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The setting for this scene is Cyprus. Everyone is awaiting anxiously the arrival of Othello.
A massive storm has swept the Mediterranean and the Turkish fleet has been destroyed. The threatened
Ottoman invasion is therefore over.
First to arrive is Iago, bringing Desdemona and Roderigo with him. Then Othello reaches the island. Iago
immediately sets in motion his plan to revenge himself on his enemy.
THE PURPOSE OF THE STORM
The Turkish threat to Venice appeared to be enormous, and yet it was so soon over. What then was its
purpose in the overall plot of the play?
Othello was a Moor or outsider who had control of the Venetian defences. He was good at his job as a
soldier but was insecure when it came to the complicated Venetian customs and etiquette.
As long as he was in Venice, however, he always had others whom he could serve and who, in turn, would
guide him, thus keeping his insecurities in check.
The Turkish threat served to take Othello out of his safety zone and expose his insecurities. It was
necessary to the plot, therefore, because it removed him from Venice to the island of Cyprus.
While there was still a war, on the other hand, Othello would have known how to behave but no sooner
had he set sail for Cyprus than the Turkish threat dissipated. All their ships were destroyed in the storm.
Suddenly, therefore, Othello found himself in a new and quite unaccustomed position as Governor of
Cyprus. It would be a largely civilian role in which he would be out of his depth.
Indeed, he was now the highest ranking officer with no-one to guide him. As a result, he was quickly
placed at the mercy of his lesser officers -- and leaned heavily upon the conniving Iago.
He therefore found himself at the mercy of Iago's evil machinations. He needed strength of character, but
his weaknesses were mercilessly exploited by Iago.
The storm -- the instrument for the destruction of the Turkish threat -- then becomes a metaphor in its
own right: an image of the storm unleashed by Iago which will quickly destroy Othello and all about him.
Othello and his entourage are ripped to pieces by the waves of Iago's cunning, just as the Turkish
warships had been ripped apart by the waves of nature.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"MONTANO:
What from the cape can you discern at sea?"
- Rewrite this sentence in your own words. (2)
[Need help?]
"What can you see out to sea from the vantage point of the cape?"
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"FIRST GENTLEMAN:
It is a highwrought flood;
I cannot, 'twixt the heaven and the main,
Descry a sail."
- What does the gentleman mean when he speaks of "a high-wrought flood"? (2)
[Need help?]
The storm out at sea is truly menacing. The waves are enormous, a flood of water that reach metres into
the sky.
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- Rewrite in your own words, "I cannot 'twixt the heaven and the main descry a
sail". (2)
[Need help?]
"I cannot see any sign of a ship's sail between sky and ocean."
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"MONTANO:
If it hath ruffian'd so upon the sea,
What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them,
Can hold the mortise? What shall we hear of this?"
- Montano asks, "What shall we hear from this?" The storm is indeed very good news for them.
Why? (2)
[Need help?]
The storm is very good news because it seems certain that the entire Turkish fleet would have been
destroyed. The danger of an Ottomite invasion would therefore have vanished.
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"SECOND GENTLEMAN:
A segregation of the Turkish fleet:
For do but stand upon the foaming shore,
The chidden billow seems to pelt the clouds;
The wind-shaked surge, with high and monstrous mane,
Seems to cast water on the burning bear,
And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole:
I never did like molestation view
On the enchafed flood."
- Why is "segregation" a most apt word to describe the Turkish ships? (2)
[Need help?]
The word "segregation" literally means separating. The ships of the massive Turkish fleet were
being separated by the wind, and then destroyed.
Could there be any hint of the religious "segregation" between the Christian fleet of Venice and the
Moslem fleet of the Ottoman Empire or Turkey?
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- What had the Turkish ships been planning to do? Why could they now not do it? (2)
[Need help?]
The Turkish ships had been planning an attack on Cyprus. The storm, however, had scattered the fleet
and destroyed most of the ships. What ships remained, therefore, could only limp back to Turkey in abject
defeat at the hands of the tempest.
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- The Gentleman speaks of the "banning shore". In what way is it a "banning shore"?
Why is this so? (4)
[Need help?]
To "ban" is to prevent something from happening.
The athlete is "banned": meaning that the athlete is no longer allowed to compete in a race. A
magazine is "banned" if people are no longer allowed to read it.
The shore, on the other hand, was a "banning shore" because the Turkish ships which were out
of control in the storm were cast up and wrecked along the beaches and on the rocks.
The ships were therefore prevented from continuing the attack. They had therefore metaphorically been
"banned": they could no longer participate in the attack.
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- What two stars or constellations of stars are mentioned here? (4)
[Need help?]
The first constellation is that of the "burning bear", which refers either to the "Great Bear"
or the "Little Bear" constellations.
The "ever-fixed pole" refers to the Pole star but this is not precisely what is referred to here.
The Gentleman refers, instead, to the "guards" of the Pole star, i.e. two smaller stars which
metaphorically stand guard in the sky in the vicinity of the Pole star.
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- Why would these stars be important for the ships? (4)
[Need help?]
Ships took their bearings from the stars. A ship's captain would look into the cloudless night sky and seek
the important stars or constellations in the black heavens above.
He would then use a sextant to measure the angle between the stars and the horizon, thereby determining
the ship's position on the ocean.
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"THIRD GENTLEMAN:
News, lads! our wars are done.
The desperate tempest hath so bang'd the Turks,
That their designment halts: a noble ship of Venice
Hath seen a grievous wreck and sufferance
On most part of their fleet."
- This passage about the treacherous storm is a most convenient way of moving the story along. In
what way is this so? (4)
[Need help?]
The plot of the story had started in Venice. Othello, however, could never have been entrapped by Iago
at the heart of civilization.
The plot therefore needed some excuse for Othello, Desdemona and Iago to be isolated on the remote
island of Cyprus where Othello would have little moral support.
How to get them there? A planned Turkish attack needed Othello's presence on Cyprus.
Once Othello was on the island, however, the war was no longer necessary and immediately dissipated.
In fact, a continued war would ruin the future plot.
The Turkish war is therefore summarily dismissed and immediately forgotten: a massive storm erupts
and destroys the Turkish fleet. Othello is now on the island and the tragedy of stupidity and betrayal can
thereupon unfold.
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