Act 5, Scene 2

1. What reasons does Othello give for having to kill Desdemona? The reasons othello gives for killing Desdemona are so she cannot betray more men 'yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.' Because that is the honourable thing for him to do
2. What evidence is there to suggest that Shakespeare adhered to racial stereotypes in this scene? The overarching theme in this act of Othello is him not being able to control his emotions, mainly rage this plays into the belief at the time the play was written that black peoples could not keep their emotions under control and were quick to violence. Shakespeare also brings back the idea of Othello having fits 'when your eyes roll so' adding to the idea of him being in some way mystical and definitely other from the rest of the characters in this play. Also Emilias insults for Othello negatively reference his skin colour 'blacker devil' 'filthy bargain' the racially driven insults highlight the fact that he's different from the characters in the play, and that is a problem for them and almost as though him killing Desdemona was less to do with his jealousy and more a simple result of him being black and therefore seemingly violent and destructive.
3. Othello tells Desdemona that Cassio has confessed to sleeping with her (line 68). What was this 'confession'? 
4. Emilia says "Good gentleman, let me have leave to speak./ 'Tis proper I obey him - but not now!" [5.2.192-193] what does this indicate about Emilia and society? Consider the circumstances the characters are in.The standing view of women in the socity in which this poem is set is that they are to be firmly faithful and loyal to their husbands, but should have a high level of respect for all men, this would have been especially important for a woman like Emilia as she was of a lower class than the men she was addressing and being a woman who works in service to these people even in times of emmence distress like this, the character still addresses the men in her company with respect. She understands what is expected of her as a wife and knows that the way she plans to behave isn't 'proper' her act of defiance would have been seen as a huge betrayal of her role and improper of her as a woman at the time.
5. How is Emilia presented in lines 125-233. Consider the language she uses, how she behaves and what she says to Othello and Iago. In these lines Emilias character shifts not only from how we have been used to seeing her act like for the near entiaraty of the play, but also what the audience would be used to seeing women act like in their society. Emilia suddenly becomes very public and outspoken in the company of important men, especially her mistresses husband calling him names that would have been unacceptable even from a man 'she was too fond of her most filthy bargain'. When Emilia decides to disclose all she knows to the other men in the room we see a huge power shift between Emilia and Iago with her now as the dominant one. He calls to her to 'get you home' a strong symbol of pulling her back to the domestic sphere but in an act of ultimate defiance against not only Iago but also her role she refuses 'I will ne'er go home'. So although the audience would have been shocked at her boldness and defiance they would also be glad that she finally unmasked iago and allowed the other characters to know the truth.
6. List all of the names Emilia calls Othello when she realises what he has done. How does this contrast with how Othello was portrayed at the start of the play? Emilia addresses othello as 'Blacker devil', 'Most filthy bargain', 'Ignorant as dirt', 'Moor' and 'Villain' this contrasts strongly when the word used repeatedly at the beginning of the play to describe Othello was valiant, but the word moor is a descriptor used for othello throughout the play.