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.