OTHELLO BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Othello is a Moor—an African American He falls in love with Desdemona—a

Venetian, an Italian This is the 1500s—very daring for

Shakespeare! What are your feelings about a black

character being the protagonist? What are your feelings about this plot

concerning an interracial marriage? What are your feelings about racial

slurs?

CHARACTERS: Othello—General of the Venetian Army Desdemona--Othello’s Love Brabantio—Desdemona’s father Iago—Othello’s best friend/soldier Cassio—Othello’s friend/soldier/player Duke of Venice Roderigo—loves Desdemona (same

nationality) Emilia—Iago’s wife Who is the protagonist? Othello?

Desdemona? Iago? Whose story is it?

ACT I: OTHELLO Cursing: ‘Sblood—God’s Blood “damned in a fair wife”—Italian proverb

“You have married a fair (beautiful) wife? You are damned.” Why?

Antimetabole: “We cannot all be masters, nor all masters cannot be truly followed.” Why?

“ I am not what I am.” What does that mean? Re-occurring them in all Shakespeare Plays: Appearances are deceiving. Where have you seen it in Romeo and Juliet? Julius Caesar?

ACT I: SCENE 1 (CONT.) Racial slur: “thick-lips” Archaic Language: “ What ho” Who

remembers what hie ho was from R&J? Acceptable Curse word: “Zounds” What

curse words have we altered to make them acceptable?

Racial Slur: “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe”

Racial Slur: “barbary horse” Sexual innuendo “the beast with two backs”

“lascivious Moor” “Oh, would you had had her” Why so base (vulgar)?

ACT I: SCENE TWO AND THREE Iago: The Doppleganger. What do you

see? Racial Slur: “Sooty bosom” Why sooty? Characterization of Duke’ leadership?

Why? Anaphora: “What drugs, what charms,

what conjuration and what mighty magic”

Line 201-218 Rhymes Why? Lines 219-225 Prose Why?

SCENE THREE: CONT. Pg. 1145-1146 Apocope: the end. Write

examples. Syncope: middle Write examples Aphaeresis: beginning Write

examples Antiphrasis: Given a name for the

opposite. Honest Iago

CUCKOLD Archaic: Cuckold: (kŭk'əld) husband whose

wife is unfaithful Origin– Cuckoo The female of some Old

World cuckoos lays its eggs in the nests of other birds

Horns of a cuckold--the community would gather to collectively humiliate a man whose wife gives birth to a child recognizably not his own. According to this legend, a parade was held in which the hapless husband is forced to wear antlers on his head as a symbol of his wife's infidelity.

ACT II: Parallel Setting: Storm/War—Iago’s evil

is put into motion. Unit Theme: Green Eyed Monster

What have you seen so far? Aside: Other characters on stage;

speaks to audience and they pretend not to hear. 2 purposes: humor or foreshadow What does Iago reveal of his plan in his aside?

E’er: Which one? Aphaeresis, Syncope, or Apocope?

ACT TWO: SCENE 3 “What an eye she has”—What does this

mean? The perils of drinking—Does Cassio want

to drink? How does Othello manipulate him? How does he involve Montano in the plot?

Brawl—what is the plan? “Have you forgot all sense of place and

duty?” How is this ironic?

ACT THREE: Comic Relief: Clown Pun: “Thereby hangs a tail” “Whereby

hangs a tale?” What is he talking about? Kitch: vulgar, gaudy, trash Go deep—

How is a wind instrument in a “Pun” when you are talking about tails?

How does Iago involve the Clown in the Web?

ACT THREE (CONT.) “I have been talking with a suitor here.” Ambiguity Someone who wants something from

you. Someone who is seeking to further a

romantic relationship with you. Appearances are deceiving them

appears again: “Men should be what they seem.”

Coined phrase: first to use it– “It is the green-eyed monster” jealousy

ACT THREE: CONT. What is the literary term for a trait that

causes a downfall? Hamartia Othello’s hamartia: “I had rather be a

toad and live upon the vapor of a dungeon than keep a corner in the thing I love for others’ uses.” What does that mean?

Cuckold: “I have a pain upon my forehead here.” Significance?

Iago calls his wife a “wench”:1. a female servant; 2. a lewd woman : prostitute

MOTIF IN ACT THREE: EYES/SEEINGAND HANDKERCHIEF What does he ask Emilia to give him? “If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster

(sleep together)” He must see it with his own eyes.

Handkerchief: “But such a handkerchief—I am sure it was your wife’s—did I today see Cassio wipe his beard with.”

“I see ‘tis true.” “She dying gave it me, And bid me,

when my fate would have me wive, to give it her.”

To whom does Cassio give the handkerchief?

ACT FOUR AND FIVE: What are Othello’s plans to kill

Desdemona? Metaphor: “When I plucked the rose, I

cannot give it vital growth again, it needs must wither.”

“I kissed thee ere I killed thee.” Metaphor: “When I plucked the rose, I

cannot give it vital growth again, it needs must wither.”

Know everyone who dies, how, and by whom?