The Senate Trial and Iago's Plan

Scene summary

At night, in the Senate of Venice, the Duke and the senators compare letters that give different numbers of Turkish ships, but all agree that a fleet is advancing on Cyprus. News arrives that the Turks went first to Rhodes, joined another fleet there, and now turn their prows toward Cyprus, and the Duke concludes that the target is Cyprus. Brabantio and Othello enter. The Duke says he needs Othello at once against the Turks, but Brabantio interrupts: what pulled him from bed was a personal pain, since his daughter was stolen from him and corrupted by potions and spells. The Duke promises that the guilty man will answer to the law, even if it were his own son, and Brabantio points at Othello.

Othello admits that he carried off the old man's daughter and married her, says his speech is rough, like a soldier's, and asks that Desdemona be called to confirm his account. While she is not yet here, he says that Brabantio often invited him and wanted to hear the story of his life, the sieges, the battles, the captivity, the escapes, and that Desdemona, listening, began asking him to tell it all over again. He sums up that she loved him for the dangers he had undergone and he loved her for her pity of them, and that this was the only spell he used. The Duke, who had earlier said that asserting is not proving and that stronger evidence was needed, remarks that such a story would win over even his own daughter. Called in, Desdemona tells her father that her duty is divided: she owes him life and upbringing, but now owes her husband what her mother owed her father. Brabantio gives up, hands his daughter over to the Moor, and the Duke tries to console him with maxims.

The Duke orders Othello to sail for Cyprus that same night, and Desdemona asks to follow him and will go later, without him, on a separate ship. Othello names Iago as her escort, and the Duke approves. On leaving, Brabantio warns Othello that whoever deceived the father can deceive the husband, and Othello replies that he stakes his life on her fidelity. Roderigo, alone with Iago, speaks of drowning himself for love of Desdemona, and Iago persuades him to sell his lands and gather money, promising to help him win her, because she will soon tire of the Moor. Alone, Iago admits to the audience that he only wants Roderigo's money, says it is rumored that Othello has lain with his wife and that he acts as if it were true, and plans to convince Othello that Cassio is too intimate with Desdemona, counting on the general's frankness, which takes the merely seeming to be honest.