Let’s Read!

• 3 characters
1. Iago
2. Roderigo
3. Brabantio
The Chain ofBeing There are other notable Elizabethan beliefs for which it is important
to have some understanding, since this will further enhance knowledge and
understanding of Othello. One such belief is in the hierarchical Chain of Being. This
was the Elizabethan belief, inherited from medieval theology, that everything from
God through to man and woman, vegetable and mineral appeared in an ordained
position. This certainly explains why there was no objection to male superiority to
women at the time. Iago’s actions in the play threaten the established hierarchy,
which is already perceived to be under threat since there is a black outsider at the top
 Homework
• Feedback what do we think are the most
important quotations so far
• Brabantio: who most you owe obedience.
• ‘Jewel’
…abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals
• Foul charms chains of magic
• Fall in love with that she fear’d to look on.
• Thou art a villain
• She has deceiv’d her father and may thee.

• Othello

• Iago

• Desdemona
• Desdemona

• The old black ram is tupping your white ewe.

• I do perceive here a divided duty.

• A maiden never bold

• Othello
• Keep up your swords

• Rude am I in my speech

• She lov’d me for dangers that I had passed

• And I lov’d her that she did pity them.

• I love the gentle Desdemona

• My parts, my title and my perfect soul.

• Duke: your son-in-law is more fair than black.

• Moor or less? In Elizabethan England, the term "Moor" could
be used to refer to a wide range of non-European persons,
including black Africans, North Africans, Arabs, and even
Indians. References to Othello's origins throughout the play are
contradictory and ambiguous Iago calls Othello a "Barbary
horse" (1.1.110); Barbary was an area in Africa between Egypt
and the Atlantic Ocean. Roderigo, however, calls him "thicklips"
(1.1.65-6), suggesting that he may come from further south on
the African continent. Brabantio calls him "sooty" (1.2.70);
Othello, along with numerous other characters, refers to
himself as "black." It is impossible to know now exactly what
Shakespeare or his audience would have thought a "Moor" is.
 Key points
1. Iago hates Othello because he has
promoted Cassio ahead of him
2. Roderigo loves Desdemona
3. Desdemona marries Othello without her
father’s permission
4. Brabantio is enraged both by his daughter’s
disobedience and by her choice of husband
5. Othello is a valued military general but is
still an outsider in Venice nonetheless
 Key Points
• Scene 2
• Othello is called to the Venetian council on
urgent military business
• Brabantio accuses Othello of bewitching his
daughter
• Othello is confident that his services to the
state, his reputation and his character will
speak for him.
• In the council chamber Othello is called to war: the Turks are planning an
attack on Cyprus.
• The Duke asks Othello to respond to Brabantio’s charges and is accepting
of Othello’s love for Desdemona.
• Othello reveals how himself and Desdemona fell in love.
• Brabantio refuses to accept Othello as a son in law and warns him of
her betrayal.
• Roderigo is upset at Desdemona’s marriage and says he will drown
himself.

• Iago manipulates him and tells him to accompany Iago to the Cyprus
wars.
• Iago reveals his true motives for his actions.
• How he is described

• The language he uses

• His actions in the play so far.

• This is one of the many instances in the play in which Othello
is compared to an animal. Iago's reference to an ass (donkey)
in particular highlights that the racist view of Moors as
animalistic is closely entwined with the idea that Moors are
naturally subservient and unintelligent. Iago's view that
Othello is feebleminded is clearly false; Othello has already
demonstrated that he is not only a highly skilled soldier, but
also talented in rhetoric. On the other hand, Iago's
observation that Othello is overly trusting is correct. Indeed,
Othello's readiness to believe in appearances is the fatal flaw
that––as Iago predicts––ultimately leads to his downfall.
• Twists the language of birth and new life to
talk about something deadly. It is a plan of
death and destruction.

• Thankfully, we have reason to cool our raging

lusts. In my opinion, what you call love is just
an offshoot of lust.
• The most ominous element of his character is:

• His power to manipulate the other characters: the puppet

master

• The dramatic irony surrounding him: the characters cannot see

him for what he is.

• The dark and sinister language he continually uses.

• Other
• “Tying her duty, beauty, wit and fortunes In an extravagant and wheeling stranger Of here and everywhere” – Roderigo to Iago about
what Desdemona has given to Othello (1,1)

• “For know, Iago, But that I love the gentle Desdemona” – Othello to Iago – straightforward confession of love (1,2)

• “To fall in love with what she feared to look on?” – Brabantio to the Duke about Desdemona loving Othello when she fears him (1,3)

• “She loved me for the dangers I had passed, And I loved her that she did pity them.” – Othello to the Duke about Desdemona (1,3)

• “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see: She has deceived her father, and may thee.” – Brabantio to Othello about Desdemona (1,3)

• “We have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts: whereof I take this, that you call love, to be a sect or
scion.” – Iago to Roderigo about love (1,3)

• “It is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will.” – Iago to Roderigo about love – cynical – (1,3)

• “She must change for youth: when she is sated with his body, she will find the error of her choice: she must have change, she must.” –
Iago to Roderigo, cynical about love and saying Desdemona will look for someone new when she’s had enough of Othello - (1,3)
 Recap: Key points
1. Iago hates Othello because he has
promoted Cassio ahead of him
2. Roderigo loves Desdemona
3. Desdemona marries Othello without her
father’s permission
4. Brabantio is enraged both by his daughter’s
disobedience and by her choice of husband
5. Othello is a valued military general but is
still an outsider in Venice nonetheless
 Activity: Groups
1. Assign each person a role (1 min)
1. Iago
2. Roderigo
3. Brabantio
4. Scribe (Narrator)
2. Re-write a short version of act 1 sc 1 in your
own words (5 mins)
3. Rehearse (5 mins)
• What is the effect of the start of the play in mid conversation?

• Hast had my purse as if the strings were thine.

• I know my price, I am worth no worse a place.

• Iago on Othello: his own pride and purposes’ Cassio has ‘never
set a squadron in the field.’

• Iago has ‘’seen the proof at Rhodes.’

• Iago on Cassio: ‘a fellow almost damned in a fair wife.’
• In following him, I follow but myself.
• ……..’poison his delight’ ‘Plague him with flies’
……
• I am not what I am
• I must show out a flag of love.
• Repetition of ‘thieves’
• “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram is
tupping your white ewe” (Iago, Act 1 Sc1)
• Sexual:
• ‘tupping’ animalistic
• ‘Lascivious moor ‘

• A savage
• Barbary horse……..neigh to you ….
• Beast with two backs
• Immoral
• The devil will make a grandsire
 Brabantio is merely a product of
Brabantio has been
that time period.
manipulated by Iago and
Roderigo and therefore is
simply a product of this.

• O thou foul thief.

• ….enchanted her.
• ..chains of magic
• Sooty bosom
• ..a thing as thou
• foul charms
• She is abus’d, stol’n from me and corrupted
• By spells… Brabantio’s racist attitude towards Othello
• Sans witch craft could not. makes it impossible for the audience to
sympathise with him.

To fall in love with what she fear’d to look on.

• Against all rules of nature
•  
• I love the gentle Desdemona
• My parts, my title, and my perfect soul.
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 Presentation of Brabantio
• Speech on page 12 • Where does he fit in
• Speech on page 16 with the themes/ideas:
• Page 18: racist • Presentation of men and
comments women
• Page 21: reference to • Racism
her as ‘jewel’ • Social conventions
• Contrast to Othello • Jealously
• Do the audience feel any • Misogyny
sympathy towards him? • Presentation of the
outsider
• Presentation of love
Iago: The Malcontent
• ‘The Malcontent’ is a character type that often appeared in early modern
drama.
• Mal – ‘a word forming element often associated with something not being
right’
• Content – ‘when one is satisfied’
• This character is discontent with the social structure and other characters
in the play; they are often an outsider who observes and comments on the
action - in some cases they may even acknowledge that they are in a play.
• This is shown by Iago’s relationship with the audience. While deceiving his
fellow characters throughout the entirety of the play, Iago is honest with
the audience in his many ‘asides’.
• During these asides and soliloquys, Iago voices his discontent and explains
his plans to the audience – sort of breaking the fourth wall.
Iago: The Malcontent
• In other texts, the malcontent is often a sympathetic character (for example
Hamlet – the audience feels for him as he has suffered greatly with the loss of his
father and then with his mother’s re-marriage which he regards as incestuous) but
this is not the case with Iago.
• The most important thing about the malcontent is that they unhappy, unsettled,
displeased with the world of the play and eager to somehow change or dispute it
– so in that sense Iago is the embodiment of this character type.
• The term ‘malcontent’ is also linked to the idea of melancholy; an extreme
sadness which Elizabethans believed to be caused by excess black bile in the body,
which would cause a person to act immorally to achieve their aim.
• This would link with the literary feature of the Renaissance of a spirit of enquiry.
The Renaissance was the age of science and discovery and so a 17 th century
audience would have believed this to be the reason for Iago’s personality.
Iago Language Analysis
• Throughout the play, Iago’s language is vulgar and sexually crude from the onset…
• (Act 1 Scene 1) – Shouting to Brabantio:
• “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe”… “you’ll have your daughter covered
with a barbary horse”… “the Moor and your daughter are now making the beast
with two backs”
• Descriptions are warped and vivid
• We are also introduced to his attitudes to Othello and to women. The image is
bestial and dehumanising, both are seen merely as uncontrollable, mating
animals.
• Iago subtly manipulates Brabantio to enrage him telling him “your heart is burst,
you have lost half your soul”. This is an early instance of Iago telling other
characters how they ought to be feeling, and using this to control their thinking.
 Extended written response
‘By the end of Act 1 it is clear to the audience that Othello and
Desdemona’s relationship is doomed.’ How far do you agree
with this view?
Or
‘By the end of Act 1, Othello’s fatal flaw has already been
revealed.’ How far do you agree with this view? Discuss at least
two of Othello’s weaknesses which are revealed in this act and
explain how they may cause his downfall.
Or
‘I am not what I am.’ How far do you agree that Iago might be
considered ‘honest’ in Act 1?
 Title: Staging Act 1 Sc 1 Date: 03-09-13
L.O: To create and deliver a dramatic scene
Look at the
character you
choose at the
start of class.

Did they behave the

way you
expected them
to? Why/why
not?
 Homework – in notes copy
• Imagine you are either
– Iago
or
– Roderigo.

• Compose a diary entry giving your

thoughts on the events recorded in this
scene. (10sentences +)
 Activity – in soft copy
What type of language is used about the following:
Desdemona Othello

Evidence

Explain
 What’s your impression?
Brabantio Act Speak

Othello

Cassio
 Homework – in notes copy
• Imagine you are either
– Iago
or
– Roderigo.

• Compose a diary entry giving your

thoughts on the events recorded in this
scene. (10sentences +)