There have been critics led by Dr Johnson who have wished away the first act of the play Othello. What is the importance of the first act?

        The audience is physically introduced to Othello in Scene 2, where we see him interacting with Iago. I think the audience may be surprised by the way in which Othello doesn’t come across as the villain he was described as in scene 1. We see Othello being quite aware of the power/status that he holds. The way he describes his affections for Desdemona contrasts the way he is prior shown to have been having a frivolous relationship with her. The audience acknowledges that he is self assured after the entrance of Brabantio; his words are threatening yet he remains calm whilst Brabantio argues and loses his temper. In scene one we as an audience are lead to believe that Othello is up to no good, even though we haven’t yet seen his, this is done through Iago and Rodrigo’s references to him. This all changes in scene two and I would say Othello is introduced as the ‘good guy’, the audience warms to him as he talks of his affections for Desdemona. Othello’s power is shown in his words- ‘Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them’-he stays calm and lets Brabantio have his say, indicating to the audience a bit about his character, that he holds power but is patient enough not to enforce his views upon Brabantio without letting him speak first. However, by the end of the play the audience see that Othello’s character isn’t really like this, as he isn’t patient enough to let Desdemona have her say about her supposed infidelity, and it quick to jump to conclusions about her. Some critics would say this is because of his ‘fatal flaw’, jealousy. A.C.Bradley held the view that in all Shakespearian tragedy the main character would always uncover a fatal flaw which would be the reason for his downfall. ‘ Shakespeare has shown us that his hero is not as strong or as good a man as he thinks he is, that the hero’s flaw is his refusal to face the reality of his own nature’-Leo Kirschenbaum ‘The Modern Othello’1961. In contrast to this view, another critic (F.R.Lewis) has stated that Othello would seem to be the villain of the play. A.C.Bradley could not have formed his opinion about Othello having a ‘fatal flaw’ without noting his behaviour in the first act of the play. We can see that Othello’s character does change throughout the play, he becomes more jealous and the audience start to see a different side to him, this is why we can believe that he has gained this fatal flaw of jealousy.

        Although Act 1 does not have as much importance to the development of the plot as the other acts, its primary objective in my opinion is to establish the characters and give the audience an idea of their personality traits. In scene 2 we see Iago acting very noble towards Othello, and the audience knows that he is being two faced; we would not know this if we hadn’t seen the argument between Iago and Roderigo taking place in scene 1. By getting to know the characters in Act 1 I think the audience have an idea of who is going to be the villain, and who will be the hero. However, in this play it is a lot harder to establish a true hero, as some may not see Othello as a hero, but as a protagonist who has let jealousy and another mans accusations get the better of him. The audience feels inclined to feel sympathy towards the protagonist as we can see that people are deceiving him. Some people have stated that although Othello is obviously a tragedy, it is not typical of Shakespeare’s usual tragedies. ‘Othello is a remarkably simple play. Its plot is strikingly linear, without Shakespeare's usual digressions through multiple subplots. The action is tightly focused, especially after the Venetian party arrives in Cyprus at the beginning of the second act, moving purposefully and relentlessly toward its ultimate conclusion.’- Lynn Nichols (Stage Play Director 1996). In a more typical Shakespearian tragedy, in the first act we are likely to find more than one storyline starting to develop, however in Othello there is only one large plot and every single character in the play is thoroughly involved in that one plot. This could be why some critics have stated that Act 1 isn’t entirely needed for the play to develop fully, because the plot is so simplistic that there needn’t be a whole act dedicated to just establishing characters and creating a setting.

        Act 1 scene 3 in my opinion is far too long to keep the audiences interest, however in Elizabethan times the audience would probably have expected a scene of this length. This scene shows Brabantio and Othello debating with the senator over Othello’s supposed kidnapping of Brabantio’s daughter. Othello again stays quiet until both Brabantio and the Senator have had their say, indicating that he is quite respectful towards them. Othello speaks of Desdemona lovingly, this is something which would have made the audience more inclined to like him and relate to him. ‘She loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them.’ I think Othello’s story of how he courted Desdemona in Scene 3 is very important for the emotional development of the play, not so much the plot. Once the audience has heard his story, we can begin to understand his relationship with Desdemona more clearly. This is also the first time we are introduced to Desdemona, and she shows the usual characteristics of a woman in Elizabethan times, obeying the male figures, and typically, talks about how she must now obey Othello more than her father as he is her husband. The audience interpret her as playing a characteristic female role of that time, as she only speaks when she is asked to, and even then does not speak as much as the male characters. This signifies the attitudes and values towards women in Elizabethan times.

        In my opinion, Act 1 is crucial to the development and interaction the audience sees happening between the characters, and if this act were not to be in the play it would be harder for us to get to know the characters and to try to figure out what is going to happen in the story. The audience like to think that they know what is going to happen in a play, so through Act 1 they can guess which characters are going to be the villains and heroes, thus trying to figure out what is going to happen next.