OTHELLO

Act. I:  - Venice

- Othello and Desdemona are married

- Intrigue of Iago who pretends great loyalty to Othello but makes a plot to have Cassio,Othello's lieutenant, dismissed.

Act. II: - Cyprus

- Cassio is dismissed and Iago advises him to seek Desdemona's help

Act. III:           - Iago speak about, the probable love affair between Desdemona and Cassio, with Othello.

- Desdemona drops a handkerchief that is found by Emilia, Iago's wife,  and Desdemona's attendant

- Iago put the handkerchief in Cassio's room for created the evidence of Desdemona's unfaithfulness.

Act. IV:           - Iago increases Othello's jealousy, while Emilia say to Othello that Desdemona is innocent.

Act. V:            - Othello kills Desdemona but when he understands his fault he kills himself

- Iago is imprisoned and Cassio becomes the governor of Cyprus.

MAIN THEMES

The jealousy that changed a personality of a good man

The Othello's and Desdemona's love that triumphs over their cultural and racial differences

CHARACTERS

Othello and Iago are two opposite poles, Desdemona is the object of desire.

At the beginning Othello is the champion of honesty, Iago has a black soul

Othello feels emotion, sensation, true and absolute passions; on the contrary Iago invents false passions for himself

Othello is a linear character, when his harmony is destroyed by chaos, he must re-establish order by eliminating the destructive element, Desdemona. Later when he understand he has killed an innocent woman, for re-establish the order he eliminates the cause of the violated harmony by killing himself

Desdemona is present as a simple object of desire and jealousy.

The love between Othello and Desdemona is different. Othello's love is possession, a simple desire to control his partner; Desdemona feels a more sincere and confident love.

DRAMATIC TECHNIQUES

DIALOGUE ( Act II, sc I): the meeting between Desdemona and Othello, after the travel to Cyprus

MONOLOGUE ( Act II, sc III): Iago speak about his plot against Cassio and about the plan for  make jealous Othello.

ASIDE (Act II, sc I): Iago speaks with the audience about his plot.

STAGE DIRECTION (Act III, sc III): Opposite the castle. Enter Desdemona, Cassio and Emilia.

LANGUAGE

The contrast between Iago and Othello is underlined by the use of two different language:

- Othello uses the typical Renaissance language full of mythological images and cosmological allusions

- the "voice" of Iago is cynical, brutal and full of litotes which create the false.