In this Act 1 Scene 1 dialogue between Iago and Roderigo we begin to learn more about Iago’s disdain towards Othello.  Iago tells Roderigo that he only follows Othello because he is using him for his own benefit.  He says you should notice “many a duteous and knee-crooking knave” or respectful lower-class men will serve his duties obediently and do as he must until he is dismissed from service at old age (Lines 47-52).  Iago finds these men to be foolish.  He says there are other men, like himself, who act as if to be subservient, but “keep yet their hearts attending on themselves”, meaning they are only concerned with their own benefit (Line 55).  They work until they are made rich and then forget their masters and only thank themselves.  Iago admits that this is the type of man he is.

Iago then says “Were I the Moor I would not be Iago.”  This shows that if their roles were reversed and Iago was general, he wouldn’t have desire to be the in lowest class of servants like he actually is.  This line shows Iago’s jealousy towards Othello’s position in society.  Futhermore, Iago says that he pretends to follow Othello for love and duty but actually is only using him to reach his own personal goals.  Iago says that if he begins to act outwardly how he truly feels inside then he would be attacked by others for his opinions and actions.

He finishes this passage by saying “I am not what I am” (Line 71). By concluding with this he is stating that he is not the man he pretends to be.  This alone should lead Roderigo to believe that Iago is up to no good and yet he still follows him in this plot to destroying Othello.  I felt that this passage was important to note because it’s within the first few lines of the play that we learn how deceitful Iago is and that he is willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve his personal goals.

In Act 4 Scene 3 we have Emilia and Desdemona talking about Othello’s accusation of her being unfaithful.  Desdemona states that she would never do such a thing as it is wrong and no woman would do such a thing.  On Lines 95 through 115 Emilia responds with an explanation for why wives, or any women for that matter, are unfaithful to their lovers.  She starts by saying that there are dozens of women who are unfaithful, but it is the fault of the husband.  She says “they slack their duties” in which she is referring to them not fulfilling their obligations to their wives including their sexual desires (Line 98).  She also says they “pour our treasures into foreign laps” which seems like she is saying husbands are basically giving their wives to another man in order to get something they want (Line 99).  This could possibly hint that this is something Iago has done with Emilia, which is why she goes on to talk about how wives have resentment too and seek revenge because of it.  She then asks what causes a man to cheat on their wife?  Is it for fun, affection or their own weaknesses?  She states that women have the same desires and qualities as men do. In the final lines she says, “Then let them use us well. Else let them know, / The ills we do, their ills instruct us so” (Lines 114-115).  In other words she is saying that husbands should treat their wives well, otherwise they are basically instructing them to be unfaithful.

I chose this section of the story because I felt it gave us a better understanding of the character of Emilia, who we don’t know too much about.  We learn how she really feels about relationships and how she thinks it is not wrong if a woman cheats too.  It makes the reader think that she may have been unfaithful before, which could be why Iago thought her and Othello slept together.  I felt that this passage gives a lot more insight on the true relationship of Iago and Emilia.  Perhaps neither of them remains faithful to one another, which is why she has this bitter outlook on marriage.

Painting by William Salter of Othello weeping over Desdemona’s body. Oil on canvas, ca. 1857.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello

I chose this painting by William Salter because I felt there was a perfect connection with the depiction of the sorrow in the last few scenes of Othello.  This is the moment after Othello realizes that everything Iago had told him was false and that Desdemona was truly faithful to him.  At this point it was too late because he already killed Desdemona and now he mourns over her body and holds her hand.  You see the pillows on the floor by the bed which could show that Othello had smothered Desdemona.  It looks like Emilia has a scowl on her face and it seems like she may be scorning Othello for what he has done.  Behind them we see who I think is Iago, Gratiano and Montano respectively.  I found it interesting that William Salter depicted who I assume to be Iago as a black man.  The reason I think this is Iago is because he has an angry look on his face and he is holding what looks like a sword in his hand, which as we know from the play, he uses to kill his wife Emilia.  It also looks like Gratiano is trying to hold back Iago from what ever he may do.

My only question about the painting would be, is the black man on the left of the painting actually Iago?  I’m not sure which other character it might be because besides Othello, Iago was the only character in this scene to use his sword.  Throughout the play Iago made many racial comments about Othello, so I felt it was pretty clear that his character was white.  Maybe the argument could be made that he made those comments because of his jealousy that even as a moor in this society Othello was able to reach such a high social status while Iago could not.

Othello- Act 1, Scene 3 “I hate the Moor”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fItEfJhf0oc

I felt that Iago’s monologue at the end of Act 1 Scene 3 sets up the entire story.  We see Iago creating his plan to take Cassio’s job and destroy Othello’s relationship.  We also learn another reason why he hates Othello so much- he thinks Othello slept with his wife.  Iago says even though he doesn’t know for sure that their infidelity is true he will act as if it is.  He  says Othello thinks highly of him so that will make it easier to convince him.  He also asks himself  how he can take Cassio’s place as lieutenant.  He decides on telling Othello that Cassio is too familiar and close to Desdemona, hinting that they are having an affair.  He says it will be easy because Othello is easily manipulated.

I found this performance of this particular scene to be very similar to what I imagined while I was reading the play.  You are able to see and hear Iago’s true anger and hatred towards Othello.  I thought it was interesting that they chose to have Iago look straight into the camera while doing this monologue.  I feel that the director chose to do this as way to show Iago’s control on the events on the story.  It felt a little like Iago was the narrator of the story.  I also found it interesting that Iago places those three pieces on the chess board- the black king, white queen and white knight- which can be representative of Othello, Desdemona and Cassio respectively.  The choice of putting these pieces on the chess board shows that Othello, Desdemona and Cassio are just pawns in Iago’s game that he can manipulate in any way he sees fit.  He places Cassio in between Desdemona and Othello to show that he plans on using him to come between and separate the two lovers.

In Act 4 Scene 1 Lines 91- 104 we see more of Iago’s manipulation of Othello.  At this point in the play, Othello has just come to after passing out from a fit of anger.  Iago is telling Othello to be patient and hide because Cassio is about to return.  He subtly insults Othello by saying passing out is “unsuiting” for such a man.  He also tells him how he had to come up with a story to explain to Cassio why he was unconscious and told him to return soon to talk.  Iago told Othello to hide so that he can hear Cassio recount the story of him and Desdemona’s relationship.  Iago says he will get Cassio to confess to the infidelity and that Othello should watch Cassio’s facial gestures while he talks about his relationship with Desdemona. He also insults Othello again by saying if he doesn’t stay hidden and patient then he “…shall say you’re all in all in spleen,/ and nothing of a man” (Lines 103-104).  This meaning that if Othello was to reveal himself, it would show that he is only overwhelmed with anger and not thinking clearly.

I felt that this was an important passage to note because it perfectly displays Iago’s manipulation of Othello and Cassio.  In this scene we are able to see how cleverly Iago takes complete control over every character in the story.  He is basically using Cassio as a puppet to spin this fabricated story to Othello, yet Cassio doesn’t even realize that he is being used and set up.  In this scene we also see how easily Othello is able to be convinced by anything Iago will tell him.  He sees how Iago is planning on tricking Cassio into saying what they want to hear, yet doesn’t consider that Iago is doing the same thing to him by manipulating his thoughts.

 
Jason and Medea, 1759 (oil on canvas) by Loo, Carle van
http://the-toast.net/2015/09/02/dirtbag-medea/

J.M.F. Heinrich: Othello and Desdemonda
http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/othello.html

While I was reading Othello I felt that there was a connection between this play and Medea, specifically in the characters of Othello and Medea.  Both Othello and Medea had their love tested by what they thought were unfaithful spouses.  While in Medea she was actually left by her husband Jason for a Princess, Othello was only lead to believe that Desdemona was cheating but for him it was completely real.

In both stories, Othello and Medea reacted to their partners “infidelities” with extreme emotional outbursts.  Medea killed their children, the Princess and the King to get back and Jason because she felt that leaving him with nothing and no one was better then killing him.  On the other hand, Othello killed Desdemona because of his rage and he didn’t want her to cheat on another man.

Both characters also had prejudices based on who they were- Medea being a woman and Othello being the “Moor.”  Since Medea was a woman, she was described as emotional and told by Jason that “The whole female race/ should not exist.  It’s nothing but a nuisance” (Lines 594-595).  Othello was also looked down upon by many throughout the story for the sole reason being that he is black.  Iago and Desdemona’s father spoke poorly of him and used his race as a way to insult his character.  Iago used insults like “his Moorship” and “old black ram” which insinuates Othello is like an animal (Act 1 Sc 1, Line 35)

It is hard to decide which of the two stories ends more tragically because in both plays there were no major/main characters who survived.  Though Medea may be more tragic because she killed her two innocent children to get back at Jason, she ended up fleeing and happy that she destroyed Jason’s life.   On the other hand almost everyone ends up dead in Othello.  Desdemona, Emilia and Roderigo were innocent  and murdered and Othello ended up killing himself.  There were no characters who survived and ended up happy.  I would say Othello has to be the more tragic play of the two.

At the start of Act 5 Scene 2, Othello approaches Desdemona while she is asleep in bed.  During his long monologue I felt that he was having an internal conflict about whether he should kill Desdemona or not.  At the beginning of the quote, he repeated “it is the cause” three times.  I felt that he repeated these words to say this is what needs to happen, but his repetition of the phrase made it seem like he was trying to convince himself that this is what’s necessary.  Repetition is a typical device used for persuasion, which I think is obvious in this example.  Furthermore, a lot of his word choices spoke of her physical beauty.  He said he wouldn’t make her bleed or “…scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, and smooth as monumental alabaster” (Lines 4-5).  He is comparing her skin to delicate snow and a marble sculpture.  His admiration of her beauty once again stops him from killing her, but then he says she must die or she will cheat on another man.

There was also a lot of repetition of the word “light” in Lines 7 through 13, which is representative of life.   When Othello talks about putting out the light, he is referring to killing Desdemona and he says he wouldn’t be able to restore her life (or light) once she is gone.  Also Othello uses another metaphor for her death when he says “When I have plucked (the) rose, I cannot give it vital growth again” (Line 13-14).  Yet he is almost tempted to let her live once again when he smells her “balmy breath” (Line 17).  He even says he would love Desdemona if she remained so sweet and beautiful after she was dead.  Ultimately, he kisses her for the last time which makes him cry, but he doesn’t feel any sorrow.

I pointed out this particular passage because I felt it shows just how convinced Othello was that Desdemona was unfaithful, but even towards the end he had reservations about killing her.  He almost spared her life, but ultimately convinced himself that she needed to die or she would hurt other men.

Otello: Willow Song (Sonya Yoncheva)
Performed at the Metropolitan Opera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efuAeD4zPV8

Right before Desdemona sends Emilia off before her expected death, she tells her the story of how her mother had a maid, Barbary, who had a “song of willow.”   Desdemona tells Emilia that the maid died while singing it, so this will be playing over in her head tonight while she waits for Othello.

In Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Otello, Desdemona sings the Willow Song right before going to sleep.  I included an excerpt of Sonya Yoncheva performing this song at the Metropolitan Opera. I chose this adaptation because I felt that it showed how sorrowful this song and scene really is.  Seeing it acted out, sung and performed in this way makes the viewer realize how powerful this song is. By Desdemona singing this song, it shows that she knows that her death is about to come.  Her removing the robe seemed to be representative of being ready for bed which could also mean her acceptance of her death.  I have also included the Italian and English translations below so we are able to follow along with what she is actually singing about.  She puts her hands up to her cheeks while singing about her eyes flowing with tears.  Her facial expressions and her slow movements shows her sorrow, despair and fearfulness of what might happen when Othello arrives.

Scorea noi rivi fra le zolle in fior,           The brook flowed between the flowering banks,
gemea quel core affranto,                             She moaned in grief,
e dal le coglia le sgorgava il cor,                  And her eyes flowed with bitter tears
l’amare onda del pianto,                               in which her heart sought solace.
Salce! Salce! Salce!                                         Willow! Willow! Willow!
Cantiamo! Cantiamo!                                    Let’s sing! Let’s sing!
Il salce funebre sarà la mia ghirlanda.       The willow will be my funeral garland.