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READ THIS
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:
"His bark is stoutly timber'd, his pilot
Of very expert and approved allowance;
Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,
Stand in bold cure."
[Need help?]
A "bark" was one of those old sailing vessels. It is from this word that we derive the modern phrase
"to disembark", meaning to get off the bark or ship.
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- What was the pilot's role in a "bark"? (2)
[Need help?]
The "pilot" was the ship's navigator, the person who took command when the ship was in difficult
circumstances.
Today a pilot is still used to navigate a ship in or out of a harbour, because it is the pilot who is intimately
acquainted with the difficulties associated with that particular harbour.
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In Macbeth -- another of William Shakespeare's tragedies -- one of the witches says,
"Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-tost."
- To what extent could this prediction by the witch be equally applied to Othello? (10)
[Need help?]
It is meaningful that the story of Othello's journey to Cyprus is set within the most dreadful storm. Indeed,
this storm becomes the metaphor for Othello's own storm.
In a sense, Othello's bark could not be lost. He was untouchable because he was such a fine soldier and
was needed for the defence of Venice.
On the other hand, his very insecurities could be exploited by such a ruthless enemy as Iago. Iago would
blow up the storm, lashing Othello's bark, causing him to be "tempest-tost."
Just as the Turkish fleet was destroyed in the storm, however, so was Othello's ship ultimately destroyed
in the storm conjured up by Iago. He would commit murder and would then have to pay the ultimate
penalty for it.
In this sense, therefore, one could replace Macbeth's three witches with Othello's single metaphorical
witch: Iago.
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"CASSIO:
Has had most favourable and happy speed:
Tempests themselves, high seas, and howling winds,
The gutter'd rocks and congregated sands --
Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel, --
As having sense of beauty, do omit
Their mortal natures, letting go safely by
The divine Desdemona."
- Iago's swift arrival is explained in terms of "The divine Desdemona". Explain the logic of this
reasoning. (4)
[Need help?]
Desdemona is presented here as a goddess, one who can control the forces of nature. Though the
ancient gods may throw every violence in the way of their passage, therefore, the "divine
Desdemona" protects them from it all.
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- Is there not another diabolical interpretation for Iago's swift arrival? (4)
[Need help?]
If you know Shakespeare's Macbeth, you will notice an uncanny similarity between Iago and the
First Witch.
In that play, the Witch spoke of sailing in a sieve. In other words, the diabolical forces of evil can
overcome nature with ease, even to the extent of being able to ride upon the waters in a sieve.
If this is applied to Othello, one could conclude that it was Iago himself who has been empowered
with the forces of the Dark Lord.
It is this Dark Lord, therefore, who has protected Iago's ship against all that nature could throw against
it -- with the purpose of allowing Iago to arrive safely so as to conjure up evil against Othello.
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"IAGO:
Sir, would she give you so much of her lips
As of her tongue she oft bestows on me,
You'll have enough."
- What does Iago mean by these harsh words? (6)
[Need help?]
There is a definite play on sexual words here. Cassio has greeted Emilia -- Iago's wife -- with a kiss
but it would appear to have been an over exuberant one and not quite in keeping with accepted etiquette.
The tongue is therefore an instrument of sexual foreplay as well as an instrument for mouthing harsh
words.
There seems to be a jealousy on Iago's part for Emilia. Remember he once accused Othello of sleeping
with her?
There is also a cold divide between Iago and his wife. He accuses Emilia of frequently using her tongue
on him -- i.e. using her wits to humiliate him -- instead of showing affection with her lips and tongue.
And so Iago plays with words: using her tongue in sexual foreplay vs using her tongue to humiliate him
with words.
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- Comment on the ungentlemanly manner in which Iago berates Emilia. (4)
[Need help?]
It was always honourable for a man to protect his wife from public humiliation, not to bestow that
humiliation on her himself.
Iago, however, appears to go out of his way to belittle the woman, publicly humiliating her while spreading
untested malicious sexual scandals about her to his friends.
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"IAGO:
[Aside] He takes her by the palm: Ay, well said, whisper. With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great
a fly as Cassio. Ay, smile upon her, do. I will catch thee in thine own courtesies."
- The irony is that Iago is perfectly correct in the assumptions which he expresses in these lines.
Explain how this is so. (4)
[Need help?]
Cassio is merely keeping within the accepted form of Renaissance etiquette. And yet, that etiquette itself
was a spider's web to entrap the unwary who perhaps went a little overboard.
Cassio holds Desdemona's hand. Good. There is nothing wrong with that. But it can be wrong in the eye
of the beholder. Poison the glance and it looks as if Cassio has over-reached himself and is having an
affair with Desdemona.
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"IAGO:
Now, I do love her too;
Not out of absolute lust, though peradventure
I stand accountant for as great a sin,
But partly led to diet my revenge,
For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
Hath leap'd into my seat; the thought whereof
Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards."
- Explain Iago's desire to gain revenge on Othello. Has Othello in fact done anything
wrong? (6)
[Need help?]
Iago does appear to have a disturbed mind. He is full of miserable angers against people who have done
nothing to harm him.
He once claimed that, although he didn't believe Othello had slept with his wife, he would nevertheless
hold it against him as if he had.
He holds Othello in contempt for his not promoting Iago when, in fact, he was probably not the best
candidate for promotion.
Has Othello done anything wrong? Not at all. But he is going to be made to suffer as if he had.
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