Act

1 of Othello
In the movie opening: there is a juxtaposition
(contrast) between two elements which are
sources of conflict…
1: The relationship between Othello and Desdemona is
not safe: there is a need to hide it. We are in a racist
society
= Othello is inferior

2: Othello is the best military leader

= Othello is superior
Act 1, Scene 1: situation

Iago, an experienced soldier in the Venetian army commanded by

Othello, is angry because he did not get the job of Othello’s lieutenant.
The job went to Cassio instead.
Act 1, Scene 1: situation

Roderigo, a foolish Venetian who Iago just uses for his own purposes,
is upset because he loves Desdemona who has now secretly married
Othello.
Act 1, Scene 1: situation

Iago tells Roderigo that he hates Othello too, and that they should tell
Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, about the secret marriage, to make
trouble for Othello.
Act 1, Scene 1: situation

Iago and Roderigo wake Brabantio up and tell him about the secret
marriage. Brabantio is angry and afraid, and goes to arrest Othello.
 Shakespeare’s language art

Now we look closely at how Shakespeare’s poetry and

dramatic art gives us feelings and ideas:

connotation, metaphor, plot, setting, character

>>>

feelings and ideas

Plot: Three influential men recommend Iago to Othello, but Othello refuses
them, and says he has already chosen someone else to be his lieutenant (Cassio)

Three great ones of the city,

In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Off-capp'd to him: and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he; as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion,
Nonsuits my mediators; for, 'Certes,' says he,
'I have already chose my officer.’ (1.1: 8-17)

Idea: jealousy arises from a sense of one’s true worth being overlooked
Iago says Cassio is inferior to him:
Says Cassio is inexperienced in war and bookish

Forsooth, a great arithmetician,

One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
…
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,
…mere prattle, without practice,
Is all his soldiership. (1.1: 19-27)

Idea: is our view of other people fair, or a product of our own self-regard?
Plot: Iago says he will be deceitful
I follow him to serve my turn upon him:
…
In following him, I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end:
…
I am not what I am. (1.1: 66)

Character: Why does Iago hate Othello so much? (eg anger at being
overlooked, sense of inferiority, racism, jealousy?
Idea: do we really know ourselves, and understand our own motives?
Iago and Roderigo wake and provoke
Desdemona’s father, Brabantio
Racist language used to anger Brabantio: shameful, animal, devil

'Zounds, sir, you're robb'd; for shame, put on

your gown;
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul;
Even now, now, very now, an old black ram
Is topping your white ewe. Arise, arise;
Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you:
Arise, I say.’ (1.1: 87- 93).

Idea: racism: sincere, or just a tool?

Cont…
Racist language used to anger Brabantio: animals

Iago
you'll
have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse;
you'll have your nephews neigh to you; you'll have
coursers for cousins and gennets for germans.
…
I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter
and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs (1.1: 111-117).
Character: Brabantio is worried (and also
racist)
Brabantio says it’s like his bad dream…

Strike on the tinder, ho!

Give me a taper! call up all my people!
This accident is not unlike my dream:
Belief of it oppresses me already.
Light, I say! light! (1.1: 141-144)

Idea: is our alarm and suffering caused by

false ideas?
Film scene 1 = 0 – 6.40
Act 1 Scene 2: situation
Iago warns Othello about Brabantio’s anger (which he himself has
helped to create!)
Cassio arrives, and tells Othello the Duke has sent for him, in relation to
an imminent attack on Cyprus by the Turks.
Then Brabantio arrives to arrest Othello, but is told of the Duke’s
summons, which must take precedence.
Iago now pretends to be on Othello’s side against
Roderigo and Brabantio:

IAGO: ‘…nine or ten times

I had thought to have yerk'd him [Roderigo] here under the ribs.
OTHELLO: 'Tis better as it is.
IAGO: Nay, but he prated,
And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms
Against your honour
That, with the little godliness I have,
I did full hard forbear him (1.2: 4-10).

Idea: people can say opposite things to different people

Iago advises Othello to hide
IAGO Those are the raised father and his friends:
You were best go in.
OTHELLO Not I; I must be found:
My parts, my title and my perfect soul
Shall manifest me rightly…
(1.2:29-32)

Character: Contrast with Iago’s intention to hide his true

nature
Character: In Brabantio’s opinion Othello is dirty, frightening, non-
human, and must have used evil powers to trap Desdemona…

Brabantio’s racist attitude:

[Desdemona has]
‘Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom
Of such a thing as thou, to fear, not to delight.
Judge me the world, if 'tis not gross in sense
That thou hast practised on her with foul charms,
Abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals
That weaken motion:’
(1.2: 70-75)

Idea: people believe that artificial, cultural attitudes are somehow

‘natural’…
Plot: Othello’s defence against Brabantio’s arrest is
not innocence, but prior engagement!

BRABANTIO
To prison, till fit time
Of law and course of direct session
Call thee to answer.
OTHELLO
What if I do obey?
How may the duke be therewith satisfied,
Whose messengers are here about my side,
Upon some present business of the state
To bring me to him?
(1.2.85-91)

Plot and idea: this near miss suggests the fragility of Othello’s status,
and foreshadows his later downfall…
Film scene 1.2 = 6.30 – 9.00
Act 1, Scene 3: situation
The Duke of Venice and his advisors work out that the Turks are
planning to attack Cyprus, not Rhodes.
Act 1, Scene 3: situation
Brabantio bursts in to the war meeting, and tells the Duke that Othello
has bewitched and stolen his daughter.
Act 1, Scene 3: situation
Othello defends himself, explaining how they fell in love, and asks for
Desdemona to be sent for.
Act 1, Scene 3: situation
Desdemona arrives and says that she loves Othello, and must obey him
now, not her father.
Act 1, Scene 3: situation
Brabantio gives up, and gives his official recognition of the marriage.
Act 1, Scene 3: situation
Othello is given command of the Venetian fleet to fight the Turks, and
Desdemona asks to go with him.
Act 1, Scene 3: situation
Roderigo tells Iago he wants to drown himself, because Desdemona has
married Othello. Iago talks him out of it, and tells him of a plan to win
back Desdemona…
Cultural setting: the Venetians see through the Turkish
military trick…

First Senator
This cannot be,
By no assay of reason: 'tis a pageant,
To keep us in false gaze.
…
DUKE OF VENICE
Nay, in all confidence, he's [the Turks] not for Rhodes.
(1.3: 17-32)

Idea: deception may be an important part of a culture

Plot: The Duke asks Othello to command their army against the
Turks, but is immediately interrupted by Brabantio
DUKE OF VENICE
Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you
Against the general enemy Ottoman.
To BRABANTIO
I did not see you; welcome, gentle signior;
We lack'd your counsel and your help tonight.
BRABANTIO
So did I yours. Good your grace, pardon me;
Neither my place nor aught I heard of business
Hath raised me from my bed…
(1.3: 55-63)

idea: Othello looks vulnerable in this society: his status and safety
depends on the state’s urgent need of his military skills.
Disadvantaged ethnic minorities in positions
of power: Colin Powell
Disadvantaged ethnic minorities as soldiers:
Gurkhas (Nepal), African Americans

African Americans =13 percent of the U.S.

population between 1961 and 1966, they
accounted for almost 20 percent of all
combat-related deaths in Vietnam…
Australian indigenous peoples: still denied
citizenship on their return from fighting!
Character: Brabantio says only evil tricks could
have caused Desdemona to love Othello!
BRABANTIO
My daughter! O, my daughter!
DUKE OF VENICE
Dead?
BRABANTIO
Ay, to me;
She is abused, stol'n from me, and corrupted
By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks;
For nature so preposterously to err,
Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense,
Sans witchcraft could not.
(1.3: 59-65)

Idea: again, a cultural attitude is mistaken for a natural

phenomenon (naturalized)
Character: Othello responds self-deprecatingly to
this accusation
DUKE OF VENICE[To OTHELLO]
What, in your own part, can you say to this?
BRABANTIO
Nothing, but this is so.
OTHELLO
Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors,
My very noble and approved good masters,
That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter,
It is most true; true…
Rude am I in my speech,
And little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace:
(1.3: 73-82)

Irony: Othello says he cannot speak well (internalized racism?) but then
does…
Plot: Othello asks for Desdemona to be brought to speak for
herself, then tells how they fell in love: from Othello’s war
stories…
Othello
…
She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd,
And I loved her that she did pity them.
(1.3:166-5)

Character and complex irony: Desdemona loves Othello because he is

macho, hyper-masculine? Do we therefore think her judgment of him
was always (fatally) flawed?
Plot: suspense: Desdemona arrives, and her father
Brabantio asks her whether she knows who to obey…
Brabantio
…
Do you perceive in all this noble company
Where most you owe obedience?
DESDEMONA
My noble father,
I do perceive here a divided duty:
To you I am bound for life and education;
My life and education both do learn me
How to respect you; you are the lord of duty;
I am hitherto your daughter: but here's my husband,
And so much duty as my mother show'd
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my lord.
(1.3: 178-187)

Idea: a clever answer, but using sexist / patriarchal principles: Desdemona sees herself
as either her father’s, or her husband’s property / servant.
Plot: Desdemona asks to go with Othello to the
war: says she can see into his soul…
DESDEMONA
…
…my heart's subdued
Even to the very quality of my lord:
I saw Othello's visage in his mind,
And to his honour and his valiant parts
Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate.
(1.3: 247-251)

Character / Irony: does Desdemona really know Othello as well as she

thinks she does?
The Duke tells Brabantio that Othello is a
virtuous man, despite his colour!
DUKE OF VENICE
To BRABANTIO
And, noble signior,
If virtue no delighted beauty lack,
Your son-in-law is far more fair than black.
(1.3.286-7)

Idea: is the falseness of racism known by the highest authority in Venice, or

not?
Brabantio warns Othello that Desdemona
may deceive him…
BRABANTIO
Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:
She has deceived her father, and may thee.
(1.3:289-290)

Irony and foreshadowing: deceit on one level may cause lack of trust on
other levels…
Plot: Othello is at this moment very sure of
Desdemona’s faithfulness and Iago’s honesty!
My life upon her faith!
Honest Iago,
My Desdemona must I leave to thee:
(1.3: 291-2)

Character and idea: Othello is already deceived with regard to Iago

Irony: Honest Iago! It is easy to be deceived…

Plot: Iago talks Roderigo around, and makes
his plan to destroy Othello.
RODERIGO
It is silliness to live when to live is torment; and
then have we a prescription to die when death is our physician.
IAGO
villainous! I have looked upon the world for four
times seven years; and since I could distinguish
betwixt a benefit and an injury, I never found man
that knew how to love himself.
(1.3: 305-310)

Character and idea: Iago seems very reasonable, even wise. The idea is that
men are not self-sufficient – depend on others to have a good opinion of
themselves, to ‘love’ themselves…or they fall into self-hatred, which causes
them to harm others…
Plot: Iago talks Roderigo around, and makes
his plan to destroy Othello.
IAGO
Virtue! a fig! 'tis in ourselves that we are thus
or thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to the which
our wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant
nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up
thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs, or
distract it with many, either to have it sterile
with idleness, or manured with industry, why, the
power and corrigible authority of this lies in our
wills. If the balance of our lives had not one
scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the
blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us
to most preposterous conclusions: but we have
reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal
stings, our unbitted lusts, whereof I take this that
you call love to be a sect or scion.(1.3.315-328)

Character and idea: classic statement of Christian morality: so why does Iago
not follow his own advice?
Plot: Iago says he thinks Othello has slept with his
wife. Plans to use Cassio to destroy Othello
Iago
I hate the Moor:
And it is thought abroad, that 'twixt my sheets
He has done my office: I know not if't be true;
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,
Will do as if for surety. He holds me well;
The better shall my purpose work on him.
Cassio's a proper man: let me see now:
To get his place and to plume up my will
In double knavery--How, how? Let's see:--
After some time, to abuse Othello's ear
That he is too familiar with his wife.
(1.3: 377-387)

character: we know what Iago is going to do, but why does he hate
Othello so much?
Iago says he thinks Othello has slept with his
wife. Plans to use Cassio to destroy Othello
Iago
I have't. It is engender'd. Hell and night
Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light (1.3: 394-5)

Metaphor: a plan is like a child being born

Character and idea: Iago makes it sound as if

he is not really responsible. Is that true?
Scene 1.3 = 9.00 -23.05
Next Week: Othello, Act 2