Look over Shakespeare’s Othello and, as you prepare for Thursday’s test, answer the following questions:
* Identify at least two symbols or motifs in the play. What do they represent? How are they executed?
* how does the play’s setting impact the story?
1. What language does Shakespeare use to describe jealousy in the play? Do different characters use different metaphors to describe jealousy, or are there common ways of talking about it?
2. Do other characters besides Othello demonstrate jealousy? In what ways?
3. Is jealousy portrayed as intrinsically unreasonable? Is there a kind of jealousy that is reasonable, or does the play suggest that all jealousy tends to “mock” the person who is jealous?
4. Why is sexual jealousy the focus of the play, rather than a different kind of jealousy? What other kinds of jealousy are included in Othello? (If you’re thinking of Iago’s jealousy of Othello, keep in mind that this, too, could be sexual jealousy.)
5. How does Othello’s race affect his relationships with his wife and other characters?
6. How does Othello’s race play a role in the hero’s self-identity?
7. How do male characters view female sexuality in the play?
8. Do male characters ever feel emasculated? If so, when? What triggers such feelings?
9. When Iago tells Brabantio that Othello has eloped with his daughter, why does he call Othello a “thief”? What kinds of assumptions about daughters are being made here?
10. Why does Desdemona want to go to war with Othello?
11. How are marriages portrayed in Othello? Are there any happy marriages in the play? Why or why not?
12. How is it that Iago is so successful at manipulating everyone around him?
13. How does Iago’s openness with the audience contrast with his treatment of other characters? Are we ever manipulated by Iago’s lies?
14. Some critics say that Iago’s ultimate deception is not of Othello, Cassio, or Roderigo: it is of the audience. What do you think? Support your opinion(s).
15. Is Othello a tragic hero in the Aristotelian sense? Explain why/why not.
16. There are many allusions to the devil, particularly in relation to Iago. Discuss this. For example, is Iago a “devil-like” character or just a flat evil character?
17. Is Desdemona a Christ-figure? Explain.
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