Othello: act1 scenes 1 and 2

The first scene of Othello opens with Roderigo and Iago discussing Othello's marriage to Desdemona. By the way they are talking about Othello you can tell that they are envious of his (Othello's) status and resentful of him because he is a moor. The situation of Othello's marriage gives them the opportunity to bring him down and eventually (hopefully for them) take his position.

Iago is especially mysterious to me. He promises his loyalty to both sides. First in scene one he tells Roderigo, "Though I do hate him as i do hell-pains," and in scene two he says he will fight for Othello. Ironically enough against Roderigo. The difference is that Roderigo knows that Iago is going to present himself to Othello as an ally and Othello, as far as we know, believes that Iago is faithful to him.

I believe that Iago is not truly faithful to either side. I think that he will side with whoever he thinks is the most beneficial to him at the time he is forced to choose. And by what is most beneficial to him I mean what will help him meet his end goal which I think is getting Othello out of his spot and replacing him at the moment. I believe that he will play his cards well enough to have both sides trust him until the end assuming they trust him from the start.

Knowing that at the beginning in the list of actors Iago was the only villain in the cast list I believe that he will be an important long standing character. I assume that he will be clever and crafty. He may create traps but I think it would be very difficult to make him fall for one. The fact that he is already working for both of the two opposing parties of the play so far leads me to believe that he will continue to be deceitful and scheming throughout the play. The actions that earn him the title villain will most likely lead to Iago's death at the end of the play.

When Roderigo and Iago go to tell Barbantio that his daughter is missing and went off the marry Othello he doesn't seem to believe them. then as they keep trying to convince them he decides to consider that maybe they are telling the truth. I find it ironic that he was so disgusted by them, which is understandable, at first and then by the time he decides to go check to see if it's true he says that he already half way believes it because it sounds like the dream he had. Then when he finds out that she really is gone he starts making excuses for her. He claims that Othello has bewitched her mind.

 After that he acts regretful that Roderigo, the person he specifically said couldn't marry her, should have been the one to get her. I think he is just so against the idea of his daughter marrying a moor that even the guy he already rejected would be so much better. If Othello had been a white Catholic he would have been happy because he had a good job. However if Othello weren't a moor there wouldn't be a play.