Transcript Othello: A230 Reading and Studying Literature

Othello: A230 Reading and
Studying Literature
Arab Open University, Kuwait Branch
Fall Semester, 2013
Shahd Alshammari
Consider the title of Shakespeare’s Tragedy. What does the term
‘Moor’ imply?
The play was first performed in 1604, first published in 1622 as a
QUARTO, then as a FOLIO (1623).
Tragedy and the Tragic Hero
• Tragedy: almost always involves the defeat of the
hero, his annihilation.
• Domestic Tragedy: Private versus Public sphere
• The protagonist is the ‘Tragic Hero’ –someone of
noble blood, greatness of character. Faced by
both internal and external conflicts.
• What kind of perceptions did Shakespeare’s
audience have regarding ‘Moors’? What were
your personal expectations of Moor Othello?
Act 1, Scene 1: Basic Discussion:
• The play starts on a street in Venice. Upon being
introduced to Iago and Rodergio, we are
informed that Iago has been passed over for
promotion. Othello has instead promoted
Micheal Cassio to lieutenant. Roderigo has been
suitor to Desdemona.
• Brabantio is awakened by Iago and Rodergio.
Iaago urges Roderigo to cause commotion, a
‘dire yell’ (1.1.81)
• How is Iaago’s character first established in this
initial scene? Why is his speech complex and
baffling? Is everything as it seems?
Iago’s speech:
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Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:
In following him, I follow but myself –
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty…
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am (1.1.
57-65.)
How does this speech give us insight into his character?
Shakespeare uses unrhymed Iambic Pentatmer or Blank
Verse, which was the “favoured medium of drama of the
time” (Pacheo 18).
Why did Shakespeare and his contemporaries prefer Blank
verse?
Why is there usually variation in rhyme/rhythm?
Sexual Imagery and Figurative
Language
• Upon waking Brabantio, both Iago and Roderigo use
dark/animalistic sexual imagery: “an old black ram/Is
tupping your white ewe” (1.1.88-9). Discuss the
relevance of this description of Othello and Iago’s choice
of words. He also states that Desdemona is being
“covered by a Barbary horse” (1.1.111).
• Iago: “I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter
and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs”
(1.1.115-16).
• What does love mean for Iago?
Brabantio’s Reaction
• “This is Venice: My house is not a grange”
(1.1.105-6)
•
“Oh heaven, how she got out?/ O treason
of the blood!/ Fathers from hence trust
not your daughters’ minds/By what you
see them act” (1.1.168-70).
• Discuss the above quotations. How does
Brabantio feel about his daughter,
Desdemona, and what is his general attitude?
Act 1, Scene 2: Othello’s Entrance and
Language
• Othello is nothing like the description Iago had
given the audience. He is a calm and rational
man, not easily swayed.
• He refuses to boast, but claims that his
services “shall out-tongue his complaints”
(1.2.19). What does this line mean?
• How does Othello refer to himself? Is he
proud? Is he insecure about his ‘otherness’?
• When is the love theme first introduced?
Othello:
For know, Iago,
But that I love the gentle Desdemona,
I would not my unhoused free condition
Put into circumscription and confine
For the seas’ worth (1.2.24-8).
Freedom Versus Confinement of Marriage
Love Versus Arranged Marriage/Marriage for a Purpose
“Unhoused” refers to Othello’s otherness, outsiderstatus.
“Free” refers to his past, that he was once a slave.
Act 1, Scene 3: ‘the Othello music”
and Accusations
• Taken to the council in the Duke’s palace,
Othello must defend himself. Critic G. Wilson
Knight labeled Othello’s heroic speech as
‘Othello music’ (Pacheo 29). Discuss relevant
passages.
• Othello refers to his own past, the obstacles
he has faced. Discuss.
• How does he respond to Brabantio’s claims of
bewitching Desdemona?
The Duke comments on Othello’s language and stories:
“this tale would win my daughter too” (1.3.171). What
are the implications of this statement?
Othello asks for Desdemona to be sent for. Why do you
think no one has requested to hear her version of the
story before? Note: The Council consists of men.
Othello: “I do beseech you/Send for the lady to the
Sagitary/ And let her speak of me before her father”
(1.3. 115-17).
At this point, why do you think Desdemona fell in love
with Othello?
Desdemona’s Defense
• When Desdemona’s father refers to her
loyalties and duties, how does she respond?
• Desdemona’s speech: “I saw Othello’s visage
in his mind/And to his honours and his valiant
parts/Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate”
(1.3.250-53). What does love mean for her?
• “The rites for why I love him are bereft
me…Let me go with him” (1.3. 255-57).
• What are Brabantio’s last words to Othello?
• Iago’s language contrasts with “Othello music.” How
does Iago perceive love?
• Iago’s first soliloquy: He addresses the audience.
Why do you think Shakespeare uses soliloquies and
what is the function of this particular one?
• What are Iago’s reasons for his manipulation and
hatred? Are they valid? Consider this at multiple
levels.
Discuss Othello’s Flaw and Downfall:
Important Vocabulary:
Alliterative
Plot
Figurative Language
Iambic Pentameter/Blank Verse
Exposition
Chorus
Idiom
‘Othello Music’
Soliloquy/Asides (early modern theatre)
Act 2: Themes and Major Points
• Move away from Venice to Cyprus. How does
this alter the play?
• How does this affect Iago’s plan? How might
have this been reflected onstage?
• Act 2 opening is a premonition. What
happens?
• Iago is very significant in Act 2. Discuss
• What does Iago do to Cassio? How does this
affect Cassio and Othello?
Views on Othello
F.R. Leavis
• Anti-Othello
• Reads Othello as
responsible for his own
downfall.
• It is not “external evil” that
is responsible.
• Iago is not to blame wholly.
A.C. Bradley
• Pro-Othello
• He saw Othello as “open
and passionate…the
newness of Othello’s
marriage made his jealousy
credible” (Pacheo 46).
• Iago is the driving force.
Othello’s Character in Action
• Discuss why and how might our protagonist be
insecure and confused.
• How does his love transform into violence and
ultimately murder?
• “I will chop her into messes –Cuckold me?”
(4.1.193).
• He strikes Desdemona. Consider the relevant
passage (4.1.232).
• Othello states: “But I do love thee/and when I
love thee not/Chaos is come again” (3.3.91-3).
• Critical texts during the 1980s and 1990s. (Look at
pages 52-53).
• In Act 4, the handkerchief is a symbol. Discuss.
• When does the “falling action” commence?
Act 4, Scene 3: the ‘willow song’
• This is the first act that takes place only
between women. How might this affect the
mood/atmosphere?
• Melancholy scene. What is its function?
• What is the difference between the two
characters’ views on love? (Emilia shares her
opinion with Desdemona (4.3.64-98).
• Why is foreshadowing necessary?
Feminist Issues
• What is your understanding of Desdemona?
How do you read her?
• Consider Emilia’s speech in Act 4, Scene 3.
(lines 81-98). Why did Shakespeare insert this
specific speech?
• Refer to pages 54-55 in ‘Chapter two: Othello,
Honesty and Difference, Men and Women’
Politics of Race, Class, and Gender
• During the sixteenth century, England defined
itself as superior to other races.
• Racial hierarchies synonymous to class
hierarchies and gender differences. Discuss.
• “Normal” gender roles (Pacheo 56).
• Signs of stereotyping and prejudice in Othello.
• Nigerian writer Ben Okri describes an
“emotional explosiveness” that takes places
while watching the play (Pacheo 56).
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How might we identify with the protagonist?
What do we make of the problem of evil?
What about the binary of Self/Other?
What are some external forces Othello must
battle with? What about internally?
• Consider the multiple deaths in the play.
Roderigo, Desdemona, Emilia, and finally,
Othello.
Act 5, Scene Two: Death and Endings
Othello’s speech:
It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul –
Let men not name it to you, you chaste stars:
It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow…
Yet she must die (5.2.1-6)
Othello addresses his cause/case, “his soul suggests
he is referring his ‘case’ to a higher authority…It also
implies that he sees his role in relation to his wife as
that of both judge and executioner” (Pacheo 59).
• Emilia’s reaction to the murder of
Desdemona
• Threatened by Iago, later murdered.
• What happens to Othello upon learning
the truth?
• How do we perceive his death, and not
Iago’s?
• Mora issues, the problem of good and
evil.
• Final thoughts.