Jun 19 2007
Who holds power at the beginning of the play?
What is the basis of that power?
Who is privileged and who is subordinated?
In what ways does Othello’s position create disruption in the traditional power structures?
What is the relationship between language and power?
Jun 19 2007
How is Desdemona’s relationship with her father explored with in the opening Act?
To what extent are the female characters stereotyped: Desdemona the idealised wife, Emilia the nagging wife and Bianca the doting mistress?
Why does the text focus on such powerless stereotypes?
How is female sexuality explored in the play?
What sexual identities are offered to the female characters
What sexual freedom is given to the make characters?
What social structures are presented to maintain patriarchal control?
What happens to women when they cross or a suspected of crossing societal expectations of submission and faithfulness?
To what extent must Desdemona and Emelia both die in order for patriarchal control to be restored?
Jun 04 2007
She’s gone, I am abus’d; and my relief
Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage!
That we can call these delicate creatures ours,
And not their appetites. I had rather to be a taod,
And live upon the vapour of a dungeon,
Than keep a corner in the thing I love
For others’ uses.
Othello’s state of mind is of one who is driven mad with jealousy.
He has been manipulated into thinking Desdemona is unfaithful and takes a perverted pleasure in hating her. Note the way his language changes – it becomes coarse and bestial. His language becomes similar to Iago’s as he becomes infected by his lies and manipulation. Find examples of jealousy in the text – describe the language and imagery and what is symbolises. What is the effect of Shakespeare’s language?
Jun 04 2007
Taking the persona of Desdemona or Cassio, compose a description of Othello, the warrior, including his physical features, personality and what he says and does.Your response should be written by the character in the form of a diary entry just after Othello has arrived in Cyprus (Act II).
May 28 2007
What is your opinion of Othello?
What kind of man is he?
How is he first introduced?
What image of Othello does his first appearance present? How does this image change as the play progresses?
Describe his use of language (provide examples). What does this say about him? What does Shakespeare want to the audience to think about him?
How do you explain Othello’s downfall (use quotations)? What you think his hamartia is?
Why is he so vulnerable to Iago’s manipulation?
Do you empathise/sympathise with him? Why? Why not?
How does Shakespeare’s representation of Othello fit with what you know about the image of moors in Elizabethan England?
Download this list of words used to describe Othello in the text tech-cs_imagesofothello.pdf
May 23 2007
Imagine that you have been asked to direct a new production of Othello for a modern audience. Write a report for your producer explaining how you would like the character of Othello to be represented. Should be be a black actor? Will the character be represented as African or as a Moor? How will you represent his ‘otherness’ through elements such as costume, speech and mannerisms?
May 22 2007
In 1997, the Washington Shakespeare Theatre staged a ‘photonegative’ production of Othello, with an almost black cast. Othello was white, as were all the servants in Brabantio’s house and the prostitute Bianca. What do you think the director was trying to achieve? Note: the majority of the population of Washington is black.
Photo: http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/plays/details.aspx?id=44&source=l
May 22 2007
Some have suggested that Shakespeare would have had no contact with Moors, but it is likely that he would have seen this Moorish ambassador who was at Elizabeth’s court in 1600-1601.
This section is from the Royal Shakespeare Company wesite places Shakespeare’s Moors in an historical context.
Moor, n. member of the mixed Berber and Arab race of Morocco
Moorish adj. of the Moors
The term ‘Moor’ for a Jacobean audience may simply have signified Othello’s ‘otherness’ and marked him as an outsider. Moors came from Morocco but in Renaissance drama, symbolized something other than human – and often, indeed, something devilish. In Othello, dramatic tension is created by the important fact that Othello is different.
There are three Moors in Shakespeare’s plays:
The Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice, a dignified ruler who hopes to marry Portia, the heiress of Belmont, an estate near Venice. The stage direction in the First Folio reads Enter Morochus a tawnie Moore all in white. Tawny suggests that he is light-skinned, not black. He asks Portia not to judge him by the colour of his skin: ['Mislike me not for my complexion' (2.1.1)] but Portia makes it quite clear to the audience that she would never willingly marry one ‘of his complexion’ (2.8.78-9).
Aaron the Moor in Titus Andronicus, the lover of Tamora, Queen of the Goths, a villainous forerunner to Iago whose devilish schemes destroy Titus and the Andronicii. He is described as ‘coal-black’ (3.2.77), with a ‘fleece of woolly hair’ (2,3,34) and called ‘accursed devil’ and ‘the incarnate devil’ by the Romans. When the (Roman) Nurse calls Aaron’s son ‘A devil� a joyless, dismal, black and sorrowful issue� as loathsome as a toad / Amongst the fair-faced breeders of our clime’ (4.2.66-8), Aaron asks her if black is ’so base a hue’ and she replies ’sure’ (4.2.72). Aaron refers to his infant son as a ‘thick-lipped slave’ (4.2.174).
Othello, a proud and heroic military general, whose marriage to a white woman reveals society’s intrinsically racist values.
May 22 2007
Find illustrations or photographs of actors who have played Othello on the Internet. Describe at least four and list the production and actors involved.
How diverse are these images? What do they have in common?
