Act One, Scene Three Flashcards
The Council Chamber
> collision of domestic and public spheres
macrocosmic - Venice at war
Senator: My letters say a hundred and seven galleys
> Turkish fleet approaching Cyprus
discussing conflicting reports of Turkish numbers
background of threatening and uncertain events
fast moving events
Senator: ‘Tis a pageant to keep us in false gaze
> public matters still related to previous two scenes
senate is like the audience - assessing the truth of words
Turks’ ploy - example of deceptive appearance used to gain advantage
D: Valiant Othello
> hero qualities
Duke addresses Othello first - status
B: She is abused, stol’n from me, and corrupted by spells and medicines
> melodrama
emotional blackmail
relentless insistence
cannot reconcile Desdemona has acted of her own accord
projecting his own fears
O: Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors
> staged defence
speaks in blank verse/ heroic verse
scene develops into a trial
in contrast to Brabantio’s intemperate speech
O: Rude am I in my speech
O: Round, unvarnished tale
> cannot hide/ disguise the truth through speech
unfamiliar with Venetian society
irony - Othello is a great orator; self-belief?
ability to tell in a vivid and interesting manner easily attracted Desdemona
O: And little of this great world can I speak more than pertains to feats of broil and battle
> only knows battle; skilled military man
unfamiliar with civilised Venetian society
‘this’ - speaks with some distance from it; doesn’t feel fully integrated/ belonging
First introduced to Desdemona through her father (Brabantio)
> weak, passive, a victim
O: Upon this hint I spake
> implies Desdemona played a role in the ‘wooing’
capable of taking initiatives
has some control over her life
O: Her father loved me, oft invited me
O: Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances
> Brabantio loved Othello as a military hero
Othello’s dual identity
Direct contrast to his present behaviour
O: She’d come again, and with a greedy ear
O: Devour up my discourse
> won Desdemona over with stories of battle
implied Desdemona manages domestic affairs of the household
D: To you I am bound by life and education
> ‘education’ - implied cannot attend school; must be educated by her father
maturity - recognise systems
‘bound’ - duty to be loyal to man of the household
O: Flinty and steel couch of war
> bring us back into war zone
domestic peril has gone
O: With such accommodation and besort as levels with her breeding
> ‘breeding’ - reminder of Desdemona’s wealthy status
don’t have time to consummate?
D: That I love the Moor to live with him
> already moved in with Othello
level of betrayal to her father
O: Not to please the palate of my appetite
> critical - not for sex
O: That my disports corrupt and taint my business, let housewives make a skillet of my helm
> prophetic foreshadowing
would never let her distract him
sexual innuendo
O: A man he is of honesty and trust
> level of naivety from Othello’s perspective
Iago constantly referred to as honest
Iago will accompany Desdemona
D: If virtue no delighted beauty lack, Othello is far more fair than black
> rhyming couplets
contemporary voice - Othello is worthy
B: Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see, she has deceived her father, and may thee
> prophetic irony
later used by Iago as proof
rhyming couplets
O: Honest Iago,
> irony - immediately after Brabantio’s warning
R: I will incontinently drown myself
> melodramatic
appropriate switch to prose - Roderigo’s foolishness and Iago’s cynicism
I: I never found a man that knew how to love himself
> element of truth
