Just before Othello arrives at the court in Act I. II, he is confronted by Brabantio and his men. The next contrast is between the attitudes of Brabantio and Othello. The audience can clearly see the anger in Brabantio and he hurls insults at Othello. However Othello stays neutral and calms the entire incident down. “Hold your hands, both you of my inclining and the rest.” Shakespeare here seems to further emphasise the dividing line between Good and Evil which is the starkest contrast in Act I.
During the court scene (Scene III) the audience can clearly see the way the court speaks of Othello is a contrast to the way Iago and Roderigo were earlier speaking of him. “The valiant moor” this is just one example of the many used in scene 3. when compared to the racist comment in scenes one and two, “thick lips” and ”an abuser of the world”. This contrast in language may have been used by Shakespeare to create tension within the scene and I found as an audience member I was trying to anticipate the next moves of all the characters. The chess reference in the film is relevant here as anticipating moves is what a chess player does.
The most important contrast for me is the next one. This comment not only seems to change the audience’s perception of Othello, but also seems to change the way that Shakespeare portrays him from this point onwards. “Rude am I in my speech” quotes Othello. This has been true up to this point he has not been overly eloquent or articulate, however a transformation seems to take place here. In contrast to the comment he has just made Othello goes on to speak in the most moving speech in the play up to this point. Shakespeare uses this speech to convince any of the audience who haven’t yet been convinced of Othello’s amiability.
The mood of Scene 3 changes as it progresses. It starts as a brainstorming meeting about the wars and suddenly becomes wrought with anxiety, anger and frustration before claming down again. The biggest influence in this scene is the duke. He contrasts with everybody in the room in the way that he can see the story from both sides. He doesn’t automatically say that this white black marriage is wrong.
This brings around my final contrast, the contrast between Desdemona and Othello, not only in their characters but also in their language and education. The most obvious of these contrasts is the contrast in skin colour. Othello, being a Moor, is black where as Desdemona is “fair”. This, in Shakespeare’s time would have been considered improper; Shakespeare uses this to give a certain moral stance to the play. The other major contrast is in their upbringings. Whereas Desdemona has had an upbringing with proper education and money Othello has not he has only been bought up with war and tactics. ”little blessed with the soft phrase of peace”. Also their language as I mentioned earlier is another contrast. Othello claims to be “rude” in his speech but shows the audience otherwise. Desdemona, on the other hand, makes no claim nor needs to make a claim as her speech is in conjunction with her character, soft and correct at all times.
Othello, as a play, has many contrasting emotions, characters, moods and language. However I think that the biggest contrast in act one is the struggle between good and evil. Shakespeare seems to emphasise this several times and leaves no grey area as to who is the ‘goodie’ and who is the ‘baddie’. This division also shows up other contrasts such as the contrasts in character between Iago, Othello and Brabantio. All of whom contrast with each other. Also the contrast between Desdemona and Othello isn’t an adverse contrast just an inevitable difference between races.
The mood in the play fluctuates from time to time meaning contrasts take place. The best example being the courtroom scene. Finally the language in the play differs from person to person causing violent contrasts between characters and things characters say. The notable example being Othello and his quotation “rude am I in my speech”
Act 1 is full of violent contrasts not only in mood, character and language but also in emotion. Shakespeare uses the contrasts to good effect in act 1 to show moral stances and conflicts within the play which will be important later.
