1.1

• MAIN POINTS OF ACT 1

  Exposition— establishing Othello’s nobility against a background of xenophobia.
• PLOT OF 1.1

  Roderigo and Iago inform Brabantio of Desdemona’s secret marriage to Othello. Enraged, Brabantio sets out in search for his daughter.
• SYMBOLS IN 1.1

  VENICE: a bastion of cosmopolitan civilisation and commerce, protecting the boundaries of Europe from the Ottoman Empire. Also corrupted by debauchery.

  ANIMAL IMAGERY AND FAILURE TO NAME OTHELLO: racism and continual dehumanisation of Othello.
• KEY QUOTATIONS IN 1.1

  IAGO: Cassio is an “arithmetician” and like a “spinster”

  IAGO: “I follow him to serve my turn upon him.”

  IAGO: “I am not what I am.”

  IAGO: “Poison his delight… plague him with flies.”

  IAGO: “An old black ram is tupping your white ewe.”
• VOCABULARY IN 1.1

  MERITOCRACY: a society based on personal achievement, not wealth.

  DUPLICITOUS: deceptive, Machiavellian.

  DEBASED VALUE SYSTEM: lacking integrity

  PREJUDICED/XENOPHOBIC: racist

  INTEGRITY: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles