"I hate the Moor" -- Iago

Today we began to uncover just how maniacal Iago is. After going through the different stations summarizing Iago's soliloquy, we begin to understand more of Iago's motivations. We figure out that Iago suspects Othello to be sleeping with his own wife, Emilia. He doesn't know if it's true, but he's going to go on like it is. He's going to also use Cassio against Othello. He's going to feed Othello lies about Cassio being close with Desdemona so that Othello will become self-conscious about their relationship. You have to hand it to him, Iago may be very twisted in the head, but he's a mastermind at constructing an intricate web of lies.

In actually watching the soliloquy be performed by one of the most famous Shakespearean actors, Kenneth Branaugh, we got to see even more. Here is the clip in its entirety:

Here we see various choices being made in terms of lighting, camera angle, composition, and tone. When the soliloquy begins, the camera is at a medium shot of Iago. Iago faces the camera and talks directly into it. This shows his true emotions about his evil plan. As he talks, the camera angle gets tighter and the picture comes closer and closer on his face. He then averts his eyes back to camera when he says, "I hate the Moor," adding a serious dramatic effect to the message. His tone is anguished, especially when he talks about suspecting Othello in his bed with his wife. But then it turns evil. He is going to concoct his plan into full effect, and uses the chessboard as a symbol for the game he is playing. The black king chess piece symbolizes Othello, while the white Queen piece symbolizes Desdemona, and the white Knight piece symbolizes Cassio. He will play his game with all his pieces in line so that he may become the most powerful one in the end.

After that, we jumped right into Act 2. The war has been averted! A giant storm has drowned the Turkish fleet and everyone has returned safely to Cyprus. Desdemona and Othello are reunited and they share many passionate kisses, displaying their true affection for one another. Roderigo is torn once again as he witnesses this, so Iago tells him of another plan he's made. Roderigo will get Cassio angry because he has a short temper. Cassion will more than likely hit Roderigo. Once he does, Iago will run off and get Othello to break up the fight. He will find Cassio the villian and fire him as his lieutenant. Iago will then step in for him, getting him one step closer to completing his evil plan.

For homework, you are to read and annotate Iago's second soliloquy like we did in class today. See if you can chunk it into smaller, more manageable pieces in order to understand what's going on.

DEETS:
In-class:
--Iago's Soliloquy Jigsaw
--How to Read Film Powerpoint
--Iago's Soliloquy Video Clip
--Act 2, Scene 4

HW:
--Read and chunk Iago's second soliloquy