Othello: The Moor of Venice Notes Sheet – Act 1

Tracking Motifs – Act 1
Kinds of Information/ Evidence:
“To vouch this, is no proof, Without more wider and more overt test than these thin habits and poor likelihoods, Of modern seeming do prefer against him.”
The Duke is saying that there is no proof that Othello has taken control of Barbantio’s daughter, and without proof he does not need to go to jail.
Colors:
“Even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise; Awake the snorting citizens with the bell, Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you.”
Iago is using racial context to describe how Othello a “black man” is having sex with Barbantio’s daughter. Also Desdemona is described as a “white ewe” meaning she is pure and innocent, and because of Othello she will no longer be pure and Barbantio will have black grandchildren.

Sight/Blindness:
“This accident is not unlike my dream: Belief of it oppresses me already. Light, I say! light!
Barbantio is explaining that he knew this would happen because of a dream which has now given him insight into the future and he is also trying to find light to see as well as wake all his relatives.
Monsters:
“It was my hint to speak, — such was the process; And of the Cannibals that each other eat, The Anthropophagi and men whose heads, Do grow beneath their shoulders.”
Othello is explaning his love for Desdemona and how it will cause him to be