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Othello  is one of Shakespeare’s most forensic works; in particular, the trial scene of act 1 becomes the  locus  for the negotiation of the characters’ identity in the context of Venetian society. Othello and Desdemona attempt at overcoming the gender and ethnic tenets of their time through a self-fashioning of their own identities which then they try to submit for legal recognition. In their speeches they both contravene one of patriarchy’s most powerful symbols, that is, marriage, and its social determination and control. Othello tries to circumvent the threat of interracial marriage by fashioning his own image through the narration of his adventures; he aims at making his inner and outer aspect coincide in order to be included in Venetian society. Desdemona fashions herself as a desiring subject and takes the law into her hands as she repeats the ceremony of the spousal  per verba de praesenti , thus indirectly obtaining its official sanctioning. The scene seemingly concludes in Othello and Desdemona’s favour, but it actually acknowledges also Brabantio’s disowning act and renders both characters social outcasts. This will emerge more powerfully in the course of the tragedy but the seeds of their condition can be traced to this opening scene, which concludes itself on ambiguous terms. Like many princely figures in the Shakespearean canon, the Doge does not prove capable of administering the law in emergency situations and seems to subsume the inner social threat in favour of an outer social threat (the Turkish invasion). This attitude on his part undermines also the image of the law, reduced to words and negotiated in virtue of the needs of the republic.

Disruptions and Negotiations of Identity in Act 1 of Shakespeare’s Othello