DO NOW

• What does it mean to be two-faced? Do you know anyone who is two-faced?

Announcements/HW

• HW tonight: In your opinion, what is the most important/interesting line in Act 1.1? Record it on an index card and attempt to memorize it for tomorrow.

• Quiz Friday: Quiz on Othello Act 1, plus vocab.

Othello Vocabulary Act 1 

preferment: (n) a promotion 

obsequious: (adj)excessively obedient 

lascivious: (adj) lustful or lewd 

deluding: (adj)deceiving 

promulgate: (v) to announce or declare 

beguile: (v) to charm or delight 

alacrity: (adj) cheerful willingness

Shakespeare did not invent the story of Othello, although he did take some liberties with it, adding characters and events.

• Set in Venice, Italy

16th Century Venice• The crown jewel of sixteenth-

century Italy. A major Mediterranean seaport and center of commerce, it was also home to the incredible richness of literature, painting, architecture, music, and all the other art forms that flourished during the Italian Renaissance.

• At that time, Venice was a city-state, ruled by a Duke

• Laws were also made by a body of senators

• The military was run by a General [Othello]

• The General’s second in command was a lieutenant [Michael Cassio]

• The General’s personal servant and third in command was called an Ancient (pronounced “en-sin”) [Iago]

• Othello is a Moor [a native of North Africa, usually a Muslim]

• His actual race is unclear in the play, but it is clear that he looks different.

• Othello, once a slave, has been accepted into Venetian society and has converted to Christianity.

• As a general, he is well respected by the majority of Venetians.

Cyprus• A strategically located island which

yielded substantial harvests of olives, grapes and various grains.

• Valued by many throughout its history. Assyrians, Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and Byzantines all fought over and occupied it.

• England’s King Richard I, the Lion-Hearted, conquered Cyprus in 1191 but later ceded it to the French. Venice seized the island in 1489 and in 1571 the Ottoman Turks brought Cyprus under its control.

Paraphrase: Express the meaning of (the writer or speaker or something written or spoken) using different words, esp. to achieve greater clarity.

Paraphrasing Shakespearean language helps us put the text into our own words so we can analyze search for deeper meaning.

“I am not what I am”O sir, content you.

I follow him to serve my turn upon him.

We cannot all be masters, nor all masters

Cannot be truly followed. You shall mark

Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave

That (doting on his own obsequious bondage)

Wears out his time much like his master’s ass

For naught but provender, and when he’s old, cashiered.

Whip me such honest knaves. Others there are

Who, trimmed in forms and visages of duty,

Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves

And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,

Do well thrive by them. And when they have

lined their coats,

Do themselves homage. These fellows have some soul,

And such a one do I profess myself. For, sir,

It is as sure as you are Roderigo,

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 seeming so, for my peculiar end.

For when my outward action doth demonstrate

The native act and figure of my heart

In compliment extern, ’tis not long after

But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve

For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.

Exit Slip

• Briefly describe the setting of Othello.• Describe Iago. What are his feelings

toward Othello? What does he mean when he says, “I am not what I am?”

• Who has received the promotion Iago wanted?

• Describe Roderigo. Why is he so unhappy in Act 1.1?