A Story About a Fellow by the name of Othello

That title took me much longer to come up with than I'd ever like to admit, and it still sounds just...awful...

I had mixed feelings about Othello as I read the first act. I honestly felt disappointed. It almost seemed as though William Shakespeare, the king of drama, the bane of every literature student's existence, had copped out and thrown together a play about a father who doesn't like that his daughter is marrying a black dude. And I was just thinking really, Shakespeare? This is the best you've got for me?" But don't worry, ol' Willy pulled through for me. I always say that it's not a Shakespeare play if nobody swears revenge for something at some point. And it appears that this time around, our vendetta vehicle will be none other than Iago the Ensign. Now, initially there was just the blatantly obvious reason why he wanted vengeance: Othello gave his job to some nerdy bookworm named Cassio and bumped him down to third-in-command, as made evident right off the bat in I.i.18-33. However, he's got another motive, which I didn't quite catch immediately. He hates Othello not just because he gave someone else the position he wanted but more importantly because he suspects that he's been a-foolin' around with his wifey behind the scenes. "I hate the Moor, and it is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets he's done my office." Iago admits that it's just a rumor, but for now, he assumes it to be true. So Iago shall claim vengeance, and it appears that Roderigo will end up being the patsy who gets used to achieve this glorious vengeance.

Now, the question has in fact been raised "What is the dealio with Iago's random usage of prose?" I'll take that, if'n ya please. The most prominent case of Iago's prose shift is in line 304 ish of I.iii. I have to say ish, because during prose sections it gets a wee bit difficult to tell where one line ends and another begins. Anyway, what prompts this change from iambic pentameter to prose is that Roderigo says he will "incontinently drown" himself, literally just kill himself. Now, my theory is simply that Iago is so upset or emotionally alarmed by the idea of his buddy Roderigo offing himself that he stops counting out his syllables and just lets loose everything that's on his mind.