Oral Commentary Response to 'Othello' 1.1.34-72

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Oral Commentary Response to ‘Othello’ 1.1.34-72

This passage is a revelatory passage which comes very near to the beginning of the play Othello.  Cassio has just been appointed by Othello as his lieutenant and it seems that Iago is irate that he was not chosen.  It is in this extract that we first see Iago’s outlook on life and it is the first time he is revealed to us as the villain of the play.  We also see the beginnings of Iago’s plan, which he carries out throughout the play with disastrous consequences and indeed immediately after this extract we see the first enactment of this plan, when Iago tries to use Brabantio’s beliefs about race and relationships to make him break up the relationship of his daughter Desdemona and Othello.  I shall be talking about Iago’s outlook on life and the beginnings of his scheming as revealed by this passage.

The only two characters on stage through the whole extract are Iago and Roderigo and although they are in dialogue, it is more like a monologue from Iago as Iago has many long speeches, while Roderigo only seems to make short remarks in the pauses in Iago’s speeches.  From this we can clearly see that Iago is the dominant character in this relationship and it also hints that Iago is the more intellectually capable, a view that can also be inferred from the content of Iago’s speeches, as I will discuss later on.  Iago’s first complaint in this passage is that there has been favouritism in Othello’s choosing of his lieutenant, shown in 1.1.35 where Iago says ‘Preferment goes by letter and affection’.  Iago is angry that he has not been chosen and is here expounding his dislike of the system as he sees it and is complaining to both Roderigo and himself that there is no meritocracy involved.  Whether Cassio’s promotion was indeed undeserved or whether Iago actually believes in meritocracy we do not know.  Iago may only be supporting meritocracy because he has failed to receive the ‘preferment’ of the influential and promotion by these means.  There is also a suggestion that Iago is slightly xenophobic as he laments that someone from Florence and not from Venice has achieved higher office than him.  This suggestion is further backed up by Iago’s use of the word ‘thicklips’ to describe Othello in 1.1.65.

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It is clear from this passage that Iago does not trust Othello’s judgement, although it is not clear whether this distrust was prompted by Cassio’s promotion or whether this merely added to a previously held conviction.  Iago also talks at length about the duty of servants and how in reality the outward image of service hides inner selfish desires of self preservation, whatever the master may think.  This brings up two themes which are continued throughout the play; the question of image and reality, which I will talk about later, and the difference between public and private personas.  Iago ...

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