Scene summary
In Cyprus, Governor Montano and two gentlemen watch the raging sea and conclude that the Turkish fleet was lost in the storm; a third gentleman brings news that the tempest destroyed the enemy fleet and the war is over. Cassio, Othello's lieutenant, arrives first and prays for the general, from whom the storm separated him at sea. When Montano asks whether the general has married, Cassio says yes, to a young woman of matchless perfection. Then Desdemona lands, with Iago, Emilia and Roderigo, and asks for news of her husband, who has not yet arrived.
While they wait for Othello, Iago jokes about women in front of Emilia and Desdemona, and Desdemona asks him to praise them to pass the time. Iago responds with a series of couplets about the beautiful and wise woman, the dark one, the beautiful fool and the ugly fool, which Desdemona calls a foolish jest to amuse simpletons in taverns, and Cassio excuses Iago by saying he speaks like a soldier. In an aside, Iago says he will ensnare Cassio in a web because of his courtesies to Desdemona. Trumpets sound, and Othello, the last to disembark, meets his wife in full happiness: he says that if death were to come now, it would be the greatest joy, for he fears that no equal comfort will recur. Iago comments in an aside that he will loosen the strings of this melody.
Othello goes on with the others to the castle, and Iago, alone with Roderigo, claims that Desdemona is in love with Cassio and will soon tire of the Moor, and he persuades him to provoke Cassio on the watch that night, so that the lieutenant reacts, the Cypriots riot and Cassio is removed. Alone, Iago admits that Othello is constant, amiable and noble, and that he will probably make a good husband. He says he loves Desdemona too, more as food for his vengeance, since he suspects the Moor has lain with Emilia, his wife, and resolves at the very least to plunge Othello into a jealousy so strong that it strips him of his wits, and to defame Cassio before him.
Analysis
Iago needs someone to provoke Cassio and chooses Roderigo, to whom he sells a hope: Desdemona will tire of the Moor and already looks to Cassio. Alone, he contradicts what he has just said: he admits that Othello is "constant, amiable and noble" and that he will probably be a good husband. What sustains the plan is not the belief that Othello will be a bad husband, which he has just denied, but the suspicion that the Moor has lain with Emilia, Iago's wife, and the resolve to plunge him at least into a jealousy so strong that it strips him of his reason.
One of the couplets Iago improvises in the game of praise: If she be fair and wise, fairness and wit, / The one's for use, the other useth it.
(II.1, ll. 130-131)
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