At what point did the audience begin to foresee the tragedy of Desdemona and Othello's love?

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At what point did the audience begin to foresee the tragedy of Desdemona and Othello’s love?

Shakespeare’s play ‘Othello’ is the story of a middle age black Muslim secretly marrying a young fair Venetian woman against her fathers will. Added to this is Iago, a man desperate to destroy their happiness because he thinks Othello may have slept with his wife Emilia. He vows to drive Othello in to a jealousy so strong his rational mind can not tell him otherwise. Was Iago the only reason why the love between Othello and Desdemona was so strong or was their love doomed from the start. At what point was the audience able to predict the tragedy that was to happen?

The circumstances surrounding Desdemona and Othello’s marriage were unusual. It customary that the boyfriend had to ask his girlfriend’s father for her hand in marriage, as Desdemona and Othello were married in secret Othello didn’t do this, it was not a good way to start a long lasting relationship. Iago manipulates Roderigo who is in love with Desdemona too, (but only Iago knows this) to tell Brabantio, Desdemona’s father about the secret marriage. This also may have caused the audience to think about the future of Desdemona and Othello’s love, as Iago for a reason unknown to the audience at the time was strongly against their marriage. How far will Iago go to cause trouble between Desdemona and Othello? When Brabantio finds out he accuses Othello of using ‘chains of magic’ as Othello was from a different culture to everyone else and may have been thought to use witchcraft. Othello replies that he had not used witchcraft unless love itself was magic. At this point in the play Desdemona and Othello’s love was strong. When the audience learn that Roderigo loves Desdemona the audience begin to wonder if this too will effect Desdemona and Othello. When Roderigo finds out that they are married he says ‘I will incontinently drown myself’ showing how strong his feelings towards Desdemona are. The audience wonder if his feelings are strong enough to destroy the marriage? Will he want revenge on Othello as well as Iago?

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Othello is a single black man amongst many white men, he is also a soldier among civilians. The audience learns from an early stage in the play when Iago is talking to Roderigo that Othello is ‘ a moor’ and is ‘thick lipped’, they go so far as to say he is ‘an old black ram’. It is because of this the audience is suprised when they see Othello and hear his passionate speech about his love for Desdemona. Another shock to the audience is when Iago, although he said such horrible things about Othello, he still acts as ...

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