Othello - Act 2 Scene 1

Throughout the majority this scene we come to terms with Iago's crude opinions of Women and what attitudes he displays towards them in his public persona as he is speaking to Desdemona and Emilia.

As the rest of the characters wait patiently for Othello to arrive, Iago gets an opportunity to conversate with Desdemona and the others, and proudly display this false persona which he so often uses in order to convince everybody that he is a genuine character.

Conversely, we see Cassio being a gentleman and showing nothing but respect to the other characters. Iago goes on to make jokes whilst Othello is still lost at sea, and successfully manages to sidetrack Desdemona from worrying about Othello's whereabouts - which once again shows us how manipulative he can be in even the smallest of actions.

In one of Iago's poems starting from line 145, he begins describing his ideal woman and all of the wonderful trates which she would encompass. "Had tongue at will, and yet was never loud; Never lacked fold, and yet never went gay..." Which gives off the impression that he does appreciate the trates of women and has hope that such women do exist - only to take back everything that he said when he states that they would meerly "suckle fools and chronicle small beer". This not only highlights his pessimistic view of the world, but also draws attention to how much of a blunt and deceiving character he is in that he was able to take back everything that he just said with nothing but a witty remark. Even through casual conversation we're still able to see these rays of his private persona shining through the cracks of his facade.

As Othello arrives Desdemona is overjoyed and they set off on their own way, leaving Iago to make his soliloquy. Towards the beggining of this soliloquy Iago admits that he believes Othello will "prove to Desdemona A most dear husband". Because of the fact that he has admitted this to the audience and possibly to himself so casually, we are able to catch a glimpse of how much he is hiding in his personal persona and what his real beliefs towards the world and the people around him are. However, despite his admitted almost-respect for Othello, he still plans to plot against him in order to restore his own dignity as the rumours have spread that Othello slept with Iago's wife. Regardless of how much he seems to not care about what others think and doesn't let them affect him, his true colours are slowly starting to seep through; he says it's like a "poisonous mineral" to him. Placing two opposing words together in such a way creates an affective impact as he is almost pointing out that all good things have a bad side to them, as the poison would be in the mineral, which once again emphasises his pessimistic view on the world around him.

Fatima