Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

Scene 1:
Opens with a dispute: foregrounds the sense of conflict throughout the novel (first against the Turks, then
between characters
...
') which underlines this sense of conflict
...
)
This contrasts with Roderigo's initial 'tush
...
)
Powerful antagonist: offers bold assertions ('abhor me'; 'despise me if I do not'), which convey his confident
character
...
This theme becomes explicit
when Iago says directly 'be judge yourself
...
')
and includes short phrases ('and what was he?'), perhaps conveying his anger
...
) Pace is created
through the iambi meter ('that never set a squandron on the field
...
')
Roderigo's responses: do not add anything to Iago's speech, simply agree
...

There is an irony in Iago's argument: he had the support of 'three great ones', and yet he complains that
'preferment goes by letter and affection' (hence Cassio's promotion
...
A further irony lies in his rebuke of 'honest knaves' while
being honest about himself
...

Self defining villain: this is a trope inherited from Medieval drama, and which Iago adopts when he claims
that 'were I the Moor, I would not be Iago
...

Iago as false: famously misconstrues Exodus ('I am that I am') with the assertion that 'I am not what I am
...

Othello's name: not mentioned at all in the first scene
...
' This creates suspense and foregrounds the theme of appearance versus reality, as we are
encouraged to form an impression of him that proves false when Othello actually appears
...
This is emphasised with the pace created through the repetition of 'now, now, very now' (which
imbues imminency into the speech) and the list of emotive imperatives ('rouse', 'proclaim', 'plague
...
That both sets of imagery are also heavily racist would have been
particularly effective in drawing a negative response to the marriage from a Jacobean audience, which
viewed black people as devilish
...
' The physical nature of Iago's description is graphic and profane, and as well as
worsening the notion of a mixed marriage, it also suggests his own lack of understanding of love
...
This is both present in the mixed marriage (black and white) and the
broader theme of appearance versus reality, honesty and lies
...
')
The emphatic future tense of 'my services which I have done the signory/shall out-tongue his complaints'
underlines Othello's self-assured, calm disposition
...
')
Iago uses imagery of piracy when describing Othello's marriage: 'he tonight hath boarded a land carrack
...
)
Brabantio's accusation: black people were often associated with charms, so for Brabantio to accuse Othello
of this is not contemporarily invalid
...
Brabantio's speech is rife with witchcraft imagery to convey his point ('chains of magic', 'enchanted
her', 'foul charms
...
This is evidenced through the haste with which he is required to fight
the Turks ('haste-post-haste', 'hotly called for') and also his welcome as 'valiant Moor' (and in the following
line, 'valiant Othello
...
')
Brabantio's plea: the sibilance and rhyme of 'swallows other sorrows' emphasises his distress at
Desdemona's marriage to Othello
...

Brabantio's view of Desdemona is shaped by contemporary ideals of the passivity of women (and actually
echoed by Desdemona when she refers to herself as a 'moth of peace'
...

Desdemona's claim to owe obedience to Othello over her father is legitimised by the reference to her mother
when she recalls the 'duty my mother showed/to you, preferring you before her father', which was an
accepted normality in Jacobean England
...
'We have reason to cool
our raging motions
...

'Put money in thy purse': very strong subliminal mind washing

---