Themes
A key theme throughout the entire Act is jealousy. Iago is jealous of Cassio for getting the position he wanted and Rodrigo is jealous of Othello about him marrying Desdemona. This duo together brings the most action in this Act setting up people with Iago being the manipulator of situations. Another theme is race, Othello is a high-ranking general in the Venetian army yet is brought down due to his race by his peers. By Desdemona marrying someone of North-African descent this shows that she married for love. Finally the idea of gender and power is played with a lot as Desdemona is very strong-minded in her ways and others do not treat her as an equal and that she doesn’t know what she wants when Othello does.
Characters
Iago is seen to be the manipulator of all situations, telling Othello that “I had thought to have yerked him here, under the ribs” when Rodrigo spoke badly of Othello, Brabantio about Othello and Desdemona’s marriage, and Rodrigo that “when she is sated with his body she will find the error of her choice” meaning that Rodrigo will get Desdemona once they have gotten over the sexual attraction. By his peers he is seen as loyal to all, this is displayed when Othello trusts him to get Desdemona to Cyprus, yet to the audience we can see him manipulating all the situations to his advantage.
Othello is seen to be level headed, calm and powerful. Once the marriage between him and Desdemona was discovered the senate said it was lawful due to them needing him to work for them, the Duke told Brabantio “To mourn a mischief that is past and gone // Is the next way to draw a mischief on.” Iago has stated multiple times to Rodrigo that “I hate the Moor”, the audience later finds out that this is because of “He’s [Othello] done my office”. Although this is only a suspicion the audience is less likely to believe it because Iago manipulates everyone. Desdemona seems to be in love with him due to her saying “Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate” meaning that they’ve become a part of each other. The audience views him to be level-headed because when Iago tries to rile him up in the beginning of Act 1 Scene 2 he says “‘Tis better as it is.” rather than stooping to his level.
Initially Desdemona is seen to be the one to want with Rodrigo being in love with her. Due to the society that they live in it’s clear that she is seen to be weak and unknowing of what she wants, this is seen when Brabantio says “Sans witchcraft could not” meaning that there’s no way that Othello got her love naturally. This shows that her father thinks that she is susceptible to being stolen from him and that she would never think on her own that she could love Othello. Othello sees her as an equal, this is shown to the audience when Othello asks Desdemona to testify in front of the senate when asked about their relationship. Once she starts speaking it’s clear to the audience that she’s strong-willed and she knows what she wants. Additionally, Desdemona made the first move to Othello which shows that she is more contemporary than the setting they live in.
Cassio doesn’t make major impressions to the audience in the first Act. He is seen to not indulge in Iago’s jokes about Othello’s “lawful prize” by him saying that “I do not understand.” shows the audience that he doesn’t want to be associated with the careless jokes about his general. Moreover, since he got the promotion over Iago there must be something that Othello sees in Cassio that he does not see in Iago making him a better leader. Iago doesn’t like Cassio due to the fact that he got the promotion over him, this is why he will try and frame Cassio for having an affair with Desdemona.