ACT 1 IAGO

Question 1

’ I am not what I am”

Answer 1

• equivocation, purposefully misleading language
• paradox, riddle like- emblematic of Iagos power - DECEPTION
  BIBLICAL CONNOTATIONS: Exodus 4:14 Moses asks God what name he should refer to him as to the Pharaoh, God’s response: I AM WHAT I AM = direct opposite

Question 2

‘Master’s ass’

Answer 2

• criticizing people who follow their master
• stupidity and cowardice of a donkey
• disrupting heirarchy, creating chaos = prejudice

Question 3

‘thick lips’

Answer 3

• reducing him to a racialized physical attribute
• taking away subjectivity as a whole person
• hypersexual nature, big lips = symbol of sexuality

Question 4

‘babary horse’ ‘black ram’ ‘beast with two backs’ ‘lascivious moor’

Answer 4

• primal and uncivilised
• unable to control baser, sexual instincts- predatory
• characteristics become intrinsically tied to his skin colour = PREJUDICE

Question 5

‘You’re robbed’ ‘he hath boarded a land carrack’

Answer 5

• ‘carrack’ = treasure ship = reduced DES to her wealth
• ‘ship’ trade= commodification
• occurs amid a conversation about war- people are sent with the high possibility of death- women = waste of life

Question 6

‘our bodies are our gardens’

Answer 6

• tend to your gardens- external how you present yourself matters in society, if you let your garden go wild- shows inner self
• ‘garden’ = nature balanced ironic disrupting natural order
• ego- garden = conform to society