Keeping track-
Othello by William Shakespeare
, Character List Key
Othello
Desdemona
Iago
Cassio
Emilia
Bianca
Brabantio
Gratiano
Lodovico
The Duke of Venice
Roderigo
Montano
, Clown
Heralds, Sailors, Messengers,
Officers, Gentlemen, Musicians,
Attendants
Act I, Scene I
Characters: Location: Summary:
-Iago Venice, on a canal Iago and Roderigo discuss why they hate
Othello
-Brabantio Brabantio’s house
-Roderigo
Key Quotes:
- I am not what I am
- By the faith of man, / I know my price, I am worth no worse a place
- But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve / For daws to peck at
- Iago, who hast had my purse / As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this
- Whether I in any just term an affined / To love the Moor
- Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is topping your white ewe
Analysis of scene (theme/character):
- Iago: he wants to be lieutenant but was not given the job. He speaks ill of Othello and turns to
animalistic language and racist language to make himself seem like the dominant man.
- Animal imagery: Othello is described used with zoomorphism, to make him seem wild and almost
out of control like an animal. This imagery reflects what Iago and Roderigo truly think of Othello,
an ‘old black ram’, referring to Othello’s age and race, making him appear much worse than he is
- Roderigo: He is quite timid and when talking to Iago, only really has one/two lines of dialogue.
Iago seems to hold the power in the conversation and so Roderigo only says a few things to Iago
until the end. When talking to Brabantio, he has significantly dialogue than he did with Iago,
showing that he feels equal to Brabantio (though he taunts the senator with sexual images of his
daughter)
, Vocabulary:
Features of tragedy:
- Chaste- a woman who is virtuous and untainted (noun=
- Tragic hero chastity)
- Tragic villain - Machinations- crafty and involved plot to achieve the
desired (usually sinister) result
- Power - Moor- a person from North Africa/ a person with dark skin
- Catastrophe - Lascivious- having strong sexual desires
Act I, Scene ii
Characters: Summary:
- Othello Location: Othello is warned by Iago about Brabantio’s anger,
- Iago but Othello doesn’t fear him. Cassio tells Othello the
Streets of Venice senate summoned him. Brabantio arrives and
- Brabantio
- Cassio accuses Othello of bewitching his daughter into
marriage and says that he’ll go to the council with
- Attendants
him to get Othello arrested but Othello is not
- Roderigo
worried.
Key Quotes:
- My services, which I have done the signiory, / shall out-tongue his complaints
- Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them
- Damn’d as thou art, thou hast enchanted her/ For I’ll refer me to all things of sense
- A practicer /Of arts inhibited and out of warrant
- My parts, my title, and my perfect soul/ Shall manifest me rightly
Analysis of scene (theme/character):
- Othello: Our first introduction to him subverts the image that Iago painted of the General in the
previous scene. Othello is a character who is not of violent nature but does have traces of
hubristic nature that we can see from this scene. He worries not about Brabantio’s anger as he
knows that he has not bewitched Desdemona, thus being innocent. He is a character who does
seem to be a bit carefree but also can be pragmatic when it comes to his duties
- Witchcraft: Whether it is due to his race or the urgency that Desdemona became eloped to
Othello, Brabantio accuses Othello of placing his daughter under a spell, abusing her ‘innocence’,
and abusing his power over her. Brabantio ridicules Othello for something that he has done but
Brabantio does not approve of this defence.
