Act 1 Scene 1

Question 1

Scene 1 Summary

Answer 1

• Roderigo finds out Othello and Desdemona are married
• Iago reveals his lieutenancy has been usurped by Cassio
• Iago vows revenge
• Roderigo and Iago wake Brabantio and reveal the news to him

Question 2

‘Thou Iago who hast had my purse as if the strings were thine’

Answer 2

Roderigo - Iago exploits Roderigo (the fool) for money by promising him he will eventually marry Desdemona

Question 3

‘Three great ones of the city in personal suit to make me his lieutenant’

Answer 3

Iago - It was fated he would get the position but was betrayed by Othello’s choice

Question 4

‘I know my price, I am worth no worse a place’

Answer 4

Iago - Self assured character (Authorial method; dominates the scene)

Question 5

‘Forsooth a great arithmetician, one Michael Cassio, a Florentine, a fellow almost damned in a fair wife’

Answer 5

Iago - Cassio doesn’t fit the expectations of a typical lieutenant and Iago resents him for this

Question 6

‘Mere prattle without practice’

Answer 6

Iago - Cassio is inexperienced and it is unfathomable why he was chosen over someone as experienced as Iago

Question 7

‘I of whom his eyes had seen the proof at Rhodes and Cyprus’

Answer 7

Iago - Qualified for the position; justifiable anger (Authorial Method; foreshadowing and irony as Othello later relies on proof over his own judgement in his madness)

Question 8

‘By heaven I rather would’ve been his hangman’

Answer 8

Roderigo - Very keen to follow the lead of anyone else in the scene (Authorial Method; role of the fool and lets Iago dominate the scene)

Question 9

‘Tis the curse of service’

Answer 9

Iago - Authorial Method; semantic field of curses throughout the play being linked to things going wrong

Question 10

‘Be judge yourself whether I in any just term am affined to love the Moor’

Answer 10

Iago - Two interpretations;
1 - A false show of insecurity needing someone else’s judgement to appear more human
2 - A true display of insecurity because he truly is only human, fitting his rage at this betrayal

Question 11

‘I follow him to serve my turn upon him’

Answer 11

Iago - He has always openly admitted his villainy

Question 12

‘In following him I follow but myself’

Answer 12

Iago - He keeps his personal interests at the forefront of everything he did

Question 13

‘Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty’

Answer 13

Iago - Lies to himself and others; unusual for a villain to rely on heaven but suggests he truly believes he is correct and justified in his actions

Question 14

‘But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at, I am not what I am’

Answer 14

Iago - Makes it abundantly clear that he will adopt a villainous pretence to enact revenge

Question 15

‘What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe’

Answer 15

Roderigo - Negative racial stereotyping before the audience is even introduced to the character of Othello

Question 16

‘Proclaim him in the street’

Answer 16

Iago - On rousing Brabantio from his sleep; it is the middle of the night showing his disregard for others

Question 17

‘Signior Brabantio ho!’

Answer 17

Roderigo - Authorial Method; volume. Roderigo uses his correct title whereas Iago doesn’t showing their attitudes

Question 18

‘Thieves, thieves!’

Answer 18

Iago - Perpetuation that the marriage is a crime and not just a personal betrayal; Authorial method = proximity as Brabantio appears above them to represent the hierarchy and Iago hides on stage

Question 19

‘For shame put on your gown’

Answer 19

Iago - Despite being assigned a low ranking position he still orders people around

Question 20

‘An old black ram is tupping your white ewe’

Answer 20

Iago - Racial tensions and comparing it to bestiality; removes the purity from the love that Othello and Desdemona actually share

Question 21

‘The devil will make a grandsire of you’

Answer 21

Iago - Links the marriage to a spiritual crime alongside legal

Question 22

‘My daughter is not for thee’

Answer 22

Brabantio - Speaks to Roderigo once he figures out it is him; very particular about who his daughter marries and contrasts the irony at the end of the scene of rewarding him

Question 23

‘We come to do you service’

Answer 23

Iago - Irony considering the service is more for Iago’s scheme

Question 24

‘You’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse, you’ll have your nephews neigh to you, you’ll have coursers for cousins, jennets for Germans’

Answer 24

Iago - Racial insults towards Othello

Question 25

'The gross clasps of a lascivious Moor'

Answer 25

Roderigo - despite being respectful towards Brabantio when they clearly have their differences, he will not show the same respect to Othello

Question 26

'Her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes'

Answer 26

Roderigo - Speaks of Desdemona poetically much like Cassio does and is a rare moment of respect towards women but is limited by personal motivation

Question 27

'If she be in her chamber or your house let loose on me the justice of the state for thus deluding you'

Answer 27

Roderigo - Parallels Othello who puts his life on the line of capital punishment to prove Desdemona loves him

Question 28

'Belief of it oppresses me already'

Answer 28

Brabantio - Juxtaposes Othello who needs ocular proof

Question 29

'Though I hate him as I do hell's pains'

Answer 29

Iago - Constant comparison of Iago and his race to hell, devils etc

Question 30

'O treason of the blood!'

Answer 30

Brabantio - Desdemona's betrayal is felt so deeply purely because of Othello's race

Question 31

'Good Roderigo I'll deserve your pains'

Answer 31

Brabantio - Irony in rewarding the man he had originally turned away