1. Test your knowledge of
Act 1!

2. Twenty Questions
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20

3. 1. Who tells
Roderigo of hatred
towards Othello?

4. Iago

5. 2. Who does Iago vulgarly
describe Othello making love with
Desdemona to?

6. Desdemona’s
Father (Senator)

7. 3. What was the Senators reaction
to Desdemona’s love for Othello?

8. Hewas no longer
mad about what
Iago told him

9. 4. Whose men were ordered to
attack Othello?

10. Brabantio’s

11. 5. What was “the beast with two
backs” used to describe?

12.  Othello
and Desdemona
making love

13. 6. Why do you think Roderigo
notified Brabantio about
Desdemona escaping from home
and helped him with the situation?

14.  Roderigowants to get on
Brabantio’s good side and
doesn’t want Desdemona with
Othello because he loves her
and wants to marry her.

15. 7. Why does Roderigo want to
drown himself? (p.55, l.305) Who
talks him out of it?

16.  Roderigo loves Desdemona so much but
knows he cannot have her due to her
happy marriage with Othello. He believes
death is the only cure to living a torturing
life however Iago has a long
conversation with him about it and
changes Roderigo’s mind about killing
himself.

17. 8. Why is Brabantio so sure that
Othello has put a spell on
Desdemona?

18.  Brabantio feels his daughter is too
perfect for Othello and that he is
someone to fear of not to love. Since
Desdemona has refused to marry all the
handsome men in the city Brabantio is
confident that Othello has tricked,
drugged or kidnapped her.

19. 9. What response does Desdemona give
when her father asks, “Where most you
owe obedience?” What influences
Desdemona to answer the way she
does?

20.  Desdemona answered saying I have to
give my obedience to my husband. Her
mother’s actions influenced her to make
this decision. “And so much duty as my
mother showed to you, preferring you
before her father”

21. 10. Why does Desdemona come
along with Othello to Cyprus even
though war will be taking place?

22.  Desdemona says she’d be miserable if
she were left home while her husband
went off to war. She makes it clear that
she wants to be with him and wants to
adapt to his lifestyle while forgetting her
old life.

23. 11. Why does Iago hate Othello?

24.  Iago hates Othello because he
promoted Cassio, rather than the
much more qualified, Iago.

25. 12. Who is Roderigo in love with?

26. Desdemona

27. 13. Which character hides his real
identity in order to get back at
Othello.

28. Iago

29. 14. Which character can be
described as highly educated but
young and inexperienced in
battle and is represented as an
arithmetician?

30. Cassio

31. 15. How exactly does Iago plan
on getting revenge on Othello?

32.  Inhis soliloquy, Iago basically
states that he will spread the
rumour that Cassio and
Desdemona are too intimate
and since

33. 16. How does Iago make himself
look favorable in Othello’s eyes?

34.  Iago makes himself look favorable in
Othello’s eyes by telling him how
Brabantio’s “scurvy and provoking terms”
against Othello made him want to attack
Brabantio. He also suggests that Othello
watch his marriage because Brabantio
might invoke the law against it, thus
playing on Othello’s trust in him.

35. 17. Who does Desdemona pledge
her duty to?

36.  Desdemona perceives “a divided
duty” between her father and her
husband, and as her mother had
shown allegiance to her husband,
so Desdemona professes “Due to
the Moor.”

37. 18. What news does Michael
Cassio bring when he enters?

38.  Michael Cassio tells Othello that the
duke requires his service because of
some military action, “a business of
some kind,” in Cyprus.

39. 19. What accusation does
Brabantio make against Othello to
the duke?

40.  When Brabantio arrives at the duke’s he
says that Desdemona has been “abused
… stolen … and corrupted by spells and
medicines bought of mountebanks” in
order to accuse Othello of entrapping his
daughter.

41. 20. What is the military issue that
the Duke of Venice and his
senators discuss?

42.  The duke and the senators are in the
process of determining the validity of
reports that say “a hundred and seven,”
“a hundred forty,” and “two hundred”
Turkish galleys are approaching Cyprus.