THE PRESUPPOSITIONS OF THE QUESTION OF OTHELLO "HAVE YOU PRAY’D TO-NIGHT, DESDEMONA?"
In this paper we consider the presuppositions of the question of Othello in the context of the important Christian ideas: the idea of salvation, the idea of repentance, the value of prayer and the ratio between the «earthly» world and the heavenly world. Like this, Hamlet says that murder of Claudius during prayer «is hire and salary, not revenge». Shakespeare's characters comprehend concepts of «life» and «death» in terms of earthly suffering and heavenly bliss. In this context the words of Othello have special meaning. The murder of Desdemona Othello calls «sacrifice». In the tragedy the sacrifice is the opposition of the murder. In this semantic context Othello calls itself «An honorable murderer» («For nought did I in hate, but all in honor»). In this way, question of Othello gives special sense to his action.