The general tone of Act 1 Scene 1 is quite sarcastic on Iago’s part. It is clear that he feels contempt towards Michael Cassio who has been promoted above him when he says that Cassio has “never set a squadron in the field/ Nor the devision of battle knows/ More than a spinster” suggesting that he was the better man for the job. Comparing Cassio to a woman clearly demonstrates that Iago is rather bitter towards him. He considers him “Mere prattle without practice”. The alliterative ‘P’ is very effective in this line, providing a harsh sound, similar to that of someone spitting, to place emphasis on the resentment felt by Iago regarding Cassio. The fact that he has not received his promotion brings out the evilness in him. Iago accuses “him”, Othello, of “loving his own pride and purposes” which is quite ironic because the audience are given the impression that Iago is quite keen on himself and is accusing Othello of this fault in character. “I follow him to serve my turn upon him”. We are gradually told more and more about Othello in this scene even though we haven’t been introduced to him yet. What this creates is an atmosphere of suspense and the audience are then intruiged to find out what Othello really is like. When Iago says that “we cannot all be masters, nor all masters/ cannot be truly followed. You shall mark/ many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,/ that, doting on his own obsequious bondage,/ wears out his time, much like his master’s ass” the audience can clearly see that Iago’s word cannot be relied upon and that he cannot be trusted.
The theme of jealousy begins to come through very clearly at this point, and although Iago does have certain grounds for complaint, the audience is forced to ask why he is revealing his true feelings about the “three great ones of the city”, Othello, and Cassio, who are important men in the city to Roderigo. We begin to wonder why he is not afraid of telling Roderigo this information. Perhaps Roderigo is the weaker character, and Iago is able to control him because he doesn’t seem to have much to say and is mostly the listener in the opening of the act. As Iago has something that Roderigo wants (Desdemona), he can simply use him until he gets want he wants. Also, if Roderigo were to mention to people that Iago was talking about Othello and others in important positions, he may run the risk of being found out that he was lending money to Iago.
Iago is quite profane in his manner of speaking to Brabantio when he says “your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs”. The whole part of Iago’s speech from line 109 to 116 is delivered in prose. We can assume that Shakespeare does this because writing in verse is regarded as a formal and dignified way of writing and by having Iago’s speech written in prose, the audience feels that what he is saying about Brabantio’s “daughter covered with a Barbary horse” whose sons “will neigh” and have “coursers for cousins”, does not contain the kind of language that would be used when writing in verse form. This is an extreme insult to Brabantio who comes from a wealthy family and one would wonder why Iago being of such ‘high caliber’ would use such vulgar words. Iago is rather sly because he quickly runs out of sight before he can be noticed by Brabantio. This has the effect of making Iago seem like the innocent one when in fact it is he who causes the trouble in the first place.
Iago’s opening dialogue appears to be just thoughts flowing from his mind through his mouth. Although written in verse, almost all of the lines have enjambments and are read somewhat quickly and fluently. This provides the effect of someone who is angry or frustrated very well and even though there are no stage directions, the way the lines are written allows one to be able to deliver the speech in more or less this tone as it seems to be the most appropriate way of expressing how Iago truly feels. The advantage to not having any stage directions is that it permits the director be creative and carry out the play how he wants to. The basic stage directions that are present are all that is needed and the rest can be left to the imagination of the director(s). There appears to be a general atmosphere of chaos in the opening scene 1 with people running around in the middle of the night accusing others of theft which creates a tension to keep the audience interested. When the audience doesn’t know what is going on, they are forced to pay full attention in order to be able to comprehend. The information that we gather from Iago’s description of Othello, and what we actually see in Othello when the character is introduced on stage is completely different. Perhaps Shakespeare has done this to reinforce just how untrustworthy Iago’s word is.
