1 / 14

Othello by William Shakespeare

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?

dea
Download Presentation

Othello by William Shakespeare

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  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?

More Related