Final Verdict On Othello

"A guiltless death I die." Desdemona IV.ii.136
I've got to say that after finishing Othello I feel underwhelmed. I was expecting this huge finish with some epic battle between Othello and Iago. Instead Othello stabs him once, but he doesn't even die. Then Othello just kills himself. Also Desdemona takes way too long to die. It's long and drawn out, and just when you think she died, she comes back with another couple lines. Cassio potentially loses a limb. The idiot sidekick Roderigo finally gets killed off by his own friend. The only interesting part is that Emilia finally grows a pair and tells off Othello for treating Desdemona like crap. Too little, to late though, to have any real effect. The play just lacks a rhythm that would normally create suspense. The little squabble between Cassio, Iago, and Roderigo happens so fast that it seems like it's over before it even began. However, Desdemona's conversation with Othello that eventually ends in her death seems to drag on and on. The rest of the play was ok, but in my mind the rest of the play was supposed to be building up to this awesome dramatic event. Instead it was very anticlimactic and sort of a blur. This could be because the play mainly relies on stage directions or the acting side of it instead of dialogue. But the dialogue alone leaves much to be desired.