May the winds blow till they have wakened death

 When Othello arrives safely at Cyprus, his joy at seeing Desdemona, and her joy at him in return is quite a happy scene. As they call out and run to each other, Othello cheerfully says, "If after every tempest come such calms, may the winds blow till they have wakened death" (2.1.201-02). The contrast between Othello's fear during his dangerous travel to Cyprus and the joy he feels at seeing Desdemona once again is one that makes Othello appreciate his wife more than he would have if his journey had been perfectly smooth. This idea of valuing something more when it is lost (or almost lost) is found in both Othello and Much Ado About Nothing, and yet these plays conclude with completely opposite endings. It seems almost like they demonstrate this idea in reversed ways from one another: in Much Ado About Nothing, Cassio does not appreciate his love for Hero until he thinks she is dead, but then is joyful when he finds out she is no. In Othello, Othello knows his love for Desdemona from the very start, but when he thinks he has lost her, that love turns to hatred.

I've also often wondered why I find tragedies to be so fascinating. Tragedies don't give us the warmth and contentedness that happily-ever-after stories do, and yet I have found that I don't often hate tragedies. I think there are many reasons for this, but maybe one of them is because a play cannot be tragic without first having happiness. Without this moment of Othello and Desdemona's reuniting, without this moment of wonder and joy, the ending would be nowhere near as profound and heartbreaking as it is. Perhaps it is the message that this sends that I find so captivating: tragedies are often about a wrong choice, and they leave use wondering how the story might have ended if a different choice had been made. Similarly, our own lives are determined by the choices we make every day, and tragic stories such as this one teach us to watch ourselves and be sure that we are making choices we will be proud of down the road.

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