Shakespeare Studies: What's New?
Shakespeare Studies Links
Early Mod Research Links
OTHER ENGLISH LIT LINKS
Study Guide: Othello
Othello, like The Taming of the Shrew, presents special challenges to modern audiences. Even though its hero, Othello, is presented at least initially as noble, intelligent, and loving, many characters' opinion of him -- and eventually his own actions -- begin to conform to common Western stereotypes about the inferiority of non-Europeans and non-whites. In fact, actors portraying Othello in the 18th and 19th centuries frequently interpreted him not as an African but a "tawny" or Middle-Eastern Moor, believing that the depiction of a love relationship between a black man and a white woman would be too offensive.
The racism Othello suffers also sometimes overshadows another significant theme in this play, which is male distrust of female sexuality. In fact, Shakespeare takes many opportunities to explore the intersections of racism and sexism in the world of the play. Desdemona becomes almost as important as Othello in the ways in which she is differently "read" by different characters.
Yet another topic, as in Richard II, is that of a world in transition between the values of loyalty, chivalry, and honor to those of pragmatism, materialism, and politics. Part of Othello's tragedy, like Richard's, is that he belongs to an era that seems to be passing away.
Critic Northrop Frye developed a general outline for the typical tragic plot pattern. Think about how these categories correspond (if they do) to the development of Othello’s plot:
1. ENCROACHMENT — The protagonist takes on more than he should and makes a mistake that ultimately causes his own “fall;” it is often an act blindly done, demonstrating the hero’s faith in his own power to regulate the world or his insensitivity to others. Even in cases where the act is unconscious, the tragic hero encroaches on the norms of human conduct within a given world.
2. COMPLICATION — This builds up and includes the events that align opposing forces.
3. REVERSAL — This is the point at which it becomes clear that the protagonist’s expectations are mistaken, that his fate will be the reverse of what he had hoped. At this minute, the vision of the audience and dramatist are the same.
4. CATASTROPHE — This exposes the limits of the protagonist’s power and dramatizes the waste of his life. Piles of dead bodies remind us that the forces unleashed are not easily contained; there are also elaborate subplots in later tragedies, which reinforce the impression of a world inundated with evil.
5. RECOGNITION — The audience (and sometimes the protagonist) recognize the larger pattern inherent in the action. If the protagonist does experience recognition, s/he begins to share the vision of reality that the dramatist and the audience see. From this new perspective s/he can see the irony of her/his actions.
NOTE: You may have heard the term “tragic flaw” (hamartia) used to describe the cause of a protagonist’s downfall. I prefer Aristotle’s “some error of human frailty” or Frye’s “encroachment” because these terms offer subtler and more complicated descriptions of the human condition. The problem is rarely a simple personality quirk on the part of one character.
Othello: Study Questions
(If you can answer these, you will be prepared for discussion and any tests on this play. You need not write responses, but please try to discover the answers for yourself as you read.)
Act
1
1. Who admires Othello, who hates him, and why?
2. What images and epithets are used to describe Othello by his enemies? By
his friends?
3. Why did Desdemona marry Othello? How do we know?
4. By what epithet is Iago often called? Why is this ironic?
5. What does Iago counsel Roderigo to do? Why?
Act
2
1. Contrast Cassio’s description of Desdemona with Iago’s of women in general
in Act 2, scene1.
2. What reasons does Iago give in 2.1.286-312 for wishing to betray Othello?
3. What does Iago identify as Othello’s weakness? Is this a racial stereotype?
4. How does Iago engineer Cassio’s disgrace? Is he successful? What part does
Roderigo play?
Act
3
1. How does Iago manipulate Othello into suspecting Desdemona?
2. What object becomes central to Iago’s plot to deceive Othello?
3. What is “the ocular proof”? What is ironic about Othello’s desire to have
it?
4. Who is Bianca? How is she instrumental to the plot?
Act
4
1. From what physical ailment does Othello suffer?
2. Why do you think Iago councils Othello to strangle, rather than poison
Desdemona?
3. Why do you think no one listens to Emilia?
4. How does
Desdemona’s song foreshadow what’s about to happen?
Act 5
1. Who fights at the beginning of the act? Why?
2. What remarkable thing does Desdemona do in 5.2?
3. Who betrays Iago in the end?
4. Why, in your opinion, does Shakespeare present such a bleak story? Against
what is he cautioning his audience?
USEFUL LINKS:
Othello: Race, Place and
Identity
Dr. Freda Giles'
"Speak
of Me As I Am: Portrayals of Othello"
