Othello by William Shakespeare

1. Othelloby 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?

2. 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?

3. 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?

4. 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)?

5. 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?

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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?

9. 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?

10. 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?

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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?

14. 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?