Hello, everyone, and welcome to your lesson on exploring act two, scene three of "Othello".

I'm Miss Sutherland, and I'll be teaching you today.

I'm so glad you joined me for today's lesson.

By the end of today's lesson, you would've analysed the development of the diabolical nature of Iago's character.

We have quite a few key words today, and you may think they look a bit tricky, but don't worry, we'll learn them together.

So, machination.

A machination is a plot or a scheme.

The character Iago hatches many sinister machinations throughout "Othello".

Antithesis.

Antithesis is a person or thing that is the direct opposite of something else.

Diabolical.

Diabolical means a characteristic of the devil.

So if something is diabolical, it might remind you of the devil, and that is a word that we could use to describe Iago's character.

Incarnation.

Incarnation is a person who embodies a spirit or quality in the flesh.

So we might say that Iago is the incarnation of evil.

He resembles the concept or quality of evil in a bodily form.

And lastly, exploitative.

Exploitative means treating others unfairly to gain benefit.

And again, of course, Iago is the character that we can call exploitative.

So you can probably tell that this lesson is going to focus heavily on Iago in act two, scene three.

So in today's lesson, we are first going to read and understand act two, scene three, and then in the second learning cycle, we will explore Iago's soliloquy and talk about what he reveals about his character.

So let's start off with reading and understanding act two, scene three of "Othello".

So we're gonna focus on act two, scene three.

Let's go through the main events so we understand what's going on as we read.

Firstly, Iago tries to convince Cassio to woo Desdemona.

Cassio refuses so Iago decides to get Cassio drunk in order to convince him.

Iago then secretly tells Roderigo to pick a fight with Cassio.

Cassio and Roderigo fight, Montano tries to intervene.

Cassio injures Montano.

Meanwhile, Roderigo goes to raise the alarm.

Othello enters and when he learns of the happenings, he strips Cassio of his lieutenancy due to his poor conduct.

Cassio despairs at this, "O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself!" he says, and he says that he will ask Othello for his role back.

Then finally, Iago convinces Cassio to not approach Othello directly, but ask Desdemona to speak to Othello, as Othello will surely listen to her.

We're going to explore exactly why Iago tells Cassio to approach Desdemona and not Othello.

What do you think Iago's true purpose is in telling Cassio to speak to Desdemona? Pause the video and discuss that question.

Now you may have said that Iago clearly is not being helpful when he tells Cassio to speak to Desdemona instead of Othello.

In fact, if we look at Iago's initial motivation at the beginning of the scene, we see that he wanted Cassio to woo Desdemona in order to make Othello jealous.

Therefore, Iago asking Cassio to speak to Desdemona may be part of this plan to make Othello think that Cassio and Desdemona are indeed having an affair.

Now answer this question to check your understanding of the summary we've just read.

What advice does Iago give to Cassio regarding getting his role back? Pause the video and answer that question.

Well done if you said that Iago tells Cassio to speak to Desdemona about getting his role back.

Remember, Iago likely has an ulterior motive here and probably is not doing it to be helpful to Cassio, but rather to further his own machinations.

Now, let's answer this question.

What is most likely Iago's motive when he tells Cassio to ask Desdemona to speak to Othello on his behalf? Pause the video and answer that question now.

Well done if you said Iago tells Cassio to speak to Desdemona about getting his role back to manipulate Othello into thinking that Desdemona has a romantic feelings for Cassio.

Because if Desdemona starts vouching for Cassio and begging her husband to recruit Cassio again, in Othello's paranoid, jealous and insecure mind, he might start to believe that Desdemona is asking because she has feelings for Cassio and this is all part of Iago's plan.

In fact, he predicts that this will happen.

You're now going to read through Iago's third soliloquy of "Othello" independently.

It starts "And what's he then that says I play the villain?" You are going to answer several questions as you read to show your understanding and begin to analyse the extract.

Number one, Iago now speaks in a soliloquy.

What technique does he use in the opening line and who is he addressing? Number two, why do you think Iago asks this question? Is he in denial or manipulating the audience? Three, what does Iago say about Desdemona and her effect on Othello? Four, what technique is used when Iago immediately says "Divinity of hell!" after asking, "How am I then a villain?" Five, find two quotes that show Iago as diabolical.

Remember, diabolical means suggestive of the devil.

Number six, "When devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows, as I do now." What does this quote reveal about Iago? And your last question, "I'll pour this pestilence into his ear." Which word stand out here and what does the imagery reveal? Good luck at answering those seven questions.

Pause the video and have a go now.

Let's go through some possible answers.

Number one, Iago in the opening line uses a rhetorical question.

And since he's speaking in a soliloquy, meaning that no other characters are around, he addresses this rhetorical question to the audience.

Now, Iago might ask this question to the audience, "How am I then a villain?" Because he may be manipulating the audience into believing he's honest and innocent rather than a villain.

So he's not just manipulating the characters in the play, he's also trying to manipulate the audience.

Number three, Iago says that Desdemona is generous.

He says she's fruitful as the free elements, so it is likely she'll help Cassio get his role back.

Iago also thinks that Desdemona has full power over Othello.

He says that she may make, unmake, do what she lists.

This means that whatever Desdemona says, Othello will follow.

Therefore, Iago is quite confident that his plan to make Othello think Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair will definitely work.

What technique is used when Iago immediately says "Divinity of hell!" after asking, "How am I then a villain?" In this quote, juxtaposition is used since Iago is pretending to be naive about his villainy and then explicitly references hell.

So see in that quote, "How am I then a villain?" In that quote, he's pretending he's not a villain, and in the "Divinity of hell" quote, he's saying, oh, how amazing hell is, how pleasurable hellish things are and that is quite suggestive of a villain.

So here we see their direct contrast or juxtaposition of those two quotes.

Number five, you had to find two quotes that show Iago as diabolical.

You could have chosen "Divinity of hell" and "when the devils will the blackest sins put on" both show Iago as diabolical as they reference hell and the devil.

In the first one, as we said, it's almost like Iago is worshipping hell and taking great pleasure in doing hellish things.

And in the second one, Iago is comparing himself to a devil who has the worst sin.

Number six, "When devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows as I do now." What does this quote reveal? This quote reveals Iago will want evil things to happen, but he will not show this outwardly.

Instead, he will appear and act heavenly and trustworthy.

He explains that this is what he's doing right now, showing he is aware of his duplicity.

So this really adds to Iago's villainous nature because he's not only a villain but he's aware, very, very aware that he's a villain and also he thrives in being a villain.

And the last question, "I'll pour this pestilence into his ear." Which word stands out here and what does the imagery reveal? Pour and pestilence stand out here.

First of all, they are plosive alliteration, poh, poh, suggesting the violent nature of Iago's words.

Secondly, pour suggests that Iago will ensure his manipulation will be thorough so that Othello is full of doubt and suspicion.

Thirdly, pestilence shows Iago knows his words will be poisonous, infecting Othello's mind with insecurity, jealousy, and like poison, those words will eventually be enough to kill him.

Well done on answering all those seven questions.

We've really, really examined Iago's third soliloquy in great detail, and we'll be able to approach the second part of our lesson with great confidence.

Now we are going to look a bit deeper in Iago's soliloquy.

Let's zoom in to small parts of this soliloquy.

First of all, let's give it another read: "And what's he then that says I play the villain? When this advice is free I give and honest, probal to thinking and indeed the course, to win the Moor again? For 'tis most easy the inclining Desdemona to subdue in any honest suit: she's framed as fruitful as the free elements.

And then for her to win the Moor were't to renounce his baptism, all seals and symbols of redeemed sin.

His soul is so enfetter'd to her love that she may make, unmake, do what she list, even as her appetite shall play the god with his weak function.

How am I then a villain to counsel Cassio to his parallel course, directly to his good? Divinity of hell!" Let's look at this line here or this word enfetter'd.

Enfetter'd means shackled.

Discuss: what is Iago trying to say about Othello and how is Iago being exploitative here? Pause the video and discuss that question.

So in this quote, Iago is trying to say that Othello loves Desdemona so much that he is almost trapped by his love for her and she can do anything to him and it'll be bound to have an effect because of how attached he's to her and how much he relies on her love.

Iago is being exploitative here because he is saying he's going to use Othello's strong attachment and love for Desdemona to his own advantage.

Now let's move on to the next question.

Divinity refers to God or heaven and Iago uses it to describe hell.

What does this show about his character? Pause the video and answer that question now.

You may have said that Iago is a character that sees hellish and devilish evil things as good, which shows how much of a villain he is.

He takes pleasure in sin and corruption.

Let's continue reading.

"When devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows, as I do now: for whiles this honest fool plies Desdemona to repair his fortune and she for him pleads strongly to the Moor, I'll pour this pestilence into his ear, that she repeals him for her body's lust; And by how much she strives to do him good, she shall undo her credit with the Moor.

So will I turn her virtue into pitch, and out of her own goodness make the net that shall enmesh them all." Let's zoom into these lines here.

Throughout the soliloquy, Iago references light and dark imagery.

Pitch is tar, a black liquid.

What is Iago's relationship with darkness, and what is he saying he will do to purity or lightness? Pause the video and discuss that question.

Iago is very much associated with darkness in this play, and darkness in this play is used to refer to sin or evil.

And although at first this is used to suggest that Othello being the dark-skinned character is evil, it's actually Iago who possesses the most sin and evil.

And he's basically saying that he will taint Desdemona's purity.

He will make her appear unclean when he says, "I will turn her virtue into pitch." And that is exactly what drives the downfall of Othello, believing that Desdemona is impure because that triggers his jealousy.

Lucas wants to share with you his idea.

Having read the soliloquy, Lucas came to the conclusion that Iago is presented as a cold villain.

I want you to pause the video and think about what might have led Lucas to this argument.

Off you go, discuss that question.

So many great ideas.

There is quite a lot of evidence that suggests Iago is a cold villain.

Here are some of the ideas that I heard.

Firstly, he encourages Cassio to act according to his own machinations, which naturally shows how he's manipulative.

Secondly, he tries to manipulate the audience too, despite being aware of his villainy.

So remember he asks the audience, how is he a villain when it's quite clear he himself knows he is most definitely a villain.

Thirdly, his diabolical nature is made clear when he talks of hell and sin.

Four, he wants to corrupt all goodness, including that of Cassio and Desdemona.

He also wants to kill Othello through devastating, poisonous words.

And lastly, he will do all of this while appearing heavenly to make other characters trust him, revealing his duplicitous, Machiavellian nature.

So remember, a Machiavellian villain is one who operate in secrecy, who will be duplicitous, who will be treacherous, and Iago is all of those things.

Now let's answer this question to check we understand Iago's presentation in his soliloquy.

Iago is shown as the antithesis of goodness.

Remember, antithesis means direct opposite.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and answer that question.

Well done if you said that's true.

Iago is indeed shown as the antithesis or direct opposite to goodness.

Now justify your answer.

Is that because Iago tells Cassio to ask Desdemona to speak to Othello, or is it because Iago says he will corrupt Desdemona's virtue? What makes him the antithesis to goodness? Pause the video and justify your answer.

Well done if you said Iago is clearly the antithesis of goodness because he says he will corrupt Desdemona's virtue.

It's showing he has complete contempt for anyone who's virtuous or good and he wants to taint that.

That shows how he is the direct opposite to goodness.

Now, Lucas called Iago a cold villain based on reading his soliloquy.

Use the sentence starters below to formalise your thoughts about this description.

You could start off by saying, I agree or disagree with this description, more specifically, ultimately.

So I want you to give your opinion and justify it.

And then finally come to a conclusion.

Pause the video and write your ideas about Iago being a cold villain.

Great job.

Let's go through a possible answer.

Andeep also had a go answering this question.

Andeep says, "I disagree with this description.

More specifically, I would go further and say Iago is presented as an incarnation of the devil since the diabolical imagery and paradoxical language, for example, divinity of hell, shows he seems to worship evil and hell.

He also wants to corrupt all goodness, turn her virtue into pitch.

Ultimately, Shakespeare presents a character who is more than a villain.

He's fixated on causing harm, with no virtuous qualities whatsoever and even tries to manipulate the audience into believing he isn't evil." I really like the way Andeep really dissected the statement that Iago is a cold villain and gave a really nuanced response to that idea by saying that Iago is more than a villain.

Now let's look at Sofia's answer.

Sofia says, "I agree with this description, but I think he is a cold, clever villain.

More specifically, Iago very cleverly judges the psychology of other characters and uses this to his advantage.

For example, he recognises Desdemona's generosity, that she's fruitful as the elements, that Desdemona has a strong influence over Othello, his soul enfett'rd to her love, and that Cassio is an honest fool to go along with and not see a problem with the plan.

Ultimately, Shakespeare shows that Iago gets away with his exploitative machinations because he is clever." Again, Sofia has really unpicked the statement carefully.

She hasn't just agreed with it because obviously agreeing might be the easy thing to do, but instead she's added her own perspective.

She said that he is cold, but moreover, he is clever.

Well done if you gave a slightly nuanced response to that argument as well, that's really impressive.

Here's what we've learned today.

Iago's third soliloquy reveals his exploitative machinations.

References to God and hell develop the diabolical presentation of Iago.

Iago describes poisoning Othello's ear; he knows the effect his manipulation will have.

Iago takes pleasure in corrupting goodness; he talks of tarnishing Desdemona's virtue and calls Cassio an honest fool.

And lastly, Iago uses imagery to show the control he has over the characters and tries to manipulate the audience, too.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

I've really enjoyed analysing Iago's character with you.

I hope to see you in another lesson soon.