Othello Acts I-II ACT I, SCENE I Setting: Venice We start off with Roderigo complaining to Iago; this is gonna be a recurring thing. Roderigo is a Venetian gentleman and not too bright. Iago is an “ancient” or ensign to Othello, a general. Roderigo is like, “Dude, why didn’t you tell me about this?! What am I even paying you for?!” And Iago’s like, “Hey man, I didn’t know till tonight!” And Roderigo’s like, “I thought you said you hated him?” And Iago’s like, “I do! I totally do. I hate his guts. I wanted to be his lieutenant, and I was super qualified for the job and had like 3 people vouch for me, but nooooo, he had to go and give the job to freaking Michael Cassio. All that guy knows is from books; he’s got no real experience. But y’know, promotions are all based on favoritism, not on who actually deserves the job. So what reason would I have to love the Moor?” *Moor = North African person, Muslim, black person ​ Roderigo’s like, “Well, why do you still follow him, if you hate him so much?” And Iago’s like, “Uh, because I’m not stupid and I like getting paid. There have been lots of supposedly ‘loyal’ servants and soldiers who claimed total loyalty to their leaders, but really they were just looking out for themselves. That’s me. Plus, I have plans to take revenge on him, and to do that I need to stay close to him and make sure he trusts me.” “Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, / But seeming so, for my peculiar end; / For when my outward action doth demonstrate / The native act and figure of my heart / In compliment extern, ‘tis not long after / But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve / For daws to peck at; I am not what I am.” - Iago, 59-65 Then Iago tells Roderigo to wake up “her father,” Brabantio (a senator) and let him know what’s going on. Roderigo wakes up Brabantio, and Brabantio’s all like, “Who the hell is yelling at me in the middle of the night?!” And Iago’s like, “Hey dude, do you know where your daughter is right now?” And Brabantio’s like, “What are you talking about?” And Iago’s like, “I’m trying to tell you you’ve been robbed! At this very moment there’s a big black goat tupping your precious white ewe. Better get out of bed and do something, or soon you’re gonna have the Devil’s kids for grandbabies!” Because Iago is gross and a jerk. Brabantio is like, “What the hell are you guys going on about?” And then Roderigo the Idiot speaks up and is like, “Hey sir, it’s me Roderigo, remember?” And Brabantio’s like, “Oh Christ, not you! I already told you Desdemona’s not interested in you, stop creeping around my house!” And Roderigo’s like, “But - but - but - sir!” (he pretty much sucks at this). Then Iago starts being a gross jerk again and says that B’s daughter is off getting it on with a “Barbary horse,” and that her children and her in-laws are all gonna be horses too. Brabantio’s like, “Dude, wtf is wrong with you?” And Iago finally comes out with it and says, “We’re trying to tell you that your daughter Desdemona and Othello are off making ‘the beast with two backs’” (i.e. having sex). Brabantio then starts freaking out. Roderigo tells him that he saw Desdemona sneak out with a hired servant and ride a gondola across town to meet up with Othello so they could get married in secret. Brabantio sends the servants to go check Desdemona’s room and finds that she’s gone, and starts freaking out even more. He says that he dreamed this would happen, apparently, and decides he’s gonna track down Othello right now. Iago tells Roderigo he’s skipping out because he doesn’t want to be called as a witness and he doesn’t want Othello to know he was part of this whole tattling business, since he still wants Othello to trust him. He feels pretty sure the state isn’t going to discharge Othello over this, because they’re currently at war with the Turkish army and Othello’s one of their best generals. After Iago takes off, Brabantio comes back to Roderigo and is like, “Oh man, do you think Othello put a spell on her or something?!” And Roderigo’s like, “Yeah, probably.” And Brabantio’s like, “Gah! Oh, she was so pure and innocent and virginal! There’s no way she would have run off and married the Moor unless he put a spell on her! Oh, if only I’d let you marry her, Roderigo!” Pfft. Then they gather a bunch of ​ ​ soldiers and go off to find Othello. SCENE II At Othello’s House... Iago meets up with Othello and is all, “Yeah, and then this guy Roderigo was talking trash about you, and I would totally have killed him except, y’know, I’m just too nice to murder people — sometimes it’s really a curse, my niceness.” Othello’s like, “No, no, it’s cool, I’m glad you didn’t kill anyone.” Iago asks him, “But you’re all married and everything, for real now, right? Because you know, Brabantio’s a senator and he’s got a lot of influence. He’ll try to pull some strings or find some loophole to split you guys up.” And Othello’s like, “He can’t do anything. It’s already done, and anyway I’ve done so many services for this country, I feel like I’m more than worthy to marry her. I wouldn’t have even gotten married, honestly, but I just love her so freaking much!” Iago’s like, “I think I hear them coming, maybe you should hide?” And Othello’s like, “Nope, I’ve got nothing to hide.” Turns out it’s actually not Brabantio but Michael Cassio, the lieutenant, who was sent by the Duke to fetch Othello because they’ve just heard of a Turkish fleet moving toward Cypress and they want to send him out there to fight them off. Othello goes inside to say something to someone in there, and Cassio asks Iago, “Hey, what’s he doing here anyway?” Iago’s like, “Oh, he got married!” And Cassio’s like, “Really? To who?”* But Iago doesn’t tell him — they get interrupted when Othello comes back, and then Brabantio and his posse shows up at the door. * Hold up, but Othello later says that Cassio helped carried messages between him & Des when they were dating. So why would Cassio not know who Othello had married? Plot hole, or...? Anyway, Brabantio accuses Othello of putting a spell on Desdemona to steal her away, because why else would a beautiful rich white virginal girl, who had previously rejected a bunch of perfectly fine rich white suitors, want to run off and marry a Moor like him? It’s unnatural! The only possible explanation is witchcraft! WITCHCRAFT, I SAY!!! Othello is pretty chill through all of this. His response is basically, “Hey look, I’ll go with you to sort this out, no need for force. Where do you want me to go?” And Brabantio’s like, “PRISON!!!” And Othello’s like, “Uh, well, okay... But what are you gonna tell the Duke, since he just summoned me to his place to talk about war stuff?” So they all end up going over to the Senate Chamber together to sort this out. SCENE III In the Senate Chamber... The Senators are discussing the war business — basically the Turkish army tried to fake them out, but they predict they’re heading towards Cypress. In the middle of their war talk, Brabantio, Othello and the whole party come waltzing in. The other senators are like, “Hey, Brabantio! Othello! What’s up?” And Brabantio tells them that he’s upset because his daughter was “stolen” from him, corrupted by witchcraft. The Duke is like, “Wow, that sucks! Whoever did this will be severely punished, even if it turns out to be my own son! Tell us who did it, B?” And Brabantio’s like, “Him! Othello, the Moor!” And the Duke is like, “Ooohhhhhh... well, crap.” Othello, still being chill af, steps forward to address them all and defend himself. He says it’s true that he married Desdemona, but he didn’t bewitch her. He goes on about how he’s not very good at speaking or explaining himself... and then proceeds to tell them the story of how he made Desdemona fall in love with him by telling her stories, haha. Irony. “Rude am I in my speech, / And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace.” - Othello (81-82) Brabantio’s whole argument is basically that Desdemona is way too shy and virginal and rich and white to fall in love with a Moor like Othello (“to fall in love with what she feared to look on!”). It’s unnatural. Therefore there must have been witchcraft involved. Honestly, he says, this should be obvious to anyone with common sense. The other senators are like, “Okay, B, we understand you’re upset, but just saying there was witchcraft doesn’t prove there actually was witchcraft.” Othello suggests (crazy idea) that they fetch Desdemona and ask her how she feels about this whole thing — and he adds that if she shows up and finds him repulsive like Brabantio says, then they can go ahead and kill him.