Key Events 2
English Lit: AQA A Level Othello, topic 2.4.2
Desdemona’s Love Story
Desdemona then enters, confirming that she is obedient to Othello as ‘lord of all my duty’ above her father.
Brabantio reaction
- Brabantio disaffiliates himself from Desdemona, and once more emphasises patriarchal aggression as he bemoans he would rule any other children he had with ‘tyranny’ based on what Desdemona has done.
Language
- The Duke’s and Brabantio’s following rhyming couplets seem to suggest a swift conclusion to this particular conflict as the Duke efficiently moves into prose to establish Othello’s role in the ‘more stubborn and boisterous expedition’.
Foreshadowing
- Desdemona begins by comparing her elopement as ‘downright violence’ and a ‘storm of fortunes’ as she has violated social norms to be with Othello; this also foreshadows the future violence and tempestuous nature of their marriage.
Rejecting racism
- She seems to reject the racism shown to Othello by others as she ‘saw Othello’s visage in his mind’ and instead fell in love with his ‘valiant parts’ and status as a warrior.
- The Duke is swayed by her argument, and allows them to leave for Cyprus together.
Brabantio's warning
- Brabantio issues a final warning to Othello as Desdemona ‘has deceived her father and may thee’, suggesting his unruly daughter will make for a promiscuous wife – and also establishing the foundations for Othello’s tortured jealousy later on in the play.
Iago’s Plot
Othello refers to Iago here as a ‘man he is of honesty and trust’, a statement heavily loaded with irony given Iago’s plotting which follows.
Language
- Shakespeare’s use of prose in the conversation between Roderigo and Iago implies their scheming.
- Iago is immediately irritated by Roderigo’s melancholic and forlorn attitude and dramatic declaration that he will ‘incontinently drown’ himself.
Depraved morality
- Iago cynically responds that he ‘never found a man that knew how to love himself’ and compares women to ‘guinea-hens’ – men’s best interests should instead be themselves.
- His depraved morality is revealed as he sees human nature as characterised by ‘blood and baseness’, ‘raging motions’ and ‘carnal stings’ rather than love.
Imperatives
- Iago’s use of imperative verbs when addressing Roderigo (he says to ‘put money in thy purse’ and ‘follow thou’) is emboldened by his claims of Desdemona and Othello’s vices.
- He sees the ‘Moor’ as ‘changeable’ and thinks Desdemona will become easily ‘sated’, again representing her as immoral and licentious.
Complicity
- After Roderigo leaves, Iago is then left alone on stage to soliloquise.
- He reveals more of his plot to the audience; he will ‘abuse Othello’s ear’ and manipulate his ‘free and open nature’ by ‘hell and night’.
- The audience now becomes almost complicit in Iago’s malevolent scheme and must helplessly witness him now ‘bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light’.
Test yourself on Key Events 2
Where do Othello and Desdemona leave for at the end of Act One Scene Three?
How does Shakespeare imply Roderigo and Iago's scheming in their conversation in Act One Scene Three?
What does Iago compare women to in Act One Scene Three?
How does the first act of Othello end?