Othello - How to answer section A/extract questions

As there are 50 marks in total for Othello, it's important to know how to answer the extract question (section A) so you can gain the best marks. Below is a small checklist. 

• Significance is not importance
• The question is asking “why is the extract significantly tragic and how does it contribute to the tragedy as a whole and to the tragic events?”

What To Talk About:

• Presentation of characters
  • Dialogue: How they speak
  • Appearance: Physical appearance
  • Actions/attitudes/behaviour: What they do and how
  • Relationships: How they behave with others
  • Thoughts: How they speak – more a AO2 point.
• Dramatic Setting
  • Country – external. Venice, Cyprus, street
  • Internal setting: Bedchamber
  • Time of day – day or night?
• Other relevant aspects
  • Tragic flaw present
  • Structure of a tragedy – how does this contribute to the tragedy e.g exciting force leading to the climax.
  • Context – within the text. Not just the social, historical context but the context of tragedy.

Key Terms:

• External pressure, ordered society, sympathy, metaphor, imagery, antagonist, protagonist, tragedy, blank verse, dramatic irony, foreshadowing, renaissance, tragic genre and chaos/disorder.

Othello - Three Important Themes?

Motives:

• Iago’s professional jealousy in that Cassio got the lieutenant job over when Cassio is an “arithmetician” who cannot lead a squad into battle.
  • Iago’s professional jealousy in that he is not the general?
• Iago’s sexual jealousy in that Othello has “twixt thy sheets, done thy office” – he feels that he has acted upon his skin colour and slept with Emilia. Why should Othello have the right to sleep with my wife because he is above me?
  • Othello is reminded that Desdemona is Italian and is therefore likely to cheat with someone of her own “complexion and clime”
• Desdemona’s motives for leaving her father. Wrongfully made a mother figure once her mother died.
• Emilia’s motives for being an oppressed woman. Speaking about the plight of women “I will not charm my tongue, I am bound to speak”.
  • But stole the handkerchief in order to mark Iago’s affection. Jealous of what Desdemona and Othello had.
• Roderigo’s motives for wanting Desdemona. Unknowingly worked with Iago and was a pawn in his game of Chess.

Jealousy:

• Roderigo is jealous about Othello’s superior position in his married life – racism?
• Iago’s jealousy about the relationship Othello has with himself and with Desdemona
• Professional jealousy shown by Iago
• Othello is possibly jealous about being a cultural outsider being of “royal men of siege”
• Othello’s jealousy about Desdemona and Cassio which leads to him falling into a trance and the “green eyed monster which mocks him” the green eyed monster is Othello himself, he is giving birth to his own jealousy for no reason. Acts out of jealousy and asks for the ocular proof.
• Brabantio is jealous about Desdemona’s elopement with Othello – racism? “this accident is not unlike my dream”

Remorse:

• The lack of remorse from Iago at the end “demand me nothing, what you know, you know, from this time forth I will never speak word” – links with “motiveless malignity” - Iago is pure evil, a “demi-devil who ensnared my soul and body”
  • In effect asking the audience what they know because they know full well that such a relationship would not work in the future and so Iago broke it off before they did anyway.
  • Iago acting on state orders breaking the foundations of their marriage just as they had broken the foundations of society. Uses soliloquys to show the audience agree with him.
• Othello’s remorse in that he kills himself. Seen as the heroic thing to do at the time. “I will meet her in contempt”.
  • Consumed by jealousy, victimised and followed her situation. A quick “Desdemona” role happened to him.
• Emilia feels remorse for how she treated Desdemona and this ultimately makes her an admirable woman.
• Cassio feels remorse even though he did not do anything. Speaks of his character and shows he will be a good general.
  • May feel guilty about getting drunk and starting off the whole chain of events with the “net that shall enmesh them all”
• Absence of Roderigo’s remorse as he wants to break the marriage. Unaware that he is an unknown advisory to Iago’s plan

AO2 - Structure of Othello

1. Exposition: Describes the mood conditions existing at the beginning of the play. Time, place and setting will be identified as well as the main characters.
2. Exciting Force: “Gets things going” The conflict can begin and will continue throughout the play
3. Rising Action: Series of events leading to the climax. Progressive intensity of interest for the audience. Will involve more than one act.
4. Climax: Turning point of the story. From this point onwards, the Shakespearean hero moves to his inevitable end
5. Falling Action: Includes the events occurring from the time of climax up to the hero’s death. Will show both advances and declines in the various forces acting upon the hero
6. Catastrophe: Concerns the necessary consequences of the hero’s action (death). Should be brief and simple.

In Othello:

• Act 1: Exposition, exciting force and rising action
• Act 2: Rising action
• Act 3: Rising action, climax and falling action
• Act 4: Falling action
• Act 5: Falling action and catastrophe.

Types of Conflict:

Internal Conflict:

External Conflict:

Man vs Self: Main character is torn between two or more ideas/courses of action

Man vs Man: Main character finds themselves in conflict with another character. Can be psychological, physical or even philosophical.

Man vs Society: Main character has a conflict with a larger group – a community, society or culture

Man vs Nature: Main character finds themselves in conflict with nature which serves as the antagonist

Structure in Othello:

• Othello is universally recognised as the best constructed Shakespeare tragedy.
• Action starts no less than 10 lines into the play.
• 3 part structure:
  
  
  1. Marriage of Othello
  2. Poisoning of Othello’s mind by Iago
  3. Othello’s murder of Desdemona and his discovery of being duped by Iago
• Each party rises naturally from the last and carries forward the themes relevant to it’s conclusion
• Within these three mentioned above, Shakespeare puts the exposition, rising & falling action as well as the climax and catastrophe.

Exposition:

• Reveals the general situation from which the plot arises.
• Opens with a conversation which is seen to already be in progress.
• Shakespeare’s authorial intent is to delay the appearance of Othello whilst making the audience focus their thoughts on Othello himself.
• Instead we are introduced to Iago who we will learn about throughout the play but learn initial factors about first.
• Brabantio is introduced to present the elopement of Desdemona through a hostile point of view whilst Iago is able to keep up a façade of liking Othello by is “the green eyed monster”
• Shakespeare authorial intents is to this because so when they silence their enemies, their triumph seems to be greater
• As Brabantio warns Othello, he seeds doubt into his mind that only the audience notes because we’ve seen how others treat him when he is not present.

Rising Action:

• Often the longest part of a play
• Unusual in Othello because Othello is weak before Iago maintains his position. The conflict is seemingly coming to an end when the Duke allows Desdemona to go to Cyprus.
• The conflict and climax are superficial because the real action does not lie with Othello and Desdemona but with Iago poisoning Othello’s mind.

Climax:

• Is Act 3, scene 3. Has 3 phases
  
  
  1. Cassio meets Desdemona, she accepts his proposals and will ask Othello.
  2. Desdemona is as good as her word. She is unmindful of Othello and just asks him
  3. Iago’s duplicity is seen as he does not claim that Cassio does not part with Desdemona.
     
     
     • Iago uses Brabantio’s previous words to systematically poison Othello’s mind. This works so much that Othello thinks Iago not revealing everything he knows.
       
       
       • Now Desdemona drops her handkerchief and Emilia picks it up.
     • Othello is as helpless as a fish caught in a net and Iago is for once open and forthright in his accusations and agrees to bring about Desdemona’s death.

Falling Action:

• Othello’s tragic murder of Desdemona and the discovery that he has been duped by Iago.
• Othello’s retributive justice is rushed which makes the structure in Othello unique across tragedy and Shakespearean tragedy

Iago’s Soliloquies:

• Contribute to structure as they bring clarity and consistency of the motivation linking the various events of the play.
• Links the various events of the play in a coherent chain of cause and effect.
  
  
  • If Iago was “motiveless”, as Coleridge claimed, the structure of Othello would be weaker.
  • The soliloquies of Iago express his motivation
  • The soliloquies of Othello reveal the varying states of minds

Double Time:

• Shakespeare’s structure extends to a device which is a problem as there is no physical possibility in terms of time for Desdemona and Cassio to elope.
• Shakespeare has done so by resorting to ‘double time’, that is, by constructing the plot as though the links in time are managed by two different clocks, one indicating ‘long time’, and the other showing the normal passage of time.

Economy and Harmony:

• Structure is strengthen by an economy which is impressive with beautiful harmony
• Granville-Barker: “Othello’s precipitate fall from height to depth is tragically appropriate to the man he is, as to the man he is made because the fall must be precipitate. And that we may rather feel with Othello in his suffering.”
  
  

  Works Cited: https://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/the-structure-of-%e2%80%9cothello%e2%80%9d/

Othello - Aspects of Tragedy Revision Notes

A03 - Context:

• The play challenges stereotypes and values of the Renaissance era.
  • Women were submissive and had no rights. Emilia challenges this by speaking. Desdemona is not confined with the domestic setting.
• Black people were assumed to be lusty and dangerous. Othello challenges this by being a general.
  • Othello fuels Iago’s anger but Shakespeare’s authorial intent is to undermine these stereotypes by making Othello measured. Othello is nothing like the projection of Iago.

AO2:

• Dramatic irony, emotive language, asides and soliloquies
  • Invites the audience to reflect the character’s action e.g Othello sacrificed himself for the common-man.
• Comedy to heighten tragedy e.g clown scene – claiming the relationship between Cassio and Desdemona is actually fake. A mockery of what Iago said.
  • The audience can identify the dramatic irony and mock it.
• Soliloquy: Character is alone on stage, saying their thoughts to the audience
• Aside: Saying his/hers thoughts but other characters are on stage where they are obivlious to what they are doing.
  • Iago uses this to deceive the character right beside them. It is a joke to him, shows his duplicity.
• Venice: Law, order and justice. Othello is virtuous here.
• Cyprus: Disorder, chaos but is the island of love. Iago’s plan comes here.
  • The fact that Othello takes Desdemona with him here shows he cannot separate his personal and political life leading to his tragedy.

Contextual Interpretations of Iago – AO5:

• Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Iago has a sense of self-importance, entitlement with a lack of empathy
• Anti-social Personality Disorder: Deceitful and manipulative to gain personal profit or pleasure.
  • Iago is malcontent with the need for revenge for not being promoted – professional jealousy
• Gibson: “Othello is a provision of the struggle of the black man.” 
  Works Cited:  https://kieurevision.blogspot.com/2017/06/aspects-of-tragedy-othello.html