Scene 1 – Commentary Volatile behaviour (lines 286–311)


For a brief moment, Othello turns his attention to business and agrees to obey the Senate’s command, ‘Cassio shall have my place’. But Iago’s coarse language is echoed in the Moor’s speech, ‘Goats and monkeys!’ Lodovico is appalled by the transformation in Othello’s character. Iago continues to play his well-rehearsed role of the reluctant truth-teller, ‘It is not honesty in me to speak/ What I have seen and known’. He knows that Othello has been ordered back to Venice and that the murders will have to be done immediately.


Dramatic Significance


In this tense scene, Shakespeare unnerves the audience through the use of effective contrasts. Othello suffers severe mental distress while Iago remains detached. When Lodovico arrives, it becomes evident that the edgy world of uncontrolled passion in Cyprus is weighed against the cool, civilised standards of Venetian life. The audience hopes that normality will be restored, particularly when Lodovico urges Othello to apologise to his humiliated wife. But Othello is ‘much changed’, the obsessive outsider enraged by thoughts of Desdemona’s infidelity. Contrast is also used to convey his unstable state of mind, which alternates between praise for his wife as one ‘might lie by an emperor’s side’ and jealous frenzy, ‘I will chop her into messes’.


Lodovico Act 4 Scene 1, l.311


I am sorry that I am deceived in him


ACT 4


Iago reigns as the puppet-master, never once leaving the stage and effortlessly combining the roles of tormentor, concerned friend and loyal aide. He orchestrates every event to his advantage. Iago uses Bianca’s appearance with the handkerchief to intensify Othello’s jealousy. Now that his power is at its peak, he chooses his words purposefully to further inflame the gullible general, ‘To kiss in private?’ Othello’s epileptic fit robs him of the ability to speak and reduces him to the level of a gibbering animal while Iago delights in the Moor’s degradation. Inventive as always, the vindictive ensign stages the misleading conversation with Cassio, carefully placing Othello to observe from a distance. Playing on Othello’s perception of himself as a wronged victim, Iago succeeds in reducing the ‘noble Moor’ to a ‘monster and a beast’.


Class/Homework Exercise


‘Shakespeare’s play Othello includes moments of riveting drama that provide thought- provoking insights into the human condition.’


Choose a moment which you consider dramatically riveting from Act 4 Scene 1 and describe a thought-provoking insight it provided. Write a paragraph (about 150–200 words), supporting your answer with reference to the text.


Prompt!


Š Act 4 Scene 1 contains compelling insights into the different experiences of human suffering, mind control, mental anguish and public humiliation.


Š Dramatic presentation of power and powerlessness through the deliberate dehumanising of Othello by Iago, who has a real understanding of Othello’s weaknesses; outsider, race, age, lack of formal education.


Š Shakespeare explores the fragile balance between sanity and madness through the Moor’s struggle to judge reality.


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