Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

o
o
o

o

o
o
o
o

o

o
o

o

o
o
o
o

o
o

Begins in medias res- argument, middle of night- confusion/disorientating
...

Roderigo = stock figure of the gull (easily duped)- familiar to audience
...

st
1 impression of Iago- pompous/arrogant- believes Othello turned down best man for job/promoted Cassio
unfairly
...

Iago brings attention to fact it’s who you know not what
...

 Extemporising
...

 Smuggles into his dialogue a cynical view of renaissance vs ‘whip me such honest knaves!’
...

Iago putting on act ‘shows of service’
...

Iago bamboozles his victims with words- elaborate sentences
...

 Coded suggestion explored in language that there’s something diabolical about Iago
...

Iago’s motive- playfulness?- enjoys feeling intellectually superior to Roderigo- foreshadows relationship between
Iago + Othello
...

 Iago wanting to cause mischief + spoil Othello’s happiness
...

Roderigo ‘thick lips’- racist epithet (descriptive word)/‘lascivious moor’- meaning sex-crazed + lacks control
...

 ‘robbed’ ‘your house, your daughter, and your bags!’- daughter bookended by possessions- owned
...

 ‘snorting citizens’- shameful having daughter stolen by socially embarrassing black man
...

 Playing on Brabantio’s fears- misogynist- public shame of mixed marriage- family line must be kept pure
...

 Uncomfortable yet amusing for audience- illicit humour- Iago has power over audience- falling for his
charms?
Brabantio presented as foolish/stock figure of father- in a nightgown
...

 ‘charms’- believes Desdemona must be under a spell
...

 Disjointed speech
...

Iago begrudgingly admits Othello’s values ‘another of his fathom they have none’
...


Again, opens in medias res
...


o

o

o

o
o
o
o
o

o

o

o
o

o

o

o
o
o

 But sounds regretful- inverted morality- suggests conscience is a handicap and that morality is for fools
...

Othello ‘tis better as it is’- unexpected reaction from a moor
...

Othello believes the problem is his social status- but in scene 1 it suggests it’s his race- naivety of the extent
Venice holds racist values
...

Othello ‘unhoused free condition’- would give up freedom for Desdemona- refers to life as soldier- never lived in
domestic setting
...
D Nuttal ‘story of a hero who went into a house’- Othello’s hamartia = marrying Desdemona
...

 Desdemona linked to domestic- Othello more attuned to world of battlefield- Desdemona travels in the
opposite direction towards a warzone (Cyprus)
...

Iago swears by ‘Janus’ = 2 faced god- hints at deceptive nature
...

Othello ‘keep up your bright swords’ (no fighting) - commanding presence- challenges preconceptions of moorthey’re aggressive
...

 ‘thou’ form- disrespect
...

 Yet Othello stays calm ‘hold your hands’
...

 Exists in public/needs an audience
...

- Senate scene
3rd scene in a row starting in media res- creates sense of panic
...

Duke ‘we must straight employ you’
...

 Brabantio ‘flood-gate’- metaphor-image of river bursting- lacking self-control
...

 Shakespeare suggesting universal human condition- undermining Venice- suggests it’s corrupt
...

 Although he does allow Othello to speak in defence- suggests Venice is an enlightened place
...

 Designed to convey his otherness
...

 ‘rude am I in my speech’- manipulative ploy?- as Othello goes on to use elegant diction
...

• Or knows what he’s doing- dampening expectations- rhetorical trick
...

 Refers to Brabantio as an ‘old man’
...

 Shakespeare showing Othello’s greatness through his powerful language
...

Sense Othello is separated from reality- how much of his power relies on his public image?
 Interesting that he’s never shown fighting on the field
...


o
o
o

o

o
o

o
o

o
o
o

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

 ‘against all rules of nature’- provocative- unnatural for mixed marriage- but Othello stays calm
...

 Acting like law abiding leader but for own reasons
...

Hadfield ‘Othello is defining himself as Elizabethan traveller against the savages of Africa + America- shows how
desperate he is to fit into European society’
...

 Otherness v different experiences
...

 Anaphora ‘of’ repeated- expression of greatness- great men speak in this sonorous way
...

 Othello ‘with a greedy ear devour up my discourse’- emphasis on appetite
...

 Othello ‘beguiled her of her tears’- knows how to use language to gain desired effect- woed Desdemona
through stories
...

 ‘twas strange, twas passing strange’- theatrical reproducing of Desdemona’s words- incantatory rhythms
...

 Othello ‘I lov’d her tho she did pity them’- Othello has fallen for her reaction- how well do they know each
other?
• Theme of love- what is it based on?
Duke ‘I think this tale would win my daughter too’- persuaded but pragmatic?
Desdemona emphasis on ‘duty’- x3- diplomatic + self-assured- presenting herself as dutiful daughter yet
disobeying her father
...

Brabantio ‘I had rather to adopt a child than get it’- ashamed/bitter- expected the Duke to choose him
...

Shakespeare exploits movement of blank verse to prose to rhyming couplets- showing the Duke wants to get onBrabantio = distraction
...

 Prose- private/seedier
...

 Draws focus to the power of reputation- most of Othello is his great persona
...

Desdemona ‘saw Othello’s visage in his mind’- not about appearance- loves him for who he is- accepts colour
coding of her society
...

Duke ‘far more fair than black’- binary opposition- innate racism
...

Iago ‘our bodies are our gardens…our wills are gardeners’- we can control how we react through our wills
...

Iago ‘we have reason’- relies his on own inner resources- cleverness- dismissive attitude to love
...

Iago ‘love, to be a sect or scion’- debased view- love is just sugar coating for lust
...

Iago ‘put money in thy purse’- repetition- brainwashing Roderigo- uses ambiguity of language to create false
impression- prevarication
...

Roderigo ‘I’ll sell all my land’- function is for audience to enjoy Iago’s cleverness not pity
...

 ‘my sport and profit’- motivations
...

‘he’s done my office’- slept with Emilia- fuelling his own hatred
...

‘open nature, that thinks men honest’- Othello’s tragic flaw- believes appearances
...

Scenes often end with Iago’s soliloquy- controlling presence- puppet master
...

Storm = symbolic of disruption of normal order/prefigures disaster
...

 ‘war-like isle’- volatile
...

Dramatic irony-audience aware of Venice’s fate- characters labouring under false sense of belief- tragic texture
...

 ‘Book of the courtier’- Castiglione- gave advice of how young men should behave- Cassio modelled on this
...

 Culture of idealising ‘divine Desdemona’
...

 ‘Mistress’- concerned of social hierarchy- attitude towards women varies according to their position
...

Cassio ‘Tempests themselves…omit their moral natures’- storm died down to let Desdemona through- irony as it
also let Iago through
...

 ‘players of your housewifery, and housewives in your beds’- women lazy in housework but busy in bedmisogynistic
...

 ‘I am a Turk’- enemy within/1604 = Catholics (Shakespeare was writing for the king)
...

 Iago extemporises- ‘fairness and wit’- uses beauty to get what she wants
...

 ‘she’ll find a white (man) that shall her blackness fit’- double entendre- sexual implications
...

 Iago seen as entertaining figure/not taken seriously by other characters- powerful?
Othello ‘too much joy’/‘not another comfort like to this’- foreboding/ironic- he’s right downhill from here
...

 ‘Turks are drowned’- dramatic irony
...

Othello ‘dote in mine own comforts’- love proving-distraction- contrasts previous ‘let housewives make a skillet of
my helm’
...

Iago’s cynical attitude to love- ‘dull with the act of sport’- Desdemona will get bored of Othello’s sex
...

Appearance v Reality theme- Iago states Cassio is ‘voluble’ =smooth-tongued/‘humane seeming’- puts on
gentleman manner for sex/ladies man
...

 Desdemona ‘hath found him already’- had sex with Cassio- yet hasn’t even had sex with Othello yetseparated on a boat for 3 weeks
...

Iago ‘cause these of Cyprus to mutiny’- military setting- small disruption could spiral- anxious atmosphere
...

 Coleridge ‘motive hunting of motiveless malignity’- devilish figure/just evil
...

 ‘wife for wife’- echo of Exodus ‘eye for an eye’- using old Testament for justification
...

 ‘I do love her (Desdemona) too’- motives don’t seem convincing
...

- drunken scene
Order to disorder to order again
...

Othello ‘profits yet to come ‘tween me + you’- hasn’t consummated marriage yet- contrasts Iago’s cynical view/
Othello calls Iago ‘Michael’- 1st name terms- friends- weakness as leader-trusting Iago
...

 Iago uses bluff manly persona ‘what, man!’- useful in military environment
...

 Iago = Shakespeare’s reputation on stage- orchestrating incidents/directing characters
...

Cassio presented unattractively- Iago’s victims- little sympathy- manip by Iago’s cleverness yet bottom of social
hierarchy
...

 Victorian critics- view characters insolation- Othello + Iago’s qualities create tragic texture- vacuum
...

Iago takes opportunity and plants seeds in Montano’s mind- ‘I fear the trust Othello puts in him’ (Cassio)
...

 Iago ‘town will rise’- creating more disorder- exploiting setting of Cassio- political situation
...

 Othello restores order through commanding presence
...

 Othello ‘worthy Montano’/’your name is great’- reputation for calm + wise
...

20thC critic Loomba- Othello himself imbibed prejudices- uses black imagery ‘best judgement collied’ (blackened)
...

Ironic- on watch for enemy but the enemy is within
...

 Diminishes Cassio’s rep whilst building up his own
...

 Othello needing to show he’s impartial- not protecting own- putting public before private
...

 Likening his reputation to his soul
...

 But-does Cassio have a point? - in the context of this society reputation is everything
...

 ‘I think you think I love you’- prevarication- words true but in disguise
...

 Desdemona is ‘so free, so kind, so apt’- exploiting her virtues- sees goodness as a vice
...

 Sudden twist ‘divinity of hell!’- addressing audience
...


o

 ‘turn the virtue into pitch’- black- colour coding/manipulate appearances- harnessing goodness in service of
evil
...

 ‘that small hurt hath cashier’d Cassio’- convincing Roderigo that he defeated his enemy- but that’s not
reality only what Iago’s created
...

 ‘dull not device (scheme) by coldness + delay’- mantra of opportunists
...

Clown- provides light relief after intensity of previous scene- pun ‘tail’= penis/‘wind instrument’ = anus
...

Cassio ‘never know a Florentine more kind + honest’ ‘Florentine’- Machiavelli- ends justify means
...


o
o
o
o
o

o

o

o

temptation scene (centre piece of play)
Desdemona ‘honest fellow’- unthinkable Iago anything but honest
...

Shakespeare makes clear Othello’s sacking of Cassio is for political reasons ‘politic distance’- not primitive but
showing great dexterity
...

Desdemona ‘his bed shall seem a school’- generosity- will lecture Othello how great Cassio is- dramatic irony- the
more Desdemona expresses her generosity the more Othello will be suspicious
...

 Meaning well but childlike- audience watching through filter of irony
...

 ‘nothing my lord’- backs off deliberately- prompting curiosity- manipulates victim to do most of work
...

 Reputation is fundamental to Iago’s plot- his honesty
...

 Likens himself to beautiful ‘palace’- ‘foul things sometimes intrude’- best people capable of foul things
...

 Conception imagery- impregnating Othello with seeds of doubt- Othello feels he has come up with
conclusions himself
...

 Creating reality for Othello- no outside influence
...

Othello ‘to be once in doubt is once to be resolv’d’ -takes command of situation- lacks self-knowledge- this
approach fits battlefield but not intricate world of emotions
...

 ‘my wife’- first to bring Desdemona up
...

 Shakespeare creates world where these are bubbling under the surface + necessary for tragedy to occur
...

 Desdemona deceived her father ‘seel her father’s eyes up close as oak’- Othello shocked at idea of gulf
betw Appearance + Reality
...

 Stresses just a ‘suspicion’- Othello’s fault if he reads too much into it
...

Othello ‘why did I marry’- ill-equipped to deal with emotional complexities
...

Othello’s soliloquy- condensed form
...

 Contrast to Iago’s smooth/humorous/confident soliloquies
...

 Used to being cynosure- not good at self-reflection- lacks access to interior life
...

 We view Othello’s soliloquy through filter of irony- praising Iago ‘exceeding honesty’- soldiers reputation =
honest
...

 Othello presented as outsider- trusting Iago’s knowledge of venetian women
...

 Colour, lack of refinement, age- sources of insecurity
...

 ‘delicate creatures’- wrestling with idea of Appearance + Reality
...

 ‘corner of the thing I love’- reductive attitude to women
...

 Lacks inner resources to understand his condition- dependant on Iago- surprising unimpressive figurecontrast to Senate scene- retained composure despite Brabantio’s racial slurs
...

Bunton ‘Othello’s more bothered by shared possession of Desdemona which damages his public honour than by
hurt of priv betrayal’- how real is his love for Desdemona?
Irony as in this situation appearances are true- Othello should trust Desdemona
...

 Shakespeare destroys greatness of Othello’s character- put through comically pathetic situation
...

Tragedy of hankerchief- Othello pushes Desdemona’s hankerchief away rejecting her love + concern
...

Emilia acts as dutiful wife- obeys- Feminist critics- contextual problem that contributes to tragedy
...

Iago in charge ‘go leave me’- orders Emilia about- takes husbands dominance literally
...

Poison imagery ‘natures poison’
...

Othello’s occupation gone speech
...

 ‘neighing steed and the shrill trump/the spirit-stirring drum’- sensory imagery
...

 Use of apostrophe ‘Othello you mortal engines’- rhetorical/formal
...

 Contrast to soliloquy- conveys sense of power- more public statement- feels he needs an audience
...

‘prove my love a whore’- patriarchal discourse- belief of inherent duplicity of women (Loomba)
...

‘cords, or knives, poisons’- imagery points to mental torment he’s in
...


o

o
o
o
o
o
o

o
o
o

o
o

o
o

o

o
o

o
o
o

o

 Highly vulnerable + dependent on reputation
...

 Ability to extemporise- tells Othello story of Cassio’s dream ‘kiss me hard’ ‘laid his leg over my thigh’homoerotic quality- comic- all actors male- playing w genders
...

Othello ‘I’ll tear her all to pieces!’- barbaric side taking over- Shakespeare both challenges + confirms
preconceptions
...

Iago acting as voice of caution ‘be wise…she may be honest yet’
...

Iago ‘Cassio wipe his beard with’- horrible image
...
’
 ‘Shakespeare has transplanted this figure to tragedy- recycling of motives/images normally found in
comedy- constantly reminds audience how tantalizingly close all the issues are to being resolved happily’
...

Othello ‘blood, blood, blood!’- out of control- symbolises passion/primitive emotions
...

 ‘compulsive force’- contributed to sense of inevitability
...

Formal vow- denying being a ‘savage’- instrument of justice
...

 Diabolical union- interesting this is shown but not Othello + Desdemona’s marriage
...

 Trying to implement justice/acting as legal executioner
...

 Iago ‘I am your own forever’- sheer pleasure of destroying goodness = motive?
Honnigman Othello is a ‘ventriloquists dummy’- sounds like Iago- ‘Iago is now Othello’s servant master’
...

 1604 audience- Othello reverting to type- thin veneer of Christianity crumbled- true savage emerged
...

Coleridge ‘Iago’s suggesting are quite new to him’ (Othello)- never crossed his mind Desdemona would be
unfaithful/Iago presents it in a way Othello believes it- not jealous character
...

Emilia ‘I know not’- lying- if told truth tragedy would be averted- obedient wife?- women either idealised or
treated like servants- role is to please whims of husband
...

Othello ‘this hand is moist’- cross purposes- youthfulness/sexual ardour
...

Othello tells provenance of ‘hankerchief’- exotic story
...

 ‘charmer’- enchantress
...

 If white venetian told story- wouldn’t be believed but Othello exploits his race here- credible due to
background
...

Change from Senate scene- Desdemona was assertive- now child-like
...


o

o
o

o
o

o

o
o
o

o

o
o
o

o

o

Emilia ‘when they are full, they belch us’- men’s treatment of women- Feminist- recognition of patriarchy
...

Cassio ‘I may exist again’- doesn’t exist without reputation/formal language ‘madam’
...

 Blaming herself for bothering Othello when he’s busy with political matters- tension- personal v political
...

 Culture of female obedience- major contributing factor to tragedy (Loomba- cultural conditions)
...

 Shakespeare emphasises character’s qualities to create sense of tragedy
...

 Christianity- suffering has a purpose/tragedy- pre-Christian world- no reason?
 Desdemona- what happens when break social rules- went against father’s wishes
...

 Pathos in presentation of Desdemona but also sense she’s brought this on herself
...

 Or did Iago generate this?- Othello did run with it
...

 Hypocrisy of the courtier- Appearance v Reality- veneer of respectability/good breeding
...

 ‘not that I love you not’- double negatives- deceitful like Iago
...

 Bianca ‘I must be circumstanc’d’- must accept situation- man’s world
...
8 score 8 hours?’- double time scheme
...

 Highlights Othello’s degradation- reduced down to lower level or tragic element?
eavesdropping scene
Opens in medias res
...

Othello- visual reputation of his total loss of control- temporary madness
...

 Shown physically on stage also- faints at Iago’s feet- visual rep of inversion of social order
...

 Mack- tragic hero’s suffer madness ‘both punishment + insight’- however Othello doesn’t gain insight as his
madness corrupts his reason
...

Cassio enters- threat to Iago- his construct is so powerful due to Othello’s isolation- subject only to Iago’s
fabricated world
...

 Extremely high risk- relies on Cassio using pronouns not Bianca’s name
...

Iago ‘be a man’- telling superior to man up
...

 Skulking in the shadows- demeaning position
...

Cassio ‘a customer!’= prostitute- is Bianca actually or just her reputation or perhaps easier for Cassio to label her
this so he can justify himself not owing anything to her
...

Othello ‘how shall I murder him, I?’- primitive side taking over- becoming more savage
...

 ‘I will chop her into messes!’- Shakespeare supporting prejudices of audience
...

 Cassio also transformed into his inner beats- even most refined gentlemen have flaws
...

Iago ‘strangle her’- wants Othello to experience full horror of person he loves- travesty of act of love makingkilled in own marriage bed
...

Move back to blank verse- from toxic private world to public
...

 ‘mistress!’- addresses Desdemona like a prostitute- sees Desdemona through Iago-esque veil- recast as
lecherous
...

 ‘obedient, very obedient’- worlds denoting (+) connotations poisoned
...

 McEvoy (Feminist criticism) ‘Feminist critics read Othello’s violent jealousy as the product of social system
where women are dominated + possessed by men
...

 Shift in sympathy for I’s victims- status of victimised changes throughout play
...

Lodovico ‘obedient lady’- women meant to serve husband- part of sacrament in marriage
...

Iago draws attention to flaws in moral system- aspects of moral behaviour actually incompatible- important to tell
truth be if does wouldn’t be ‘honest’ servant
...

Emilia stoutly defends her mistress ‘any wretch have put this in your head’- guesses what’s happened
...

 Contrast to Mack’s idea of tragedy + insight- Othello’s view of world shaped by Iago
...

Desdemona so loyal- prepared to denounce father ‘if you have lost him, I have lost him too’
...

 Coleridge ‘I would not have succeeded by hinting that Othello’s honour was compromised’
...
’
 Some critics- Othello’s self-pity is unattractive
...

 ‘O thou public commoner!’- whore/whole of nature disgusted by Desdemona’s sin
...

 Honour/reputation- intimately linked with self-esteem- more important than emotional connection with
Desdemona
...

 ‘lay on my bed my wedding sheets’- ominous/foreboding- if brides died young they’d be buried in their
wedding sheets
...

 3 lines on her own- more free in expression? - more assertive?- public persona of obedient wife or being
meekly submissive?
 ‘young babes’ ‘child to chiding’- Shakespeare stressing Desdemona’s innocence- out of depth in this worldthe suffering of innocents- sense of deep injustice
...


o

o

o

o
o

o

o

o
o

o
o

o
o

 Contrast to Emilia ‘he call’d her whore’- more forthright- expressing alternative way of being female in this
world?
 Culture of female obedience contributes to tragedy- Desdemona shrinks back + accepts/doesn’t express
frustration
...

 Prevailing patriarchal discourse- even Emilia uses- ‘callet’ = slut
...

 But Desdemona = passive ‘my wretched fortune’- accepts
...

 Play subscribes to binary notions of womanhood- Desdemona = innocent/passive v Emilia =
assertive/forthright
...

 Condoning Iago’s attitude to virtue- Desdemona’s attitude here is useless- her goodness = handicap
...

 For once Iago not in control- Emilia taking on mouthpiece of audience- satisfying ‘villainous knave’
...

Emilia ‘suspect me w the moor’- Iago’s motive = jealousy? - Emilia knows what’s it’s like to be victim of someone’s
jealousy
...

 Compare/echoes with temptation scene- Othello’s vow to revenge- Desdemona ‘here I kneel’- before Iago
...

 Committing herself to love as Othello committed himself to revenge
...

 ‘I cannot say ‘whore’/it does abhor me now’- pun- pathos/pitiful
...

Iago = agent of corruption- although Desdemona’s love is untouched/untainted by Iago- never stops being loyal to
Othello
...

 Roderigo ‘I do not find thou dealst just with me’- comic
...

 Roderigo ‘I will make myself known to Desdemona’- dangerous for Iago
...

Is Iago a victim of otherness?- could be viewed in more sympathetic light
...

 Patronised by Cassio
...

 Reputation for honesty- perhaps more honest than Cassio? who hides behind elaborate speech yet I blunt
in speech
...

Iago ‘knocking out his brains’- Roderigo led down awful path towards murder- only way to keep Othello in Cyprus
is to kill Cassio
...

Willow = symbol of unrequited love
...

 Desdemona’s innocence- pathos/declaration of unconditional love to Othello/shock at idea women can be
unfaithful
...

 Culture of female obedience- Desdemona victim of society + jealous husband- societal conditions
instrumental in creating tragic outcome
...

 Bradley ‘internal womanly’- Shakespeare idealises Desdemona in this scene
...

Public scene- Othello trying to keep calm- ‘get you to bed’- ominous- wants Desdemona on her own to strangle
her
...

 Desdemona ‘women do abuse their husbands in such gross kind?’/’tell me, Emilia’- Desdemona’s wide-eyed
innocence
...

 Emilia ‘I think I should, + undo’t when I had done it’- authority/if had control- ‘having the world for your
labour’
...

• ‘let husband know/their wives have sense like them’- women are human- can do what men do
...

Desdemona represents unconditional love
...

Desdemona ‘unpin me’- childlike/innocent- Emilia soothing her at bedtime
...

 Desdemona ‘prithee shroud me’ wrap dead body in best sheets- pathos
...

 Unknowingly being prepared for death by Emilia
...

 Connection between Desdemona + tragic figure ‘she was in love, and he she lov’d prov’d mad’- (her
mother)
...

 Newman- Desdemona + Othello linked by otherness
...

Desdemona’s song- pathos- simple innocent victim
...

 Shakespeare wanting to stress Desdemona’s innocence- dies unjustly
...

Iago acts through others- arranges for Roderigo to stab Cassio
...

 Prefigures Othello- doesn’t really want to kill Desdemona- both victims of Iago’s manipulation
...

 Honnigman- Iago enjoys god-like sense of power
...

• Morality play tempter figure- devil imagery- Iago roiling in pain constantly?
 But how powerful is Iago?- precarious position?- just as much of a victim of his own plots as he too has to
deal with consequences
...

 Both Cassio + Roderigo need to die for Iago to succeed- is Iago deceiving himself?
• Enjoying a sense of power but not necessarily real
...

• Iago is a social outsider- resentment clear- use of abstract terms/confessional tone here- admitting
Cassio has something insubstantial- Iago feels inadequate next to him
...
g
...

• Social othering of Iago
...

Iago wounds Cassio in leg- taking direct action but fails to kill Cassio- losing control? But takes advantage of
darkness here
...

Othello’s speech- total inversion of values- Iago created topsy-turvy world
...

 But immoral to Desdemona- ‘strumpet’/’lust-stain’d’
...

 ‘lust’s blood be spotted’- hankerchief echo- contributes to sense of inevitability
...

• Does an idea of Othello’s greatness survive Shakespeare’s treatment of him?
Lodovico + Gratiano- from Venice- express rep of Cyprus:
 Lodovico ‘may be counterfeits’- Cyprus is dangerous- can’t trust anyone
...

 Natural sense of authority that society permits him to express in normal circumstances
...

 Or Shakespeare demonstrating dangers of inverting social structure to society- Iago’s failure to know his
place = tragedy
...

Iago stabs Roderigo- ‘O murderous slave! O Villain’- under darkness + confusion- old hierarchy disappears
...

 ‘kill men I’th’dark?’- ironic- enjoying own private joke
...

 Bianca ‘O my dear Cassio, my sweet Cassio!’
...

 Iago ‘do you perceive the gastness (terror) of her eye’ ‘look upon her’- like a magician- controlling
audience/manipulates appearances + making people focus on Bianca
...

 Many critics follow notions set by characters but there’s no real evidence- perhaps shows how easily
woman branded as one in this world
...

Iago ‘signior Gratiano!’ ‘these bloody accidents must excuse my manners’- using opportunity to treat social
superiors with rudeness
...

 Public v private- Emilia playing her expected role? - in front of other men
...

Iago ‘this is the night that either makes me or fordoes me quite’ (aside)- not in full control/satisfaction from
manipulating others
...

 Shakespeare reminding us of Othello’s greatness/creating pity- insight into Othello’s state of mind
...

• Repetition of ‘the cause’ = legal term/reason
...

• Legal terms ‘cause’/’justice to break her sword!’- personification of justice
 Simplicity- more moving- suggesting real pain
...

• Insight into buried prejudices in Venice- (Loomba)- Othello has internalised racial prejudices/his
status is undermined by feeling of not being worthy enough
...


-

o
o

o

o
o

o
o
o
o
o

o
o
o

Compare with Act 1 Sc
...

- Ambiguity about Othello- high social status but is black- outsider- heightened concern about his
reputation
...

• Iago’s influence- generalisations- sense of gender war
 ‘put out the light, and then put out the light’- painful speech
 ‘cunning’st patter of excelling nature’- refers to Desdemona as beautifully made/work of art
...

 Love poem to a woman he’s about to kill- painful because clearly still loves her
...

• ‘one more, one more!’- can’t stop kissing the women he’s about to kill- in a sensory thrall to her
...

• Irony- idea he’s relationship with Desdemona is unnatural- what Iago’s making him Desdemona is
completely contrary to Othello’s nature
...

 Bunten ‘Othello’s more of a tragic victim than a tragic hero’- can he simultaneously be a tragic hero? Othello at this point is essentially embodying a contradiction
...

Othello asking Desdemona to confess her sins so she’s prepared for death- ‘I would not kill thy unprepared spirit’
...

 Critic- travesty of parental concern- Othello like a kind of father figure
...

Desdemona ‘when your eyes roll so’- hinting Othello’s not in control of himself- physically about to lose control
...

 Dividedness- in his own mind he’s being fair/objective but his body tells a different story
...

 2 sides to Othello’s mind- Iago’s influence/his own natural state of mind
...

 ‘Confess thee freely of thy sin’- mockery of justice/legality
...

Travesty of justice- Othello won’t believe what Desdemona is saying- moral paradox- Othello will only believe
Desdemona if she tells a lie
...

Othello ‘my great revenge had stomach for them all’- lack of self-knowledge
...

‘Out, strumpet! Weep’st thou for him to me face?’- Othello thinks Desdemona is crying for Cassio
...

 In a fit of wrath (deadly sin) puts her soul at risk without her having confessed her sins- from Christian
perspective not just killing her body but sending her to hell
...

 Innocent suffering as a result of evil
...

 Possible some 17thC audience see this as consequence of flouting social rules
...

 Difficult to see as just- painful scene to watch- Desdemona struggling- exactly what Iago wanted
...

Emilia arrives too late
...

Othello ‘murder’s out of tune…sweet revenge grows harsh’- echo of pg 38- I ‘you are well tun’d now!’
...

 ‘nobody; I myself…commend me to my kind lord’- tries to exonerate Othello (not guilty) on her death bed
...

 Culmination of moral paradox- in one respect it’s an honourable lie- showing respect + devotion to her
husband- how a wife should ideally behave
...

 Her love remains unconditional to the end- survives his killing her- essence of unconditional love
...

• Honnigman ‘spiritual impulses binding human beings together’- Desdemona’s love for Othello- one
way I is defeated as his world view/plans are in a sense triumphantly rejected by Desdemona’s
unconditional love
...

• Desdemona presented as a beacon of humanity/human goodness- celebrate her unconditional love
...

• To be that passive + obedient isn’t really love- slavery/domestic abuse
...

Othello ‘why, how should she be murder’d?’- trying to avoid blame/feigning doesn’t know
...

 To commit perjury on one’s death bed considered an immortal sin- damned herself to protect Othello
...

Othello ‘Cassio did top her’- echoing farmyard imagery associate with Iago
...

 Emilia ‘my husband?’- repeats 3 stunned questions- had no clue about the reality/actions of Iago
...

 Trying to make Othello finally see the truth- venting out frustrations
...

Othello ‘peace, you were best’- threatens Emilia- she’s just challenged a powerful solider- incredibly brave
...

Iago ‘I told him what I thought, and told no more than what he found himself’- only revealed what was latent in
Othello
...

 No one is an innocent victim- Iago just allows them to voice their prejudices
...

 Or does Iago play on latent insecurities of his victims? - comes from prejudices
...

 Faced with choice- might expect to follow her strict marriage vows- serve + obey her husband e
...

hankerchief scene
...

• ‘spiritual impulses’ = loyalty, friendship, respect + passion- all that Iago scorns
...

 Inconsistency in Emilia- perhaps reached point where no longer can stay obedient
...

• Virtue of wifely obedience ingrained in 17thC society- but if chooses that is ignoring her duty to
Desdemona
...

 ‘I charge you get you home’- orders her to go home- women’s place in the home
...

 Marriage vow- promise before God
...

 Female character faced with group of gentlemen- stressed in dialogue ‘good gentlemen’
...


o

o

o

o
o

o

o
o
o

o
o
o
o

 Shakespeare emphasising weakness of women in world governed by men- therefore demonstrating Emilia’s
courage as she puts principle of truth/loyalty before personal safety
...

 ‘O, she was foul!’- swinging between 2 extremes
...

 Showing lack of control- opposite of composure/calmness seen at start of play- broken mind
...

 ‘I know this act shows horrible + grim’- Iago has taught him to distrust appearances- wanting to say this
doesn’t look as bad as it might appear
...

 Danger within play- characters tend to assume public face is real
...

 Presents sympathetic view to Brabantio- ‘match was mortal to him + pure grief’- died of grief
...

• Now showing the suffering of innocence + inviting sympathy for victims of evil- Brabantio’s death
contributes to tragic texture
...

- Play encourages question of danger of openness
...

Othello ‘thousand times committed’- hyperbole
...

 Compare to pg
...

 More prosaic description- highlights Othello lies or embellishes- used stories to seduce Desdemona, courts
...

 'O thou dull Moor’- stresses- Emilia’s role is to get the truth through to Othello- mouthpiece of audience
...

 Chance theme:
• Iago not god-like sense of power (Honnigman) but responds to events/opportunist
...

- Motto of stage villain- life is what you make it
• Hankerchief- ultimate example of influence of chance? As due to chance Desdemona drops it- but
open to debate- Othello pushes Desdemona/rejects her
...

- Societal influences on the play
...

Poetic justice- hankerchief that Iago turned into evidence of Desdemona’s infidelity is now compelling evidence
against Iago
...

 Othello’s self-belief which is essential for his professional ability is completely dependent on his reputation
...

 Act of self-betrayal
...

Emilia ‘lay me by my mistress’ side’
...

Does Othello regain any honour + nobility?
 Leavis- Othello is not great enough to warrant categorisation as a tragic hero
...

 Reaction to loss of reputation not so histrionic as may seem- his ability to fight is reliant on his selfbelief/image of greatness
...

 Honour is invisible but empowering
...

 Bravery + knowledge- contribute to modern day sense of heroism
...

 Hamartia- makes mistake with hankerchief
...

 Military language- reminder of his former greatness? ‘upon a soldier’s thigh’
...

 God’s targeting them for their presumption/standing out from rest
...

‘Man but a rush against Othello’s breast, and he retires’ ‘Where should Othello go?’- reference to himself in 3rd
person
...

 Self dramatising
...

Othello ‘O ill-starr’d wench!’- ill fated- Othello blaming fate- way that he doesn’t accept responsibility
...

 Important to be reminded of his greatness to understand the sense of how far Othello’s fallen
...

Othello ‘even like thy chastity’- finally admits truth
...

• Visualises traditional medieval tortures in hell
...

 ‘O Desdemon! Dead Desdemon! Dead! O! O!’
Othello ‘I look down towards his feet’- devil had cloven feet- associating Iago with the devil
...

 Iago doesn’t die- different from Shakespeare’s other villains in his tragedies- suggests something diabolical
about Iago
...

 Makes Iago into an almost ungraspable figure- like an evil force/abstract
...

 Bitter irony? - would suggest Othello’s gained self-knowledge
...

• Leavis- ‘there is no tragic self-discovery’
...

Othello ‘ensnar’d my soul + body?’- sense Othello’s soul is going to hell
...

 Does Iago not die because he’s more powerful as a mystery?
Iago ‘what you know, you know’- could symbolise the enemy within- toxic/cynical/poisons our best intentions
...

 Deliberately enigmatic- mystery to the end
...

 Iago retains a kind of power/fascination over the audience- not solved
...

Lodovico- Roderigo carried letters explaining what Iago did/confessed before he died
...

Lodovico ‘Cassio rules in Cyprus’- irony- governor in Cyprus was acc tortured/killed after Turks invaded
...


o
o
o

o

o
o

 Could have committed suicide in the room but tricks Gratiano to get out- even his suicide is a public
performance
...

• Supports Leavis’ argument
...

 ‘in your letters when you shall these unlucky deeds relate’- trying to control his legacy/his posthumous
reputation
...

• ‘nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice’- not unreasonable but fact he’s so anxious of how
he’ll be perceived
...

• Tragedy doesn’t involve idea of hero’s learning through suffering- speaks in 3rd person
...

• ‘the stoic of few words is eloquently weeping’
...

• Fitting ending that Othello dies as a man of action- kind of merging of acting + reality
...

- Dies true to himself? Even though he’s a kind of performance- paradox
...

 ‘subdued eyes, albeit unused to the melting mood’- Othello music
...

• ‘medicinable’- polysyllabic words
...

• Powerful effect- taking control of own destiny
...

• Self dramatising- his very death is a story/acting out a moment in his life
...

 ‘and smote him thus’- Othello stabs himself
...

• Romans considered suicide = honourable/noble
...

Cassio ‘he was great of heart’ – suggests noble ending
...

 But new order doesn’t give us much hope for future
...

Lodovico ‘this heavy act with heavy heart relate’- ends on word ‘relate’- idea of a story/something Othello can’t
control
...

Leavis ‘habit of self-approving + self-dramatisation in Othello’s makeup’
...

Domestic tragedy- most of scenes take place indoors
...




---