Othello scene summaries
Act 1 scene 1:
o Begins in medias res- argument, middle of night- confusion/disorientating.
Challenges expectations of Venice as ordered/civilised.
o Roderigo = stock figure of the gull (easily duped)- familiar to audience.
Angry with Iago- payed him but wasn’t told of Othello + Desdemona’s elopement.
st
o 1 impression of Iago- pompous/arrogant- believes Othello turned down best man for
job/promoted Cassio unfairly.
Cassio is ‘mere prattle’- talks the talk has no experience.
o Iago brings attention to fact it’s who you know not what.
But contradiction- tried to get promoted through ‘3 great ones of the city’.
Extemporising.
Good servant = loyal/honest/dutiful.
Smuggles into his dialogue a cynical view of renaissance vs ‘whip me such honest
knaves!’.
Likeable figure- complaining about social injustice- exploitation of servants.
o Iago putting on act ‘shows of service’.
o Iago ‘those fellows have some soul’- spiritual dimension/immoral part- Christian
connotation but here refers to self-respect- using Christian language but adapts for own
purpose.
o Iago bamboozles his victims with words- elaborate sentences.
o Gulf between appearance + reality ‘I am not what I am’ (profane)- reference to Exodus-
God ‘I am what I am’.
Coded suggestion explored in language that there’s something diabolical about Iago.
Sophisticated version of tempter figure in morality play.
o Iago’s motive- playfulness?- enjoys feeling intellectually superior to Roderigo- foreshadows
relationship between Iago + Othello.
Iago is lower social rank than Roderigo yet he’s in charge.
Iago wanting to cause mischief + spoil Othello’s happiness.
Iago = agent of civic chaos- enemy within.
o Roderigo ‘thick lips’- racist epithet (descriptive word)/‘lascivious moor’- meaning sex-
crazed + lacks control.
o Iago deliberately whips up sense of panic in Brabantio through colourful/amusing
language- plants horrific images in his mind.
‘robbed’ ‘your house, your daughter, and your bags!’- daughter bookended by
possessions- owned.
‘old black ram is tupping your white ewe’- animalistic imagery.
‘snorting citizens’- shameful having daughter stolen by socially embarrassing black
man.
‘devil’- traditionally thought to be black.
Playing on Brabantio’s fears- misogynist- public shame of mixed marriage- family line
must be kept pure.
Desdemona committed ‘gross revolt’- patriarchal authority- father decides marriage
to make dynastic relations.
Uncomfortable yet amusing for audience- illicit humour- Iago has power over
audience- falling for his charms?
o Brabantio presented as foolish/stock figure of father- in a nightgown.
Brabantio ‘not unlike my dream’- superstitious- Shakespeare giving audience
license to find Brabantio an absurd figure- no sympathy.
‘charms’- believes Desdemona must be under a spell.
‘oh that you had had her!’- Brabantio would prefer a white idiot than African
general- forfeits our sympathy.
Disjointed speech.
o Brabantio ‘this is Venice: My house is not a grange’- reputation- safe place- bad
doesn’t happen in Venice.
o Iago begrudgingly admits Othello’s values ‘another of his fathom they have none’.
o Othello timed this well- commits an ordascious act when knows he’s necessary to
Venetians- is he calculated or following impulses?
Act 1 scene 1:
o Begins in medias res- argument, middle of night- confusion/disorientating.
Challenges expectations of Venice as ordered/civilised.
o Roderigo = stock figure of the gull (easily duped)- familiar to audience.
Angry with Iago- payed him but wasn’t told of Othello + Desdemona’s elopement.
st
o 1 impression of Iago- pompous/arrogant- believes Othello turned down best man for
job/promoted Cassio unfairly.
Cassio is ‘mere prattle’- talks the talk has no experience.
o Iago brings attention to fact it’s who you know not what.
But contradiction- tried to get promoted through ‘3 great ones of the city’.
Extemporising.
Good servant = loyal/honest/dutiful.
Smuggles into his dialogue a cynical view of renaissance vs ‘whip me such honest
knaves!’.
Likeable figure- complaining about social injustice- exploitation of servants.
o Iago putting on act ‘shows of service’.
o Iago ‘those fellows have some soul’- spiritual dimension/immoral part- Christian
connotation but here refers to self-respect- using Christian language but adapts for own
purpose.
o Iago bamboozles his victims with words- elaborate sentences.
o Gulf between appearance + reality ‘I am not what I am’ (profane)- reference to Exodus-
God ‘I am what I am’.
Coded suggestion explored in language that there’s something diabolical about Iago.
Sophisticated version of tempter figure in morality play.
o Iago’s motive- playfulness?- enjoys feeling intellectually superior to Roderigo- foreshadows
relationship between Iago + Othello.
Iago is lower social rank than Roderigo yet he’s in charge.
Iago wanting to cause mischief + spoil Othello’s happiness.
Iago = agent of civic chaos- enemy within.
o Roderigo ‘thick lips’- racist epithet (descriptive word)/‘lascivious moor’- meaning sex-
crazed + lacks control.
o Iago deliberately whips up sense of panic in Brabantio through colourful/amusing
language- plants horrific images in his mind.
‘robbed’ ‘your house, your daughter, and your bags!’- daughter bookended by
possessions- owned.
‘old black ram is tupping your white ewe’- animalistic imagery.
‘snorting citizens’- shameful having daughter stolen by socially embarrassing black
man.
‘devil’- traditionally thought to be black.
Playing on Brabantio’s fears- misogynist- public shame of mixed marriage- family line
must be kept pure.
Desdemona committed ‘gross revolt’- patriarchal authority- father decides marriage
to make dynastic relations.
Uncomfortable yet amusing for audience- illicit humour- Iago has power over
audience- falling for his charms?
o Brabantio presented as foolish/stock figure of father- in a nightgown.
Brabantio ‘not unlike my dream’- superstitious- Shakespeare giving audience
license to find Brabantio an absurd figure- no sympathy.
‘charms’- believes Desdemona must be under a spell.
‘oh that you had had her!’- Brabantio would prefer a white idiot than African
general- forfeits our sympathy.
Disjointed speech.
o Brabantio ‘this is Venice: My house is not a grange’- reputation- safe place- bad
doesn’t happen in Venice.
o Iago begrudgingly admits Othello’s values ‘another of his fathom they have none’.
o Othello timed this well- commits an ordascious act when knows he’s necessary to
Venetians- is he calculated or following impulses?
