3.1.2

Key Events 2

Test yourself

Othello’s Arrival

Othello’s entrance interrupts the exchange between Iago and Desdemona and her attention immediately swings upon her husband.

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Othello's entrance

  • Othello enters and Desdemona’s attentions are immediately swung to be focused on her husband.
  • Their deep affection for each other is intensified here as both speak poetically of their love.
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Language

  • Othello calls Desdemona his ‘fair warrior’ and ‘his soul’s joy’.
  • He comments: ‘If after every tempest come such calms / May the winds blow till they have wakened death’.
  • Desdemona hopes on the heavens that their ‘loves and comforts should increase’.
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Irony

  • A perceptive audience member here could note the irony in their comments here; for the couple, the storm is only just beginning.

Iago and Roderigo’s Continued Scheming

As we have seen in previous scenes, the scene ends with Iago revealing to the audience what further machinations he plans to put in place to destroy Othello and Desdemona’s marriage.

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Sexual appetite

  • Iago is able to skilfully manipulate Roderigo into continuing the scheme despite Desdemona’s deep love for Othello by emphasising her supposed sexual appetite.
  • He insists ‘her eye must be fed’, and that she will become bored when ‘the blood is made dull with the act of sport’.
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Cassio

  • His attention in the scheme moves to Cassio, whom he believes makes a fitting ‘second choice’ for Desdemona, a ‘devilish knave’ who is ‘handsome, young, and hath all those requisites in him that folly and green minds look after’.
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Gullible Roderigo

  • His pernicious influence on the gullible Roderigo is clear as he is able to completely misrepresent the holding of hands between Cassio and Desdemona as not mere ‘courtesy’ but rather an act pointing to ‘a history of lust and foul thoughts’.
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Provoking Cassio

  • As he insists Roderigo ‘be ruled’ by him – accentuating his need for control over all – he plans that Roderigo will ‘provoke’ Cassio into a quarrel.
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Final soliloquy

  • His final soliloquy gives us some insight into his growing anger and his need for ‘revenge’ upon both Cassio and Othello.
  • At the beginning, he claims that he does ‘well believe’t’ that Cassio loves Desdemona.
  • The audience is left to question whether Iago truly does and is delusional, or whether his attempts to deceive and misrepresent facts now even extends to the audience.
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Revelations

  • As we have seen in previous scenes, the scene ends with Iago revealing to the audience what further machinations he plans to put in place to destroy Othello and Desdemona’s marriage.

Jump to other topics

1Context

1.1Introduction

1.1.1Specifications

1.2Background

1.2.1Shakespeare

1.2.2Love

1.2.3Tragedy

1.2.4Historical Context

1.3Othello

1.3.1Setting

1.3.2Social Issues

2Act One: Summaries & Themes

2.1Act and Scene Summaries

2.1.1Structure

2.1.2The Exam

2.2Scene One

2.2.1Key Events

2.2.2Key Themes

2.2.3Key Ideas

2.3Scene Two

2.3.1Key Events

2.3.2Key Themes

2.3.3Key Ideas

2.4Scene Three

2.4.1Key Events

2.4.2Key Events 2

2.4.3Key Themes

2.4.4Key Ideas

3Act Two: Summaries & Themes

3.1Scene One & Two

3.1.1Scene One: Events

3.1.2Key Events 2

3.1.3Key Ideas: Love & Tragedy

3.1.4Scene Two: Events

3.2Scene Three

3.2.1Key Events

3.2.2Key Ideas

4Act Three: Summaries & Themes

4.1Key Events

4.1.1Scene One & Two

4.1.2Scene Three

4.1.3Scene Three: Key Ideas

4.1.4Scene Four

5Act Four

5.1Scene One

5.1.1Key Events

5.1.2Key Ideas

5.2Scene Two

5.2.1Key Events

5.2.2Key Ideas

5.3Scene Three

5.3.1Key Events

5.3.2Key Ideas

6Act Five

6.1Scene One

6.1.1Key Events

6.1.2Key Ideas

6.2Scene Two

6.2.1Key Events

6.2.2Key Ideas

7Character Profiles

7.1Major Characters

7.1.1Othello

7.1.2Iago

7.1.3Desdemona

7.1.4Emilia

7.1.5Cassio

7.2Minor Characters

7.2.1Roderigo & Brabantio

7.2.2Other Characters

8Key Themes

8.1Love & Tragedy

8.1.1Love

8.1.2Love 2

8.1.3Tragedy

8.1.4Tragedy 2

8.2Other Key Themes

8.2.1Public versus Private

8.2.2Appearance & Reality

9Writing Techniques

9.1Writing Techniques

9.1.1Structure

9.1.2Genre

9.1.3Form & Language

9.1.4Language & Imagery

10Critical Debates

10.1Criticism & Performance

10.1.1Shakespeare's Legacy

10.1.2Traditional

10.1.3Modern & Contemporary

10.2Approaches

10.2.1Feminist Approach

10.2.2Psychoanalytic Approach

10.2.3Marxist Approach

11Approaching AQA English Literature

11.1Specification A

11.1.1Specification A

11.1.2Love Through the Ages

11.2Specification B

11.2.1Specification B

11.2.2Aspects of Tragedy

12Issues of Assessment

12.1The Exams

12.1.1AOs

12.1.2Mark Scheme

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Scene One: Events

Key Ideas: Love & Tragedy