Act 1 Scene 3
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The beginning of the scene makes clear
that Venice is in danger of attack from
the Turks
The senator and Duke call Othello
“valiant”
Brabantio comes across as hysterical.
Again he talks of “some dram conjur’d”
B says that she could not “fall in love
with what she fear’d to look on”
Again Othello acts humbly and
respectfully (76-77) and he tells them it
is “true” he has taken Desdemona
Desdemona’s Love
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Desdemona fell in love with Othello
while listening to him talk about battles
and travels
Desdemona often cried when Othello
described “some distressful stroke That
my youth suffer’d”
Othello summarises their love:
“she lov’d me for the dangers I had
pass’d
And I lov’d her that she did pity them.
This is the only witchcraft I have us’d”
Othello
O claims that ”Rude am I in my speech”
 Yet his power over words made Desdemona
love him
 His honest words persuade the Duke he is
worthy of Desdemona
 With D’s help he also persuades Brabantio
 The Duke states:
“of virtue no delighted beauty lack,
Your son-in-law is far more fair than black”
 Here the appearance is used metaphorically.
Fair = virtuous. Black = evil.
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Analysis
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Reread Othello’s speech, lines 127169
Find rhetorical techniques which
Othello uses
What type of sentence structure does
he use?
What punctuation marks do you
notice?
Love
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Desdemona wants to be with Othello even
though it means travel, hardship and
potentially danger
Othello vows to look after her but also
shows the respect that he has for her
He will take her “to be free and bounteous
to her mind”
Desdemona says that she “saw Othello’s
visage in his mind, / And to his honours
and his valiant parts / Did I my soul and
fortunes consecrate” (I.iii. 250–252).
she has the power to see him for what he is
in a way that even Othello himself cannot
Othello’s judgement
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At the moment where Othello has
impressed the audience Shakespeare
shows that he has a misplaced trust in
Iago:
“A man he is of honesty and trust”
“Honest Iago”
Dramatic Irony
Brabantio warns O that “She has
deceived her father and may thee”
O swears “My life upon her faith!”
Iago
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Notice here Iago speaks to Roderigo
in blank verse
Iago shows he does not believe in
love:
“It is merely a lust of the blood and a
permission of the will”
Iago says repeatedly “I hate the
Moor”
And says he wants “revenge”
Iago’s soliloquy
Soliloquies are normally granted to heroes
 He says he is using Roderigo for “sport and
profit”- he enjoys it and benefits from it
 “I hate the Moor
and it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets
He has done my office”
 Words – “abuse Othello’s ear”
 He will take advantage of O’s character:
“The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so
And will as tenderly be led by the nose
As asses are”
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Writing
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Choose a play in which the
dramatist’s use of contrast
between two characters is
important to your understanding of
one of them.
Discuss how your understanding of
this character is strengthened by
the contrast
Othello’s fatal flaw
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Othello shows here that he has a very
trusting character.
He trusts the Duke
And the authorities
His wife
And Iago
However, the trust he has in Iago is
misplace
Characters in tragedy have a fatal
flaw which leads to their downfall –
this may be Othello’s