Discuss the dramatic impact of Act 1 of Othello. How does Shakespeare prepare his audience for the rest of the play?

Shakespeare’s play “Othello” is a dramatic tragedy. In the play, Othello plays the part of a black general, who works for the Duke. Brabantio is one of the Duke’s servants, who are respected men of the community. Othello falls in love with Desdemona (Brabantio’s daughter) and elopes with her. Brabantio is outraged at the fact that his daughter has married a Moor and feels as if she has betrayed him.

Othello is referred to as the Moor in the play. In Elizabethan times, a black person was more commonly referred to as a Moor and it was considered acceptable. However, in present times if someone if referred to as a Moor, it would be considered as a racist comment. A similar circumstance occurred around the 1950’s when all black people were called Negroes and it was decent to describe like that, and now it is known as a racist comment.

In this play it uses a lot of racial stereotypes to mislead the audience. At the beginning, Shakespeare doesn’t bring the Hero in straight away, however he does bring in the villain of the play instead, who gives a biased opinion of the Hero’s character. Iago, who is the villain of the play, appears to be a sincere person and Othello is made out to be the scoundrel, because of the way in which Iago and Roderigo are describing Othello’s character, when they talk about Othello. This is because Iago and Roderigo emphasize the negative opinions that the audience might have about Othello at first glance, especially his colour. For instance Iago and Roderigo use phrases like “his Moorship” and “Thick Lips” which refers to him as being black.

The idea of Light and Dark is used a lot in this play as well, however dark doesn’t necessarily mean evil. I believe that light and dark is used to represent the characters understanding of what is happening and the audiences understanding about the play. For example in Act 1 Scene 1 when Iago and Roderigo are screaming in front of Brabantio’s house, we did not realise that the play, from when it began was set at night until Brabantio says:

“Light, I say, Light”

Act 1 Scene 1 Line: 41

At the beginning two characters are introduced into the play, Roderigo and Iago. The play starts in media-res, which suggest that the audience will be in total confusion about what is going on. The conversation that is happening between Roderigo and Iago render the audience into being drawn into the scene as eavesdroppers, which is because of the way Shakespeare has structured the conversation. This technique puts them in a position of suspense.

The fact that the conversation they had was set at night and the tone of Iago’s and Roderigo’s voice suggests ...

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Act 1 Scene 1 Line: 41

The fact that the conversation they had was set at night and the tone of Iago’s and Roderigo’s voice suggests that secrets were being shared, is implied in the first line that is spoken in the play:

“Tush, never tell me. I take it much unkindly

That thou, Iago who hast had my purse”

Act 1 Scene 1 Lines: 1 and 2

Rodrigo says these opening words. I believe Roderigo is asking Iago why isn’t he telling him what he wants to know and he is insulted at the fact that Iago will not tell him. When Roderigo says “Iago who hast had my purse” it could suggest that Roderigo has faith in Iago and trusts him very much. I get this impression because of the way Shakespeare has used the word purse to portray trust. A purse’s purpose is to contain money, if a person were to handle money matters with a person you would have to trust that person a great deal to do that willingly, therefore the fact that Iago holds Roderigo’s purse (his money) means that he trusts him a great deal.

Iago is one of the key characters of the play and is very complex. His character plays the villain, but the audience do not discover this truth till later on, which is quite unorthodox. At first Iago deceives the audience by portraying that he has been unfairly treated by Othello, because he gave a job promotion to Michael Cassio and not to Iago, however the audiences perception begins to change when he starts to talk about revenge. This is when Iago reveals that he is two faced. Roderigo, who is a functional character within the play, helps Iago reveal his true character to the audience. Shakespeare doesn’t follow the typical structure of a play. Instead of bringing in the Hero of this tragedy right at the beginning of the play and giving him centre stage, he allows the villain to dominate the stage. What is unusual about Iago is that he “wears his heart upon his sleeve” which means he doesn’t hide his emotions and is telling the audience his true feelings about what Othello has done to him and what his intentions are. The reason why I believe that is unusual for Iago’s character is because he is the villain, and typically the villain is not given the opportunity to discuss their true feelings on stage. This is where Roderigo plays an important role because Iago uses Roderigo to explain what he is doing; why he is doing it and is also he is exploiting Roderigo to cover up his tracks. For example when in Act 1 Scene 1 Roderigo and Iago are outside Brabantio’s house and are screaming accusations about Desdemona, Iago is screaming, however he stays out of sight and before Brabantio came out with a light Iago made an excuse up so he could leave therefore Brabantio never saw Iago was there. Iago also always contradicts himself because he states that he wears his heart upon his sleeve and says that he hates Othello but he still pretends to be Othello’s friend, which is evidence that he is two faced. Throughout the play Iago has this continuous voice inside his head. This is where the audience play an important role because he is using the audience to talk about his intentions. In a way Iago uses both the characters in the play and the audience like puppets, he wants control and he is the puppeteer.

As Act 1 comes to a closing, the audience realise Iago’s true character from the way he talks about Othello behind his back and how he shows Othello respect and courtesy when he talks to him, like he is his best friend. It is also revealed in the way he approaches things. For example he provokes all the corruption and grief which occur to Othello’s character, however no one knows because he always stays in the shadows, hiding his true identity but still controlling everything around him, like a true puppeteer.

In Act 1 Scene 3 it is truly concluded that Iago is the true villain of the play. Evidence of this is that he hates the Hero of the play and states it directly to the audience:

“I hate the Moor”

Lines: 361 and 362

Another piece of evidence of his treachery is the way he talks in Act 1 Scene 3. For example when he begins to talk to Roderigo he talks as if he preaches like a priest does when he is giving a sermon to his parishioners. The way he speaks here has great conflict of what he said in Act 1 Scene 1. Here he states:

“I am not what I am”

Act 1 Scene 1 Line: 65

This line is taken from the Bible and is supposed to be a sign of the Devil if a person is not what he seems. Therefore again he is contradicting himself when he is preaching to Roderigo in Act 1 Scene 3, behaving as if he is some sort of respected figure to whom people may look up to when he does not agree with most peoples beliefs and their “knee crooking” behaviour. Othello is quite an abnormal character. He is known as the Hero of the story, but as I have said that is not the perception of his character in the beginning of the play. Because Othello wasn’t introduced in the beginning, the audience received a biased opinion of him; this was because of Iago’s negative feelings about Othello. He refers to Othello as “his Moorship” which is a sarcastic comment because whenever someone is referred to as something-ship it usually shows a sign of respect but because he has stated Moor at the beginning it is not used in that context.

When Othello enters the play the audience become quite confused because their idea of Othello is totally false. The audiences’ idea about Othello was that he was an unfair general that bewitched Desdemona into marrying him and always shows off to others. However when he entered his true character would have taken the audience back. Othello’s true character is quite modest, it is shown in the play that he dislikes confrontation and prefers to discuss things in a rational way. Even when Iago tried to provoke him he still kept a cool head. Obviously the audience were bewildered of the fact that this black man who looks so different, was so understanding and kind, not like a savage, which he is portrayed as in the beginning because of Iago’s words and the stereotypical opinion about his colour. This is where Shakespeare didn’t follow stereotyping, which would have been quite interesting for the audience back then to witness.

In Act 1 Scene 3 there is an idea of a trial introduced. This is when Brabantio is accusing Othello of Bewitching his daughter, Desdemona into marrying him. They are stood before the council, where Brabantio is trying to convince them that Othello has done the things that he is being accused of and the council play the part of the Jury. Instead of Othello trying to defend himself, he simply says:

“Send for the lady to the Sagittary,

And let her speak of me before her father”

Act 1 Scene 3 Lines: 115 and 116

When Desdemona enters, Othello stand to one side and watches Desdemona explain what happened. This is quite unusual for the Hero to do. To hand the centre stage to another character of the play. This proves he is modest.

Desdemona’s character must have also been a shock to the audience because all the way through Act 1 Scenes 1 and 2, the men that talked about her perceived her as being vulnerable. This was exposed when Othello was described to have bewitched her. However as she was talked to the council and her father the audiences’ idea of Desdemona’s character couldn’t have been more wrong. She was very outspoken and confident and was loyal to Othello. It is almost as if Othello and Desdemona have switched their personality traits. Othello should be the confident and outspoken one and Desdemona should be the modest one.

I conclude that from the beginning we can predict what will happen in the play. Because Othello is so modest and kind he is oblivious to the ruthless side of Iago and trusts him like a brother. In the play Iago is conniving and deceitful. He shows these traits in the beginning by revealing his plans on what he is going to do to Othello, who is a very simple man that doesn’t realise what is happening around him. This is where Iago has the upper hand. Othello already suspects Desdemona of betraying him because Brabantio said:

“She has deceived her father, and may thee”

Act 1 Scene 3 Line: 8

And Iago knows this and will use it to manipulate Othello’s thoughts because he knows that Othello is very modest and has lack in confidence and these are traits of people that can be easily controlled.