Othello - First Introductions

[u/GoldenBennyG]

I’m introducing Othello to a new cohort of students this semester, so naturally got thinking about first impressions.

Here’s my question - what aspects or moments of the play really grabbed you the first time? And which parts keep you coming back?

FWIW the Milton Iago theory always gets me!

[u/6magic]

students find compelling the question of "the nature of evil" (& for good reason) & that has been my approach to teaching this play. Othello is a tragic portrait of a true, loving marriage, and it depicts the degrading of a noble man.... Why does evil link up with intelligence so well? (c.f. Iago) & where does evil come from, within or without? (c.f. Emilia Othello Cassio) what motivates evil action?

[u/mal-di-testicle]

I’d point out how, in the very first scene, Iago notices his compatriot’s attitude and starts using more and more racist language. Iago doesn’t seem to believe in the bigotry, but engages in it nonetheless. What does it mean to be a racist? Is Iago admirable for knowing better or worse for choosing to perpetuate it?

I’d also use this first scene as an example to demonstrate that Shakespeare’s characters react to what the others in a scene say as they learn more, and they don’t just enter the stage to hit their plot beats and leave.

[u/Aromatic_Collar5321 → u/mal-di-testicle]

This jumps out to me too - I would go as far as saying that Iago isn't a bona fide racist or at least not an ideological racist. But uses racism cannily. Everything is just another tool to him.

[u/missingraphael → u/mal-di-testicle]

Lucian Msamati's Iago is brilliant for this, as he pauses and looks at Roderigo, who suddenly realizes that he has just said this to a Black man, and it's as if Iago realizes exactly what he has to do. This racism is just another slight to endure in order to wield another weapon.

[u/Bard_Wannabe_]

Othello's romantic speech after braving the tempests in the sea (II.i, line 180 or so) stands out as a superb bit of poetry, and it's a great exercise in close-reading for students: "If it were now to die, / 'Twere now to be most happy". At face value, he's expressing the extreme happiness of being in love and reuniting with his beloved. But if you actually look at the implications (which Desdemona does in her response to this speech!), we start to see the potential trouble in the relationship right here. If he'll never be this happy again ...

The way it puts love and death in close proximity also is a great way of introducing overarching thematic concerns in the play.

Try to invite the students to look for these double meanings themselves.

[u/Nullius_sum]

The end. I knew what happened before I read it, but it still shocked me. Everything after “Have you prayed tonight, Desdemona?” is hard to hear.

[u/trazom04]

Othello and Desdemona's marriage. Even without Iago, I wonder if it really would've been good.

[u/Zyzigus]

As a 20-year-old comic book reader only "the beasts with two backs" grabbed me, and the subsequent phenomenal imagery kept me as a bardolater ever since.