Dramatic Suspense

Othello by William Shakespeare is a play with a lot of dramatic suspense. After all, it is a tragedy, and none of the characters die until the last act of the play. Iago's plan goes exactly as planned almost throughout the entire play, which causes suspense because the audience knows something bad has to happen eventually. The audience knows that there has to be some flaw in all the evil that Iago creates among the characters. The audience must anticipate that some of the characters will die as well. Shakespeare keeps this suspense alive throughout the first four acts of the play. This keeps the audiences attention. Any type of suspense in a play is used to help captivate the audience and keep them focused and thinking throughout the work.