the most clueless character in the whole play bringing with him a sence of trepidation just by him being on stage. He has no knowledge of what Iago is intending for him and the fact that the audience are aware of the plans of Iago and Roderigo to kill Cassio only increases our fear as we have been made to care about Cassio safety throughout the play as he is seen as one of the few innocent parties, and although we know he has faired well in the army we have also seen him in a fight before which did not end well for him and as the play seems only to be increasing in intensity and severity the audience may fear that the same will be true of this fight for Cassio and that he must die.

 At this point in the play fear must be building as it is one of the key things needed for the cathartic ending to make this play a tragedy as laid out by Aristotle in his work the poetics. Another way Shakespeare builds fear is by again rehashing the belief that Iagos plan may succeed, up to this point in the play we have seen Iago make only smart choices and expertly execute his manipulation of those around him, even at the beginning of this act when he manipulates roderigo, the mere presence of Iago on stage brings a direct contrast to the feeling brought about by Cassio as it is one of deep fear and anger however the culmination of these two characters could be seen as the best way to create the mood of fear and confusion because it could be argued that that is what these characters represent to the audience.

A way confusion is built is in the way Shakespeare does not does not even allow Cassio to know who it is that is trying to kill him a clever way this is done is through setting. The setting of the scene at night is in keeping again with Aristotles unity of time and place while the nighttime setting also brings with it a  ominous feeling and builds a sense of confusion with the added aspect of impaired vision and an ability to lurk in shadows.


The repetition of Aggressive and punctual words like 'kill' 'malice' 'enemy' all build the audience up for the aggression and violence this final act will hold and begin to prepare us for the climax of the tragedy to unfold by embedding what They are about to witness into their minds.