![othello act 1 scene 3 summary othello act 1 scene 3 summary](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9wtZpJKdVXg/maxresdefault.jpg)
When Desdemona comes back with Emilia, Othello complains ‘I have a pain upon my forehead, here’. Iago leaves Othello convinced of his wife’s infidelity, saying ’She’s gone, I am abused, and my relief must be to loath her’. Iago immediately begins to sow seeds of suspicion in Othello’s mind, subtly at first and then more obviously, suggesting that something is going on between Cassio and Desdemona, advising him to ‘Look to your wife, observe her well with Cassio’. As she leaves he says ‘Perdition catch my soul / but I do love thee! And when I love thee not, / chaos is come again’. Desdemona then persuades Othello to talk to Cassio and he claims ‘I will deny thee nothing’. He says to Othello that it can’t have been Cassio because ‘I cannot think it that he would steal away so guilty-like seeing you coming’. Iago makes sure Othello sees the end of their conversation and notices Cassio leaving Desdemona. She says ‘Do not doubt, Cassio, but I will have my lord and you again as friendly as you were’. Iago assures him the plan is working well.ĭesdemona reassures Cassio that she will continue to speak to Othello on his behalf. Roderigo arrives, complaining that he is bruised from the fight, has no money left and thinks it’s time to go home. Left alone, Iago tells the audience that as Desdemona ‘for him pleads strongly to the Moor’ he ‘will pour this pestilence into his ear: that she repeals him for her body’s lust’. Iago tells him to ask Desdemona for help in convincing Othello to give him back his job and Cassio agrees saying ‘You advise me well’. Believing Iago is his friend, Cassio tells him how upset he is, ‘O, I have lost my reputation, I have lost the immortal part of myself and what remains is bestial’, and that he remembers ‘a mass of things, but nothing distinctly a quarrel, but nothing wherefore’. Hearing of Cassio’s drunkenness and fighting, Othello says ‘Cassio, I love thee, but never more be officer of mine’. Iago protests that he does not want to speak badly of Cassio, ‘Yet I persuade myself to speak the truth’.
![othello act 1 scene 3 summary othello act 1 scene 3 summary](https://cdn.slidesharecdn.com/ss_thumbnails/45f1d44e-736b-454f-8c29-17a7f7be055e-160623041226-thumbnail-4.jpg)
Othello arrives asking ‘Are we turned Turks?’ and demands to know what is going on. Montano tries to stop the fight but Cassio fights him instead and injures him. With Cassio clearly drunk, Iago tells Montano ‘I fear the trust Othello puts him in’ and secretly sends Roderigo to provoke Cassio to fight. Iago convinces Cassio to drink even though Cassio protests he has ‘very poor and unhappy brains for drinking’. Othello leaves Cassio and Iago in charge of the party and goes to spend time alone with Desdemona. Alone with the audience, Iago offers more reasons why he hates Othello. Left alone with Roderigo, Iago convinces him that Desdemona is already bored with Othello and has switched her attention to ‘handsome, young’ Cassio, and that since Cassio is ‘rash and very sudden in choler’, Roderigo should provoke him into a fight later that evening. Finally Othello’s ship arrives and he and Desdemona are delighted to be together again. Observing how close Cassio and Desdemona seem, Iago tells the audience ‘with as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio’. Cassio describes Desdemona as ‘a maid that paragons description and wild fame’ and greets her very affectionately. The next ship to arrive carries Desdemona, Iago and Emilia. The messenger announces that Michael Cassio, ‘lieutenant to the warlike Moor, Othello / Is come on shore’. News is brought to Montano, the Governor of Cyprus, that ‘our wars are done!’ because the Turkish fleet has been badly damaged by storms. Alone, Iago tells the audience of his plans to make Othello believe Desdemona is being unfaithful to him with Cassio ‘to get his place, and to plume up my will / In double knavery’.
![othello act 1 scene 3 summary othello act 1 scene 3 summary](https://getrevising.co.uk/grids/what-is-the-presentation-of-masculinity-in-act-1-1/cell-1x1.png)
Alone with Roderigo, Iago persuades him to follow them to Cyprus, saying Othello and Desdemona’s love will not last long. Othello asks Iago to bring his wife Emilia to Cyprus to ‘attend on’ Desdemona. Desdemona asks to go with Othello to Cyprus and Brabantio warns Othello ‘she has deceived her Father, and may thee’. Desdemona is called for and she tells the Senate she married Othello for love and her duty is now to him rather than her father. The Duke listens to Othello who explains that she fell in love with him as he told her stories about his life and that ‘she loved me for the dangers I had passed’. Brabantio tells the Duke that Othello has bewitched his daughter saying she is ‘abused, stolen from me and corrupted’. Brabantio, Othello, Cassio, Iago and Roderigo arrive at the Senate while they are talking about the war.