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Rodrigo and Iago argue
-> Roderigo has paid Iago a lot of money to help him win the hand of Desdemona. Yet he has just learned that Desdemona has eloped with Othello, the Moorish general under whom Iago serves
-> Iago assures Rodrigo that he hates Othello: In his words, Othello promoted Michael Cassio, a man who in Iago 's estimation is just a "spinster", a military theorist with no practical experience in fighting or leading men.

Iago and Rodrigo go to the house of Brabantio, telling him that his daughter has eloped
-> Brabantio emerges from his house without finding Desdemona.

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Act 1 Scene 1: Iago and Rodrigo's confrontation

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Act 1 Scene 1: Iago and Rodrigo's confrontation

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-> Iago has his own jealous motives for hating Othello.
->A spinster is an old, unmarried woman who has no experience of sex, just as the military theorist cassia has no experience of battle. Iago is questioning Cassio's manhood.

"When my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In complement extern, tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at. I am not what I am."
-> Iago reveals his capacity to hide his feelings and motives so that his actions don't reveal them

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Act 1 Scene 1: Confrontation with Brabantio

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Act 1 Scene 1: Confrontation with Brabantio

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"An old black ram is tupping your white ewe"
"Your daughter and the Moor are making the beast with two backs"
-> Iago refers to Othello as a barbary horse
-> Iago uses prejudice as a tool, describing Othello as an animal and sex with Desdemona as bestial

-> Manhood and pride: Iago makes use of the fact that Brabantio will feel his manly honour challenged by his daughter having sex
-> Manhood and pride: Brabantio feels his manhood is ruined by his daughter's deception, insisting that Othello could only have unmanned him in this way by twisting reality through some kind of sorcery
-> Womanhood and sexuality: The comparison between Othello and Desdemona (in animal terms is meant to evoke purity), but it also indicates that the men do not think of her as an equal human being
-> Prejudice and racism: Brabantio's change of heart regarding Rodrigo as the lesser of two evils reveals his prejudice against Othello

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Iago tells Othello that he wanted to stab Rodrigo when he hears the things Roderigo was saying about Othello.

Brabantio comes
-> Othello faces him, saying that he has dutifully served the state of Venice and his conscience is clean: he loves Desdemona
-> Brabantio states that Othello must have enchanted Desdemona
-> Othello remains unfazed

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Act 1 Scene 2: Iago changes sides seamlessly

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Act 1 Scene 2: Iago changes sides seamlessly

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Iago tries to provoke Othello by suggesting that Rodrigo has slighted his manly honour.
-> However, at this point, Othello seems completely secure in himself, immune to challenges to his manhood.

Othello's the first character to speak of love
-> All the other men think of women as something to possess, not love.

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Act 1 Scene 2: Brabantio's injured sense of manhood

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Act 1 Scene 2: Brabantio's injured sense of manhood

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Brabantio states that Othello must have enchanted Desdemona, or else why would she have gone "to the sooty bosom of such a thing as thou"
-> Manhood and pride: Brabantio gives full voice to his injured sense of manhood by interweaving the language of racial prejudice with horror at interracial sexuality.

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The Duke of Venice meets with his senators about a Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

Brabantio arrives
-> The Duke promises to help Brabantio prosecute the man who has seduced Desdemona, but when he learns that the accused man is Othello, he gives Othello a chance to defend himself

Othello confesses
-> Othello admits that he married Desdemona. But he denies using any magic to win her love, and says that Desdemona will support his story.

Desdemona arrives
-> Brabantio asks his daughter to whom she owes obedience. Desdemona responds that just as her own mother once had to shift her obedience from her own father to Brabantio, so must she shift her obedience from Brabantio to Othello.
-> Brabantio grudgingly gives up

Roderigo desperate that Desdemona loves the moor
-> Roderigo responds that he can't stop himself from feeling so miserable, but Iago disagrees, saying that a person can control himself by sheer force of will.

Iago's soliloquy (a speech one gives to oneself)
-> Iago confesses again that he hates the moor

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-> Games of illusion and appearance play a serious role in politics and war, as well as in jealousy and love

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Desdemona asserts indecencies from her father and obedience to Othello.
-> When in this society were always obedient to some man, or at least were supposed to be.
-> Men who did not keep their women obedient were seen as failures.

Brabantio defines Desdemona's independence as disloyalty to men.

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-> Iago lays out his plans to deceive the other characters, putting himself in the role of "director" of a kind of play-within-the-play.
-> While he suspects that Othello has slept with his own wife, he seems relatively indifferent to whether or not this is true: Iago derives his sense of self, his manhood, from his ability to manipulate others, rather than sexual pride.
-> He suggests that Othello's weakness is that he doesn't understand that appearance can hide reality.
-> Note also that Iago seems to hold no racial prejudice against Othello at all. He just uses prejudice against Othello when it's helpful to him.

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-> A monologue might be delivered to an audience within a play,  or it might be delivered directly to the audience sitting in the theater and watching the play.
-> But a soliloquy is a speech that one gives to oneself.

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-> Othello "going turk"
-> Marriage is supposed to be the pinnacle of a women's success. However, it led to Desdemona's demise.

P195
Othello's soliloquy
"And smooth as monumental alabaster" (line 5)
-> simile

p199 Justice as a theme

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Justify the action of killing his wife

"And smooth as monumental alabaster" (line 5)
-> Metaphor

"Put out the light, and then put out the light" (line 7)
-> Extinguish the [room] light, then extinguish [her life's] light

Alludes to Othello's Identity:
-> Cyprus was divided
-> Othello's identity was divided

In comparison to his frantic, epileptic state in the prior scenes, Othello now seems dignified. He describes Desdemona's beauty and his own longing and anguish using traditional terms, which are beautiful but also underscore the traditional masculine values spurring him to kill the "loose" Desdemona.

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P197
Objectified by Othello
Desdemona condemned to death

Suffocated by her own wedding sheet
-> White, purity

Theme of Justice
"Have mercy on me!"
"Amen, with all my heart!"
"If you say so, I hope you will not kill me."
-> Othello's view of justice and of evidence has changed in the course of the play