Lecture 2 Othello the Moor of
Venice
The Exposition Scene;
Induction / Orientation
to the world of the play
Reminder re- Paper 3;
Comparing Play A and Play B
Paper 3 Theme: The Individual and Society
Play A
 Read and study Othello the Moor of Venice
by William Shakespeare
in conjunction with
Play B
 A Streetcar Named Desire
by Tennessee Williams
The Outsiders of both plays?
Parallels and Contrasts of characters
Othello the Moor of Venice
 Othello is an immigrant from North Africa;
 Given his racial and cultural difference,
seen and regarded as an Outsider
A Streetcar Named Desire
 Stanley Kowalski
Family background: immigrants from Poland
 Blanche Dubois, given her difference
is seen as an Outsider in this play;
Plot summary
Othello is a military general of Moorish origin
in the service of the Duke of Venice
(He is in this regard, foreign talent in Venice)
 Has secretly married Desdemona,
daughter of the Venetian senator, Brabantio
 Her father, Brabantio, charges him with her
abduction
 However Othello is later cleared of the
charge by the Duke of Venice.
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Plot summary (cont)
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Othello is later sent to Cyprus,
a Venetian colonial outpost,
to defend it from the Turks.
There, Iago dupes Othello into believing that
his wife, Desdemona, is having a love affair
with his lieutenant, Cassio.
Deceived and violently jealous, Othello kills
his wife, only to learn later she is innocent,
and thereafter he kills himself.
Some other background points to note
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In Othello, the Venetian state is a mercantile city,
ruled by a duke, not a king.
The play dramatizes the everyday world of men
and women, in spite of the background of high
politics and international conflict;
The focus is more on personal relationships, and
on the fortunes of an ill-starred marriage;
Hence, the play is seen as a domestic tragedy
Rather similar in this respect to
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’
Concerns; Methods; Effects;
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Concerns / Issues / Themes (About What?)
‘We cannot all be masters…’
Dramatic Methods / Techniques / Devices
(literary and dramatic) How? e.g. Antithesis
[Noting Minutiae of Textual Details]
Dramatic Effects:
And to what effect on the audience?
(Internal; External; Overall)
Dramatic Purpose of Act 1 Scene 1?
the Exposition Scene
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1 To set (establish) the scene
2 To strike the keynote of the play; create mood and
tension to capture attention of audience
3 To supply valuable background information
4 To introduce some of the stage characters,
situations, and relationships
5 To prepare the audience to meet Othello,
Desdemona, and Cassio
6 To provoke a sense of intrigue and suspense
in order to arouse and capture the audience’s
attention thus making them want to see and know
more
Setting the Scene
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To acquaint his audience with the knowledge
of where the scene is taking place (setting)
It plunges us into the VENICE of the 1570s
with the news of an impending Turkish attack
on Cyprus, a colony of Venice;
Time & Setting of Street Car Named Desire ?
Late 1940s in the City of New Orleans of the
American South
Venice and Cyprus;
Culture and Society
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From Iago we (as an audience) are reminded of past
wars at Rhodes, at Cyprus, and elsewhere,
involving “Christian and heathen”;
We are thus made aware that the play is taking
place in troublesome times; (like all times)
Cyprus is a remote Venetian colonial outpost where
the benefits of Venetian civilization are not available;
We are thus prepared for the change in setting
from Venice to Cyprus in Act 2, Scene 1;
Striking the keynote of the play;
Enter Roderigo and Iago
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Time of day? How can we tell? Stage directions?
Note the opening scene takes place at night;
Dramatic effect? (Theatrical effect)
This adds to the suspense and urgency of the
atmosphere; and symbolically foreshadows
intrigue;
We hear at first subdued, and then angry voices
of Iago and Roderigo on a street,
outside the house of the Senator, Brabantio
Talking earnestly of money, ‘preferment’, and
ancient grudges.
Atmosphere of Evil and Intrigue
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We learn of Iago’s hatred of Othello and of his
reasons for following him purely as a means of
achieving his own ends ‘I follow him to serve my turn upon him’ 1.1.41
We hear of Brabantio’s “dream” which oppresses
him, and of “treason of the blood” 1.1.68
Atmosphere?
It is an atmosphere of intrigue, of Iago’s doubledealing tactics, of search parties pursuing a missing
couple who have eloped
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The subdued voices of the opening
develop into a discussion full of anger and
hatred, reaching its crescendo in Iago’s
devilishly clever advice to Roderigo
to awaken Brabantio:
“Rouse him, make after him, poison his
delight, // Proclaim him in the street,
incense her kinsmen.”
Creation of Suspense;
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There is a background of mystery
As the audience, we are kept a little in the
dark; How?
We hear two men discussing “this” and “such
a matter” but it is not clearly defined for us
We listen to conversation about a man
referred to impersonally as “he” and “him”,
as the “the Moor”
What is “this” matter?
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Lines 1 - 3 make sense if ‘this”
is taken to refer to Othello’s marriage
Roderigo seems to be rebuking Iago
to whom he has been extremely generous
for not sharing an interesting secret with him
Third line thus needs to be supplemented:
“That thou Iago…shouldst know of this”
without telling me anything more about it
What first impression do we get about
Othello’s character in Scene 1?
(From Iago’s Point of View): We are presented
with an unflattering picture of Othello as a
 proud,
 self-centred man,
 guilty of favoritism,
 determined to have his own way at all costs;
 And he is described as a ‘lascivious,’
‘thick-lipped’ Moor;
First impressions of Othello (cont)
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(Indirectly) that Othello is independent
minded; that he has a mind of his own
E.g. Iago points out he has rejected the
pleadings of three great ones of the city by
appointing instead his own man, Cassio
And that Venice has no one else of ‘his
fathom’ (ability) to lead them
in the Cyprus wars
What Nigerian writer Ben Okri calls—
the chromatic tension of the play
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The different colour, race, and background of Othello
are strongly emphasized; Othello’s otherness;
We are made to dramatically note the incongruity
between the “old black ram” and Brabantio’s
daughter, the “white ewe”. How?
Through antithesis - the contrasting light / dark
imagery;
Concerns?
The subject matter of the opening of the play Othello
the Moor of Venice is the injustice, the unfairness,
the wrongness of society / of the world.
Critical significance of the imagery reRelationships; Metropolis of Greed
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The imagery suggestively implies that each
character is in a dependent or manipulative
relationship to other characters;
Noting Image Patterns:
We note the emphasis is on taking from
people, and using people
And begging, withholding or granting
favours— e.g. the ‘strings’ of Roderigo’s
‘purse’; ‘great ones’ who ‘capp’d’ or begged
favours from Othello
Iago, ‘Supersubtle Venetian’ [1.3.355]
and Theme of Appearance and Reality
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Iago has been rejected by the Moor but
his self-interest makes him put on an
appearance of loyalty; ‘but seeming so’
Admires only those men who perform their
duties to “do themselves homage” (those
who have a good opinion only of themselves)
[As the play develops] we will see the lengths
Iago will go to in the exercise of his hatred of
Othello and jealousy of Cassio
Re Character of Iago
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Even before we leave Scene 1, we come to
see how he has cheated Roderigo of money
without fulfilling any of his promises;
The promise of keeping Roderigo informed of
Desdemona’s affections and the promise to
press his love-suit for him;
Scene 1 gives us some idea of how
accomplished Iago is as an instigator;
Re Iago the artful Manipulator
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Of how successful Iago is in manipulating
Roderigo to start trouble in Venice
Notice it is not simply the informing of a
father of the elopement of a daughter –
Rather people must be roused, poisoned,
proclaimed, incensed, and plagued.
Note Diction, and Dramatic effects created;
Incendiary; words intended to fire up one’s
emotions;
Iago’s characteristic use of
Animal Imagery
Iago enjoys bestial humour?
 Evident in the verbal image he paints of the
two runaway lovers;
 It is not a picture of pure, romantic love
 but of a “daughter cover’d with a Barbary
horse” and
a daughter and a Moor “making the beast
with two backs.”
Iago, a disciple of Machiavelli
Iago is
 a skilled deceiver
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an accomplished liar
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an expert in the manipulation of the innocent
The world from Iago’s
Point of View
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For Iago, the world consists solely of fools
and villains (fools such as Roderigo)
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Of those who devour and are devoured;
(The weak are meat for the strong to eat);
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Perceives people as being very much like
animals; (as suggested by animal imagery)
The ever alert, adept, adroit and
astute — Iago
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Iago’s departure from the scene?
Very cleverly, Iago timely departs from the senator’s
house before he can be used as a witness against
Othello
Also cleverly realizes that with rumours of war with
Cyprus, the senate will not dismiss Othello for his
marriage, as he is needed to defend Cyprus
Iago’s hypocrisy?
Emphasized in his readiness to support Othello
What we learn of Roderigo
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An aristocratic Venetian
Has been paying court to Desdemona and
has been employing Iago as his substitute in
the courtship
He shows the lowest form of moral
decadence by paying Iago money in the
hope that illicit arrangements can be made
for him.
Roderigo and his character Role
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As he tells Iago: You have had “my purse /
As the strings were thine.”
One of his main faults?
His stupidity.
He is incapable of understanding
the self-interested, individualistic soul of Iago
His role in the play is that of the disappointed
suitor who becomes Iago’s tool and dupe.
Roderigo and Iago;
Use of Parallelism and Antithesis
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Here we see him in similar circumstances to
Iago: Iago rejected by the Moor;
Roderigo rejected by the Moor’s wife.
In spite of his weaknesses and because of
them, he stands out in contrast to Iago
Individual and Society?
Iago is a rebel against the social order;
Roderigo accepts the social order willingly.
Characters in Shakespeare are
the language they speak
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Iago uses the bawdy language of the military
barracks and alehouse
Roderigo uses courteous language – when
Brabantio hurls insults at him, he replies in
polite terms calling him “Signior…Patience,
good Sir”
Roderigo’s Role / Function?
Has an important role in the play’s dramatic
structure—his character role helps us to fill in
the character of Iago
Themes / Concerns / Issues?
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Different kinds of Individuals in conflict with / within
their Society
Mastery, and Slavery / Bondage
Clash of Cultures; Racial Prejudice
The Struggle of Existence;
the Injustice, Unfairness and Wrongness of the
World; Meritocracy and Favoritism;
Jealousy and Resentment
Betrayal of Trust; Issues related to Miscegenation;
Good and Evil; Love and Hate