Othello, who is on his honeymoon, must give up his personal desires for business. Othello must immediately set sail for Cyprus. So, Othello asks the Duke to take care of his wife while he is away (line 234). Othello knows that Desdemona cannot stay with her father, and they do not yet have a house to live in. Before the Duke responds, Desdemona makes a request. She asks the Duke if she can go with Othello to Cyprus (line 258). Othello also thinks this is a good idea.
Obviously, under normal conditions, a wife would never go with her husband to a place of war. The wife would be a distraction to her husband, and she could get harmed. Othello argues that because he is not a young man, his wife will not be a distraction to him. He argues that he is not lustful like a young man and that he can control his emotions:
When light-winged toys
Of feathered Cupid seel with wanton dullness
My speculative and and officed instruments,
That my disports corrupt and taint my business, Let housewives make a skillet of my helm.
(267-71)
Basically, Othello is stating that women can cook his brains in his own helmet if he ever allows sexual desire (wanton dullness) to interrupt or interfere with his business. Or, to state it another way, Othello is declaring that he would never allow his emotions to interfere with his business. In this sense, the passage becomes an ironic example of foreshadowing. Othello, at Cyprus, will allow an emotion to interfere with business. But the emotion will not be lust. It will be jealousy.
This passage also indicates foolish pride in Othello. He believes that he is superior to his emotions. He believes that his ability to reason is superior to his emotions. Perhaps in the past Othello always had been master of his emotions. But there is a first time for everything. When an emotion is extremely powerful, then it can conquer even the strongest of minds and the smartest of men. But because Othello is not aware of this, he makes a fatal error of judgment: he allows Desdemona to go to Cyprus. If Desdemona had been left in Venice, the tragedy that follows would never have occurred.
As Othello is leaving, Brabanzio warns him that he better be careful in regards to Desdemona. Brabanzio tells him, “She has deceived her father, and may thee” (292). This is a kind of false foreshadowing. Desdemona will not deceive Othello, and Othello at this point trusts her completely. But later that trust will disappear, and Othello will think that Desdemona has deceived him. The line suggests that Desdemona is capable of deception. Yes, Desdemona did deceive her father. But she did so out of love for Othello. Love is a powerful emotion that causes one to act irrationally and unnaturally. And jealousy is also a powerful emotion that produces similar actions.
Toward the end of the first act, Iago converses again with Roderigo. Roderigo is upset and depressed that nothing has happened to Othello for taking away Desdemona. Roderigo’s hope of winning Desdemona as his own wife is apparently at an end, and Roderigo feels that there is nothing else left to live for. Roderigo wants to commit suicide (line 304). Iago realizes that he can use Roderigo further for his own purposes, and so Iago convinces Roderigo to stop feeling sorry for himself and take action for his own benefit.
Iago asserts that he would rather be a baboon than to be a man who would kill himself because of unrequited love (lines 312-13). On the one hand, Iago does make sense. The unrequited lover does act pathetically. The unrequited lover is often a foolish and ridiculous figure. And, in that sense, he is such a sorry example of humanity that even an unreasonable, wild animal, like a baboon, has a better life. On the other hand, Iago comes across as an individual who has never experienced deep passion and love for anyone else. He does not understand how much a strong and powerful passion can move one to extreme and irrational acts.
Through Iago Shakespeare again brings up the conflict of Reason vs. Emotion. And he does so through the use of the garden metaphor. Like many Christian elders believed and taught, Iago believes that Reason, the rational mind, is the king over passions and emotions. Iago believes that he is in control of his emotions and that only weak individuals allow their emotions to take control over their bodies. Iago explains it this way: “Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners” (317-18). The word wills in this case does not imply emotions, but something more along the lines of control (or self-control). Iago is stating that people can control their bodies in exactly the same way a gardener can control a garden. A gardener can decide what herbs or vegetables to plant, and he can decide what weeds or plants to remove from the garden. As long as the gardener tends to his garden and works hard at it (the word industry in line 321 suggests work), the garden can be whatever he wants it to be. The metaphor suggests that an individual can make his body whatever he wants it to be. The person has complete control over what thoughts, what ideas, and what emotions he wants to have. In other words, Iago is suggesting that a person can remove the foolish thoughts and feelings of unrequited love simply by the power of his own mind.
Iago, thinking that the metaphor may not be understood by Roderigo, then states the matter rather directly: “We have reason to cool our raging motions” (325). The word motions means emotions or desires. Shakespeare is showing Iago’s viewpoint on the conflict in very clear and precise terms. Of course, Shakespeare did not at all agree with Iago on this topic.
Having affected a change in Roderigo, Iago then tells him how to proceed. He recommends that Roderigo follow Othello and Desdemona to Cyprus and see how circumstances might change. Iago suggests (although he does not really believe it) that Othello may get tired of Desdemona and Desdemona may get bored with Othello. Iago suggests that Roderigo may eventually get his chance. In the meantime, Iago repeatedly advises Roderigo to “put money in thy purse” (lines 333, 335, 336, 338, 340, and so on). The comical exaggeration has a double meaning: (1) Iago is telling Roderigo to save up his money so that he will be ready when Desdemona does become available once again. But (2) Iago is planning to cheat Roderigo out of more money.
The first act ends with Iago’s first soliloquy. He begins by boldly referring to Roderigo as a “fool” who is only valuable to Iago because Iago is able to cheat him out of large sums of money (line 365). Iago continues to suggest that Roderigo is beneath him, that he is inferior to him. But then Iago adds that Roderigo actually serves two purposes: “sport and profit” (368). By sport, Iago means entertainment. Iago feels that cheating people and manipulating them is fun. It is a source of pleasure. This is the first deeply insightful comment about Iago. Although he comes up with other reasons for his cruel and vicious actions (such as profit or revenge), the primary reason for his evil actions is entertainment. It is pleasure. This is why so many people find Iago to be so utterly and completely evil. Not only does he hurt others, but he takes enjoyment in hurting them. Destroying people is fun to him.
Iago then turns his thoughts to Othello. Iago hates Othello for not giving him the promotion, but Iago realizes that being turned down for promotion is such a petty or small reason for carrying out a cruel vengeance against him. And Iago does want to hurt Othello in an extremely cruel way. Iago then indicates that someone had once suggested to him that Othello had slept with Emilia (Iago’s wife). Iago does not really believe this – “I know not if it be true” – but he believes that this reason will justify the evil actions that he intends to take against Othello (369-72).
Iago then begins his plot or scheme against Othello. Iago also wants vengeance against Cassio for becoming lieutenant (the position that Iago feels that he himself deserves). So, he plots an act of “double knavery” (376). He creates a scheme to harm both Othello and Cassio together. Because Cassio is a handsome man (line 374) and because Othello is a trusting man (lines 380-81), Iago believes that to convince Othello that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona will be an easy task. Iago realizes that someone as simple and trusting as Othello will readily become overwhelmed by emotion. Iago realizes that jealousy will cause Othello to act irrationally and violently. Iago knows more about Othello then Othello does about himself; for Othello mistakenly believes that he is always in control of his emotions.
At the end of the speech, Iago himself suggests the connection to pure evil and the devil: “Hell and night must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light” (385-86). The evil idea is likened to a newborn monster that will come out in the world with the help of Iago’s evil assistance (“hell”) and the right amount of time (“night”). However, the passage could also be interpreted as a metaphor that employs personification. Hell (Iago himself) and Night (the late night hour in which Iago is making his plans) are the parents of the evil idea. In this reading, Iago thus symbolizes evil or the devil. But Shakespeare avoids this oversimplification by creating a line that can be interpreted in two different ways.