Chapter Commentary of The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice - Study Guide by William Shakespeare

May the winds blow till they have wakened death

...If it were now to die

‘Twere now to be most happy, for I fear

My soul hath her content so absolute

That not another comfort like to this

Succeeds in unknown fate

(2.1.183-191)

Little does he know of the tempests to come, that winds will blow until they have wakened death, or that he will indeed die, not so much content but united, soul with soul with Desdemona "upon a kiss". Iago is contemptuous of this brave talk, Othello’s "charm", the "Amen to that, sweet powers". He plans to take control,

...I’ll set down

The pegs that make this music(2.1.198-99)

The end of the scene sets out Iago’s plan. In a conversation with Roderigo, he convinces him that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair. He puts Roderigo to the task of provoking Cassio by which he hopes to disgrace Cassio and displace him as lieutenant. This, he says, gets rid of Cassio, who he describes as an "impediment". Unless this is removed, he says, "there were no expectation of our prosperity". The soliloquy that follows confirms as a motive his suspicion that Othello has had an affair with his wife, Emilia.

For that I do suspect the lusty Moor

Hath leaped into my seat, the thought whereof

Doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw my inwards...(2.1.294-95)

He wants revenge, to be "evened with him, wife for wife". He understands jealousy and it is this that he plans to plant in Othello’s mind,

...I put the Moor

At least into a jealousy so strong

That judgement cannot cure...(2.1.299-300)

In Act II, Scene 2, a herald proclaims a night of celebration, "each man to what sport and revels his / addiction leads him", for the victory over the Turks and the wedding of Othello. It is a fateful night for Cassio. Othello instructs him,

Good Michael, look you to the guard tonight.

Let’s teach ourselves that honourable stop

Not to outsport discretion

(2.3.1-3)

Cassio replies that he will "...look to’t" but that very night he is involved in a brawl and Othello sacks him – "...Cassio, I love thee / But never more be officer of mine" (2.3.244-5). Told only this, it would seem strange that a man like Cassio, a man of manners and courtesy, should behave so disgracefully. Othello asks him at first, "How comes it Michael, that you are thus forgot?" (2.3.184). It is, of course, the