How Does Shakespeare Create Tension In Act 1 Of Othello

Improved Essays
Shakespeare 's Othello takes place in Cyprus and Venice, Italy in the early 1600 's and involves a variety of characters with vibrant personalities and motives. The main characters of focus within this tragedy are Othello, a Moor that is a part of the military; Desdemona, Othello 's wife; and Iago, Othello 's ensign that holds great jealously and hatred towards Othello and plans to bring him to his downfall. Before the introduced plot of the play, Othello and Desdemona got married, and their marriage remains secret before the first events of Act I. Act I, an important act with several events that contribute to the rising action of the plot, begins with Iago and Rodergio arguing with one another in the streets of Venice. Rodergio is a rich …show more content…
Iago and Roderigo meet at night to wait for Cassio and commit his planned murder. Roderigo has doubts about the ordeal, but goes about it anyway. The planned murder backfires, and instead of Cassio being murdered, Roderigo falls to the ground with a stab wound. Iago does, however, come from close by and amputate Cassio 's leg. Othello comes across Cassio, but it is too dark to tell who else is near by. With the death of Cassio in mind, Othello feels that it is time to commit Desdemona 's murder and heads back home to find her. Emilia and others find Cassio as well, and head out to try and find Othello and tell him the news. Back at Othello 's, Othello goes through will killing his wife despite her pleas and repeating that she is, in fact, innocent. Emilia, who has made it back to Othello 's to inform him of the news, and the others barges in and find that Othello has killed his wife. With extreme banter and accusations, Emilia explains to the group that Iago is the one who caused all of the lies and that Desdemona had always been innocent, so Iago stabs his wife. After the truth of the matter is let out and Othello is ordered to go back to Venice for punishment, Othello stabs himself because he does not want to live without Desdemona. In the end, Iago 's plans had worked. By manipulating Othello with images of his wife cheating, he was able to bring …show more content…
Other than the main themes of the play such as betrayal, love, and conflict, there were also a lot of references towards race, reputation, and prejudice. Even within the first few pages of the play, there were references towards the inequality between black individuals and white individuals. After Brabantio found out about his daugther marrying Othello, he insisted that there was no way that someone like her could fall in love with a black man. Even with Othello 's high reputation, there were many times where other characters made comments about his color. As well as race, reputation and prejudice were attributes that effected the characters and their interactions with others. These observations made the time that I read Othello much more enjoyable, for I felt like I could really understand what the characters were thinking and feeling based on their

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    First, Roderigo saw Iago as a friend and helped him advance his relationship with Othello. Othello even labelled him ‘honest Iago’ and allowed Iago to advise him on his wife. Iago then convinced Cassio to drink, which lost Cassio the respect of Othello and the position he held. Finally, Iago deceived Emilia into giving him Desdemona’s handkerchief. In a rage, Othello stormed into Desdemona's room and murdered her in her bed.…

    • 2176 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Othello in William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello experiences cruelty that in the end kills him. Othello showcases the idea that all people have enate cruelty that emanates throughout. Shakespeare creates sadistic characters to show how race, gender, and class can all be perpetrators of cruelty. One of the main reasons Othello experiences cruelties is his race.…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Othello revenge Othello accused Desdemona of being unfaithful to him; she of course felt very sad, and she went to sleep. After that, Othello entered the room and kissed her, then he asked her if she had said her prayers because she was about to die. When he told her that he accused her of being unfaithful, she denied everything. However, Othello did not believe her. Despite she begged Othello not to kill her, he drowned her with a pillow.…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fallacies In Othello

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages

    hero is made by his good qualities and his/her passion of being a good human being but some of these fine humans had to loose in the storyline world of Shakespeare due to the great and catchy idea called “tragedy”. As known by the modern world, Shakespeare has made tales and stories of tragic heroes which have left a great mark on today’s modern world. . One of these stories is known by the name of ‘Othello’ which is written by William Shakespeare. Othello is supposedly driven by the author to become a tragic hero; understandingly by these points which are that the fallacies and hoaxed stories (Desdemona proclaimingly betrayed Othello in many ways and vice-versa) wee made, there are liers and evil plotters in society like Iago, Othello…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Arrigo Boito once told Giuseppe Verdi that “an opera is not a play” and that “eight bars are enough to restore a sentiment to life; a rhythm can re-establish a character; music is the most omnipotent of all arts.” It can be argued that Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello may be a greater work of art than Shakespeare ’s play Othello. Otello is so much more than just a translation from Shakespeare’s play. Verdi took Shakespeare’s 3,500 line play and turned it into a masterpiece of operatic literature with fewer than 800.…

    • 1815 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In this particular story of Othello the questions of humanity and inhumanity were told in the entire story. To beginning, Othello was the odd man out in this story. A well-respected black man who is a general of the army of Venice. One of the first cruel acts that Shakespeare bares is through Iago when he told Brabantio “I am one sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are making the beast with two backs (Diyanni)”. Othello darkness or blackness was mention many time in the story.…

    • 1677 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Iago says, “Call up her father, Rouse him. Make after him, poison has delight” (68). He eventually has another plan to bring Othello down by approaching Othello and saying that Cassio and Desdemona has been hooking up and that she is cheating on him. This is when Iago’s revenge starts taking effect. Iago secretly sets Desdemona’s handkerchief in Cassio’s house so that Othello would find it and come to realize that Iago was telling the truth about her cheating on him.…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Right after this mess is cleared, the characters are sent to Cyprus to defend against the enemy, which were the Turks (Shakespeare & Pechter 15). The remainder of the story takes place in Cyprus. The change in location marks the beginning of Iago’s ultimate scheme to take down Othello. Iago begins to plant seeds of suspicion in Othello’s head that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him. Through progression, Iago utilizes the situations and people around him to his advantage regardless of what cruel deeds he must commit.…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How is Othello an exploration of institutional racism? In Othello racism played an important role throughout the play. When Othello was originally written in England things between white and black people where not where they are at today. When Othello was written it was around the time of the beginning of the slave trade in Britain, so the way people viewed African were terrible.…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Othello: A Racist Play

    • 2387 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Since Othello has been written, the protagonist, Othello, has been played by many different actors. These actors have been white and black. However, there is controversy around the play and it has been questioned whether black actors should continue to play Othello. Some people believe that black actors should not play Othello or act in any Shakespearean plays. Thomas Gregory believed that African Americans should only act in “plays written by African-Americans” (Shakespeare in Black and White) not in plays like Othello that were written by Caucasians.…

    • 2387 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Judge: Court may commence. Prosecutor: Your Honor, gentlemen of the jury, the defendant has been accused of a multitude of crimes. Firstly, the defendant is accused of the premeditated first degree murder of Desdemona, widow of Othello, Roderigo, our nobleman and Emilia, the defendant’s widow. Secondly, he is accused of assaulting Cassio. Lastly, the defendant is accused of the theft of Desdemona’s handkerchief and using it as false evidence to libel chaste Desdemona as an adulteress.…

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    He makes note of the effects both themes make in the reader 's understanding and interaction throughout the play. Overall, the author brings recognition to the general themes he believes Othello most distinctly…

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Racism And Racism In Othello

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited

    “The meaning of Othello’s murdering Desdemona depends on their marriage and their marriage’s meaning is invested in Othello’s blackness” (Little 306). The racism drove him crazy and Iago didn’t make it better. When Iago tells Othello that Desdemona was cheating on him, he thought that his blackness and Moorish characteristics changed her and made her do it because Iago and other characters like Brabantio said it would. When Othello killed Desdemona, his literal blackness became metaphorical (Little 322).…

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Identity In Othello

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Loomba describes Othello as “hopelessly split” between displaying his cultural assimilation and finding his true identity (177). This dichotomy dramatically alienates Othello and increases his uncertainty in the nature of his own…

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Iago's Honesty In Othello

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the Shakespearean play “Othello” Iago is an evil character who fuels other characters with cruelty and hatred to encourage them to commit such cruel actions without even realizing it. He was able to lead for the downfall of almost all of the play’s characters. Iago’s character serves as the foil of the main character, Othello. Othello is a very respected Moor who is known for his wisdom, intelligence, and power.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics