A general, a wife and the officer who ruins them: Othello summarised as Iago's ledger of every lie, nudge and trick, with act and scene numbers.
A short play with a tight plot, a villain who talks to the audience and a famous handkerchief. The language is the hurdle, and the plot rewards a second read once you know the ledger. Four out of five (draft).
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Othello summary act by act, built as a ledger of Iago's 25 lies, nudges and tricks, with our own counts: his share of the words, the word honest, and the handkerchief's route. Full spoilers.
Othello is Shakespeare’s tragedy about a noble Moor in the service of Venice, his wife Desdemona and the officer Iago, who ruins them both. We use the free Project Gutenberg text, ebook #1531, titled Othello, prepared by the Project Gutenberg Shakespeare Team.
Below is a summary built as Iago’s ledger: every lie, nudge and trick, with the act and scene, who it targets, what it costs and whether it works, plus our own counts of his share of the words, the word honest and the handkerchief’s route. Spoilers throughout.
A short play with a tight plot, a villain who talks to the audience and a famous handkerchief. The language is the hurdle, and the plot rewards a second read once you know the ledger. Four out of five (draft). Read it if: you have othello on a syllabus and want iago's moves tracked with act and scene numbers; you like tragedies driven by one persuasive liar; you want a free, short shakespeare play with a clear plot. Skip it if: verse and elizabethan wording slow you down and you will not use notes; you want a gentle story: the last two acts are painful; you want a modern retelling, not the play itself.
Othello summary act by act, built as a ledger of Iago's 25 lies, nudges and tricks, with our own counts: his share of the words, the word honest, and the handkerchief's route. Full spoilers. Summary: Othello →
Othello, a noble Moor in the service of Venice, secretly marries Desdemona and is sent to defend Cyprus. His officer Iago, angry at being passed over for Cassio, makes Othello believe Desdemona is unfaithful with Cassio, using a lost handkerchief as false proof. Othello kills Desdemona, learns the truth too late, and takes his own life. Iago is captured.
The play gives him several reasons and none is firm. By our count he offers five across four scenes: being passed over for lieutenant (act 1, scene 1), a rumour that Othello slept with his wife Emilia (1.3 and 2.1), a suspicion of Cassio and Emilia (2.1), a half-claim that he loves Desdemona (2.1), and Cassio's 'daily beauty' plus fear of exposure (5.1). In my reading the reason keeps changing because the reason is not the point.
By my own tally, a judgment call, he makes 25 moves aimed at named people: 15 outright lies, 6 nudges and 4 tricks. Nine aim at Othello, three at Cassio and three at Roderigo. 22 work cleanly, two work halfway (the ambush and the blame on Bianca in 5.1) and the last, in 5.2, fails when Emilia speaks. The list by scene: 1.1 Brabantio; 1.2 Othello; 1.3 Roderigo; 2.1 Roderigo; 2.3 Cassio, Montano, Othello, Cassio; 3.3 Othello three times, Emilia, Othello twice more; 3.4 Cassio, Desdemona; 4.1 Othello twice, Lodovico; 4.2 Emilia, Desdemona, Roderigo; 5.1 Cassio and Roderigo, Lodovico and Gratiano; 5.2 the whole room.
Othello gives it to Desdemona as his first gift. In 3.3 it falls when he pushes it away, Emilia picks it up and Iago takes it. Iago says he will lose it in Cassio's lodging and tells Othello he saw Cassio wipe his beard with one like it. In 3.4 Cassio says he found it in his chamber and gives it to Bianca to copy. In 4.1 she hands it back while Othello watches, and in 5.2 Cassio says Iago confessed dropping it for a special purpose. The word handkerchief or napkin appears 31 times, all in 3.3, 3.4, 4.1 and 5.2.
Honest or honesty is spoken 52 times in the Gutenberg text. Twenty-six are about Iago: 17 from other people, 14 of them from Othello, and 9 from Iago himself. Othello's last uses of it about Iago come in 5.1 and 5.2, and after Emilia says he lies to the heart nobody calls him honest again. The word is used about Desdemona 7 times.
Othello is called 'the Moor' 59 times in the spoken lines and named 34 times; Iago says 'Moor' 29 of the 59. In act one Iago, Roderigo and Brabantio use insults about his race and origin, which we do not quote. In 1.3 the Duke calls Brabantio's charge no proof. In 3.3 Iago hints that Desdemona acted against nature by passing over men of her own country, and Othello then lists his colour, his lack of courtly talk and his age as possible reasons for doubt. How to read this is interpretation; in my reading the play shows the insults being used as tools.
The Project Gutenberg text, ebook number 1531, titled Othello, by William Shakespeare, prepared by the Project Gutenberg Shakespeare Team. It has five acts and 15 scenes, and every act and scene number on this page follows its headings. We counted 25,862 spoken words, excluding speaker names, scene headings and stage directions.
