Act one of Othello

A detailed Summary of Act one of Othello

Shakespeare's own personal aim was not to write a social and political reflection of his era, as many contemporary readers believe, it was; purely and simply, to entertain his audience. This does not mean that there can be no social and political reflections within Othello, it means that the reflections are there, not for the sake of social and political commentary, but for the sake of entertainment and pleasure. Aristotle explained in "Poetics" that the audience's pleasure consists not merely in observing the play, but criticizing, evaluating and making comparisons. These activities produce pleasure, thus it is not a mindless pleasure. There must be intellectual and emotional engagement on the spectator's part. According to Aristotle, to stimulate the intellectual engagement of the audience and thus create this pleasure in the spectator, a masterful piece of art or literature must contain a degree of ambiguity in its ideas. This is the reason for the social commentaries that Shakespeare includes in his work:

The play commences with two characters apparently arguing over money. Shakespeare immediately sets the mood of conflict for the remainder of the play, it is import

Once Othello is out of earshot, Iago continues his mission to turn society against Othello and uses his crude metaphors to shock and reinforce his point, and Othello's "immorality". Iago explains to Cassio that Othello "hath boarded a land carrack", this makes Othello out to be some kind of thief or pirate. Here we can see that Iago has no real capacity or understanding of true love; he is judging Othello by his own standards and feels that Othello is using Desdemona for his own corrupt purposes.

In the act finishes with the almost satanic Iago warning of his deception to come, he shows us that the "Barbarian and a super-subtle Venetian" will not live calmly. If the audience is in any doubt as to Iago's feelings for the Moor, he explains "I hate the Moor". He goes on to outhline the plan of "double knavery" that he shall use to split the lovers in an act of serious deception.

As with all Shakespeare's plays, Othello is written (for the very vast majority) in a form of verse and with a definite rhythm. This helps the general flow of the text, and when the rhythm is broken, we are alerted to a significant event or to a particular trait in a character. When Iago tries to insult and animalize the "Barbary horse" Othello, to Brabantio (line 108), verse reverts to prose and we are alerted to the evils behind Iago's deeds. Shakespeare, so far, is strictly adhering to Aristotle's guidelines and certainly understands "the essential qualities of art itself". In "Poetics" it is explained that "language into which enter rhythm, harmony and song" will create "each kind of artistic ornament" necessary to "imitate an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude" (Aristotle's description of tragedy).

ant because the reader at the outset is given a choice; who to believe and who is right. Shakespeare instantly sets about creating the mood of ambiguity which will result in the reader contemplating and analyzing the situation in hand. This will, according to Aristotle, create pleasure for the audience.

Shakespeare's initial portrayal of Roderigo, is of a rather dim and naive man. Firstly, he has paid a clearly dishonest self serving man, Iago, to promote a match between him and Desdemona, to her father, Brabantio. Secondly, nearly all Roderigo's conversation consists of subservient comments towards the manipulative Iago. He is constantly agreeing and promoting Iago's theories on Othello; explaining the obvious that "he would not serve him then". Roderigo is not portrayed by Shakespeare, in Act I, as being completely twisted, like Iago. He is seen merely as Iago's rather worthless tool. The contrast between the two characters can be easily seen when each takes their turn to awake Brabantio; Roderigo exclaims "What ho! Brabantio, Signior Brabantio ho!"; Iago takes his turn and cries out "thieves, thieves, thieves! Look to your house, your daughter, your bags!". Roderigo also fails to see that Iago, who has already admitted that he is a deceiver and a crook, could be deceiving him. This dramatic irony shows Roderigo in an even more gullible and naive light.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Iago Roderigo, Othello Brabantio, Cyprus Brabantio, According Aristotle, Othello Desdemona, Iago Brabantio, Furthermore Iago, Desdemona's Brabantio's, Cassio Othello, Othello Shakespeare's, social political, othello desdemona, othello brabantio, brabantio othello, racial animalizing comments, deceived iago, twentieth century, century values, remainder play, racial comments, desdemona deceived father, widely accepted negroes, believe shakespeare,

Approximate Word count = 2415
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English