Act 1 Flashcards
scene 1: domestic vs political
from the beginning, it is clear that private, domestic issues and the public, professional world will collide e.g. Brabantio rousing his neighbours and an army to help him hunt down Othello: he is making his daughter’s elopement into a public, political affair.
scene 1: deception
deception is established as a key theme from the very beginning - it is made clear that there were deceptions taking place within the story before the play’s beginning, e.g. Roderigo is deceived into believing he could win Desdemona’s hand, Brabantio deceived by Desdemona and Othello, Iago feels deceived as Cassio has been promoted.
The effect of this is structure is that audiences will question the difference between appearance and reality from the very very start.
scene 1: “Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags!/ Thieves, thieves!”
Iago’s line makes it clear that the male characters of this world view women as possessions, as Iago includes Brabantio’s daughter within this list of commodities.
scene 1: “treason of the blood”
Brabantio believes that Desdemona has usurped the natural order by eloping with Othello. The image of Desdemona in the “gross clasps of a lascivious Moor” makes it clear that her “revolt” isn’t just outrageous because she deceived her father, but also because she has chosen a “Moor”.
scene 1: Desdemona’s “youth and maidhood” have been “abused”
reflects the Renaissance stereotype of the black man as a cunning sexual predator.
scene 1: “I follow him to serve my turn upon him”
Iago established as Machiavellian or as untrustworthy from the very first scene
scene 1: “not meet nor wholesome to my place,/ To be produced”
Iago is good at getting himself out of trouble, or avoiding it altogether: he leaves the stage just as Brabantio discovers Desdemona is gone.
The language reflects the irony that audiences will come to associate with Iago - neither his words nor his actions are “wholesome”.
scene 1: “Thou art a villain!”
a prime example of dramatic irony used to raise tension by the playwright. Roderigo is blissfully unaware of the truth in Brabantio’s words.
by the end of the first scene, Shakespeare has established Iago as a powerful, manipulative figure who instigates and stage-manages chaos effectively.
scene 1: Othello’s presence
Othello is not seen nor referred to by name in this scene - he is a mysterious figure at this stage.
Shakespeare has structured the scene to draw audience attentions to the role of rumour; everything we learn about Othello passes through someone else. “His Moorship” is presented, through the dialogue of Iago, Roderigo and Brabantio as being lustful, hot-headed, and animal-like (“an old black ram”, “barbary horse”) - Othello is presented, through the eyes of others, as adhering to Elizabethan/Jacobean stereotypes of black people.
scene 1: “poison his delight”, “Plague him with flies”
Iago’s use of metaphors associates him with poison, corruption and disease throughout the play. Here, Shakespeare has prepared audiences for the poisoning of Othello’s mind that takes place in Act 3.
scene 1: “My daughter is not for thee”
Brabantio assumes the role of an angry patriarch. This quote signifies that Brabantio looks upon Desdemona as a possession.
Brabantio’s social postion (“my spirit and my place”) is undermined not only by the “wheeling stranger” his daughter has eloped with, but also by Iago’s impudent words.
scene 1: “an old black ram”, “a barbary horse”, “the beast with two backs”
Iago’s speech is crude and mocking. The reduction of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship to bestial sexuality arguably reveals more about Iago than it does about the couple, as his prurience is evident from the start.
scene 2: “Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them”
Presents Othello as a successful soldier who is used to leading armies. He appears rational, commanding and cogent, and his gentle and witty sarcasm seems to suggest he is relatively confident in his position (arguing against Caryl Phillips’ view that Othello feels ‘constantly threatened and profoundly insecure’.)
scene 2: blank verse
in contrast with the other characters we have seen so far, Othello speaks with a measured calm in blank verse in scene 2. Othello and Iago appear as binary opposites: one seeks to resolve conflict whilst the other revels in it.
scene 2: “boarded a land carrack”
the polysemy of “carrack” insults both Othello and Desdemona: can either mean treasure or prostitute.
